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I am home. All of us had a blast and spent Thurs - Monday in the Dallas-Ft Worth and Denton area having this blast. What a great experience for us. We ate, drank, ate some more and drank some more. We had some Vandals in Irving who took us everywhere and knew how to navigate from here to there. The history, the tours, the sites, the people and the culture were awesome. On Saturday we spent a lot of pre game time in Denton. We loved UNT, its students, the hospitality, the beautiful stadium. I have posted much of this on the Vandal board too. The game was worth it. We have a long ways to go. You all told me that and you all were spot on. Apologies to rock star, houston and 58 (forgot his first part) for bantering and challenging sooooo much, but that is the heart and not the brains at this stage in my life, over 50 years of Vandal football. Your team: You have a very well coached team. I was at ground level for pre-game. I had to weasel my way there (and my group) because at 5:15 no one would have survived section 124. Your players are tough. Your coaches are great. You are under-rated. I believe you will attain 8 wins, or more and be in bowl. You will surprise the C-USA prognosticators who have you low in your division. I will definitely follow you guys. You are in great hands with HC Mac. Pay him well. Keep him long. The pre game pageantry and halftime show (with your old players. and of course, Mean Joe Green) was memorable. We all have pictures. The big screen and stadium are very, very nice and you all should know that most of us liked it better than any we have been in (and that is a ton of stadiums). Yes, laxtonto, it was HOT in Section 123-124. But by KO we all could leave shaded hide outs and go to our seats. By second quarter we were feeling we would make it. By half it was great. I would say that the early home games will roast the visitors, but that is the way it goes. You could move KO to 6:30 or 6:45 to assure a more tolerable area. At 5:15 we were ushered to our seats. We were the very first Vandals to attempt this. Honestly now, we lasted less than two minutes. We sought shade down by the flag pole, and your usher there was gracious enough to look the other way. Your student body has to be the nicest, tamest and smiling est bunch we have been around. You are now 6-4 in the series. I pray I see another UNT - Idaho game in the future. I know this is doubtful. The two universities are so similar in history, campus, traditions, buildings, and love of wit and intellect --- 1889 for us and 1890 for UNT. We just had one great time, despite the weather. I told my friends back home that the Devil asked God, when he spotted Him in the kitchen, "What ya all cooking?" God, answered, "Texas." Again, Harry --- meangreener, rock, 58, tonto, houston and so many others --- We thank you. Good luck in the season. Beat those Ohio "Bobcats" --- 8-4 is what I am going with. I will watch on ESPN3 as our game in Laramie should be over by then. And, do not allow Mac to be grabbed away.

September 12, 2009 was a dreary day in North Texas, but it was game day. The week before North Texas had opened the year with a surprising 20-10 road victory over Ball State to sit at 1-0 for the first time since 2005. It was pouring all day. A late morning Mean Green soccer game on a flooded field, one of the most bizarre games I've ever witnessed ended with a 1-0 PV A&M victory over a far superior NT side, but at least there was a football game that night, and for the first time in several years, true excitement through campus. The game started off well. NT led after the 1st quarter. NT led at halftime. NT led after the third quarter. But in the fourth, a 69-yard interception return from Ohio turned the tables, and when NT was unable to punch in the winning touchdown inside the last minute and settled for a field goal, the game went to OT. After the teams traded field goals in the first OT, NT took a 7-point lead in the second, and had Ohio with something like a 4th and goal from the 16-yard line in the southern end of Fouts Field. After a completion for a touchdown and a roughing the passer penalty, Ohio went for two and won the game. That moment for Ohio, as I've seen mentioned on their fan board, many feel to be one of the defining moments of the turnaround of the Bobcat football program. That moment, when Todd Dodge was so close to starting the year 2-0 in front of an announced crowd of over 16,000, and the actual was darn close, swung abruptly and agonizingly in the other direction away from NT. NT has won 14 games since that day. Ohio has won 35. Much like the last time NT was 1-0, in 2005, when our beloved Green lost 54-2 to Tulsa, the Mean Green Nation was gutted again. This program has not won back to back football games since November 13th and 18th of 2004 with wins over Idaho and ASU, respectively. Let that sink in for a minute. NT has won 22 football games since beating ASU in 2004 (not including Idaho this year) and has lost by an average of 20.36 points the following game. Three times, all at home, NT has come within one point, FAU in 2005, ULL in 2010, and yes, Ohio in 2009. Yet here is Ohio again. NT is 1-0 again. Campus is excited again, as a fresh new group of students, most of which never knew anything before Apogee Stadium have no reason to think anything other than "Why not North Texas?". A victory means being 2-0 for the first time since 1994 (before many of this year's freshmen were born) when the Eagles started the year with wins over Abilene Christian and Missouri State. A victory over Ohio is a chance to take back, 3 years and 360 days later the momentum they took from us on that rainy night in Fouts. Idaho was also the first win the last time NT won two games in a row. For a program that has been through a seemingly endless college athletics version of a Shakespearean tragedy over nearly the past decade, I truly hope that such a poetic, and in some ways ironic story of redemption comes to pass on Saturday....and if it doesn't, I'll take wins over Ball State and Georgia. Go Mean Green! This post has been promoted to an article

