Gosselin: Why UNT-Texas in Week 1 will be closer than you expect

[Harry]

Question: There's some scuttlebutt that North Texas is going to beat Texas in their first game of the football season. What say you? Also, how disastrous would that be for Charlie Strong?

Gosselin: I doubt that's the scuttlebutt in Austin. Maybe in Denton. I'll be attending and columnizing from that game, by the way. I think North Texas will be competitive with Texas. We saw how competitive the Mean Green could be a year ago at Georgia. But the schools from the power conferences tend to wear down the smaller schools with their depth in the second half of games. Texas has better players than North Texas, and the better players win most games. But Dan McCarney has it up and running at North Texas. Charlie Strong is trying to get the program up and running again at Texas. A loss to North Texas would rankle the Orangebloods to no end. But I'll go with the Longhorns in a closer-than-you'd-expect game.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/headlines/20140811-gosselin-why-unt-texas-in-week-1-will-be-closer-than-you-expect.ece

[Side Show Joe]

If you read down to the end of the chat, Gosselin states he will be at UNT this week to write a story for his campus tour series. Have to keep an eye out for that article.

[Ben Gooding]

We will see. GMG

[DeepGreen]

If you read down to the end of the chat, Gosselin states he will be at UNT this week to write a story for his campus tour series. Have to keep an eye out for that article.

Good. Maybe he'll retract his "smaller" school statement. I get sick of hearing that word to describe UNT.

[Ben Gooding]

Good. Maybe he'll retract his "smaller" school statement. I get sick of hearing that word to describe UNT.

No kidding. Small revenue conference doesn't mean small school.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Good. Maybe he'll retract his "smaller" school statement. I get sick of hearing that word to describe UNT.

Compared to UT, UNT is a "smaller" school.

[UNT 90 Grad]

Compared to UT, UNT is a "smaller" school.

He was comparing power conference schools against smaller schools and trying to apply that to the context of his article. UNT is not smaller than most power conference schools, though obviously smaller than UT.

[pastorgrant]

He was comparing power conference schools against smaller schools and trying to apply that to the context of his article. UNT is not smaller than most power conference schools, though obviously smaller than UT.

IIRC UNT would be the second biggest school in the Big XII.

[greenjoe]

Compared to the University of Texsa, the Dallas Cowboys are a "small school."

Beat Texsa

GO MEAN GREEN

[aztecskin]

We are smaller in prestige, clout, endowment, football history, donations, popularity, revenue and so on.


We have a lot of students though.

I see no problem with him identifying the obvious differences between our schools with a world like 'smaller'

[TheWestie]

IIRC UNT would be the second biggest school in the Big XII.

I didn't believe that until I looked it up and I'm shocked. Since A&M bolted to the SEC there's nobody else even close to Texas in student body size. I hadn't realized not only that we are bigger than all the other BIG12 schools, but how much bigger we are than most of them.

Then that just made me depressed.

[pastorgrant]

I didn't believe that until I looked it up and I'm shocked. Since A&M bolted to the SEC there's nobody else even close to Texas in student body size. I hadn't realized not only that we are bigger than all the other BIG12 schools, but how much bigger we are than most of them.

Then that just made me depressed.

Sorry about that

[Jason Howeth]

I really don't understand the problem with bloggers using the word "small" or "smaller." Is it really a big deal that the world know we're not actually a small school? Should we be perceived any higher or greater because we're not a small school? Hell, take a look at UTSA with it's 30,000 students. I don't hear it's students or alumni complaining about being considered "small," they're just doing something about it.

The less we accentuate a blogger's use of the term, the less they use it themselves. But even still, it's justified in a lot of ways at the moment, so just let it go.

[untjim1995]

I didn't believe that until I looked it up and I'm shocked. Since A&M bolted to the SEC there's nobody else even close to Texas in student body size. I hadn't realized not only that we are bigger than all the other BIG12 schools, but how much bigger we are than most of them.

