Orange Bowl

ntsumgspe · January 2, 2009

As I watch this game it reminds me of our 2002 New Orleans Bowl victory against Cincinnati and makes me sick to think how far our program has fallen. :angry:

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

GO MEAN GREEN !!!

NT91 · January 2, 2009

As I watch this game it reminds me of our 2002 New Orleans Bowl victory against Cincinnati and makes me sick to think how far our program has fallen.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
GO MEAN GREEN !!!

The New Orleans Bowl is not the Orange Bowl!!

When we win 7 games we will be back in the bowl games.

ntsumgspe · January 2, 2009

The New Orleans Bowl is not the Orange Bowl!!

Thanks for pointing out the obvious.

GO MEAN GREEN !!!

DeepGreen · January 2, 2009

What we are seeing are the fruits of Cincinnati belonging to a BCS conference, pure and simple. You can rag on the Big East all you want but they are still BCS. Better recruits, more BCS money, and more TV exposure. When D1A was formed and the 30,000 capacity stadium requirement came about, Cincinnati did the right thing and stayed 1A. UNT, in it's infinate wisdom, decided to drop to 1AA. The rest is history.

Edited January 2, 2009 by DeepGreen

Danish42 · January 2, 2009

What we are seeing are the fruits of Cincinnati belonging to a BCS conference, pure and simple. You can rag on the Big East all you want but they are still BCS. Better recruits, more BCS money, and more TV exposure. When D1A was formed and the 30,000 capacity stadium requirement came about, Cincinnati did the right thing and stayed 1A. UNT, in it's infinate wisdom, decided to drop to 1AA. The rest is history.

Your right but we can't brew over spilled milk.We have to move on. The good thing know is with all the info out there and the internet, we the fans have more of a say.

VideoEagle · January 2, 2009

When D1A was formed and the 30,000 capacity stadium requirement came about, Cincinnati did the right thing and stayed 1A. UNT, in it's infinate wisdom, decided to drop to 1AA. The rest is history.

No, no, no, that is a complete myth. NT did not "choose" to drop to 1AA, we were forced by the NCAA rules at the time. We would have needed to retroactively had larger attendance that we had in the 70s. That rule was the sole time the NCAA passed a rule requiring school to have already done something and making no allowance for a school to comply with the rule. The exception to the rule was having a 30K or 35K stadium ALREADY in place. You were NOT allowed to build or expand an existing one to comply. We would have had to have had it in place before the rule to comply. No wavers were accepted.

Again, no waivers were accepted. So before someone starts with the other myth at there was some "magic form" that didn't get filled out in time to the athletic department, let's put that myth to bed as well.

We had both small attendance and a small stadium. Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Memphis and Ulala had stadiums in place at the time and didn't have to drop to 1AA. The one waiver that was considered strongly was ASU and theirs was rejected.

Yes, our athletic department and administration has made a number of bad decisions through the years, but dropping to 1AA was NOT one of them. It was years later that the NCAA changed the rule and allowed teams to build bigger stadiums to qualify to move up. The only choice our administration had at the time was to go 1AA or drop football altogether. There was a group pushing for that and Al Hurley managed to overrule them.

UNT90 · January 2, 2009

No, no, no, that is a complete myth. NT did not "choose" to drop to 1AA, we were forced by the NCAA rules at the time. We would have needed to retroactively had larger attendance that we had in the 70s. That rule was the sole time the NCAA passed a rule requiring school to have already done something and making no allowance for a school to comply with the rule. The exception to the rule was having a 30K or 35K stadium ALREADY in place. You were NOT allowed to build or expand an existing one to comply. We would have had to have had it in place before the rule to comply. No wavers were accepted.
Again, no waivers were accepted. So before someone starts with the other myth at there was some "magic form" that didn't get filled out in time to the athletic department, let's put that myth to bed as well.
We had both small attendance and a small stadium. Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Memphis and Ulala had stadiums in place at the time and didn't have to drop to 1AA. The one waiver that was considered strongly was ASU and theirs was rejected.
Yes, our athletic department and administration has made a number of bad decisions through the years, but dropping to 1AA was NOT one of them. It was years later that the NCAA changed the rule and allowed teams to build bigger stadiums to qualify to move up. The only choice our administration had at the time was to go 1AA or drop football altogether. There was a group pushing for that and Al Hurley managed to overrule them.

Couldn't we have changed our home stadium to Texas Stadium until Fouts could be expanded? Just askin.

VideoEagle · January 2, 2009

Couldn't we have changed our home stadium to Texas Stadium until Fouts could be expanded? Just askin.

The problem was we would have had to have done it the year BEFORE the NCAA passed the 1AA rule. It add insult to injury, there had been discussion about making either Texas Stadium or the Cotton Bowl the home stadium early enough to have worked. We played a number of home games at Texas Stadium and I think we played UTA at the Cotton Bowl. I was at the game, but don't remember who we played! But neither option were really seriously considered by the University at the time.

It was a controversial rule at the time, but back then universities would never have sued the NCAA. It is the only time the NCAA passed a rule with retroactive requirements. Today, the threat of lawsuits would keep it from passing. I doubt any school will ever actually be forced down to FCS status even if they don't meet the membership requirements because of the threat of lawsuits. And the committee that would do the "forcing" at least was chaired by someone from the Mac. I doubt they would choose to hurt their own conference!

greenjoe · January 2, 2009

VideoEagle in right on the mark. I was at the meeting held in the visitor's dressing room at Fouts. Fred Pole conducted the meeting and we didn't have an option. Stadium size was considered, but the attendance numbers were what zapped NT.

When we tried to get back to "1-A" the Chamber of Commerce as well as the University really got behind the attendance thing. I still have the button (bumper stickers were also printed).

I recall we played Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl. We were the home team and there was a country and western (both kinds) show after the game. There was another game heavily promoted that year. Posters were handed out by the players around town and the posters featured the "stars" that would be performing after the 2 games.

UNT90 · January 2, 2009

VideoEagle in right on the mark. I was at the meeting held in the visitor's dressing room at Fouts. Fred Pole conducted the meeting and we didn't have an option. Stadium size was considered, but the attendance numbers were what zapped NT.
When we tried to get back to "1-A" the Chamber of Commerce as well as the University really got behind the attendance thing. I still have the button (bumper stickers were also printed).
I recall we played Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl. We were the home team and there was a country and western (both kinds) show after the game. There was another game heavily promoted that year. Posters were handed out by the players around town and the posters featured the "stars" that would be performing after the 2 games.

Did SMU draft this new rule?

greenjoe · January 2, 2009

Well, I don't think so. But at the time, Texas Stadium was SMU's home field. And, they were in the Big...er... Southwest Conference, so attendance was not an issure for them.