Unt To Play 6 Home Games Next Year

[NT03]

UNT to play six at home in 2009

North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal confirmed today that the school is about to finalize a contract to play a series with Army and will play six home games in 2009.

UNT has played only five home games for the last several years.

For full details, see tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Edited November 28, 2007 by NT03

[UNTFan23]

Next year is 2008.

Good to hear we have 6 games at home for 2009 though. Hopefully we'll have more 6 home game seasons after 2009.

[NT80]

UNT to play six at home in 2009

North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal confirmed today that the school is about to finalize a contract to play a series with Army and will play six home games in 2009.

UNT has played only five home games for the last several years.

For full details, see tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

I'll guess Army, Rice, WKU, FAU, ULM, & Muts.

Would prefer Army, Rice, SMUt, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, USM.

Would settle short term for Army, Rice, Boise, NMSU, La Tech, Fresno St.

[NT03]

Next year is 2008.

Good to hear we have 6 games at home for 2009 though. Hopefully we'll have more 6 home game seasons after 2009.

I don't even know what day is it !!! LONG DAY , sorry for the typo

[NTPhiKap99]

I'll guess Army, Rice, WKU, FAU, ULM, & Muts.

Would prefer Army, Rice, SMUt, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, USM.

Would settle short term for Army, Rice, Boise, NMSU, La Tech, Fresno St.

Lets not complain about conferences now I'm just happy we're getting an extra home game and bringing in beatable competition.

[NT80]

Lets not complain about conferences now I'm just happy we're getting an extra home game and bringing in beatable competition.

We need $$ for the stadium and program, which takes fans, which involves marketable opponents. There's only so many ways you can invite someone to see ULM et al.

[CMJ]

We need $$ for the stadium and program, which takes fans, which involves marketable opponents. There's only so many ways you can invite someone to see ULM et al.

And people sure used to attend games when we played Nevada, Idaho, and Boise in the past right? Point of fact our attendance is better now than then.

[Green to the Bone]

I'll guess Army, Rice, WKU, FAU, ULM, & Muts.

Would prefer Army, Rice, SMUt, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, USM.

Would settle short term for Army, Rice, Boise, NMSU, La Tech, Fresno St.

Notwithstanding the fact that what's typed on this board does not give reality even the slightest nudge, your preferred home schedule would have us playing all our conference games on the road. Not generally healthy for anybody's W-L.

Edited November 28, 2007 by Green to the Bone

[NT80]

And people sure used to attend games when we played Nevada, Idaho, and Boise in the past right? Point of fact our attendance is better now than then.

Good point.

We must then hope FIU becomes the modern Boise of the SunBelt someday for anyone to care about seeing them as an opponent.

Edited November 28, 2007 by NT80

[PlummMeanGreen]

And people sure used to attend games when we played Nevada, Idaho, and Boise in the past right? Point of fact our attendance is better now than then.

Yeah, but look who we had as our head football coach during most those annual "well under .500" Big West years, too. YAWN......

OK, CMJ, I have to ask you the question: You are as fervent with your anti-WAC sentiments as I am pro-WAC. What is your main reason for that? I know your a basketball guy so do you see a tougher basketball league in the WAC or something? I have no idea how to compare the WAC vs the SBC since I am more a football guy.

But a league with 4 bowl teams this bowl season, (probably) 2 BCS Championship Bowl Series teams in a row and you say in another thread: "Well, you can't expect the WAC to do this every year?" I mean come on now, like the SBC ever will any year?

But why the passion for all your anti-WAC-ness? Just curious and not asking you in a smart-arsed sort of way, either.

Edited November 28, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[MCMLXXX]

But why the passion for all your anti-WAC-ness? Just curious and not asking you in a smart-arsed sort of way, either.

I can't speak for CMJ, but my anti-WAC-ness starts first with the fact that I own at least one map.

[NT80]

I can't speak for CMJ, but my anti-WAC-ness starts first with the fact that I own at least one map.

Here is a link to an out-of-date 1-A conference map, but you get an idea of school locations:

http://tjsportsource.tripod.com/football_t...cation_map.html

[MCMLXXX]

This site maps by state of every conference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colle...tic_conferences

With the exception of NMSU and LaTech, every MWC school is closer to NT than the remaining 7 WAC schools.

