To play a national power or not to play a national power

[Eagle1855]

We should have the ability to win 8 games every year in this conference and in the next. Which doesn't mean we will win all of them every year, but we should be competitive enough to do so. So if you think of it that way, and you add in a couple other "peer" non-conference match-ups, who cares if we play a "Big-Time Program" or two each year? It's a good pay day and, like a couple other posters have noted, the players enjoy them.

[casual fan]

Next year we gain local conf. USA teams which will help our attendance in many ways. Having fans from local rivals in the stands will also create some added excitement. With attendance up, there will be less need for a "money game." I'm looking forward to six home games and a winnable schedule........Finally!

[SilverEagle]

A&M won 9 SWC titles before the 1960s, including 3 (4 if you count 1917) undefeated and unscored-on teams that have been titled National Champions by either the AP, NCF, or Billingsly polls/selectors.

I knew nothing about that in HS, nor did any of my classmates who wanted to attend A&M. All they talked about were the traditions.....not the win/loss records.....past or (at that time) certainly not current. They wanted to be part of a school that believed in itself and took itself seriously.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

.

Want to be National Champion... play UNT.... in the past ten years how many times have we played the national champion of that year or the defending champion.... a lot.... including last year. .

[UNT90]

We need to continue to play these type of games, especially now that we have made a commitment to be better. A commitment ot hire real college coaches and pay them competitively.

There is a reason Alabama last year and LSU this year were different. We have people in place who know what they are doing, care about what they are doing, and are committed to succeed in these type of games.

We will continue to get better. We made progress form last year to this year, and I bet we make progress next year against Georgia from this year against LSU.

I think while Coach Mac is getting in the player's ear about a poor performance at LSU, the assistants are building them up and telling them the good things they did against LSU. I think LSU was a good confidence builder for this team, as strange as that may sound.

Let's try and stop the old mindset. I understand why it exists, but times are changing, and they are changing for the better.

[greenjoe]

If we continue in the direction that I hope we are heading, we won't be such an attractive opponent soon. We need to charge more. $2 million to play a game with LSU or OU or similar.

We get a huge payday or we schedule a Division 1-AA ( I know) school to open with. NT gets a win, the new students start their college career expecting a win and the fans get 6 or 7 home games.

GO MEAN GREEN

[adman]

I respectfully disagree. What you're suggesting puts all the pressure on the coaching staff and players. That's very unrealistic.

What I've been making reference to is the school officials (and loyal and dedicated alumni volunteers) who are in charge of establishing a real game day atmosphere with lots of real college pageantry and school traditions. Winning only enhances it.....but it has to exist in the first place.

Students and fans come to the game to watch their team win. But what keeps them coming back (especially in lean times) is their participation in, and being part of (or feeling that they are a real part of), the total game day experience.

During the decade of my High School attendance (60's) the butt of everyone's football jokes was Texas A&M. Their 60's record was this..

1960--1-6-3

1961--4-5-1

1962--3-7

1963--2-7-1

1964--1-9

1965--3-7

1966--4-5-1

1967--7-4

1968--3-7

1969--3-7

They were a JOKE! Yet you wouldn't find a school with more loyal fans. One of the main reasons was that the students and fans were made to feel like they were a real part of the A&M game day traditions......which they consistently adhered to......even in very tough times.

Were they made to or told to be a part? They were after all an all-male military college until 1963 and orders are orders. Pretty easy to create and adhere to traditions when you have no other choice.

[SilverEagle]

Were they made to or told to be a part? They were after all an all-male military college until 1963 and orders are orders. Pretty easy to create and adhere to traditions when you have no other choice.

It's my understanding that the ROTC has never been more than about 10% of the student population.

[VideoEagle]

It's my understanding that the ROTC has never been more than about 10% of the student population.

Corps membership was manditory till 64. And A&M did not equal Rice's Cotton Bowl appearances until about 85 or 86. Rice was in only 4 so that should put some perceptive on how good A&M was during the late 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s AND 70s. Yet they had rabidly loyal fans through decades of mediocrity.

Edited September 3, 2012 by VideoEagle

[GrandGreen]

If we continue in the direction that I hope we are heading, we won't be such an attractive opponent soon. We need to charge more. $2 million to play a game with LSU or OU or similar.

