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Unfortunately, I believe that we will set the record for the lowest attendance for a football game at Apogee Stadium.

What makes you think that someone is knocking on SMU's door then? Since getting the DP and dumped from the SWC, what have they done?

Gagreed, me and my friends frequently take advantage of the Stars student ticket pricing which before this year meant we had to drive to get to the AAC. And since we are broke college students we had to park roughly half a mile away. We would then make the half mile walk to the north ticket box to pick up our $10 student tickets and Chipotle free burrito card, then we walk the nearly mile long walk to the Chipotle in the West End to eat our free burritos so we don't have to pay for overpriced concessions. Finally, we walk the nearly mile long walk back to the AAC resulting in just under 2 and a half miles walked, not including the half mile walk back to our car after the game, and we have a great time everytime. Point is that people are lazy these days and think walking is the worst thing ever, which is one reason why Americans are so fat.

Step 1) Punch an Aggie. Step 2) Take a deep breath. Step 3) Realize that our plot in the grand scheme of college football is not changing. We are already an outsider. Schools like Baylor, Iowa St, etc are about to join us. - After all of the dust settles, what really changes is that there are fewer big money schools, and more on the outside looking in. I can't see the 4 conferences breaking off into a new division. I just think they are going to end up renegotiating their TV contracts and making more money. Maybe they rewrite the BCS rules a bit and now allow the 4 new superconferences 2 auto-bids, instead of one. That still leaves 2 open for non-AQ conferences. Maybe this leads to playoffs down the road, but right off the bat? Not likely. I'm going to treat the rumor of these conferences "breaking off into a new division" as pure rumor being floated by the schools most likely to be harmed in all of this shuffling (Baylor, etc) until proven otherwise. - We have, before us, the same challenges that we had before all this started...but we have a new stadium, the most glorious tailgating grounds in the state, a committment to a quality coaching staff and athletic department. I still think we're on the uptick. Unless our administration suddenly pulls a 180, we're going to be fine....and in 5 years, we'll be better off than we are now. Mark it down.

I only got to hear about half of it, and I have a lousy memory . . . But I'll try to give you a few tidbits. - Someone asked him about using McNulty at the goal line in that situation after Osborn had driven the team downfield. The way he expressed it made it sound like Coach C was behind that, but he said he has all confidence in Coach C. Apparently they had a package drawn up with McNulty in for goal line situations, but there wasn't much anybody could do when Fortenberry got knocked right back into McNulty. - He talked about pre-game routines, how during the downtime (Friday night, I assume) players can watch movies (last weekend was Gladiator), watch the Friday night college football game, get therapy. He talked about how the players put on their shirt and tie ("because that's what we do now at North Texas") to rousing applause from the crowd there. - Both he and George talked about their surprise that North Texas had never played a Big 10 team before. - Coach Mac was very complimentary of the offenses that Indiana has had. - Osborn and McNulty are battling it out for the #2 QB position. I'll try and think of some other things. Anyone else, please feel free to interject and/or correct.

why the f*** would the Big 12 want SMU...only in SMU's mind.

You do realize he was not comparing his attendance projection to Fouts, but to the history of Apogee, right?

So people don't have to scroll through this whole thread every time, here is a composite list of the adopted players and their proud "parents": Richard Abbe Marty Brandon Akpunku BIG DAWG Derek Akunne Harry Will Atterberry MeanRob Aaron Bellazin UNT90 Terrell Brooks THE CLAW Chris Bynes bstnsportsfan3 Tevinn Cantly EagleMBA Brelan Chancellor FloMoGrad DaWaylon Cook EastTexasMG John Dodson SilverEagle Lance Dunbar cdizzle86 Frank Gaines Censored by Laurie Brad Graham mgfan James Hamilton All About UNT Royce Hill UNT Mean Green Hilbert Jackson UNT86 Sean January drex Antonio Johnson NT03 Breece Johnson moffat J.J. Johnson GreenBat Troy Kokjohn KRAM1 Michael Ladner SilverEagle Dan McCarney Green59 Brandon McCoy merle Zach Olen LakeTravis Zach Orr MeanGreenTexan Michael Outlaw UNT 90 Grad Jeremy Phillips Mean Green 93-98 Andrew Power Green P1 Chaz Sampson pastorgrant Michael Stojkovic DeepGreen Tyler Stradford sparkmank Nick Summerfield NCMeanGreen Willie Taylor 97and03 Derek Thompson UNTLifer Zac Whitfield UNTflyer Will Wright adman Mason Y'Barbo tylermeangreen

