A New Era, A New Rival

[Rudy]

I lived in the Metroplex for several years, and never met one.

They're out there, just have to find the right taco bell.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Haven't the Big Boys already showed some of us how important a rivalry is? UT versus TAMU? soon>>> SMU versus TCU? Can you name 1 or 2 other rivalries that have cooled off or may soon not even exist?

Our winning cycle is over-due and when Coach Mac turns this thing around (as we expect) every damn school in CUSA will soon be gunning for North Texas which begs the question: How many rivalries will we be allowed to have then? Will there then be a quota or maximum?

Some of our new conference mates know we have a history in NCAA D1 that they can't come close to or match and I assure you....some of them who have seen our top shelf venues, complete Denton campus and metropolitan area package probably have the ability to discern that we are on our way back. Many of that group are so-oooo trying to ignore us now with all this rivalry talk, but even they know they won't be able to do that much longer.

_________________________________________________________

There are other NCAA FBS level schools with more impressive histories than this, but not so many in the new CUSA. NOTE: Many of our "almost" wins over some Big Boys (and yes, UT, 1988, too) would have really made some of these wins below look even more impressive, of course.

Addendum: Not listed in the list below are wins over CUSA members who will remain as CUSA members or Sun Belt Conference schools, too; of which we've had even a few more impressive or key wins with schools form both of those 2 conferences along with some SBC wins that vaulted us to 4 New Orleans Bowl games last decade.

Addendum II: Nevermind past bitch'n sessions, gripes and the usual alumnus concerns from many of us BUT....IF YOU CANNOT GET EXCITED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN FOOTBALL THEN YOU MAY WANT TO CHECK YOURSELF TO SEE IF YOU ARE AMONG THE WALKING DEAD.

1947/10/04 North Texas 20 - Florida 12 W
1954/11/13 North Texas 20 - Arizona St 13 W

* Many Power 5 schools including a few from the Southwest, Deep South and Southwest Conference would drop UNT from their future schedules after we integrated with African Americans, ie, the great Abner Haynes and (now Dr.) Leon King.

1958/10/18 North Texas 12 - BYU 6 W
1959....Lost in the Sun Bowl
1961/09/30 North Texas 41 - BYU 30 W

__________________________________________________________________
North Texas was a member of the NCAA Division 1 Missouri Valley Conference during the 1960's along with U of Houston, Cincinatti, Memphis, Louisville, Tulsa, among others...

__________________________________________________________________

1973/10/13 North Texas 7 - Louisville 6 W (All time...UNT: 10 W's UL 7 W's)
1974/11/02 North Texas 14 - San Diego St 9 W (Aztecs were ranked #19)
1975/10/11 North Texas 28 - Houston 0 W (the year before UH joined SWC)
1975/10/25 North Texas 21 - Tennessee 14 W (TN was a decent 7 & 5 team in '75)
1978/09/30 North Texas 12 - Oklahoma St 7 W

1979/10/18 North Texas 29 - Memphis 10 W (Memphis still very much owns this series)!

1985/09/28 North Texas 22 - Kansas St 10 W

*4 Yrs. later Coach Bill Snyder (from the Hayden Fry Coach's Tree) would arrive in Manhatten, KS, and (still) operating at the NCAA 1-AA classification North Texas would be his first & only win in 1989 with their last minute drive for a TD which won it for the Wildcats....the rest of his career is NCAA college football history for a program that had been down for well over half a century! I repeat: Well over half a century.

1986/10/18 North Texas 24 - TCU 20 W (While we were playing at the NCAA D1-AA level--I suppose that is why they scheduled us, right)?

1995/09/16 North Texas 30 - Oregon St 27 W (one heckuva' football game at Fouts Field)
1999/10/16 North Texas 17 - Boise St 10 W (All time......UNT 3 W's....BSU 2 W's
1999/09/18 North Texas 21 - Texas Tech 14 W (All time.......UNT 4 W's....TTU....4 W's

2002/12/17 North Texas 24 - Cincinnati 17 W (New Orleans Bowl..UC was CUSA champ)

2003/09/06 North Texas 52 - Baylor 14 W
2006/09/09 North Texas 24 - SMU 6 W (A 14 game H & H begins in 2014)
2011/09/24 North Texas 24 - Indiana 21 W

Edited July 7, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[MeanGreenHoops]

You get rival by at least but two but preferably all 3 of these things happening.

