Familiarity Breeds Contempt For U N T / S M U

MeanGreen61 · September 8, 2007

Familiarity breeds contempt for UNT/SMU

8:55 AM CDT on Friday, September 7, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Brandon Jackson was familiar with the football programs at North Texas and SMU long before he found himself in the middle of what amounted to a backyard brawl last season between the teams at Fouts Field.

The Mean Green senior wide receiver watched both schools while growing up in Fort Bend, and is just one of several players who will be well versed in the teams’ histories when they face off for the second straight season Saturday at Ford Stadium.

Some are former teammates or rivals. Others were recruited by both programs and had to pick one over the other.

Those ties will make this weekend’s game an important one for both teams, a fact Jackson quickly learned in 2005 when the schools agreed to renew their longstanding series that had been dormant since 1992.

“The first thing I heard was that we had to beat SMU. Whatever you do, beat SMU,” Jackson said of the reaction after the series was announced. “People who went to North Texas hate SMU and people who went to SMU hate North Texas.”

The reasons why are almost too many to name.

UNT fans often feel like SMU looks down at its public school neighbor, and the Mustangs have dominated the series. SMU enters this weekend’s game leading the overall tally 27-4-1.

UNT campaigned for years to have a chance to play SMU. Former Mean Green head coach Matt Simon went so far as to challenge the Mustangs to play publicly in 1994.

“I’d like to play because I think we could beat them, Simon said. “And my players feel the same way. If they’d like to play on a Safeway parking lot ... just give us a date and time.”

There is also the perception that SMU never supported UNT in its efforts to move up in college athletics.

Hayden Fry coached at SMU (1962-72) before serving in the same capacity at UNT (1973-78). The College Hall of Famer tried to persuade the members of the Southwest Conference, including SMU, to admit UNT while he was coaching at the school to no avail. UNT also made a bid to get into Conference USA.

UNT was in the running for one last spot in the league shortly after SMU accepted a bid to join C-USA in 2003.

SMU president Gerald Turner drew the ire of UNT fans when he said he would rather see the league invite Louisiana Tech instead.

“All the stories of North Texas being held out of a conference because of a relationship or something that was done by SMU adds to the rivalry,” UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. “I don’t think there is any reality to it, but it builds the story and the animosity towards each other.”

Despite that animosity, UNT and SMU decided to renew their rivalry last year in one of the highlights in the recent history of Mean Green football. UNT backup quarterback Woody Wilson came on early in the game and led the Mean Green to a 24-6 win.

Wilson only spent one season with the Mean Green, but cemented a special place in program history by leading UNT to 17 second-half points to secure the victory.

“That win was big for a lot of people, not just us,” Jackson said. “People who went to school here, it was big for them, too.”

UNT knows what a repeat performance would mean this season under new head coach Todd Dodge.

Dodge has only been at UNT since December and is still trying to build his program. A win over SMU would give him a solid foundation to work from in recruiting.

“I am focused on winning, but it is one of the biggest games we have because of recruiting issues,” UNT senior linebacker Brandon Monroe said. “That is what is on the line. We are also both in the Dallas area, so I guess it is also for bragging rights.”

Plenty of UNT’s players know SMU’s players well. Holman was rivals with SMU running back and former New Boston standout Cedrick Dorsey when he was playing at Vernon.

SMU quarterback Justin Willis and defensive lineman Ben Goldthorpe played for Ryan, while defensive end Anthony Sowe played for Denton.

SMU sophomore center Mitch Enright, and linebacker Pete Fleps both played for Dodge at Carroll.

Those connections will make the game all the more intriguing.

“SMU and North Texas ought to be a big rivalry and should probably be even bigger than it is,” Dodge said. “Hopefully we will continue to play, which would be great for both programs and the fan base of both programs. It should also be great for recruiting for both teams because it is another chance to keep Dallas kids home. … It has the makings of a great rivalry if it was one where you didn’t play two years and then take five years off.”

Continuing the series is a move SMU coach Phil Bennett is behind.

“It’s a natural,” Bennett said. “You have two Metroplex universities. The cost of travel is low and the money is good. It makes all the sense in the world.”

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

Edited September 8, 2007 by MeanGreen61

UNTflyer · September 8, 2007

Continuing the series is a move SMU coach Phil Bennett is behind.
“It’s a natural,” Bennett said. “You have two Metroplex universities. The cost of travel is low and the money is good. It makes all the sense in the world.”

