And now for something completely different...

[mad dog]

The same friend who I brought to the SMU game is stoked for the Middle Tennessee State later this month. I started to explain to him why it was a rivarly, but I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out. Could veterans (Silver, FFRick, etc) please post why they feel it is a rivalry?

[Texas Stranger]

The same friend who I brought to the SMU game is stoked for the Middle Tennessee State later this month.  I started to explain to him why it was a rivarly, but I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out.  Could veterans (Silver, FFRick, etc) please post why they feel it is a rivalry?

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Their uniforms are so sexy, it enrages their opponents, especially us.

[SilverEagle]

The same friend who I brought to the SMU game is stoked for the Middle Tennessee State later this month.  I started to explain to him why it was a rivarly, but I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out.  Could veterans (Silver, FFRick, etc) please post why they feel it is a rivalry?

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Well, let's see..

They've never beaten us.....even when we were very crappy(see the 05 season).

We cheated them out of a NO bowl appearance (01), when they had a better overall record, and we had a losing record. That year, we chose that game to come alive when we had been "circling the bowl" up to that point.

[Cowtown]

A brief History of MUTS.

Lets go into the way back machine...it was 5 years ago, the 2001 season.

The Sun Belt was in its first year and the darling of the league was Mid Tenn.

All preseason predictions were that Muts would blow through the conference. Muts had the best coach and by far the most talent.

Muts started 2001 off with a big win over Vandy, followed by consecutive dismantelngs of Troy and 3 Belt schools

out scoring them 188 - 104.

NT was picked pre season middle of the pack, coming off a pitiful 3-8 season in 2000. NT started the season off with 5 consecutive losses to TCU, OK, Tech, South Florida and in the conference opener to LaMo.

Dickey was told to win or pack up and get out of Denton.

Muts rolled into Denton with the Bowl game on their mind, they had all but wrapped up the conference.

But then everything changed.

A group of unknown underclassmen rose to the occasion and scratched out a victory. 24 - 21.

Muts went on to win the rest of their non conf games en-route to an 8-3 record, their only other losses coming from Ole Miss and LSU.

NT went on to win the rest of their Belt games but finished with a loss at Troy (independent at the time) to go 5-6.

But because of the head to head tiebreaker, NT got the bowl bid...Muts got to claim co-champ, but received no bowl invite, and thus stayed home.

In 2002 Muts declared revenge, again the pre-season darling of the Belt. They had once again the best recruiting class, senior talent and a superior coach. But it wasn't to be. By the time the two schools met in late november, NT had all but wrapped up their second title...and muts already had 7 losses. The game was marred with cheap shots and dirty play from the frustrated Muts. Muts finished 4-8 while NT went on to sweep the conference.

In 2003 NT was finally picked preseason 1st and again dominated the Belt...Muts who was supposed to come in a close 2nd again finished 4-8

In 2004 NT was again preseason #1, Muts was again preseason #2, NT dominated and Muts finished 5-6.

And again in 2005, the popular preseason pic was back to Muts. MUTS was loaded with talent and we were young and green. It was the finally going to be the year they beat us and rightfully claim their Belt. We strolled into MUTS and once again broke their hearts.

[pollock]

Their uniforms are so sexy, it enrages their opponents, especially us.

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Their uniforms are sexy as hell. To give credit where credit is due, that notion was first made popular by the great Don McGee in the DRC. Maybe somebody can pull up the exact quote. It was locker-room bulletin board material if there ever was any.

Also, there was the sweet play in '03 (I think) to end the game.... MUTS were driving to take the lead, w/ time running out. Booger blows through the line, hammers the QB, causes the ball to pop up in the air, he rolls, and catches the ball to end the game. It totally summed up our series w/ them.

[Arkstfan]

But because of the head to head tiebreaker, NT got the bowl bid...Muts got to claim co-champ, but received no bowl invite, and thus stayed home.

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MTSU still almost made it to a bowl and that could have been a whiz bang year for the Belt.

Over in the WAC La Tech was 7-4 (7-1 WAC 1st place), Boise State was 8-4 (6-2 WAC) and Fresno State 11-2 (6-2 WAC) were tied for #2 with Boise having won head-to-head.

