DRC Win against SMU huge for NT

[OldTimer]

Win against SMU huge for UNT

Mean Green's win will have many implications

06:03 PM CDT on Sunday, September 10, 2006

By Brett Vito/Staff Writer

The cannon had just sounded and fireworks were popping in the night sky as North Texas players and fans celebrated on the field and in the stands.

No one seemed to be headed anywhere, not with what had just happened on the Fouts Field turf on Saturday.

UNT, a team that had lost seven straight and been blown out in its last game, had just done what few thought possible.

The Mean Green had not only beaten SMU. They pummeled the Ponies.

Beat them in a way that is against animal cruelty laws, setting off a party that lasted deep into the night.

UNT shut out the Mustangs in the first half and rendered their offense pretty much useless all night.

Quarterback Woody Wilson ran SMU’s defense in circles while his counterpart and hometown hero and Justin Willis looked overmatched against UNT’s defense.

“I was very proud that our players played with a lot of intensity, emotion and confidence,” UNT coach Darrell Dickey said. “There might not have been a reason to have confidence, but they believed in what they are doing.”

There couldn’t have been a better outcome for the Mean Green.

Dickey downplayed the importance of the win after the game, but in hindsight there is no reason not to call it like it is.

A win in the “Safeway Parking Lot Bowl” is as big a regular season non-conference win as UNT has had in the last several years – maybe even in the Dickey era that is now in its ninth year.

The reasons are almost too numerous to count, but they begin with the change in the long-running and lopsided SMU-UNT rivalry.

UNT hadn’t played SMU since 1992 and had only beaten the Ponies three times in 31 tries.

“This was huge because SMU is in Dallas,” said UNT linebacker Maurice Holman, who turned 22 on Saturday. “It will open up recruiting for us and gives us bragging rights in Dallas. They are right up the street. It just feels good to win this one.”

Former SMU officials said last week that they didn’t feel like they had anything to gain by playing UNT. For years the impression – and it no doubt has some validity – has been that SMU looks down on its neighbor to the north.

All that private school money and influence didn’t do the Ponies a whole lot of good against the Mean Green, who ended a seven-game losing streak in fine fashion.

Revenge was sweet for UNT, but it might not be the most important fallout from the game. UNT and SMU go head-to-head in recruiting in the Dallas area.

A win over SMU will only help the Mean Green’s cause.

One of UNT’s highest-ranked recruiting classes arrived in 2004, the year after the Mean Green’s last great non-conference victory at home. UNT drilled Baylor at Fouts, 52-14, and landed several key players the following February, including running back Jamario Thomas and defensive end Jeremiah Chapman.

Those factors are the reason UNT offensive coordinator and former SMU quarterback Ramon Flanigan ran down the sideline pumping his fist after the final seconds ran off the clock. That was why Dickey and his players lined up for the school song with big smiles on their faces in front of the student body that suffered through a winless home season last year.

That was why several players talked about just how big it was to win their home opener.

“It was important for us to win because it was our first home game,” UNT wide receiver Johnny Quinn said. “We only won two games last year … A win’s a win.”

UNT has lobbied for a chance to play the Ponies ever since former coach Matt Simon gave his famous quote in 1994 about wanting to play SMU anywhere, any time, including at a Safeway parking lot.

That quote gave UNT’s game against SMU on Saturday its unofficial name.

Winning the “Safeway Parking Lot Bowl” was huge, no matter how one looks at it.

Granted, the Mean Green still have a long way to go this season. It could all fall apart next week at Tulsa.

But for one day, against a team UNT wants to beat more than any other, the Mean Green came out on top.

There is just no underestimating how big that is for UNT.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.