Well, isn't that interesting. The coaches want a rivalry, the players want it... so why is it that fans of both teams insist it doesn't exist???

FirefightnRick · September 8, 2007

Damn, if we win Maurice and Brandon might show a nice gesture of good sportsmanship and let Cedric and his teammates try on their conference championship rings because going back to the decisions they all made coming out of HS in regards to who to play for, the NT boys will seriously own them.

Rick

KingDL1 · September 8, 2007

If this series is continued, maybe our board should play their board in a little flag football before the actual game each year. Lets see how full of crap those smoo boys are.

Green Lantern · June 16, 2015

YOU ARE NOT OUR RIVAL. SMU was not the only school who prevented you from the SWC...Texas, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Houston and Rice also voted against. Are they your rivals as well?

/Try Hard

NTXCoog · June 16, 2015

YOU ARE NOT OUR RIVAL. SMU was not the only school who prevented you from the SWC...Texas, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Houston and Rice also voted against. Are they your rivals as well?

Proof that Houston voted against UNT for SWC? We were only full members of the conference 2 years when UNT dropped to 1-AA

UNTLifer · June 16, 2015

If this series is continued, maybe our board should play their board in a little flag football before the actual game each year. Lets see how full of crap those smoo boys are.

Flag football? Nah, let's play full contact. They couldn't run in the sockless loafers and their popped collars would fall down. Their mascot shouldn't be the Ponies, but it would still begin with P.

Edited June 17, 2015 by UNTLifer

All About UNT · June 16, 2015

greenit · June 16, 2015

YOU ARE NOT OUR RIVAL. SMU was not the only school who prevented you from the SWC...Texas, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Houston and Rice also voted against. Are they your rivals as well?

Evidently, they are.

untjim1995 · June 24, 2015

YOU ARE NOT OUR RIVAL. SMU was not the only school who prevented you from the SWC...Texas, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Houston and Rice also voted against. Are they your rivals as well?

I think it is pretty well known that the SWC's public schools were fine with North Texas State joining, but SMU led the charge that we would turn into another UH if we got in, since we were really good and Rice watched their city totally abandon them for good when UH got admitted to the SWC. Rice, TCU, and Baylor followed their lead and it never had a chance. Literally, that decision pretty much killed our program, even still to this day. After this, we saw Fry leave, we saw our program fall back to mediocrity fast, saw the university decide to keep our program at i-aa for 12 years, continued playing football in a toilet until 2011, hired two high school coaches to be our head coach, and barely funded a program that was forced to whore itself out for decades just to cover the bills.

For SMU, think in terms of what the Texas Four did to you guys by dissolving the SWC, which permanently planted you outside the big yacht on a small fishing boat. All you have left is your memories of being SWC members, of which the pre-death oenalty years are looked at as just bought by eyes outside of your fanbase. And knowing how tough funding is at this level of play, your president decides that we can either help get another big Texas school that we sort of share a market with to get into our conference or we can decide instead to back an attempt for a school in podunk Louisiana to join our conference, knowing full well that it won't help with TV or attendance. CUSA decides that UTEP would be better than La Tech, so you couldn't even help them, either, but your non-support for us was again very telling.

You only play us when its good for you--you need the attendance right now and you need the opportunity at beating a team to help you in recruiting. As soon as either or both of those descriptions go away, you guys will cut the series off--because that is what you do. You use your money to buy you out of hard situations--always have, always will. It just kills me that my university allows you to have that kind of influence on us. I'd much rather be playing Texas State or UH than you guys for longer series--at least they are both like us. But as long as we are scheduled to play, I'll root like hell that we continue to beat your ass. And I am rather certain that another win is coming our way again this September against your weak-ass team that is still one of the absolute dregs of FBS football.

Mean Green 93-98 · June 24, 2015

YOU ARE NOT OUR RIVAL. SMU was not the only school who prevented you from the SWC...Texas, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Houston and Rice also voted against. Are they your rivals as well?

Wow, talk about thread necromancy. You do know this thread is 8 years old right? Oh, never mind, I forgot to whom I was speaking.

I can't comment with certainty on every school you named, but Texas--at least at times--was in North Texas' corner, with DKR trying to pull strings to get us into the SWC.