The WAC THOUGHT they were going to send LA.Tech to the Silcon Valley because the Broncos were #2 thanks to the tie-breaker and leave Boise State at home for the Humanitarian. The Silicon Valley Classic jumped the gun and invited Fresno State before the deals got worked out and it was all made public so the WAC couldn't put Boise State there without it looking bad. So the work was underway to cut a deal.

The proposal was that La.Tech would go to New Orleans to face UNT. Colorado State would be shifted out of the New Orleans Bowl and over to San Jose to face Fresno State. Boise State would then stay home for the Humanitarian Bowl and face MTSU.

The problem was that 1) the Silicon Valley really wanted someone to buy their way into the game and get them badly needed cash, while they didn't want to cut the deal the WAC reminded them they could withhold Fresno State from participating so they finally got on board. 2) The second problem was that La Tech would have had to agree with the shift. Their position was they were league champs and ought to go to a bowl assigned to the WAC and they were not going to do anything to help the Sun Belt, especially if it meant playing a team with a losing record so they vetoed the shift.

As a result the Silicon got to sell their game to Michigan State for an amount reportedly in excess of $500,000. The Humanitarian found Clemson was willing to buy $500,000 in tix and invited them to play La.Tech before a sparse crowd. MTSU got to stay home. Tech and UNT both took 25 point defeats for the biggest margin of defeat that bowl season.

[mad dog]

Now was it just my imagination, or is there something in there about a late hit on Ja'Mel Branch on a punt return?

[Talon90]

A brief History of MUTS.

Lets go into the way back machine...it was 5 years ago, the 2001 season.

The Sun Belt was in its first year and the darling of the league was Mid Tenn.

All preseason predictions were that Muts would blow through the conference. Muts had the best coach and by far the most talent.

Muts started 2001 off with a big win over Vandy, followed by consecutive dismantelngs of Troy and 3 Belt schools

out scoring them 188 - 104.

NT was picked pre season middle of the pack, coming off a pitiful 3-8 season in 2000. NT started the season off with 5 consecutive losses to TCU, OK, Tech, South Florida and in the conference opener to LaMo.

Dickey was told to win or pack up and get out of Denton.

Muts rolled into Denton with the Bowl game on their mind, they had all but wrapped up the conference.

But then everything changed.

A group of unknown underclassmen rose to the occasion and scratched out a victory. 24 - 21.

Muts went on to win the rest of their non conf games en-route to an 8-3 record, their only other losses coming from Ole Miss and LSU.

NT went on to win the rest of their Belt games but finished with a loss at Troy (independent at the time) to go 5-6.

But because of the head to head tiebreaker, NT got the bowl bid...Muts got to claim co-champ, but received no bowl invite, and thus stayed home.

In 2002 Muts declared revenge, again the pre-season darling of the Belt. They had once again the best recruiting class, senior talent and a superior coach. But it wasn't to be. By the time the two schools met in late november, NT had all but wrapped up their second title...and muts already had 7 losses. The game was marred with cheap shots and dirty play from the frustrated Muts. Muts finished 4-8 while NT went on to sweep the conference.

In 2003 NT was finally picked preseason 1st and again dominated the Belt...Muts who was supposed to come in a close 2nd again finished 4-8

In 2004 NT was again preseason #1, Muts was again preseason #2, NT dominated and Muts finished 5-6.

And again in 2005, the popular preseason pic was back to Muts. MUTS was loaded with talent and we were young and green. It was the finally going to be the year they beat us and rightfully claim their Belt. We strolled into MUTS and once again broke their hearts.

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"NT started the season off with 5 consecutive losses to TCU, OK, Tech, South Florida and in the conference opener to LaMo.

Dickey was told to win or pack up and get out of Denton"

The loss to La-Monroe - That was mine and many others lowest point as a UNT fan. I had similar feelings after the Tulsa game.