[CMJ]

OK, CMJ, I have to ask you the question: You are as fervent with your own anti-WAC sentiments as I am pro-WAC. What is you main reason for that? I know your a basketball guy so do you see a tougher basketball league in the WAC or something? I have no idea how to compare the WAC vs the SBC since I am more a football guy.

But a league with 4 bowl teams this bowl season, (probably) 2 BCS Championship Bowl Series teams in a row and you say in another thread: "Well, you can't expect the WAC to do this every year?" Like the SBC ever will any year (I must add)?

But why the passion for all your anti-WAC-ness? Just curious and not asking you in a smart-arsed sort of way, either.

Kind of odd in a way Plumm isn't it? I'd have a much better chance of going to Fresno State or San Jose State than any Sunbelt away games.

If we look at basketball, I'd say top to bottom the WAC gets a slight edge actually.

I know you've followed the program a long time Plumm. Longer than I've been alive actually. But I have followed the school in some form or fashion for as long as I can remember. Even when it wasn't my "school" when I was a kid growing up(Auburn for football/Duke for basketball - and I still have warm feelings for both) - I still read the sports section in the DRC to see how NT did. And I got a whole lot of earfulls from my folks - BOTH of whom are pretty opinionated on NT athletics, seeing as my Dad ran track and cross country there.

I guess i felt the need to give myself some gravitas, since you like to tease us whippersnappers for not being around a long time.

ANYWAYS, it basically boils down to this. I saw more support for our programs in the freaking Southland than I did in the Big West. The BW was a disaster. Nobody seemed interested about anyone. I'm sure you recall those years Plumm. I was a student for the whole shebang. We joined the Big West in 1996(my first year as undergrad). We were in it all five years I was on campus. Five terrible years for athletics sans women's basketball for acouple of seasons. The travel killed us. And yes, so did the fact the schools were so far away. Fouts was a mostly a lonely desolate place those years. So was the SuperPit after Trilli's first season proved what a hack he was.

I was also at the Oregon State game in 1995 when I was still in High School. OSU of the Pac-10. My memory tells me there were maybe 12K people in the stands when we beat the Beavers that day. It wasn't many. And yes, OSU was bad back then - but that was a name opponent.

My point?

UNT folks dn't give a damn about anything in the west. And travel will bleed you dry. We'd have to play more money games in football - AND go back to Trilli era scheduling for basketball just to pay the bills. And YES - Miami is far away in the Belt. And yes, the Belt is spread out more than say...the SEC. But it makes geographic sense. Really Denver, FAU, and FIU are the only schools that are a pain to get to from Denton. We'd be flying all over the damn place in the WAC. And not just for football. Everything. Soccer. Track. Swimming. All of it.

Edited November 28, 2007 by CMJ

[PlummMeanGreen]

Kind of odd in a way Plumm isn't it? I'd have a much better chance of going to Fresno State or San Jose State than any Sunbelt away games.

If we look at basketball, I'd say top to bottom the WAC gets a slight edge actually.

I know you've followed the program a long time Plumm. Longer than I've been alive actually. But I have followed the school in some form or fashion for as long as I can remember. Even when it wasn't my "school" when I was a kid growing up(Auburn for football/Duke for basketball - and I still have warm feelings for both) - I still read the sports section in the DRC to see how NT did. And I got a whole lot of earfulls from my folks - BOTH of whom are pretty opinionated on NT athletics, seeing as my Dad ran track and cross country there.

I guess i felt the need to give myself some gravitas, since you like to tease us whippersnappers for not being around along time.

ANYWAYS, it basically boils down to this. I saw more support for our programs in the freaking Southland than I did in the Big West. The BW was a disaster. Nobody seemed interested about anyone. I'm sure you recall those years Plumm. I was a student for the whole shebang. We joined the Big West in 1996(my first year as undergrad). We were in it all five years I was on campus. Five terrible years for athletics sans women's basketball for acouple of seasons. The travel killed us. And yes so did the fact the schools were so far away. Fouts was a mostly a lonely desolate place those years. So was the SuperPit after Trilli's first season proved what a hack he was.

I was also at the Oregon State game in 1995 when I was still in High School. OSU of the Pac-10. My memory tells me there were maybe 12K people in the stands when we beat the Beavers that day. It wasn't many. And yes, OSU was bad back then - but that was a name opponent.

My point?