We get a huge payday or we schedule a Division 1-AA ( I know) school to open with. NT gets a win, the new students start their college career expecting a win and the fans get 6 or 7 home games.

GO MEAN GREEN

Why not 5 million? No one is going to pay double market to get a home game with NT.

[greenjoe]

Thanks Grand. And that's OK. Then we don't go on the road to provide a "sure win" for some other team. I would have rather sat in my seat at Apogee Saturday night and played a D ll school than sell Louisiana State a win. If I ran the zoo, the price is 2mil or the Mean Green stays home.

GO MEAN GREEN

[Proud North Texan]

Yes, i'm with playing a ranked team every year

[TIgreen01]

I think it's interesting to look at how JJ built up our basketball program over the last 10 years. We consistently had one of the weakest SOS's in all of college basketball....but we slowly were able to recruit better players until we had enough to build a 20 game winner 5 years in a row (against said weak schedule). Now, we weren't a rotating hot seat for assistant coaches during that time and that's harder to pull off in a sport like football that employs at least twice the staff.

Either way, we average over 4k in basketball attendance now (double a decade ago), and will probably only increase that this year and next. Attendance is built through consistent winning. Our own basketball program bears that out. Now, it'd be great if they could get to the point where they help make enough money to offset the football program's need to schedule these huge payout games....but I'm not sure how that all gets sorted out inside the athletics department and if any surge would even be used that way.

Edited September 4, 2012 by TIgreen01

[MeanGreenTexan]

What is the path that Boise St. took? What is the path that Snyder's KSSt teams took in the late 80's - early 90's? What is the path that Fresno St. took in the 90's? Schiano's Rutgers teams in mid 2000's? Patterson's TCU squad? Heck, what is the path that coach McCarney's IASt team took in the late 90's - early 2000's?

These teams went from the bottom to solid contenders. If those teams played a top 5 team every year in their OOC slate, then full steam ahead! Let's keep going now that we have the coaching staff in place to do this. If not, then what the heck are we doing getting our rears kicked for no reason?

[golfingomez]

Fresno St.- Took Pat Hill's Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere approach and loved playing the big boys... they were the BCS Busters before there were BCS Busters

Kansas St took the soft approach and liked to build wins...

Boise wasn't really shocking the world until 2006 and has been on a tear since then

TCU has been a mixed bag it seems...

[Monkeypox]

Thanks Grand. And that's OK. Then we don't go on the road to provide a "sure win" for some other team. I would have rather sat in my seat at Apogee Saturday night and played a D ll school than sell Louisiana State a win.

If North Texas had that approach, your seat would be in Fouts.

[untjim1995]

Fresno St.- Took Pat Hill's Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere approach and loved playing the big boys... they were the BCS Busters before there were BCS Busters

Kansas St took the soft approach and liked to build wins...

Boise wasn't really shocking the world until 2006 and has been on a tear since then

TCU has been a mixed bag it seems...

One thing to add--Fresno State beat lots of OOC teams that were big names, yet always failed to win their conference. I actually think they proved that beating a big name school was better for your program than to win your non-AQ conference.

Also, the $$$ from the AQ bodybag games are necessary for the AD to pay for the non-revenue sports here. Its just the way it is for schools who aren't in the Big 5 conferences (not the Big East). However, the smarter strategy is to play Pac-12, Big Ten, and ACC schools that aren't top five right now, but can still provide a decent paycheck. You don't play the top teams from the NFL-lite league at their places in the first month of the season and expect it to go very well. If you are going to play those type of teams, play them later in the year, like late October or November, when you might be able to pull an upset or at least give that giant a game. I've seen Troy give Georgia and LSU great games in November, and I've seen ULM beat Alabama in November. That's what I wish we would do for OOC games. If UT or OU wanted us to play them every year in OOC, that would be fine with me, if for nothing else that to gain the media and fan attention that those two opponents bring to us when we play them. Make them our permanent OOC bodybag games and flip-flop them every year. But playing games against any SEC team that is not named Vandy, Texas A&M, Mizzou, Kentucky, Mississippi State, or Ole Miss is not smart, no matter how much they pay us.