Something To Think About For The Better Of Unt

trud1966 · April 24, 2007

Alot of discussion about the almost guaranteed success that TD brings to the picture. Obviously we all want the same thing, to win a conference championship, to win in New Orleans. Both of those items keep helps the program, which helps the university, which helps recruiting, which turns full circle, etc etc. However, one thing that keeps rolling in my mind that I havent seen much discussion about is National Ranking. This is a realistic goal I'd like to see happen in the next couple/few years. Even if we got to #17 for 4 weeks, the rewards of that could be four-fold. That list is published in every single paper, on every single sports website, every single day during the college season. I think something like that will really help with many lacking areas. One example is student attendance. If the word "North Texas" appears in the National Rankings every single day, there wont be a need to place "words" on the helmet for promotional purposes. Ok, I'm tangenting back to helmets, sorry. Bottom line, start noodling on the idea of what it will take for us to reach that goal and all the areas it will help... Thoughts?

Charlie NT 73 · April 24, 2007

I beleive the Todd Dodge QB and WR Camps will help NT in national recruiting.

Kids from all over the country, want to attend Coach Dodge's football camps.

The camps are for 10th-12th graders-so, there is time to develop relationships

with the kids, parents, and HS coaches. In this mix, there will be "national"

recruits- so who knows- maybe NT can sign some of these kids-

Also- Coach Dodge completed his "Coaches Clinic" during our spring

practice- over 150 HS coaches from several states attended-Coach Dodge

has made new recruiting contacts with these coaches (who by the way stayed

on campus-visited NT)

Coach Dodge stated he wanted to target a 50 mile radius around Denton

for recruiting the DFW metroplex-I read more positive reports from top

area HS coaches/programs about Coach Dodge and his staff with recruiting

there schools, and the doors are now open for NT coaches!

Start here in our own backyard first-DFW area, east and west Texas-

Houston, San Antonio, south Texas- there is a ton of top football talent

here. I would not worry about the " National Recruits" -just sign the best

Texas kids from across the state! They will want to come to NT!

Daddy Dumpsalot · April 24, 2007

However, one thing that keeps rolling in my mind that I havent seen much discussion about is National Ranking. This is a realistic goal I'd like to see happen in the next couple/few years. Even if we got to #17 for 4 weeks, the rewards of that could be four-fold.

Na...Na...Nagonnahappen

UNTLifer · April 24, 2007

Na...Na...Nagonnahappen

There were probably a few TCU fans that thought the same a few years back...few being a figure of speech, or how about Rutgers fans?

Eagle1855 · April 24, 2007

There were probably a few TCU fans that thought the same a few years back...few being a figure of speech, or how about Rutgers fans?

that's true, but with our conference schedule, I imagine anything short of an undefeated season will make it tough to get as high as 17...

FirefightnRick · April 24, 2007

For this year, and next more than likely, I think TD and company are taking it like the old cliche say's "One game at a time". And to me there's nothing wrong with that. We have to win conference and start from there. Once that happens then we can be worried about some big wins. Should we do that and win conference then the ranking thing will take care of itself.

Look no further than what Bowling Green and Miami (OH) has done in the past. Seems like three seasons ago Bowling Green was in the top 20 or top 15 for a few weeks by knocking off a 9-4 Purdue team then dominating their conference that season until they met UM in the MAC Championship. UM did the same that season. After a close loss at Iowa they beat Northwestern of the Big 10, Colorado State and Cincy then dominated their conference and then beat BG in the championship. Troy nearly did it two years ago by beating Marshall who then went on to lose by only 4 points the next week at Ohio State. Then troy beat Mizzouri of the Big 12 who was 6-3 vs 1A opponents at one point during that season. Then Troy came within a whisper of beating a 9-3 LSU team in Baton Rouge enroute to the Slicon Valley bowl. Had Troy won that game at LSU and had they had the opportunity to have played North Texas and won I believe they could have easily been in the top 20 that season, surely the top 25.

In the least we can rest assured that we KNOW we now have a staff that will plan to take these bigger opponent games as opportunities. If we want to get to the next step all we have to do is make it happen. The opportunities are there. In fact, we could lose both at OU and UA and still sniff a ranking if we were to take care of business throughout the remainder of the season. I'm not expecting it this soon in the TD regime. But the schedule of opportunity is at least there for us.

Rick

Eagle1855 · April 24, 2007

honestly, if we get to the point where we are worrying about why we arent ranked, I'll be happy.

Daddy Dumpsalot · April 24, 2007

There were probably a few TCU fans that thought the same a few years back...few being a figure of speech, or how about Rutgers fans?

TCU and Rutgers were not in the Sunbelt Conference. As great as you may think this conference is, everyone else disagrees. Guarantee it that even if we won all of our OOC games and went undefeated in our conference we still wouldn't be ranked. Something else...I play NCAA 07 xbox 360, my first season as NT I lost one game to UT by 3 points and won the rest of the tough OOC and terrible confernce games...I was never ranked. I did get an invite to the CUSA and took it, there I lost 2 games, both pretty badly and won all the conference games...I was ranked 25th. Yes its a video game, but goes to show what the rest of the Football world thinks of the Sunbelt.