UNT folks dn't give a damn about anything in the west. And travel will bleed you dry. We'd have to play more money games in football - AND go back to Trilli era scheduling for basketball just to pay the bills. And YES - Miami is far away in the Belt. And yes, the Belt is spread out more than say...the SEC. But it makes geographic sense. Really Denver, FAU, and FIU are the only schools that are a pain to get to from Denton. We'd be flying all over the damn place in the WAC. And not just for football. Everything. Soccer. Track. Swimming. All of it.

OK, now I know...although DD Ball was the rage for most of our Big West final years and we know how his first 4 years in Denton were all well under .500 and not all tha exciting on offense to boot in those early Big West years for DD. Other fellow alums and I would get so frustrated with so many good opening season crowds with many new faces at Fouts of which many would leave at half time saying how bored they were--and wouldn't come back, either. I don't think they did since 15K per game averages even during bowl years was the norm for us.

I also think you & I would agree that Dodge Ball has a better chance of bringing in more fans (except for any Saturday Game Day after any Thanksgiving of any year).

I will also add that UNT, Denton and Denton County have grown substantially in population since the early and last days of the Big West. I really do think that is reason for some of the gain we are now seeing in overall attendace (and even for that great crowd at the NT/OSU game in the Super Pit 2 weeks ago).

I have a novice's theory that one day Denton County will get so large in population than any home game that draws under 20-25K at our football stadium will only disappoint our Mean Green Nation. Those days can't come soon enough for all of us I believe we'd also agree.

But thanks for all your reasons...I now know! LOL!

Edited November 28, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[CMJ]

But see, it wasn't the Dickey monster - which gets blamed for everything this side of the Armegeddon around here. Oregon State. Pac-10. That was a pretty sparsely attended game Plumm. Honestly, that's as big a game(arguably bigger) as Baylor was.

(I'm using Baylor because the Beavers were down then - like the Bears were when we played them in '03)

I think there were a dozen folks in the section we sat in that day - four of them in my party.

And Coach Simon wasn't some ultra conservative playcaller. And we we did win a few games in 1996 and 1997(went 5-6 and 4-7). Not good records by any stretch, but not terrible. Better than this year. And we even owned a victory over Tech to juice the crowd excitement.

And except for the Homecoming games - ANY Big West opponent was met with a small crowd.

NT just doesn't care about anything west of Las Cruces - if that far.

Edited November 28, 2007 by CMJ

[emmitt01]

Let me just post this one more time in this thread. It's pretty long so I figure after a second reading maybe a few of the facts won't be summarily skimmed over.

Plumm you know I love you. So let me hit the main bullet points in succint fashion so you can see the glaring facts you seem to skim over (no "pompous ass-ity intended)

1)Budget- As it stands now we have to play a murderer's row in football to stay above water. We are forced to play the UT's, OU's, LSU's of the world and take the almost automatic losses that come with them. These automatic losses mean no top 25 votes. And we're doing this is in a semi-regional conference. If we were to take your advice and go to the WAC, land of guaranteed top 25 bids (we'll ignore the voluminous evidence to the contrary), then we will get to stop scheduling these "body bag" games cuz we'll have WAC prestige, right? Wrong. If anything we'll have to schedule more of them just to stay afloat because of the added travel costs for footbal...and basketball (both genders)...soccer...golf...swimming/diving...volleyball...etc. We'll actually be further away from national respectability because of a worse win/loss record.

2)The SBC isn't holding us back- If I pulled out a magic check and wrote it out in the amount of 5mil (1mil per year to offset not going to UT/OU/LSU) then we could change our schedule to look like this:

OU Nichols State at home

at SMU

FAU at home

Arkansas Rice at home/away

at ULL

ULM at home

at Troy

MUTS at home

Navy at home

at ASU

WKU at home

at FIU

Now we're potentially talking about a sixth home game and a much, much, easier schedule. We could potentially go 10-2, 11-1, hell even 12-0 with this schedule. We'd have top 25 votes and/or inclusion because of our win/loss record and not because we play in the Sun Belt. Oh, and one more thing...we'd be scheduling exactly the same way Boise and Hawaii do. And did I mention that if you turn on your radio right now there are sports jocks and callers from across the country knocking Hawaii for the schedule they play (yeah, even in the mighty WAC) but to a person they are saying "but they deserve to be in the BCS because they're undefeated." Hmmm...what could all five years of a schedule like this do for a program?