That really surprises me. I figured they would be a good fit for the SEC, for sure. That's a school that will really get screwed if they get left out. What a joke--WVU isn't superconference worthy, but Washington State is...stupid, just stupid.

The sky is falling, what makes you think that any schools are going to break off? The forming of so called super conferences doesn't change any one's position but those that may be in AQ conferences and are left out. The Belt is still the Belt and it is still in the FB division. There are no tier 3 schools anymore, and I find your statement that no conference who cares about academics would have NT is way off the mark. Unless, NT is trying to join the Ivy League, I doubt academics are a negative.

I wouldn't say that's a long shot at all, just questionable whether it's a better move in the long run than staying in the SBC. No question it's a better move in the short term.

Just preaching to the choir here, but we better be taking our destiny into our own hands as opposed to putting our faith in Wright Waters. At the end of the day we need to take care of ourselves.

I really believe that #3 should be #1 but all are important. I do hope that there was some sort of contingent plan for financing should the need arise to expand the stadium to 50,000 but the Apogee naming rights should help soften public awareness. What bothers me is all of these expenses on the threshold of possible runaway inflation. The only university that I see that could possibly help us is Texas A&M. I have some good friends who are Aggies but I'm afraid that they don't pull enough weight. I'm not sure that we've ever tried to make friends with anyone other than UT-Austin and if they go to the Pac-16 they couldn't anyway. If Todd Dodge had been able to put together four winning seasons we'd be in an enviable position right now but if "ifs and buts" were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas.

Closest without going over? 1

Forward this to all attractive females.

I'll leave #'s 1 & 2 in the capable hands of others, but you can count on me to do my part with #3. Go Mean Green

Because we are all closet College A.D.s and head coaches, here is my list: 1) First and foremost, line up funding for stadium expansion. Be able to show that we can expand Apogee to 50K in one year if called upon. 2) Try to forge a partnership with ANY big 6 school in Texas a big 6 conference (ya, I know, good freaking luck). Let them know we will do ANYTHING that is asked to get a seat at the table. ANYTHING. See Texas Tech if you need an example.. 3) Pray. Long and hard.

I'm pretty sure they've been called the Hoosiers since 1988.

Didn't say everything would be ok, way to early for that. I did say I don't think they will break off into a separate classification. Frankly, did not contemplate NT being a candidate for either the Big Ten or PAC but even there, I wonder who rates schools academically. Does the college administration go by what one magazine US News and Reports decides? Frankly neither of those conferences would have any interest in NT no matter what the academics were. Again, I don't see were NT ends up any worse than they currently are, is NT to be cast into the WAC? It is possible I guess that SMU and Houston get more separation than they currently have but also possible that Baylor, Tech and others lose ground. Tech may go to the Pac and that goes opposite to your academic concern. They have raised their published admission standards but little else elevates Tech above NT on the academic side. All of this is a money grab and don't fall behind conference shuffle. Academics are often cited as an issue, but are quickly trumped by other factors.

If we're being honest...

The latest voodoo magic shows the high at 94.

And the thing we have to do is get games scheduled against teams whose name perception is greater than reality. I don't care how good FIU is, even if we beat them, no one will care who is not already a fan. But if we can schedule and beat a Kentucky or Ole Miss . . . even though they are not very good teams, a lot of people will take interest because we beat an SEC team.

I know that UNT makes money playing teams like Alabama, but wouldn't it be better for the program (in the long run) to avoid massive beat downs? Is it a truly mandatory part of being a smaller program? Sheesh, it sucks the life out of the players and the fans. Especially the casual fans.

You do realize that anything under 28,075 will set the record for the lowest attendance for a football game at Apogee Stadium, right?

67,826

At this point, its probably just too late to even do anything more to get consideration. The new facilities, especially the stadium, are awesome for non-AQ schools, probably better than some AQ schools. But the 64-80 schools that are going to break off here have more tradition, $$$, fan support, and name recognition nationally than we have. Sure, we have enrollment and alumni advantages, but they were never taken advantage of. Academically, we are a Tier 3 school with a woefully small endowment, so no big conference who cares about academics is going to take us on that accord. Our athletic accomplishments for 30+ years is amazingly slim (1-3 in NO Bowls, 0-3 in NCAA Tournament as 15 seeds with all being blowouts, never won a playoff game in the old 1-aa). Neither of these has made us attractive to other conferences. I love our alma mater--it gave me my start in life and will always be a special place to me. But we just got started too late in this game to really be surprised at where we will be playing in the few decades. If the NCAA were a consortium of music and arts schools, we would be a powerhouse--we would be Duke in basketball or Alabama in football. Its what the university and the community wanted forever, probably still do for the most part. If we are at the new FCS-type level again after this is all said and done, I don't know what the support for the football and basketball teams will look like, but I know that they will always be ours. I know that we never supported the school that well during the SLC days, but maybe we will keep up this current level of support if our new conference mates are better known that our old Southland/SBC bunkmates.

I just called the Director of Bands (Tu. 9-20) and asked if the Green Brigade was going to Tulsa. "For the game?" she asked. Anyway, I was sent to someone else. This lady told me that Tulsa had contacted NT and told them that there would be NO halftime show. There will be, according to this lady in the Music dept. a "Make a Wish Foundation" event. Not even the Tulsa band is performing. She said the GB had planned to perform and that busses ordered had to be cancelled. Now, when is the last time you went to a football game and there was NO halftime show. Aside from your kid's middle school game. So go to the Tulsa game and Make a Wish. My wish is a Mean Green win. GO MEAN GREEN

Tulsa's average attendance in 2010 was 20,379 per NCAA report. North Texas was 17,718. I'd say that gap closes this year.

I don't think this makes nearly as much sense as you think it does.

Entrapement or just a toe tapping offer?

Well, to be fair, he DOES remind us that he coached a Big 12 team, and that he coached on the National Champions Florida Gators... Seriously...he coached on the National Champions Florida Gators...he always says so...within 10 seconds of speaking....

And the Mavs will never win a title with that soft German, Dirk, as their leader... Oh, wait.

Brett, you're such a ray of sunshine.

Bartalotta had some questions either called in or from the audience. The only one that I recall was the player that has surprised him the most in his ability. I believe that he gave that honor to Ryan Boutwell.

It doesn't help, but what kills us is lack of attendance. I was shocked that we didn't sell out the Houston game. Until we can get to the point where 31k fans fight for tickets every week, prompting the expansion to 50k, our large alumni base doesn't mean much. We have 7100 show up to watch us play Tech last year, and then 3500 a week later for Rice. We need both football and basketball to be impossible tickets to get. I think we'll get there, but like RV said on the podcast a few weeks ago, we need people to show up to watch North Texas unconditionally.

Beebe did excatly as he was told by t.u. and he is getting stabbed in the back as a result. he should have seen it coming. I was watching the Boise/Toledo game this past week, and a guy next to me said that he hated Boise. I asked why and he said, they're a good team, but they aren't that good. They couldn't compete week in and week out with the SEC. I asked what school he played for in the SEC and he said Vandy. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Vandy can't compete week in and out either. But his statement is representative of the bc$ mentality. "You can't compete with us, because you're not us. You will NEVER be as good as us."

I don't know what the 'reports' say but it's way too early for that until we know how many Big East teams we're talking about. Of the seven that will be left, West Virginia is almost certain to go to an established conference. Rutgers is another that will likely be a target for either the ACC or the Big Ten. Connecticut could partner with the Scarlet Knights if West Virginia goes to a different conference but would probably only be interested in the ACC. It's doubtful that South Florida would want to be that far from conference mates (but they're pretty far right now). That leaves TCU, Louisville and Cincinnati that would be easily available for the merger. There would be five Big 12 teams left if Texas and Oklahoma leave. Missouri is possibility for either the SEC or the Big Ten (should they decide to expand). Iowa State is another possibility for exit if the Big Ten goes to 16. The two Kansas schools would stay if AQ status can be retained and the same could likely be said for Baylor. Regarding the CUSA/MWC merger, does that become a 22-team conference? The results would be a conference of 5-12 teams outside the four 16 team superconferences. It would also be a geographic nightmare. Of course, if there's enough money involved, no one seems to care these days. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and it's working overtime in the NCAA. Regarding the CUSA/MWC merger...does that become a 22-member conference?

Congress would have got involved 4 years ago. I think now they will realize it is political suicide to come within 10 feet of college athetics with all the other things going on. Anti-trust suit is on the horizon. I hope

I know it's been a rough three weeks, but here are two reason why I'm hopeful. 1. Our team has improved every week. You can see it and with so many young players playing that is encouraging. 2. Our coaches clearly know what they are doing. So many adjustments and formations we aren't easy to gameplan for now. Now it's up to the players. Based on their effort so far I think we'll get there. It may not be a lot of wins this year, but it's looking like there is hope again. It is clear that the team is lacking playmakers more than any team since before 2001, but I like their effort and coaching to still be respectable in conference. After that it's all about recruiting.

I don't know how you can say it is unwarranted. Maybe not DM, but Chico was here all last year. A lot of the offensive players have had time, stemming from last year, to work with him and his offense. I don't know why you go with a freshmen at the goal line. I think you go with the guy that just drove you down the field. But hey, I'm no coach. That being said, I can see that this team is improving and I have faith in DM. GMG!

If this is the path, what incentive is there for the big schools to join forces, thus making their regular season and path to the playoff much more difficult?? Make no mistake, if a football playoff is coming out of all this superconference consolidation, it most certainly does not include the also-rans.

There were a few minor complaints at the first game regarding fans not caring for the no re-entry rule, and their inability to grab a beer during halftime. I had pitched out the idea of having a huge Alumni Association Beer Garden by reconfiguring the fencing around the alumni pavilion from pre-game activities to halftime festivities. Here's the idea, roughly based on what another college with the no reentry rule currently does. The North Texas Alumni Association Pavilion would have a very large fenced area with lots of tables only open to the outside during pregame, and with access only to and from the stadium during halftime. During halftime Alumni Association members are admitted for free and receive one complimentary beer ticket, all others (21 and over) pay $5.00 for entry and receive one complimentary beer ticket. Additional beer tickets are sold at a very reasonable price to entice people to want to keep coming back and to hopefully join the alumni association. We need to grow our alumni association for the university's efforts to attain Tier 1 status, and this is just one idea on how to attain that goal.

Tyler McGuigan: Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds:

Na, now he is the best QB in the NFL. Until next week. And if the Cowboys don't win then, they need to cut his a$$.

And I agree with this. I know I am setting myself up for disappointment here, but I really think we win this week.

I like how you think MeanGreenHoops!

RV needs to be on the phones yesterday with Baylor, TTU, ISU, Kstate, and anyone else who may get left out, and start forming a conference covering the Central Time Zone. Maybe get Ark St, one of the New Mexico schools, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Rice and TCU if the Big East gets raided. That has the makings of a decent md major.

Not attacking you, but do you actually think there's more demand for SMU gear than UNT in Denton? When sweatshirts at the UNT bookstore are over $40 each usually, and the ones at finishline are 2 for $40, I can think of a lot of students who would buy in on that.

Kind of sick of hearing what a respectable guy TD is...if he was so honorable then he would quit today or on Monday.