Eagle1855 · April 24, 2007

TCU and Rutgers were not in the Sunbelt Conference. As great as you may think this conference is, everyone else disagrees. Guarantee it that even if we won all of our OOC games and went undefeated in our conference we still wouldn't be ranked. Something else...I play NCAA 07 xbox 360, my first season as NT I lost one game to UT by 3 points and won the rest of the tough OOC and terrible confernce games...I was never ranked. I did get an invite to the CUSA and took it, there I lost 2 games, both pretty badly and won all the conference games...I was ranked 25th. Yes its a video game, but goes to show what the rest of the Football world thinks of the Sunbelt.

I was with you til you made the foundation of your case what happened on a freaking video game... haha, but I understand what you are trying to say and to an extent, I agree.

The sunbelt sucks, everyone knows it. We DID get a couple top 25 votes in 2003 when we went 9-3 before the bowl game. Had we finished 10-3, we would have probably snagged the #25 spot (or been close to it). The sun belt is a better league now than it was, so I think its fair to say that with an undefeated season we'd grab a spot somewhere in the top 25.

I kinda feel like maybe we should win all of our games before we start bitching about whether we would or would not (should or should not) be ranked...

Edited April 24, 2007 by Eagle1855

LongJim · April 24, 2007

Guarantee it that even if we won all of our OOC games and went undefeated in our conference we still wouldn't be ranked.

I guarantee that UNT would be.

Smitty · April 24, 2007

Guarantee it that even if we won all of our OOC games and went undefeated in our conference we still wouldn't be ranked.

If North Texas beats Oklahoma on the road, Arkansas on the road, Troy on the road, and Navy at home, I would be shocked if North Texas was not ranked. That would be three quality road wins, and two wins against top 20 teams, and a home win against another bowl team.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Smitty

UNTLifer · April 24, 2007

TCU and Rutgers were not in the Sunbelt Conference. As great as you may think this conference is, everyone else disagrees. Guarantee it that even if we won all of our OOC games and went undefeated in our conference we still wouldn't be ranked. Something else...I play NCAA 07 xbox 360, my first season as NT I lost one game to UT by 3 points and won the rest of the tough OOC and terrible confernce games...I was never ranked. I did get an invite to the CUSA and took it, there I lost 2 games, both pretty badly and won all the conference games...I was ranked 25th. Yes its a video game, but goes to show what the rest of the Football world thinks of the Sunbelt.

I mirror everyone that has responded to your post about us going undefeated, so I won't beat that dead horse, but I think you've missed my point.

My point is that why shouldn't we aim to be ranked? TCU floundered for years, as did Rutgers, and TCU made a committment as a university, along with the city of Fort Worth, to set their goals high. Why shouldn't we? If we don't aspire to be ranked, we never will. Personally, I think the goal should be to be ranked in the next three or four years.

greenminer · April 24, 2007

TCU and Rutgers were not in the Sunbelt Conference. As great as you may think this conference is, everyone else disagrees. Guarantee it that even if we won all of our OOC games and went undefeated in our conference we still wouldn't be ranked. Something else...I play NCAA 07 xbox 360, my first season as NT I lost one game to UT by 3 points and won the rest of the tough OOC and terrible confernce games...I was never ranked. I did get an invite to the CUSA and took it, there I lost 2 games, both pretty badly and won all the conference games...I was ranked 25th. Yes its a video game, but goes to show what the rest of the Football world thinks of the Sunbelt.

If we were a team that was capable of beating OU, Arkansas, and Troy on the road, then beat Navy at home, the rest of the Belt would be a cakewalk. The Belt is nothing to scream about in football. But it's not horrible enough that people just forget about a team blowing through their schedule. Certainly not a team that made that much noise in OOC. That would be comparable to what Memphis is doing in Bball with wins against Gonzaga, Kentucky, etc...then CUSA. Was Memphis not ranked?

Censored by Laurie · April 24, 2007

If we were a team that was capable of beating OU, Arkansas, and Troy on the road, then beat Navy at home, the rest of the Belt would be a cakewalk. The Belt is nothing to scream about in football. But it's not horrible enough that people just forget about a team blowing through their schedule. Certainly not a team that made that much noise in OOC. That would be comparable to what Memphis is doing in Bball with wins against Gonzaga, Kentucky, etc...then CUSA. Was Memphis not ranked?

I think most people have missed your point. UNT is more than capable of attaining a level of national respectablity, including a top 25 ranking. TCU and Rutgers are good examples...but perhaps Boise St is the most comparable program with which we ought to set our goals. Boise implimented a solid system and began recruiting patterns...targeting not 5 star guys, but 2 and 3 star quality individuals who fit their system. The groundwork of this philosophy has been laid here by TD...he is very specific about the types of players he's targetting (quality players from quality programs) and has implimented a fun offensive system that is both appealing and familiar to many high schoolers.

UNT's respectablity does hinge significantly on the improvment of the SBC. Troy is leading the way...the Florida's know that they have a wealth of talent to pull from...UNT has the best recruiting ground in the country...the rest may be a step behind. Boise plays in the second worst conference in the country, but the WAC is still a severe step up from the SBC...and unless WKU can find similar success to Troy...the SBC will only get worse.

That leaves non-confernce games: An upset against Oklahoma, Texas or Arkansas is years away...it starts with respectable showings; a 14-13 halftime lead...comfortably covering the spread...these types of occurances will start the wheels of national recognition.

It's a long journey...7-10 years minimum...but it is quite possible.