New Topic - Fau Looks Good This Year

[stebo]

FAU finished the Belt season last eyar at 4-3... They have opened the season at home with a big win over MTSU. I think it was like 27-0 before FAU put in the 2nd string and then the MUTS snuck in a couple of TD's. Their Board of Regents have a vote in 2 weeks for their new on campus stadium, and if the vote at FIU is any indication - it should be a done deal. A lot of people were pretty hard on the FU's when they moved up to IA to save the league; but I have always known that those schools had serious money behind them. Much like UCF and USF, when you have a lot of money behind your program, you will eentually be good. Looks like they are starting to prove this...

My point? Well, at first glance - you look at our schedule and think that the first chance for a win would be in the third wek aganist FAU... maybe we should be a little careful before scribbling a "W" next to that game. The Owls and Schnelly have finally had time to put a real IA team on the field and will be a tough opponent in a few weeks. Captain Kangaroo has had our number and he might have some more in him after all.

[stebo]

Oh yeah, one more thing.. while FAU only had about 12K for their opener, ULM brought in over 22K. The Belt is getting better all around.

[kmb0204]

MAN I dont think I can handle being 0-3 to FAU.

[UNTBill]

MAN I dont think I can handle being 0-3 to FAU.

We were out coached in both of our losses to FAU. I don't see that happening this year.

[kmb0204]

Coach Schnellenberger has been around the block a time or two. But ya TD can bring something new to that game.

[Green Means Go!]

MAN I dont think I can handle being 0-3 to FAU.

You have no choice. We're already 0-3 to FAU. This game will be our 4th one with them (2 in conference; the 2004 game was non-conference).

[kmb0204]

FAU vs. UNT 2004 13-20

FAU vs. UNT 2005 23-26

FAU vs. UNT 2006 16-17

SO it seems we are 0-3 so I guess in that case I will have to say: Man I dont think I can take it being 0-4 to FAU

[stebo]

Yep, Dickey never beat the Owls, even when they were IAA. I don't think that we have the players yet. We are going to be dealing with inconsistency for the next couple of years. These players were built for a Dickey type team and we all know what a Dickey type team plays like. Most of them have have zero confidence left. I think that Meager and JaMo are broken goods now. Most have forgotten how to win and many were recruited from schools with losing records and never knew how to be winners. Dickey's sucess was due to a great D and lots of running; this is a whole different game. You might as well have basketball players out there. When Dode gets his kids installed, things will get better. At least he is trying to win. I will still take a 79-10 loss from the team "trying" to win over a 65-0 loss where we walk in witht he white flag raised before kick-off. Todge's effort at OU looks bad but his team scored more then 3 times what we scored the last trip to Norman. If we can replicate that throughout the season, we will be just fine. We had some close games last year, those will be the games that we will win. The ones that are way ahead of us will be tough this year - next year is Todge's first real year for me. And that will be the rebuilding year. We are two years away from real success. I don't mind, in the long run - we will be much better in two years then we would have been with two more years of Dickey ball.

Edited September 3, 2007 by stebo

[RaiderInTheZone]

Florida Atlantic looked pretty sloppy in their win over Middle Tennessee. Had they brought their "A" game it would've been worse, however, it really helped FAU that Middle Tennessee was missing four starting offensive linemen and saw two other starters make exits during the game for sustaining injuries. The other four linemen were injured within a two-week time span before the season opener at FAU. Now, MT is having to bring in freshmen and walk-ons to start on the offensive line against Louisville tomorrow night.

Having an offensive line decimated by an insurmountable amount of injuries will result in low rushing yards because the line can't give the tailbacks good looks as well as several quarterback sacks which also happened.

Middle Tennessee also had a long-snapper who was making his first career start. He botched a snap that resulted in a 17-yard loss and an FAU score shortly thereafter.

FAU can potentially be a strong team, but there is more to the story than what was seen in that score. And by the way, FAU did not pull starters and put in second string people.

[stebo]

FAU beating Minnesota 35-14 at the half. Minnesota is lucky to have 7 of those points due to a long return for a TD. FAU is for real now... just as I predicted after they beat the MUTS. I am going to predict that FAU wins the Belt or comes in second to Troy.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Yep, Dickey never beat the Owls, even when they were IAA. I don't think that we have the players yet. We are going to be dealing with inconsistency for the next couple of years. These players were built for a Dickey type team and we all know what a Dickey type team plays like. Most of them have have zero confidence left. I think that Meager and JaMo are broken goods now. Most have forgotten how to win and many were recruited from schools with losing records and never knew how to be winners. Dickey's sucess was due to a great D and lots of running; this is a whole different game. You might as well have basketball players out there. When Dode gets his kids installed, things will get better. At least he is trying to win. I will still take a 79-10 loss from the team "trying" to win over a 65-0 loss where we walk in witht he white flag raised before kick-off. Todge's effort at OU looks bad but his team scored more then 3 times what we scored the last trip to Norman. If we can replicate that throughout the season, we will be just fine. We had some close games last year, those will be the games that we will win. The ones that are way ahead of us will be tough this year - next year is Todge's first real year for me. And that will be the rebuilding year. We are two years away from real success. I don't mind, in the long run - we will be much better in two years then we would have been with two more years of Dickey ball.

