I-aa Teams On The Schedule...

[JesseMartin]

How about a nice middle ground? No giants like UT or OU or LSU (unless we become big-time again), and no FCS, II, or III teams. All OOC games against mid-majors like Army, Navy, Tulsa, maybe UTEP? SMU and TCU, Houston, etc.

Side note: regardless of whether we move back to Texas (though I hope it happens soon), I am not traveling to an OOC game that takes place in a city that smells like sweaty taint. These include, but are not limited to: Lubbock; Houston; Gary, IN; anywhere in south Alabama or Mississippi; Los Angeles; and the entire Pittsburgh region. If there's a chance I can make it to a game, any team from places such as those will have to be at Fouts for even a remote chance of my attending the game.

[untbowler]

I just find it hilarious that we can not stay within 30 pts of a 1-A teams first string, yet we feel we are above playing 1-AA teams, who right now I would see easily 1/3 to 1/2 of the FCS Div 1-AA teams beating us with how pourous out defense is and how inept our offense has been. Do we not want butts in seats? What better way than scheduling a regional 1-AA team who will bring many fans? An SFA, SHSU, Lamar, TxSt would be perfect to boost attendance give the fans something different to view rather than seeing our team get their asses handed to them every 1st home game of the year. Apparently we are taking the SMU snob approach of we are better than you.

[shaft]

D1/FBS teams should only play other D1 teams.

UNT can't lower it's standards to play d1aa/fcs teams when it already plays in one of the weakest D1 conferences.

UNT can't afford to give away one of it's few home games to a d1/fcs team. The athletic departments needs the revenue from the buy games, and has worked to hard to get home & home games with regional rivals like SMU, TULSA, and Rice.

BCS schools try to justify playing d1aa/fcs teams with the logic that there is no preseason in college football. UNT wouldn't be able to add an d1aa/fcs team in the early part of it's schedule, because that's where we get the big bucks from LSU, Texas, and OU. So why lower our standards to "buy" an d1aa/fcs win, late in the season?

[NT80]

I just find it hilarious that we can not stay within 30 pts of a 1-A teams first string, yet we feel we are above playing 1-AA teams, who right now I would see easily 1/3 to 1/2 of the FCS Div 1-AA teams beating us with how pourous out defense is and how inept our offense has been. Do we not want butts in seats? What better way than scheduling a regional 1-AA team who will bring many fans? An SFA, SHSU, Lamar, TxSt would be perfect to boost attendance give the fans something different to view rather than seeing our team get their asses handed to them every 1st home game of the year. Apparently we are taking the SMU snob approach of we are better than you.

1-AA teams would not bring a crowd to Denton to see UNT. They barely show up for their own home games. You could beat SFA by 67 and what would it prove? The only way to get better and beat the Tulsa's of the world is to keep playing them.

[GreenAlums]

Sorry, I am done with body bag games for a while. I don't know if I hate losing more than not being able to run through plays and work out the kinks without getting killed. There has to be something said about building confidence and being able to work through timing issues without the distraction that comes with playing a freakin' LSU. Maybe have a Texas State (maybe I should re-think that) or some managable team just the first game would be good, just something that can provide some practice and encouragement fot the team and the coaches. Then a mid-major that would do a home and home with us could be used to increase the speed of the game. More Army and Navy would be cool. No UT, LSU, Arkansas, blah blah blah crap! At least not for now. I just don't know how to get around the money issue.

[filmerj]

Right now we are a dIAA school to many, just ask our first three opponents.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

If we ever do that again I hope that we limit the choices to TxSt, SFA and Sam Houston. No Out-of-State.

[JesseMartin]

Waitasec...when RV took over, didn't HE say it would be a rarity?

Sorry for the memory lapse. I've done a lot of drinking since then.

[foutsrouts]

We go the 1AA route too heavily, and people will find it even easier to equate us with that competition. ESPECIALLY, if we lose. As soon as we find some REAL traction in the "mid-major" 1A world, I would have no problem with an occasional 1AA. But for now, I say we start with an Abilene Christian/A&M Commerce (hopefully) tuneup game to try and build our confidence, and then continue with the same old 1A regional and money game type schedules. We obviously need the bucks, and maybe we'll finally get to the point where we can beat the Tulsa's of the world. At this point in the game, I sure as hell don't want to bring any quality 1AA teams to Denton that can beat us.

[shaft]

UNT can't afford to schedule a d1aa/fcs tune up games early in the season.

The reason LSU, UT, and OU pay us $500,000+ is to serve as their warm-up games.

A d1aa/fcs home game doesn't generate that kind of revenue.

Its nice to wish we didn't have to schedule buy games or body bag games, but the reality of the matter is we do.

If you really want to change the way the team schedules, then be prepared to find a way to make home games more profitable for the A.D.

Scheduling weak opponents seems unnecessary when we already play some soft D1 competition in conference play. The SBC will always have a bottom 10 team or two, so why do we need to lighten up the OOC schedule? The answer has more to do with the product were placing on the field, than the competition we are facing.