1. Schools are in close proximity to each other.
2. Play games that matter for championships
3. The series is not lopsided.

Sadly we don't have any of these with any team. Any of the teams that usually come up don't meet all 3 and most not even 2 (MTSU, SMU, NMSU). This is due to us mainly never consistently playing for #2, and also being in conferences that didn't contain #1.

The opportunity for all 3 to happen is now available to us in CUSA. I agree La. Tech is the most likely. If we can make #2 happen.

[UNT90]

They're out there, just have to find the right taco bell.

Or KFC...

[NM Green]

When we start beating down the dirty birds in south texas, chowing on some rice and booting the bulldogs back to Ruston with an L we will have plenty of venom coming our way. And a rivalry will be born. I see UTEP and La Tech forming first due to the large alumni bases and fans they will bring to Apogee. I am confident you will see a lot of Green in Ruston and on the Riverwalk too.

GMG

[Marty]

I have ten people flying in for the UTEP game. We have to beat them. I will be heckled to death if we lose. That being said, I am far more excited about UTSA being a good conference mate being in SA. Especially since we will continue to own the Tep.

I have a friend whose son plays for UTEP. He wouldn't even give NT a sniff coming out of high school. I would love for us to put a beat down on the Miners!

[GrayEagle]

If I could find the clever little twinkie that came up with the term "Metroplex", I would nail him to a wall, peel his skin off in one inch strips and feed them to the fishes. God, I hate that term.

I don't know why you would hate that term but the only thing that I have against it is that it's generic. I would have preferred the term "MetroTex". At least, I would know that they are talking about a metro area in Texas.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I have a friend whose son plays for UTEP. He wouldn't even give NT a sniff coming out of high school. I would love for us to put a beat down on the Miners!

Wonder what it was?

Perhaps the approx. 30,000 co-eds that go to both universities (combined) in Denton was just too much of an over-powering thought for him to endure? Doesn't that come out to about 30 girls to every one male student up in Mean Green Country now?

Seriously, our all time W/L series with UTEP suggests that we have had more sniffers come our way than not. Hey! No school is going to be everyone's cup of green tea for certain.

Also...........maybe for those who won't play in the NFL the over 200,000 UNT alums in the DFW MetroTex (I like that idea, GrayEagle) might sound like there may be some jobs available in our area upon their graduation and even possibly working for a UNT alum to boot? There comes a time when we of North Texas are going to just have to allow our enormous numbers and constituency to be an asset and work for our advantage. Matter of fact, I think all our ducks are in a row now for that to happen quite soon.

GMG!

Edited July 7, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[C Vo]

My next door neighbor is a UTEP grad. We have to beat them in all sports.

[Rudy]

We were on the verge of a good rivalry with the Muts, but the series became lopsided. NMSU was brewing, but they backed out of the conference. I think a rivalry will brew with UTSA due to our feelings about their not paying dues, and their feeling of superiority towards us.

[DallasGreen]

We have a rival that meets the criteria if you count games played post Doak Walker era. They are known as Southern Money University---- Methodism is far removed from their athletics. A 2014 series opens a string of games that should be more important for recognition than any CUSA game we will ever play. My fear is that players and coaches will underestimate the importance of each game in the SMU series.

[JesseMartin]

We were on the verge of a good rivalry with the Muts, but the series became lopsided. NMSU was brewing, but they backed out of the conference. I think a rivalry will brew with UTSA due to our feelings about their not paying dues, and their feeling of superiority towards us.

Hell, I think it's even simpler than that. Two of the coolest areas in America that happen to be within driving distance will be a great draw, especially since we each have a bunch of alums near each other's respective schools and cities.

[Stix]

I don't know why you would hate that term but the only thing that I have against it is that it's generic. I would have preferred the term "MetroTex". At least, I would know that they are talking about a metro area in Texas.

No "Metro-Tex", thank you. It's too close to Disco-Tex.