Then that just made me depressed.

UH would be second biggest, as well. As for the depressing part, really, at worst, we should be on par with UH for athletic standing, with our enrollment, location, program existence, and academic standing in the DFW area. But we didn't even try funding athletics for so long, it got us today where we are on equal footing (right now) with UTSA. It could be worse, though, when you think about the UH comparison. Here at North Texas, we have never even seen the Promised Land of being in a Big Time Conference, so you can't really miss what you've never been allowed to have. Not so at UH. It is a cautionary tale of what UTSA probably will deal with in the current environment of college football, since the ceiling for their program pretty much got dropped on them, just as it has for the rest of the majority of the G5. It will be interesting if that sways their planning for expenses on the program going forward or if they will keep putting resources toward athletics. I suppose the same will apply to us, as well.

I do feel sorry for a school like Houston. They got into the SWC Club in the 70s and won the conference several times--more than TCU, Baylor, SMU, and Rice combined between their admittance and the end of the conference. At one point, in the early 90s, with the SWC dying a slow death after Arky left for the SEC, UT made it clear that they were fixated with the Pac-10, so they weren't gonna follow the Hogs to the SEC. Plan B for the SEC was to entice Texas A&M and Houston to the SEC, but the Texas Legislature blocked it, saying they wanted the Aggies and Longhorns to remain together. Then, just a few years later, without even a hint of remorse, Houston finds itself left behind by the Texas Big XII evacuees. UH ends up in a new conference called CUSA, but it never ever comes close to getting in an AQ league, even with some decent teams over the last two decades. Now, they sit at the same table as the rest of us G5 nobodies. IMagine how hard it must be to be a long time UH alum or fan, who watched Bill Yeoman's teams and Jack Pardee's teams win big in the SWC still get abandoned, then get Art Briles and Kevin Sumlin to come coach there, only to see them both leave for old SWC mates who have become the two "it" programs in the state. Now, they find out that they will be left behind with the new autonomy of the P5. That was a lot of money and effort that ended up being for naught, but not because of their doing, but because of Texas political sway of the time.

On the other side, you have TCU, who took the SWC kick to the nuts and decided to just rebuild the program up from the ashes by paying big dollars (at the time) to get Dennis Franchione to Ft. Worth and by getting the residents of FW to buy in on their hometown team. They start winning in the WAC, leave for CUSA and still keep winning, then leave for the MWC and keep winning, all the while leaving their old SWC castaways behind as much as possible. They catch lightning in a bottle in 2010, win the Rose Bowl, and finish #2 in the polls, which leads to the Big XII invite when A&M bolts, since the other non-texas teams want more exposure in The Lone Star State and can get TCU for cheap. Now, because they caught lightning in a bottle for a little over a decade, they get their seat in a P5 league, and now go back to what appears to be the dregs of the big boy conference they are a part of, just as it was from about 1960 to 1997 in Ft. Worth. Basically, money talked and helped TCU make their luck, which they almost miraculously have turned into a Golden Goose--at least until or if the Big XII dies off. I figure that this will happen before the next decade, and they will just give the league the Big East treatment and permanently drop them out of the P5 club. But if that never happens, TCU will truly be the biggest winner in college realignment. For a small school in a metro area full of Longhorns, Red Raiders, Sooners, and Cowboys, they beat the odds and somehow made it in the club--its almost as if they snuck in the backdoor, disguised at wait staff, but pulled off the coat to show their tux and everyone at the party just acted like they were invited the whole time. Lucky Bastards...

[TheWestie]

I think a lot of the small school talk is misunderstood by most people. Small school doesn't mean 30,000 students Vs 11,000 students. It means $$$$$ Vs $$.

P5 people talk about the world like they're part of a country club that you can't even see from the road because they had a fence built to keep out the commoners and only other P5 people can get in. It doesn't matter that the clubhouse was designed by an architect from Rice, the course itself was designed by a UNT alum, or that the clubs they play with were designed and built by a Houston guy. Doesn't matter.

