Now that we've made the leap, how will we fare?

[oldguystudent]

I commented earlier that in my time in Denton, I've seen five games against CUSA opponents. In those five games, all of them losses, the opposition has outscored us 254-124. A ratio greater than 2:1. Two of those games were last year with an actual coach on the sideline, but, of course, one was against a stacked near BCS Houston team that won't be in the conference when we arrive.

So, my question is this. In 2013, do we take the conference by storm, accept a middle of the pack finish, or start climbing our way up from the bottom?

[curtisdaa]

We need to get better fast in football and basketball. I have faith it will be done.

[Mark Gommesen]

La Tech, FIU, Charlotte, UTSA and even Old Dominion have something UNT doesn't have................the one major flaw of UNT.....

BASEBALL!

[PlummMeanGreen]

And overall better team speed is what CUSA opponents have had over us most every time except maybe Cincinatti in our NO's Bowl win over the Bearcats.

I repeat: If I were Coach McCarney, I would red-shirt more of this Fall's team than he had planned.

I repeat again: University of Houston's Bill Yeoman red-shirted a huge number of his 1975 football team the year before they entered the Southwest Conference, circa, 1976, and the Coogs went to the Cotton Bowl the first year in their new conference with many of those kids he red-shirted.

CUSA will be a huge challenge for North Texas especially in our first few years plus our recruiting will have to go up to the next level, too.

Just sayin' what I hope he'll be doin'.

GMG!

Edited May 4, 2012 by PlummMeanGreen

[TIgreen01]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't we have a senior starting at QB in Thompson for our first football season in the new conference? I fully expect that Skladany will have the defense rockin and rollin by then, as well. I think football hits the ground running. Tulsa usually kicks our ass and should be the top team in our division. Maybe we'll be improved enough to give them a run.

Basketball could be interesting...Petersen should have the ladies on an upward trend. We don't really know what to expect out of Benford, yet...but it's likely that we'll be without Mitchell by that first season.

Ladies tennis and soccer you have to think will be fine...based on past regional rankings.

As for our other sports...I don't have a clue.

[Green Mean]

By the time we're officially having CUSA schedules then I fully expect us to be competitive against everybody and have at least a .500+ team. If McCarney is still here and continuing an upward trend we can easy have a 7-8 win season in 2013 in my opinion.

[eppy4life]

And overall better team speed is what CUSA opponents have had over us most every time except maybe Cincinatti in our NO's Bowl win over the Bearcats.

I repeat: If I were Coach McCarney, I would red-shirt more of this Fall's team than he had planned.

I repeat again: University of Houston's Bill Yeoman red-shirted a huge number of his 1975 football team the year before they entered the Southwest Conference, circa, 1976, and the Coogs went to the Cotton Bowl the first year in their new conference with many of those kids he red-shirted.

CUSA will be a huge challenge for North Texas especially in our first few years plus our recruiting will have to go up to the next level, too.

Just sayin' what I hope he'll be doin'.

GMG!

Can you repeat that?

[GrandGreen]

I think NT will be very competitive in the CUSA, but the first priority is to finish out the Belt with a bang. Redshirting players for CUSA is crazy, if you want to do better in NT's first year you get them a year of experience. I expect recruiting to get better not worse; there is no reason to give this years recruits another year when in general NT should anticipate getting more advanced recruits.

[shaft]

Our problem hasn't been CUSA teams have our number, our problem is Tulsa has had our number.

While CUSA is an upgrade from the SBC we're not going to be "out of our league." UAB, UTSA, FIU, Rice, LA Tech, Tulane are in similar positions. UTEP, ECU, and Marshall have slight edges, while Tulsa and Southern Miss are the most established programs.

[GrayEagle]

Until we are able to get a recruiting class or two of C-USA level players I think that we will be middle-of-the-pack. We have a couple of nice players such as Zachary Orr and Marcus Trice but we aren't deep enough yet to challenge for the top. I think that we have some good offensive linemen and Wintrich will have them physically ready to meet the challenge. If we can get a top-notch quarterback then I see us making a run at Tulsa and Southern Miss but La Tech and ECU could also be troublesome and Marshall can't be counted out either.

I'm also not too thrilled about red-shirting players. I think that the quality of recruits will improve so play your best players now. The future will take care of itself.

[Harry]

This is absolutely going to be a fun and challenging league! I trust in Coach Mac and his staff. We have great coaches, great facilities - in fact I would put our stadium and athletic center near the top of CUSA and now we have a great conference that includes Texas teams to recruit to. I like our chances!

[jdennis82]

If 'bama draft coverage has proved anything, we will not win before removing the current piping from our pants.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

[meangreendork]

The major culprit is Tulsa's play against our previous teams, and our previous coaches. The first season will be rough, but our team right now is better than at half of CUSA. The problem is facing off against the usual CUSA power teams.

[gksmith]

I think I posted this in a simular thread in the Basketball forum. Football may not be able to compete for a couple of years.

[shaft]

Football may not be able to compete for a couple of years.

1. How can you hate on a day like today?

2. Of course we can compete. 5 bowls slots that's what CUSA football is all about.

[UNT90]

1. How can you hate on a day like today?

2. Of course we can compete. 5 bowls slots that's what CUSA football is all about.

Even in the Dodge Era, we lost to Rice by one point at home (should have won, but did I mention it was the dodge era?). Just never mind the epic beat down at Rice the previous year. Played a good Houstin team even for a hapf last year.

And we are only in year 2 of the DMac era (abd recovering from the Dodge fiasco).

CUSA will be year 3 DMac. Good thimgs