[Arkstfan]

D1/FBS teams should only play other D1 teams.

UNT can't lower it's standards to play d1aa/fcs teams when it already plays in one of the weakest D1 conferences.

UNT can't afford to give away one of it's few home games to a d1/fcs team. The athletic departments needs the revenue from the buy games, and has worked to hard to get home & home games with regional rivals like SMU, TULSA, and Rice.

BCS schools try to justify playing d1aa/fcs teams with the logic that there is no preseason in college football. UNT wouldn't be able to add an d1aa/fcs team in the early part of it's schedule, because that's where we get the big bucks from LSU, Texas, and OU. So why lower our standards to "buy" an d1aa/fcs win, late in the season?

The NCAA once adopted a rule that said games against I-AA teams couldn't be counted for bowl eligibility. Know what happened?

Schools that counted on playing I-A games to help fund their program and who played regional I-A's on a fairly regular basis abandoned I-AA. So they changed the rule to one in four and it didn't stem the tide because the I-AA schools needed one decent paying game to keep their programs alive.

I-AA or FCS football is supposed to be "cost-containment" football. The problem is that the basics of cost aren't that much lower in I-AA. Without a money game, it makes more sense to just go I-A.

Counting one I-AA game is good for the health of college football. It makes far more sense to play one game and keep I-AA viable than it does to starve programs into moving to I-A.

[Chrisattsu]

If we ever do that again I hope that we limit the choices to TxSt, SFA and Sam Houston. No Out-of-State.

What about PVA&M or Texas Southern? I know the people in San Marcos are excited about this game because it should be a pretty easy win, and we also get to see the 'Ocean of Soul'.

There is no reason for you guys to play a D2 school. It is hard enough for Texas State to justify it. I was under the impression that FCS (IAA) games counted towards the Six-wins that you needed for bowl eligibility.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Counting one I-AA game is good for the health of college football. It makes far more sense to play one game and keep I-AA viable than it does to starve programs into moving to I-A.

Great post, ArkstFan.

[kingwoodgreen]

Can we accomplish the same theory (no body bag but a viable chance of winning) but not do a FSC team?

Army

Utep

Houston (may not be winnable now but in the future this game needs to happen)

New Mexico State or New Mexico

Tulane

Memphis

Wyoming

this is where I add East Carolina but not this year, this may be the underdog team of 08

temple

Minnesota...

[Arkstfan]

Can we accomplish the same theory (no body bag but a viable chance of winning) but not do a FSC team?

Army

Utep

Houston (may not be winnable now but in the future this game needs to happen)

New Mexico State or New Mexico

Tulane

Memphis

Wyoming

this is where I add East Carolina but not this year, this may be the underdog team of 08

temple

Minnesota...

The conference mandates playing 11 games at home over a two year period. Home and homes are nice but if you've got to grab a check (and everyone in the league seems to need to do that) then a I-AA off-sets playing one or two money games.

[Green Buckeye]

Can we accomplish the same theory (no body bag but a viable chance of winning) but not do a FSC team?

Army

Utep

Houston (may not be winnable now but in the future this game needs to happen)

New Mexico State or New Mexico

Tulane

Memphis

Wyoming

this is where I add East Carolina but not this year, this is the powerhouse team of 08

temple

Minnesota

Fixed it for ya.

I'd also throw Air Force and about half the MAC. An ideal OOC schedule would be like this:

SFA

@ Army

SMU

@ Minnesota (inside joke of the Big Ten)

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Look, many big time programs play I-AA schools to open the season. OU did it this year. Texas has played Sam Houston State. Texas Tech, Kansas.

The bottom line is, it's a normally a guaranteed win. And, it keeps you team from getting beat up early. Look at last weekend. Brock Stickler is out and, for some odd reason, Dodge was scrambling to find a slot receiver. The odds of Stickler getting hurt playing, say, SFA or SHSU is far less than going to K-State or Texas or OU.

You don't have to go out and get the I-AA national champ. What you need is a regional I-AA whose fans will travel. I've been saying this for three years now. If we're going to do it, get SFA as opposed to Appalachian State. That type of thing. There are tons around here. Baylor just hosted Northwestern State from Louisiana.

Plus, winning is a confidence builder all around.

And...it's one more home game.

Do it. Do it now.

[shaft]

Didn't the 1 in 4 years rule go away when the NCAA moved to a 12 game regular season?

I don't buy that we should lower our standards to play d1aa/fcs because it's good for them, and keeps them out of D1.

FBS vs fcs payouts are low ($200,000 - $300,000), while FBS vs FBS payouts start at $500,000.

I also don't buy that if big rich school like North Texas don't share the wealth, then the fcs teams will have to move up.

It takes a lot of cash to make the D1 conversion (stadium, number of athletic programs, number of scholarships).

Also D1 isn't the land of milk and honey, the majority of programs operate a loss every year. Which is more of a reason, D1/FBS teams should only play other D1/FBS.