3)We'll never sell a SBC schedule- Hmm...let's look at that more closely using this season as an example.

Week 1 OU loss 79-10

Week 2 SMU loss 45-31 (and brought about 7-8,000 to Ford)

Week 3 Loss to FAU 30-20 (20,479 showed up to watch an 0-2 team against a SUN BELT school)

Week 3 Loss to Ark 66-7

Week 4 Loss to ULL 38-29

Week 5 Beat ULM 31-21 (18,973 showed up for an 0-5 team against another SUN BELT school)

Week 6 Loss to Troy 45-7

Week 7 Loss to MUTS 48-28 (18,181 showed up for an 1-6 team against a SUN BELT school)

Week 8 Loss to Navy 74-62 (26,012 showed up to see a 1-7 team that plays in the Sun Belt)

Week 9 Loss to Ark St 31-27

Week 10 Win over WKU (5,027 showed up on what I'm told is a family holiday)

Week 11 We play another Sun Belt school on the road in FIU

So, all in all, against a league that you claim nobody gives a damn about our home average for the year was 17,734. In fairness since you may think this is a mirage based on the Navy game I'll give you the average against only lowly Sun Belt teams. 15,665...for a team that has won 1, count em, 1 game. If you take away the horrible weather and leave the WKU game on Thanksgiving I'll assume a bump of about 4,000 fans (and I think that's modest) you come to an attendance average of 16,665 or roughly 1,000 less than including the Navy game in the average...nominal if you ask me.

But let's get really tricky (and honest) with the numbers. Let's assume we keep the schedule just as it is (body bag games and all) and assume we see improvement in next years team. I'm gonna factor in 2,000 fans for every additional win (and you'll see that this isn't so far fetched when you look at the record as it builds). And I'll even factor in a low ball number assuming bad weather and Thanksgiving.

Week 1 OU loss 79-10

Week 2 SMU win 45-31 (and brought about 7-8,000 to Ford)

Week 3 Loss to FAU 30-20 (22,479 show up to watch an 1-1 team against a SUN BELT school)

Week 3 Loss to Ark 66-7

Week 4 Win against ULL 38-29

Week 5 Beat ULM 31-21 (22,973 show up for a 2-3 team against another SUN BELT school)

Week 6 Loss to Troy 35-25

Week 7 Win against MUTS 35-31 (24,181 show up for an 3-4 team against a SUN BELT school)

Week 8 Win against Navy 74-62 (28,012 show up to see a 4-4 team that plays in the Sun Belt)

Week 9 Win against Ark St 31-27

Week 10 Win over WKU (14,027 show up on what I'm told is a family holiday to see a 6-4 team)

Week 11 We play another Sun Belt school on the road in FIU but we're 7-4 going in.

Final season attendance average? 22,334. Impossible some say? I don't think so and I'd better several here would agree. Having the right coach and WINNING would make this possible. Now................just imagine if we played a Boise State or Hawaii schedule.

Oh, and while we're at it, I'd like to hijack this thread and talk about how I'd really like to win the lotto. My plan is to buy 1,000 tickets every Wednesday and Saturday. I know that this won't bring me my desired result and will only bleed my bank account dry but the logic in it seems somehow familiar...hmmm, I wonder why.

[edcollopy]

I thought the Rice game was in Houston next year???

[flyeater]

I'll guess Army, Rice, WKU, FAU, ULM, & Muts.

Would prefer Army, Rice, SMUt, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, USM.

Would settle short term for Army, Rice, Boise, NMSU, La Tech, Fresno St.

Rice is not on the 2009 schedule. We're at Rice in 2008 and host Rice in 2010. Army is the only home nonconf game in 2009 that's set. Still a home date to fill.

[Green Lantern]

But see, it wasn't the Dickey monster - which gets blamed for everything this side of the Armegeddon around here. Oregon State. Pac-10. That was a pretty sparsely attended game Plumm. Honestly, that's as big a game(arguably bigger) as Baylor was.

(I'm using Baylor because the Beavers were down then - like the Bears were when we played them in '03)

I think there were a dozen folks in the section we sat in that day - four of them in my party.

And Coach Simon wasn't some ultra conservative playcaller. And we we did win a few games in 1996 and 1997(went 5-6 and 4-7). Not good records by any stretch, but not terrible. Better than this year. And we even owned a victory over Tech to juice the crowd excitement.

