UNT HoD Thoughts

[untjim1995]

1.) UNT earning this bowl bid in this game is the best opportunity UNT has had in decades--since Fry roamed the sidelines. To play in the Cotton Bowl on New Years Day, no matter the opponent, especially while SMU and TCU are at home, is found gold. Best thing that we can do is win this game, preferably in a big way. That said, I think this will be a close game. Obviously, we haven't played well after a break, so I worry that UNLV may have a big advantage here, maybe even one that means that the difference in winning and losing this game.

2.) UNLV, while a recognizable name because of basketball, won't bring many fans, nor will it make many Metroplex residents shake off their NYE hangovers to go to Fair Park that NYD morning. Reported attendance will probably be around 30k, which will make us look like nobody showed up in the cavernous Cotton Bowl. This will lead to attendance getting overblown by the local SWC media--they'll use it as more propagnada that we don't belong in FBS and that surely SMU or TCU would've brought a bigger crowd. That will be a load of $hit...TCUor SMU wouldn't bring anyone to this game in any bigger number than this for UNLV. Our friends in FW like to talk about the number of Frogs that were in Pasadena or in Tempe a few years ago, but those were BCS bowl games. Any venture as to how those stadiums of the Poinsettia Bowl looked when TCU made it? Empty. Guess who would have giant numbers if they got to go to one of those games? Almost everyone, including us. SMU doesn't even deserve to be included in an attendance thread, so I won't even waste my time with them.

3.) Dan McCarney has done everything that we asked him to do--rebuild us up from being a laughing stock, make us more repsonsible in the classroom and on the field (no more stupid penalties), and turn us into a winner by Year 3 of his tenure. He deserves a nice extension and raise. He may be vanilla with his gameplan, but he is showing us that it works when he has the right pieces in place that have been developed in his system. And right now, he looks like a huge value compared to June Jones. And if Gary Patterson continues to make TCU look like they made a mistake in moving up to the Big XII by not being able to win against that higher level of competition, Mac will look like an even bigger value to us.

4.) Enjoy the game on TV, Ponies and Frogs!!