Was that the biggest win of the McCarney era?

Harry · October 18, 2012

I had a ton of stuff to do today and got to thinking while plowing through it all — Could UNT’s win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday be the biggest of the Dan McCarney era?

Hear me out.

UNT has not really been at it that long under McCarney, but he has posted a few memorable wins during his short time in Denton.

UNT beat Indiana for its first win at Apogee Stadium, its first win of the McCarney era and its first win over a BCS AQ school since the Mean Green beat Baylor in the height of the Glory Days back in 2003.

That one was big, probably the biggest of them all so far, but Indiana finished 1-11 with its lone win coming over South Carolina … State. Not South Carolina of the SEC.

UNT beat traditional Sun Belt power Troy last year, but that was in the midst of the Trojans worst season in years.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2012/10/was-that-the-biggest-win-of-the-mccarney-era.html/

KingDL1 · October 18, 2012

Indiana is the biggest win so far nothing else is close, we have beat ULL lots of times. Could the ULL change the momentum for the year? Yes I hope so... and then have a deeper meaning, but still not bigger than Indiana so far.

Harry · October 18, 2012

I don't disagree with you in principle, but the ULL win was bigger in that it was on national TV, a LOT of people who could care less about the debate watched that game last night. Also how many times have we come back to WIN games late in the game like that? Against Indiana, I was scared to death we were going to blow it and in the Dodge era we usually did.

foutsrouts · October 18, 2012

I'll go with Indiana, but last night was big in that it keeps hope alive this season.

greenminer · October 18, 2012

Indiana was nice, but if we get something finally going I would consider the LaLa win the pivot game.

Very comparable to the 2000 MTSU win?

Legend500 · October 18, 2012

Very comparable to the 2000 MTSU win?

This. If it turns out to be the sort of game that the 2000 MTSU win was, absolutely. if not, it was just a fun win against our old conference.

UNT 90 Grad · October 18, 2012

I don't disagree with you in principle, but the ULL win was bigger in that it was on national TV, a LOT of people who could care less about the debate watched that game last night. Also how many times have we come back to WIN games late in the game like that? Against Indiana, I was scared to death we were going to blow it and in the Dodge era we usually did.

Right stage, wrong opponent. I think that the spare to fare sports fan that happened to tune into the game may have enjoyed the competitiveness of the game, but will have forgotten about it by next week because they really didn't know much about either team. On this stage playing against a team that has had national significant success consistently, then I think it would beat out the Indiana win. IMHO.

LongJim · October 18, 2012

Yes, it is.

The team needed this win for morale, the SBC race, and student support. It was a national TV audience. It stopped the "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" spiral this program has been on in the last few years--particularly in front of a TV audience. It was over a 4-1 team with a bowl victory last year. It was a comeback win that tested the players' resolve and willingness to keep competing. That is HUGE for the rest of the year, and for McCarney's continued development of this program.

The Indiana win was big in that it was a victory over a Big 10 team, but they are Big 10 in name only.

I hate posting that, because it sounds like I'm minimizing the accomplishment. The fact is that the MG beat Indiana, period. But as far as big wins, I think Tuesday was at the top of McCarney's tenure so far.

untjim1995 · October 18, 2012

Indiana, for sure. It isn't close, either. Indiana's name and conference affiliation make it much bigger than any win over a SBC team. Do I think that ULL is better than Indiana--no question, but the typical media member and fan know of IU, no matter how bad they are in football. It be the same if we played Kentucky or Kansas in football, as well. Back when we annihilated a bad Baylor team at Fouts in 2003, that was considered our second biggest win during those "glory" years (CIncy in NO BOWL was #1), just because of their name and conference affiliation. Could Troy have beaten that Baylor team back then? Absolutely--but no one really knew much about Troy back then.

On another note, we drew 17k with a great student turnout over a good SBC team last night. Yet, when I picked up a DMN yesterday, I saw big front page stories about Texas A&M and freaking Kansas State, while our game was on page 6. There was literally nothing else going on int he Metroplex and the DMN still couldn't put us on the front page. I get that the local talk shows and TV stations really don't care about us and our geared toward pro sports talk usually, but the biggest newspaper in the area relegates us to page 6 with a little column on the game is just pathetic. Maybe the FWST covered us on the front page, but I didn't see their paper. I would totally understand it if this was Sunday's paper or even if the Rangers/Cowboys/Mavs/Stars had played that night--but literally, there was nothing else. Yet the top of the page story in the DMN on Wednesday morning was Rick Gosselin going on and on about K-State before their big conference game against that very local school in the Big XII known as...WVU. Its really great that a school that is about 8 hours from here and not even in a neighboring state is getting ready to play anohter conference game against a team that is oh, about 1000 miles from DFW, yet they get top billing in our local rag, all while the biggest public university in the Metroplex barely gets mentioned. Below that column, we get a story about A&M/LSU, which I totally understand and know is worthy of front-page status. Its stuff like this as to why I always talk about the advantages that UTSA and Texas State potetnially have over us. Their media down there may be UT-centric, but other than the Spurs, there isn;t anything else to cover and their local media don't turn up their noses at them like the DFW media pretty much does at us. Again, I know we got some mentions and even coverage in different outlets on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. But if you think that coverage would have been the same if SMU or TCU were hosting ULL, you are fooling yourself.