Truer words have not been spoken...Good post, stebo.

I've predicted Year 3 for TDodge to get his first above .500 year. DD got his first in Year 5.

The upside with Coach Dodge is that he is getting our feet back in the doors of DFW area 5A & 4A high schools. This will pay off in due time.

As far as the UNT/FAU game, lets hope for a "pull out all the stops" blitzkrieg from both our team and our Mean Green fans (who need to show up at Fouts next Saturday evening as if we were playing the Baylor Bears).

GMG!

Edited September 15, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[meangreendork]

Coach Schnellenberger has been around the block a time or two. But ya TD can bring something new to that game.

Definitely, Schnelly was a better coach than Dickey was those years, even though they were always close losses. I got a feeling TD's gonna be a whole new show for Schnelly to watch. I still think it'll be a close game, though.

[MeanGreen61]

Minnesota got beat at home by Bowling Green (32-31) and taken to OT by Miami (O) in a game they won 41-35. Not a very impressive start in '07.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Minnesota got beat at home by Bowling Green (32-31) and taken to OT by Miami (O) in a game they won 41-35. Not a very impressive start in '07.

And if memory serves me well, both Bowling Green (and I think even Miami-O) have made appearances in the Top 25 in recent years. Whoever wins the SBC this year, I hope Top 25 is not too far from their sights. This is what will get our league respect more than anything.

Edited September 15, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[NT80]

FAU is for real now... just as I predicted after they beat the MUTS. I am going to predict that FAU wins the Belt or comes in second to Troy.

You must not have seen them get smashed by Okla State last week.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

--The Big-10 is a cupcake conference.. A Sunbelt team ( a rather new A-I team, FAU) beat Minnesota today. Michigan is supposedly the conference best and starts at 0-2 with a loss to a I-AA team.... and the two teams that have played Big-12 teams have lost. But I have admit Wisconsin did defeat Citadel today 45-31... but then again that is 31 points to Citadel who has been one of the worse teams around (I-AA Citadel had more yards and as many first downs). Even mighty "ranked" Penn State gave up to 24 today to THE worst team in America... Buffalo. Oh yeah, Ohio State is losing at the moment as well .... to an unranked team.

Kidding a little but they are they are not all that good either. Their opinion of themselves is not "square" with reality. ...Go Belt!!!

Edited September 15, 2007 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[island eagle]

You must not have seen them get smashed by Okla State last week.

Well, FAU tacked 585 yards total offense on Minnesota. We better have our defense ready, that is all I say.

[UNTFan23]

Minnesota didn't deserve to win with *7* turnovers.

[Got5onIt]

Well, FAU tacked 585 yards total offense on Minnesota. We better have our defense ready, that is all I say.

I have feeling they'll accumulate more than that against NT's Sooner like Man-on-Man defensive strategy.

[Green Mean]

Even mighty "ranked" Penn State gave up to 24 today to THE worst team in America... Buffalo. Oh yeah, Ohio State is losing at the moment as well .... to an unranked team.

21 of those 24 points came in the 4th quarter when the game was already a rout.

[stebo]

It was the first win EVER from a Belt team against Minnesota. We were 0-10 (as a group against Minn) going into the game, now we are 1-10, baby steps. Basically, this comes down to the naysayers playing down our victories and the pro-Belters wanting to be proud of them. I think it is huge that Troy beat Okie State on National TV last night. I think it is huge that FAU, one of the newest IA teams in the country, beat a BCS team today. I think it is huge that ASU is beating SMU 21-0 right now. I think it is huge that I have been able to watch all three games on tv and the internet. None of these accomplishments have happened from the Belt teams inthe past, at least not all in a 24 hour period. Like it or not, the Belt is having a coming out party today.

Edited September 15, 2007 by stebo

[chrisfisher]

It was the first win EVER from a Belt team against Minnesota. We were 0-10 (as a group against Minn) going into the game, now we are 1-10, baby steps. Basically, this comes down to the naysayers playing down our victories and the pro-Belters wanting to be proud of them. I think it is huge that Troy beat Okie State on National TV last night. I think it is huge that FAU, one of the newest IA teams in the country, beat a BCS team today. I think it is huge that ASU is beating SMU 21-0 right now. I think it is huge that I have been able to watch all three games on tv and the internet. None of these accomplishments have happened from the Belt teams inthe past, at least not all in a 24 hour period. Like it or not, the Belt is having a coming out party today.

couldn't agree more with what you said....

[chrisfisher]

To add to Stebo's Sunbelt "coming out" theme... today on the ESPN 360 FAU game, they had an advertisement for their pay-per-view TV service... the announcer said games from top conferences like....typical big names conferences and then to my surprise, they said Sun Belt... each conference name was written on the screen as they called them out... Sunbelt was the last conference mentioned, but I'll take it...