Longhorn and Aggie are just gonna play their rounds and not care. Sooner is coming next time and that's ok because he's the Longhorn of Oklahoma. Oh and maybe next time we'll talk about bringing SMU dude along for a little while. He did used to tag along years and years ago until we got tired of his crap. He is always offering to buy for everyone afterwards in the clubhouse. We'll just talk about it so he sucks up to us but we'll never really invite him.

[pastorgrant]

UH would be second biggest, as well. As for the depressing part, really, at worst, we should be on par with UH for athletic standing, with our enrollment, location, program existence, and academic standing in the DFW area. But we didn't even try funding athletics for so long, it got us today where we are on equal footing (right now) with UTSA. It could be worse, though, when you think about the UH comparison. Here at North Texas, we have never even seen the Promised Land of being in a Big Time Conference, so you can't really miss what you've never been allowed to have. Not so at UH. It is a cautionary tale of what UTSA probably will deal with in the current environment of college football, since the ceiling for their program pretty much got dropped on them, just as it has for the rest of the majority of the G5. It will be interesting if that sways their planning for expenses on the program going forward or if they will keep putting resources toward athletics. I suppose the same will apply to us, as well.

I do feel sorry for a school like Houston. They got into the SWC Club in the 70s and won the conference several times--more than TCU, Baylor, SMU, and Rice combined between their admittance and the end of the conference. At one point, in the early 90s, with the SWC dying a slow death after Arky left for the SEC, UT made it clear that they were fixated with the Pac-10, so they weren't gonna follow the Hogs to the SEC. Plan B for the SEC was to entice Texas A&M and Houston to the SEC, but the Texas Legislature blocked it, saying they wanted the Aggies and Longhorns to remain together. Then, just a few years later, without even a hint of remorse, Houston finds itself left behind by the Texas Big XII evacuees. UH ends up in a new conference called CUSA, but it never ever comes close to getting in an AQ league, even with some decent teams over the last two decades. Now, they sit at the same table as the rest of us G5 nobodies. IMagine how hard it must be to be a long time UH alum or fan, who watched Bill Yeoman's teams and Jack Pardee's teams win big in the SWC still get abandoned, then get Art Briles and Kevin Sumlin to come coach there, only to see them both leave for old SWC mates who have become the two "it" programs in the state. Now, they find out that they will be left behind with the new autonomy of the P5. That was a lot of money and effort that ended up being for naught, but not because of their doing, but because of Texas political sway of the time.

On the other side, you have TCU, who took the SWC kick to the nuts and decided to just rebuild the program up from the ashes by paying big dollars (at the time) to get Dennis Franchione to Ft. Worth and by getting the residents of FW to buy in on their hometown team. They start winning in the WAC, leave for CUSA and still keep winning, then leave for the MWC and keep winning, all the while leaving their old SWC castaways behind as much as possible. They catch lightning in a bottle in 2010, win the Rose Bowl, and finish #2 in the polls, which leads to the Big XII invite when A&M bolts, since the other non-texas teams want more exposure in The Lone Star State and can get TCU for cheap. Now, because they caught lightning in a bottle for a little over a decade, they get their seat in a P5 league, and now go back to what appears to be the dregs of the big boy conference they are a part of, just as it was from about 1960 to 1997 in Ft. Worth. Basically, money talked and helped TCU make their luck, which they almost miraculously have turned into a Golden Goose--at least until or if the Big XII dies off. I figure that this will happen before the next decade, and they will just give the league the Big East treatment and permanently drop them out of the P5 club. But if that never happens, TCU will truly be the biggest winner in college realignment. For a small school in a metro area full of Longhorns, Red Raiders, Sooners, and Cowboys, they beat the odds and somehow made it in the club--its almost as if they snuck in the backdoor, disguised at wait staff, but pulled off the coat to show their tux and everyone at the party just acted like they were invited the whole time. Lucky Bastards...

Plumm?