[CMJ]

I know they're not always correct (though they often are), but wikipedia has a pretty decent explanation behind the term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas%E2%80%93Fort_Worth_metroplex#Origin_of_the_term

[untjim1995]

We have a rival that meets the criteria if you count games played post Doak Walker era. They are known as Southern Money University---- Methodism is far removed from their athletics. A 2014 series opens a string of games that should be more important for recognition than any CUSA game we will ever play. My fear is that players and coaches will underestimate the importance of each game in the SMU series.

I agree on the SMU thing, but only if it turns into a competitive series or we just thump them while they stay a rung above us on the conference ladder chain. If SMU runs a truck over us in that series, we will be permanently buried in ever getting any DFW media or fans attention.

I don't think anyone on the football team or on the staff will underestimate the importance of those games. But it may not matter if we don't have the talent to compete with them. The people at North Texas who won't take this too serious, unfortunately, are the folks on the BOR or in the administration building. And as we all know, there's absolutely nothing you can do about that as a fan.

[UNTFan23]

They're out there, just have to find the right taco bell.

[greenminer]

The new CUSA lineup is strange to me. In many ways, I'll miss the Belt even though we struggled as a program at the end of our tenure.

Games with NMSU and MTUS always had extra meaning to them. Some incredible players shared the field when we played. I never did get to experience a Sun Belt basketball tournament as a non-Band member fan. I am going to regret not making it to Lafayette for one of the football roadtrips.

I can understand the appeal to CUSA. There is legit TV exposure compared to our Sun Belt experience. The programs may not be juggernauts right now, but the potential for media marketing can't be dismissed.

We need to get our act together in Denton and start making title runs soon. If not now, then 2013 still needs to see at least 7 wins. Just my opinion. If that happens, we put ourselves in the mix for upper tier in the conference, where people know we want to be taken seriously and the foundations for rivalries and sustained success in this next era can be laid.

We are already on past the Sun Belt exit door, but let me use this post to tip my hat to some of the programs we are leaving behind. Maybe one day an OOC series with them can materialize in favor of the Idaho and Ball States of the CFB world.

[NM Green]

Yes indeed. I enjoyed some of those great games with Arkie State from the Southland days through the SBC. LaLa was a nice rivalry and road trip too. Never say never though. Just when you thought you had seen the last of the red blob or gotten a bit bummed about beating down a blue raider, Lee Corso reared his head, "Not so fast my friend."

I am excited and eager to crush San Antonio, eat Mexican food and shop on the border, roadie to Ruston for a conference tilt and travel to Houston often for fball and bball games.

Fun times ahead Mean Green Nation!!!!!

GMG

[SilverEagle]

The new CUSA lineup is strange to me. In many ways, I'll miss the Belt even though we struggled as a program at the end of our tenure.

Games with NMSU and MTUS always had extra meaning to them. Some incredible players shared the field when we played. I never did get to experience a Sun Belt basketball tournament as a non-Band member fan. I am going to regret not making it to Lafayette for one of the football roadtrips.

I can understand the appeal to CUSA. There is legit TV exposure compared to our Sun Belt experience. The programs may not be juggernauts right now, but the potential for media marketing can't be dismissed.

We need to get our act together in Denton and start making title runs soon. If not now, then 2013 still needs to see at least 7 wins. Just my opinion. If that happens, we put ourselves in the mix for upper tier in the conference, where people know we want to be taken seriously and the foundations for rivalries and sustained success in this next era can be laid.

We are already on past the Sun Belt exit door, but let me use this post to tip my hat to some of the programs we are leaving behind. Maybe one day an OOC series with them can materialize in favor of the Idaho and Ball States of the CFB world.

LaLa......great food, great fans, great tailgating.

[ragpicker]

No "Metro-Tex", thank you. It's too close to Disco-Tex.

[/quote Good ideas guys, but now you have me metroperplexed.

[ragpicker]

Haven't the Big Boys already showed some of us how important a rivalry is? UT versus TAMU? soon>>> SMU versus TCU? Can you name 1 or 2 other rivalries that have cooled off or may soon not even exist?