As for cheap shots by MTSU, they had at least two I can remember on punt returns. I was there along with several other fans and we had such a good time. I remember fans above us screaming at us the whole game and Adler and I just screaming at the top of our lungs "SO SEXY!!!!" and then pointed to our Sun Belt Conference Champs shirts and Mardi Gras beads. After the game a large group of us walked into a bar full of nothing but MTSU fans and the place about came to a halt. (See Animal House) Once we sat down and the brew was flowing, many of their fans joined us (they were cool) and we all agreed that we owned them! We had such a good time that night........but maybe not so much the next morning .

One other thing......UNT's dominance against MTSU played a large part with MTSU firing Andy McCollum after last season.

[FirefightnRick]

But because of the head to head tiebreaker, NT got the bowl bid...Muts got to claim co-champ, but received no bowl invite, and thus stayed home.

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They didn't all stay at home.

The week following our invitation to the '01 bowl game their school newspaper had several crybaby articles about how they were getting screwed, how terrible and embarrassing it was that our new conference would allow a team with a losing record to go to the bowl and on and on and on. Their message boards had everything you could imagine about it too. Then to top it off, they had several people show up in New Orleans at the game in what appeared to be for no other reason than to actually PROTEST the admittence of NT into the game. Down low on one of the front rows to the right of our side in the corner of the endzone there were two butt ugly truck-driver looking chics holding up signs to ESPN protesting the game and claiming the "REAL" championship. I think Emmitt's group finally ran them off to another section away from ours. I remember looking over there and seeing their signs and thinking how very sorry of a thing that was to do. To go that far out of your sorry life to protest the fact that your team couldn't beat the team that was there in the first place?

Last year Emmitt and I learned that those few in N.O. that year were quite the minority as everyone in the Murf welcomed us with open arms. Many were hoping we would win that game last year because they all felt it was Mac's last chance. I told them they would be facing the 3rd youngest defense in the nation and this was going to be their very best chance to beat us, if at all, for the next several years because after that we would be over the youth problem we were facing going into that game.

This year I would like to see the first BLOW OUT of a MUTS team by the Mean Green. They are starting over and on paper we look to be a very talented group with experience.

Rick

[good_ken]

Yes, Branch was pummeled several times that season on kick-offs. MTSU did it several times illegally.

Oh, and note that after we went the to the first NO Bowl to represent the Sunbelt, the MUTS went ahead and put their conference championship on the following media guide (because technically they were co-champions with us).

Every year under Coach Andy they were picked as the team to knock us off (with Rashard Lee, the Qb Calico, and other very talented players).

[shaft]

and every Texan hates every person from Tennessee. Just ask Davy Crocket.

[KAjunRaider]

They didn't all stay at home.   

The week following our invitation to the '01 bowl game their school newspaper had several crybaby articles about how they were getting screwed, how terrible and embarrassing it was that our new conference would allow a team with a losing record to go to the bowl and on and on and on.  Their message boards had everything you could imagine about it too.  Then to top it off, they had several people show up in New Orleans at the game in what appeared to be for no other reason than to actually PROTEST the admittence of NT into the game.  Down low on one of the front rows to the right of our side in the corner of the endzone there were two butt ugly truck-driver looking chics holding up signs to ESPN protesting the game and claiming the "REAL" championship.  I think Emmitt's group finally ran them off to another section away from ours.  I remember looking over there and seeing their signs and thinking how very sorry of a thing that was to do.  To go that far out of your sorry life to protest the fact that your team couldn't beat the team that was there in the first place?

Last year Emmitt and I learned that those few in N.O. that year were quite the minority as everyone in the Murf welcomed us with open arms.  Many were hoping we would win that game last year because they all felt it was Mac's last chance.  I told them they would be facing the 3rd youngest defense in the nation and this was going to be their very best chance to beat us, if at all, for the next several years because after that we would be over the youth problem we were facing going into that game.

This year I would like to see the first BLOW OUT of a MUTS team by the Mean Green.  They are starting over and on paper we look to be a very talented group with experience.

Rick

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Count me out as one who wanted North Texas to win the game. I always root for my team and my coach, no matter our record. I always go to the game expecting to win......even against Oklahoma.

I was very disappointed postgame last year......

The beef brisket by SoundMan was the highlight of the Day!!