VideoEagle · October 18, 2012

I thing this win is more important in showing us the program is moving in the right direction. I have no doubt ULL is a better team both this yer and last than Indiana. But long term Indiana is a bigger win.

Even the most Asian college football fan have head of Indiana. Not so with ULL. Look at Hayden Fry's signature win over Tennesee. They went 7-5 that year. They even lost to Vanderbilt. Their coach was fired at the end of the net season. But it is still Tennesee and we won in Knoxville.

Indiana was the first win of the new stadium which will be historic for decades to come. It was our first win over a B1G team ever.

Beating ULL is important. They are a conference opponent who won a bowl game last year. We were the underdog at home. I hope this game turns out to be a turning point like beating the MUTS at home was after the awful loss to ULM.

But beating Indiana means more long term.

Edited October 18, 2012 by VideoEagle

island eagle · October 18, 2012

Based on the comments I've gotten locally (out of DFW area), this was the biggest win. People (several of them UT fans and graduates) have mentioned to me about how impressed they were by: 1.The noise and enthusiasm of the crowd...made us look and sound like we belong in the big time; 2. The quality of our athletic complex and 3. the comeback victory and the remarkable plays by Jimmerson.

Nobody here even noticed when we beat Indiana.

We had a big stage and played it to the maximum and impressed a lot of people who knew little or nothing about us as a football program.

Harry · October 18, 2012

Based on the comments I've gotten locally (out of DFW area), this was the biggest win. People (several of them UT fans and graduates) have mentioned to me about how impressed they were by: 1.The noise and enthusiasm of the crowd...made us look and sound like we belong in the big time; 2. The quality of our athletic complex and 3. the comeback victory and the remarkable plays by Jimmerson.

Nobody here even noticed when we beat Indiana.

We had a big stage and played it to the maximum and impressed a lot of people who knew little or nothing about us as a football program.

If you think about that home game against New Mexico State way back in the Dickey era (99?), with maybe 2000 fans, in a dilapidated Fouts with no athletic center or bridge or even fresh paint. In roughly 12-years the change that has taken place here is DRAMATIC I would argue perhaps the biggest decade of facility improvement in the history of college football? And all this with very little to cheer about over the last 7-8 years.

My guess is that C-USA commissioner Banowsky placed a nice phone call into RV regarding the showing we had on Tuesday night.

Mean Green 93-98 · October 18, 2012

In and of itself, Indiana was a bigger win. Definitely. But if we can build on that second half against ULL and actually string together some wins and compete for the conference, we might look back and say this meant more to the program.

CurveItAround · October 18, 2012

Based on the comments I've gotten locally (out of DFW area), this was the biggest win. People (several of them UT fans and graduates) have mentioned to me about how impressed they were by: 1.The noise and enthusiasm of the crowd...made us look and sound like we belong in the big time; 2. The quality of our athletic complex and 3. the comeback victory and the remarkable plays by Jimmerson.

Nobody here even noticed when we beat Indiana.

We had a big stage and played it to the maximum and impressed a lot of people who knew little or nothing about us as a football program.

I was at the game and it was a nice crowd and enthusiastic while being played, but did not give me the impression that it was especially loud when I was there. However, when I rewatched the game on ESPN3, it sounded extremely loud. Don't know if they were doing something to make it sound that way through the broadcast, but I thought it made it sound like it was a full house and left a very good impression on the viewer.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · October 18, 2012

I think Indiana because it was a Big Ten team.

The Louisiana win is important, though, psychologically for both the fans and players. For many of us - me, for sure - worry had begun to creep in about whether we were at the point of playing with upper echelon of the Sun Belt yet. We can.

Run.

Control the cock.

Defend.

Limit penalties and turnovers.

That's what the fellas did Tuesday against a good, well-coached Sun Belt team. It shows that we should be able to give everyone a fight from here on out.

cl_1_2008 · October 18, 2012

Why does everyone overrate Indiana? They were HORRIBLE. This years ULL team beats them by 20. Tuesday was definitely McCarney's biggest win.

forevereagle · October 18, 2012

Too early to tell.

Mean Green 93-98 · October 18, 2012

Why does everyone overrate Indiana? They were HORRIBLE. This years ULL team beats them by 20. Tuesday was definitely McCarney's biggest win.

Perception. To most people . . .

Bad Big 10 team>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Louisiana-Lafayette (or probably any Sun Belt team)

foutsrouts · October 18, 2012

On another note, we drew 17k with a great student turnout over a good SBC team last night. Yet, when I picked up a DMN yesterday, I saw big front page stories about Texas A&M and freaking Kansas State, while our game was on page 6. There was literally nothing else going on int he Metroplex and the DMN still couldn't put us on the front page. I get that the local talk shows and TV stations really don't care about us and our geared toward pro sports talk usually, but the biggest newspaper in the area relegates us to page 6 with a little column on the game is just pathetic.

My freaking copy of the DMN had nothing but the halftime score on page 6. The lateness of the game hurt us in that regard.

kingwoodgreen · October 18, 2012

One year removed from our game with the Hoosiers; this year they lost to mich state by 4 and last week to Ohio state by 3. They are not a horrible team.

Travis Scott · October 18, 2012

I think the ULL game is the biggest so far. Indiana's win was really awesome for all the reasons mentioned. I just feel that given where we are this year, this being a conference game (so it actually counts in the title chase), the TV exposure/hype, and how the team came back to win after the losses to Houston and Troy speak volumes.