And except for the Homecoming games - ANY Big West opponent was met with a small crowd.

NT just doesn't care about anything west of Las Cruces - if that far.

Norm voice *"I love you"

[NT80]

Rice is not on the 2009 schedule. We're at Rice in 2008 and host Rice in 2010. Army is the only home nonconf game in 2009 that's set. Still a home date to fill.

Thanks, forgot when their return game to Fouts was. We also host K-State in '09 or '10.

[NTPhiKap99]

This site maps by state of every conference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colle...tic_conferences

With the exception of NMSU and LaTech, every MWC school is closer to NT than the remaining 7 WAC schools.

It looks like we are pretty close to the Big XII also maybe we should play there. Lets take the steps we can for now we've got an extra home game lets try to win a few more next year and good things might happen. Or we can just sit here and complain about finishing second to last in in a conference we're apparently too good for qualifies us to move to any other conference.

[DallasGreen]

It looks like we are pretty close to the Big XII also maybe we should play there. Lets take the steps we can for now we've got an extra home game lets try to win a few more next year and good things might happen. Or we can just sit here and complain about finishing second to last in in a conference we're apparently too good for qualifies us to move to any other conference.

EXCELLENT POINT!! Our record would be more in line with a move to the SLC or LSC than any other D-1 conference. Visit some of the other SBC facilities and see how far behind we really are.

[NT80]

It looks like we are pretty close to the Big XII also maybe we should play there. Lets take the steps we can for now we've got an extra home game lets try to win a few more next year and good things might happen. Or we can just sit here and complain about finishing second to last in in a conference we're apparently too good for qualifies us to move to any other conference.

Did SMUt sit around until they won the WAC before being invited to CUSA? Never won? No winning season? No baseball? Oh, how could they be invited without any of those???

[PlummMeanGreen]

But see, it wasn't the Dickey monster - which gets blamed for everything this side of the Armegeddon around here. Oregon State. Pac-10. That was a pretty sparsely attended game Plumm. Honestly, that's as big a game(arguably bigger) as Baylor was.

(I'm using Baylor because the Beavers were down then - like the Bears were when we played them in '03)

I think there were a dozen folks in the section we sat in that day - four of them in my party.

And Coach Simon wasn't some ultra conservative playcaller. And we we did win a few games in 1996 and 1997(went 5-6 and 4-7). Not good records by any stretch, but not terrible. Better than this year. And we even owned a victory over Tech to juice the crowd excitement.

And except for the Homecoming games - ANY Big West opponent was met with a small crowd.

NT just doesn't care about anything west of Las Cruces - if that far.

I supported that "Dickey monster" for 7 years until we had the worst home loss in UNT history versus Tulsa, circa 2005, and then my own bright light bulb finally turned on. Some were at my throat for not coming around even sooner.

I think we all know what we've done in our glorious SLC past (12 years worth of that 1-AA purgatory), then the Big West and now the SBC, but one thing that we seem to always leave out of these discussions is how we have had record-settting UNT freshmen classes for about the last 6 or 7 years running. Denton County also grew population-wise larger than the city of New Orleans was pre-Katrina. Where I come from that is called significant growth, ie, new blood, new faces and God help us all in Denton & Mean Green Country....................new fans? Why not give them a major league product here in our major league sports market worth supporting?

Lets simply allow all our post-Fry small time thinking past (and all of its low profile results) to merely run its course (like a bowel movement, perhaps?) and then lets get back on course with where we once had this program headed. Like GrayEagleOne posted (and I liberally parapharse, "Sometimes UNT has stayed the course too long and to our own disadvantage when other opportunities were out there."

This not intended for you CMJ, but I'm not sure why some want to hold onto to a past that really did not have that good of results, at least on a national NCAA stage or one that had Top 25 rankings. Then some on GMG.com want to (forever) re-cycle coaches from a losing low profile athletic past to come back to Denton and to do what? Keep us Bottom 25--what nostalgic moments that would be.

I swear to the heaven's above there are just some things about a core of UNT alum's small time thinking mindsets I guess I will never fully understand. I think some would actually choose a used Chevy over a new XJS Jaguar and then wonder why (or poke fun at our group on this forum) who actually want the Jag!

Edited November 28, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen