Move to Big East Likelihood for Tulsa

[Harry]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/TU/article.aspx?subjectid=94&articleid=20130120_94_B1_CUTLIN401120

[CurveItAround]

The ODU addition to conference play in 2014 makes sense. If Tulsa leaves, their replacement can start in 2015 to coincide with Charlotte football.

[UNTflyer]

[shaft]

"TU ranked 10th in Conference USA home attendance. The average of 20,020 was Tulsa's lowest since 2004."

Moving to CUSA isn't going to help those attendance numbers. Those are Tulsa's numbers now with them playing the likes of SMU, Houston, Tulane, and Memphis. Going to the Big East means adding an every other year game against UCF which is going to do nothing for Tulsa's attendence.

Staying in CUSA means replacing SMU with UNT's larger student populations (and hopefully larger fanbase), replacing Tulane with much closer LA Tech.

I get that the tv revenue will probably be double, but the the question is how to you weigh that versus butts in seats?

[LakeTravis]

I just want to beat Tulsa.

My first game as a student was the drubbing we got from Tulsa in 2008.

If we can beat Tulsa, the defending Confrence USA Champ, that would be insane!

[outoftown]

"TU ranked 10th in Conference USA home attendance. The average of 20,020 was Tulsa's lowest since 2004."

Moving to CUSA isn't going to help those attendance numbers. Those are Tulsa's numbers now with them playing the likes of SMU, Houston, Tulane, and Memphis. Going to the Big East means adding an every other year game against UCF which is going to do nothing for Tulsa's attendence.

Staying in CUSA means replacing SMU with UNT's larger student populations (and hopefully larger fanbase), replacing Tulane with much closer LA Tech.

I get that the tv revenue will probably be double, but the the question is how to you weigh that versus butts in seats?

I am not actually even sure TV money is gonna be double... the big east is in serious trouble in the negotiations. New members want to know what the amount is before joining, but ESPN et al want to know who is gonna be the membership before agreeing to a number. and time is running out. If I were ESPN I would either go with an amount much lower than 4 milion per team/year or I wanted some good outs if more teams leave...which breads again uncertainty that prospective members don't like.

[Arkstfan]

Steve Roberts first win at Arkansas State was over Tulsa. Friend said he heard a couple Tulsa boosters at the airport after the game making calls to get the money raised to fire Keith Burns.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I just want to beat Tulsa.

My first game as a student was the drubbing we got from Tulsa in 2008.

If we can beat Tulsa, the defending Confrence USA Champ, that would be insane!

Shhhhhh and not too loud with this...........but the last time North Texas beat Tulsa, circa 1968, I was a senior in high school down in the greater Houston area. The game was actually

an ABC-TV regional game which was quite a feat for the Mean Green since the SWC pretty well had a corner of the market with most all regionally televised football games here in the Southwest.

GMG!.

Edited January 21, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[drex]

The ole Plum's memory is bad. We last beat Tulsa in '70 or '71 when Cedric Hardman completely devoured their quarterback...this got Cedric a first round draft choice by San Francisco. I think we also destroyed them in '67 when I was in school.

[Huff]

Our record vs Tulsa is a dismal 6-17-0. We last beat them in November of 1969 (drex and Plumm were both close) in Denton by a score of 42-16. Hayden Fry lost to them in 1973 and 1974 and was smart enough to get them off the schedule. The Golden Hurricane has won the last ten games in the series. If they do go to The Big East I would suggest dropping them like a hot rock from our schedules.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Huff

[PlummMeanGreen]

Our record vs Tulsa is a dismal 6-17-0. We last beat them in November of 1969 (drex and Plumm were both close) in Denton by a score of 42-16. Hayden Fry lost to them in 1973 and 1974 and was smart enough to get them off the schedule. The Golden Hurricane has won the last ten games in the series. If they do go to The Big East I would suggest dropping them like a hot rock from our schedules.

Huff, lately I've been so close on many things but still so far away.

Yet do you recall that game was an ABC TV game because I know one of the NT/Tulsa games during Mean Joe's era was televised on Houston's

KTRK Channel 13 affiliate.

Tulsa has truly owned us like no other but I would have liked to have seen what a North Texas with one of the best darn NCAA FBS stadiums around and being in the

same league with them (again) might have done for our chances. Why Tulsa has not done just a little bit more to achieve being a Top 10 program thru the years is beyond me because it seems they could have easily duplicated what Boise did.

My late dad and I sat on the shores of Bastrop Bayou fishing one Saturday listening to Gene Elston call the game when UH beat Tulsa 100 to something. Singer Larry Gatlin (3'rd or 4'th team) even got to play in that game for the Coogs.

GMG!

Edited January 21, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[Rudy]

Freeze me in carbonite and thaw me out when this crap is over.

[ragpicker]

I remember beating Tulsa in 1967 by a big score, but some of the luster of that victory was tarnished when Houston beat them by 100 points or so that same year. I believe that Dr Phil might have been on that Tulasa team.

[GrayEagle]

One of my all-time favorite memories was the second time that we beat them. After edging them in 1957 we played them the next year in Denton. Scoreless at the half, Tulsa scored and kicked the extra point. They held that lead until late in the game when we finally scored. We put two linemen flanked out right near the sideline with Abner Haynes a few yards behind them. Vernon Cole took the snap and immediately threw to Abner who followed the blockers into the end zone for a 2-point conversion and we held on to win 8-7. It was in the first or second year of the two-point conversion as I recall.

I hope that Tulsa remains in CUSA. They are the premier overall program and the second best football program behind Southern Miss. With those two as anchors we should be able to build back in a rather short time frame the losses of SMU, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, and East Carolina. Houston will be the hardest to replace but that can be done as well. Without Tulsa the prestige of the conference falls much further and the task becomes harder. As long as Tulsa is in the conference I wouldn't think about going to another conference but if they leave I'm no longer interested in playing them annually and ready to consider another league.

[Greenrex]

One of my all-time favorite memories was the second time that we beat them. After edging them in 1957 we played them the next year in Denton. Scoreless at the half, Tulsa scored and kicked the extra point. They held that lead until late in the game when we finally scored. We put two linemen flanked out right near the sideline with Abner Haynes a few yards behind them. Vernon Cole took the snap and immediately threw to Abner who followed the blockers into the end zone for a 2-point conversion and we held on to win 8-7. It was in the first or second year of the two-point conversion as I recall.

I hope that Tulsa remains in CUSA. They are the premier overall program and the second best football program behind Southern Miss. With those two as anchors we should be able to build back in a rather short time frame the losses of SMU, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, and East Carolina. Houston will be the hardest to replace but that can be done as well. Without Tulsa the prestige of the conference falls much further and the task becomes harder. As long as Tulsa is in the conference I wouldn't think about going to another conference but if they leave I'm no longer interested in playing them annually and ready to consider another league.

I hope Tulsa stays as well but, I fully expect that not to happen. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

[SilverEagle]

One of my all-time favorite memories was the second time that we beat them. After edging them in 1957 we played them the next year in Denton. Scoreless at the half, Tulsa scored and kicked the extra point. They held that lead until late in the game when we finally scored. We put two linemen flanked out right near the sideline with Abner Haynes a few yards behind them. Vernon Cole took the snap and immediately threw to Abner who followed the blockers into the end zone for a 2-point conversion and we held on to win 8-7. It was in the first or second year of the two-point conversion as I recall.

I hope that Tulsa remains in CUSA. They are the premier overall program and the second best football program behind Southern Miss. With those two as anchors we should be able to build back in a rather short time frame the losses of SMU, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, and East Carolina. Houston will be the hardest to replace but that can be done as well. Without Tulsa the prestige of the conference falls much further and the task becomes harder. As long as Tulsa is in the conference I wouldn't think about going to another conference but if they leave I'm no longer interested in playing them annually and ready to consider another league.

....and here is the game story, and pictures, from the 1959 Yucca.

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth61028/m1/153/?q=tulsa