Our winning cycle is over-due and when Coach Mac turns this thing around (as we expect) every damn school in CUSA will soon be gunning for North Texas which begs the question: How many rivalries will we be allowed to have then? Will there then be a quota or maximum?

Some of our new conference mates know we have a history in NCAA D1 that they can't come close to or match and I assure you....some of them who have seen our top shelf venues, complete Denton campus and metropolitan area package probably have the ability to discern that we are on our way back. Many of that group are so-oooo trying to ignore us now with all this rivalry talk, but even they know they won't be able to do that much longer. These are good historical facts for Mean Green fans to know. I might add that in i936 we lost by six points to SMU who had been to the Rose Bowl on New Years Day that year. Did Cougar High even exist back then? I suppose so - but barely.

_________________________________________________________

There are other NCAA FBS level schools with more impressive histories than this, but not so many in the new CUSA. NOTE: Many of our "almost" wins over some Big Boys (and yes, UT, 1988, too) would have really made some of these wins below look even more impressive, of course.

Addendum: Not listed in the list below are wins over CUSA members who will remain as CUSA members or Sun Belt Conference schools, too; of which we've had even a few more impressive or key wins with schools form both of those 2 conferences along with some SBC wins that vaulted us to 4 New Orleans Bowl games last decade.

Addendum II: Nevermind past bitch'n sessions, gripes and the usual alumnus concerns from many of us BUT....IF YOU CANNOT GET EXCITED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN FOOTBALL THEN YOU MAY WANT TO CHECK YOURSELF TO SEE IF YOU ARE AMONG THE WALKING DEAD.

1947/10/04 North Texas 20 - Florida 12 W

1954/11/13 North Texas 20 - Arizona St 13 W

* Many Power 5 schools including a few from the Southwest, Deep South and Southwest Conference would drop UNT from their future schedules after we integrated with African Americans, ie, the great Abner Haynes and (now Dr.) Leon King.

1958/10/18 North Texas 12 - BYU 6 W

1959....Lost in the Sun Bowl

1961/09/30 North Texas 41 - BYU 30 W

__________________________________________________________________

North Texas was a member of the NCAA Division 1 Missouri Valley Conference during the 1960's along with U of Houston, Cincinatti, Memphis, Louisville, Tulsa, among others...

__________________________________________________________________

1973/10/13 North Texas 7 - Louisville 6 W (All time...UNT: 10 W's UL 7 W's)

1974/11/02 North Texas 14 - San Diego St 9 W (Aztecs were ranked #19)

1975/10/11 North Texas 28 - Houston 0 W (the year before UH joined SWC)

1975/10/25 North Texas 21 - Tennessee 14 W (TN was a decent 7 & 5 team in '75)

1978/09/30 North Texas 12 - Oklahoma St 7 W

1979/10/18 North Texas 29 - Memphis 10 W (Memphis still very much owns this series)!

1985/09/28 North Texas 22 - Kansas St 10 W

*4 Yrs. later Coach Bill Snyder (from the Hayden Fry Coach's Tree) would arrive in Manhatten, KS, and (still) operating at the NCAA 1-AA classification North Texas would be his first & only win in 1989 with their last minute drive for a TD which won it for the Wildcats....the rest of his career is NCAA college football history for a program that had been down for well over half a century! I repeat: Well over half a century.

1986/10/18 North Texas 24 - TCU 20 W (While we were playing at the NCAA D1-AA level--I suppose that is why they scheduled us, right)?

1995/09/16 North Texas 30 - Oregon St 27 W (one heckuva' football game at Fouts Field)

1999/10/16 North Texas 17 - Boise St 10 W (All time......UNT 3 W's....BSU 2 W's

1999/09/18 North Texas 21 - Texas Tech 14 W (All time.......UNT 4 W's....TTU....4 W's

2002/12/17 North Texas 24 - Cincinnati 17 W (New Orleans Bowl..UC was CUSA champ)

2003/09/06 North Texas 52 - Baylor 14 W

2006/09/09 North Texas 24 - SMU 6 W (A 14 game H & H begins in 2014)

2011/09/24 North Texas 24 - Indiana 21 W