From The Vaults: When North Texas Beat The Texas Longhorns!

PlummMeanGreen · November 17, 2011

...beat em' in every way except the scoreboard.

Is this one of the Top 10 homer calls of all time?

Those of us in the stadium that night felt like someone had hit us all in the stomach with an aluminum bat. PING!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPcZN6adx7U

Green Mean · November 17, 2011

...beat em' in every way except the scoreboard.

Is this one of the Top 10 homer calls of all time?

Those of us in the stadium that night felt like someone had hit us all in the stomach with an aluminum bat. PING!

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=fPcZN6adx7U

Moral victories have become a decades long tradition.

Mean Green 93-98 · November 17, 2011

Moral victories have become a decades long tradition.

True, but I would have a hard time calling that a moral victory. I would call it a moral kick-in-the-jimmy.

PlummMeanGreen · November 18, 2011

Moral victories have become a decades long tradition.

Yes, they have...

You wonder where a win like this albeit Texas was not a power that year, but you wonder how the gods of football would have smiled on us had we won such a game here in the Lone Star State against a national school as UT.

We lost a similar game as that with the Arkansas Razorbacks when they were ranked #2 in 1968 and you still have to wonder....how would have such a victory moved up our own schedule to move this program upward, to build a new stadum sooner and to be in a real legit BCS conference, ie, the SWC even if it did implode later. That SWC associatiion hasn't hurt some schools in the recent re-alignment for sure.

:thumbsu: I love the YouTube response below from some fan because it reminds of the time Ron Shanklin told me at Fort Worth's Dos Gringos one day that they got the same kind of response from Arkansas players who also knew that we had been screwed out of a win by the SWC refs. Our time has really come to catch a major break, folks. Hopefully, it will be a new conference.

"....whether they sucked or not doesn't really matter. what does matter is that UNT got screwed over and should have won that game. my grandfather has the articles in which the Texas players verbily told us that UNT played their hearts out and that the call was one of the biggest mistakes they ever saw in their own career. basically to simplify it, we won and they knew it. SHADOWTANK2007 1 year ago

GMG!

PS: Such a UH Coog win over Duffy Daugherty's Michigan State Spartans in 1967 sent UH up to the next level of the NCAA with a new national reputation. It really only just takes "one" win for some programs.

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gruu · November 18, 2011

Here are three plays that game that you may want to review.

Grant.UNT · November 18, 2011

Here are three plays that game that you may want to review.

that just makes me angry seeing that crap! what a terrible game by the refs!!!

rcade · November 18, 2011

That was the most bitter loss I experienced in sports until Nelson Cruz slowly backed up and leapt awkwardly after misjudging the fence at Busch Stadium.

ForneyGreen · November 18, 2011

that just makes me angry seeing that crap! what a terrible game by the refs!!!

Thanks guys for getting me pissed-off all over again! :angry:

BTW... is it just me, or did our team look pretty sharp in those 1988 Uniforms?

meangreendork · November 18, 2011

that just makes me angry seeing that crap! what a terrible game by the refs!!!

1. I haven't seen that fumble before. That ball was clearly out of his hands from the hit, on the grass, and and into our guy's hands, all before the back gets a knee down, which doesn't really happen until the back is pulled away from the ball. Our guys should've had that.

2. I'm not totally clear how possession rules might've changed since '88, but it looks like the UT guy does come down with it and gets two feet on the turf. But when fully lands, that ball pops right out. That's questionable right there.

3. Not even close. Right knee is out of the endzone. Left knee was on the line. Guy nails the pylon. I don't think he got that one at all. He landed out. That should not have counted.

forevereagle · November 18, 2011

I have an idea, let's talk about the past like we can change it.

UNTcrazy727 · November 18, 2011

Only at UNT do fans get pissed about losing to a mediocre UT team over 20 yrs ago.

Quoner · November 18, 2011

Yes, they have...

You wonder where a win like this albeit Texas was not a power that year, but you wonder how the gods of football would have smiled on us had we won such a game here in the Lone Star State against a national school as UT.

Like when Rice beat them in 1994? Changed the world.

PlummMeanGreen · November 18, 2011

Like when Rice beat them in 1994? Changed the world.

Exactly who I had in mind because those pesky Owls would be in the NO's Bowl another (was it) 13 years later?

Actually, our 1976 game with Texas was as much fun as the 1988 game (minues the bad calls) and we probably took our largest traveling crowd anywhere ever (outside DFW ) to DKR Memorial with what I believe Dallas Green said the Austin American Statesman wrote the next day was almost 20,000 North Texas fans. The calls were OK in that game as I recall but Earl Campbell's long run for a late 4'th quarter TD squelched our chances with a 17-14 loss.

gruu · November 18, 2011

All fans get pissed about being royally screwed over in games by bad/corrupt officiating.

Fixed that for you.

Edited November 18, 2011 by gruu

Green P1 · November 18, 2011

Looked in to me.

gruu · November 18, 2011

BTW... is it just me, or did our team look pretty sharp in those 1988 Uniforms?

Nope, It's not just you.

gruu · November 18, 2011

1. I haven't seen that fumble before. That ball was clearly out of his hands from the hit, on the grass, and and into our guy's hands, all before the back gets a knee down, which doesn't really happen until the back is pulled away from the ball. Our guys should've had that.

2. I'm not totally clear how possession rules might've changed since '88, but it looks like the UT guy does come down with it and gets two feet on the turf. But when fully lands, that ball pops right out. That's questionable right there.

3. Not even close. Right knee is out of the endzone. Left knee was on the line. Guy nails the pylon. I don't think he got that one at all. He landed out. That should not have counted.

1. It was UT's first possession of the game while the score was 7-0 NTSU(UNT) 1st quarter. UNT just scored on their opening possession. It should have been NT ball on the UT 40.

2. That is a very questionable call. You can't tell if the receiver ever had possession of the ball.

3. Yup. Not even close. That "TD" was with under one minute to play in the game.

You could have shown several more non calls/questionable calls in the game as well. These are just the major ones.

rcade · November 19, 2011

Only at UNT do fans get pissed about losing to a mediocre UT team over 20 yrs ago.

It would've been the first and only time UNT ever beat UT. You're nuts to think that wouldn't have mattered.

UNT90 · November 19, 2011

It would've been the first and only time UNT ever beat UT. You're nuts to think that wouldn't have mattered.

We'd talk about it less than we talk about that game now. The 1988 Texas game is talked about more than the other SWC schools we beat that year.

Buckner's between the legs roller is STILL talked about more by Red Sox fans than either of the final plays that actually won them a World Series. With a little more suffering (like not getting back to the series in the next 5 years), Nelson Cruz's misplay on the long fly ball will be talked about more than when the Rangers actually win a World Series.

Long suffering fans love to suffer.

Edited November 19, 2011 by UNT90

rcade · November 19, 2011

The 1988 Texas game is talked about more than the other SWC schools we beat that year.

Texas is talked about more than the other ex-SWC schools combined. Beating UT would have been huge for I-AA UNT. Appalachian State beating Michigan huge.

gruu · November 19, 2011

Texas is talked about more than the other ex-SWC schools combined. Beating UT would have been huge for I-AA UNT. Appalachian State beating Michigan huge.

Yes, and 1AA NT would have been 3-0 vs the SWC that year with wins also over Tech and Rice.

greenminer · November 19, 2011

Beating UT in 1988 would have prevented the creation of the BCS.

fact.

UNT90 · November 19, 2011

Texas is talked about more than the other ex-SWC schools combined. Beating UT would have been huge for I-AA UNT. Appalachian State beating Michigan huge.

And it would have changed nothing because the administration, at that time, was not willing to do what it took to elevate the football program.

As others have mentioned, ULM beat Bama when they were down, and it nothing for ULM because they don't have the money to be competitive.

Quick, who did we beat in the conference tournament championship game to go to the NCAA tourney in 2009? Or 2007? Quick, no peaking!!!

But I bet you will be able to tell me who and how we lost last years tournament championship game for years to come.

gruu · November 19, 2011

But I bet you will be able to tell me who and how we lost last years tournament championship game for years to come.

What part of that game?

TheTastyGreek · November 19, 2011

Quick, who did we beat in the conference tournament championship game to go to the NCAA tourney in 2009? Or 2007? Quick, no peaking!!!

Arkansas State in 2007, nobody in 2009. We lost to WKU in the semis that year (f'ing A.J. Slaughter and his only 3 pointers of the game...). But, in 2010, we did win the tournament against Troy. Good, good times.

Fun fact: If that fundamentally sloppy (TYPICAL CORKY NELSON, not that anyone can ever criticize Saint Corky) 1988 team could play defense, we wouldn't have lost that game. I blame the loss on their inability to lock down and sloppy coaching. Furthermore, that one gutwrenching last-minute loss turned the rest of the season into a retroactive failure. Sure, the 88 team might have APPEARED to have two huge OOC wins against power conference teams, but they lost dumb games against conference opponents and they couldn't close out that Texas game. Therefore, the whole year was a failure and I resent them. And don't anyone try to give me any bullcrap about injuries. Defense, defense, defense. If that 88 team could just play defense, they'd not only have held on against Texas, but they could have shut down Marshall in the postseason. Maybe the playoff game would be tied at 0-0, still going on 23 years later.

I think it's obvious that 1988 team sucked, and any of their "accomplishments" that you folks might have enjoyed or remember happily today were pathetic and meaningless because of the losses in other games. Anyone who liked them, supported them, or remembered them fondly is a moron and ought to be ashamed of themselves.

And if anyone (or everyone) here on the football forum disagrees, then they're wrong and I'm offended that they aren't more respectful of my carefully considered, politely presented opinion.