It was so nice to see him get corrected by another announcer. Yes, some TV commentators really do know our name and actually are will to say it. Now if the choice is win a game and be called North Texas State or lose, I'll take the win.

CJK5H

This isn’t a must win for UNT, but it certainly could be a defining and a statement win. North Texas hasn’t had many chances in recent years of having a win that could help make a season. I think a win at Ohio would be a huge shot of momentum in the arm of this team. Which QB plays the best? How could you not love how Derek Thompson played if you’re an UNT fan? On the other side it couldn’t be much worse for Ohio starter Tyler Tettleton. I have a feeling that Tettleton is going to rebound this week. He is too good not to rebound. I’m more intrigued on how well Thompson will play. He lit up an awful Idaho secondary, but now he is on the road against a formidable foe. Also Ohio’s secondary is looking to rebound. After watching both teams play last week I’m convinced UNT has the best player out of each team. His name is Zach Orr. He is a monster making plays all over the field. He will be playing on Sunday book it. Key to the game for UNT is stopping the run. I think Ohio’s offensive line is hurting with injuries and if the Mean Green can stuff the run and force the pass well then they will increase their sack total (5). Key word here is FORCE them to pass. If Ohio is running pass plays off play action look out. UNT does itself no favors against the play action. The Mean Green safeties love to bite. UNT will also need to survive the early rush of emotion. Weather the storm. Ohio is going to come out playing like a bunch rabid bobcats. Ohio forgot about the Louisville game as soon as the clock struck 00:00. They will be looking to get the fans involved early. It’s a good thing those same fans haven’t quite forgot Louisville yet. Here is to hoping UNT keeps them quite from the opening kick-off Love to see the depth come into play again on Saturday. I think Ohio has better talent in their 1’s, but I think UNT is deeper. I’m looking for the same cast of characters we saw last week to get involved. Does Dajon play? Just wondering if there is a package we see for him this week. I do think that he can make this team better by just playing a few snaps. It’s going to be a nice change of weather for UNT players. Game time temperatures should be in the low 80’s upper 70’s. I hope they bring back the W and the Weather with them.  This post has been promoted to an article

Glad he was corrected

They should have included the #1 biggest douchebag award ever as a departure gift for James. No one deserves it more

Red Zone execution was something that worried me a bit last week. We scored plenty, but I still had the similar feelings about scoring inside the 20 that I did last year.

I don't know. GO MEAN GREEN!!!

Please, please somebody get Vito a better camera. The degradation of tape looks like he's running a VHS camcorder at this point.

North Texas 33 Ohio 21 I'm not making the drive to Athens just to see us lose!

I thought we were discussing Brian Waters! Congrats to another MG in the NFL

You(Texans fans) don't sound like a bitter little stepbrother at all.

Let's see...if I birdie the next 4 holes...stop it, stop it! Focus, Keith, focus. Let's just concentrate on hitting this green and go from there, OK?

"Spike the ball! Spike the ball!"

I think anybody who watched the Ohio game this past Sunday would agree that running the ball is what will allow us to keep moving the ball forward and controlling the clock. Its great that we've got some good hands and some (hopefully) accurate throws from Thompson we can depend on if needed, but most of this game should be played on the ground.

I think this is the very first time it was ever corrected like that. Have we finally turned a corner?!?!?!?!!? but, this is great news! I am glad that even a big win against a not so good team is giving us some positive pub. We haven't had that much of it.

Ohio 29 UNT 17 Mac is 2-11 on the road...

We only allowed Idaho to score 6 points. But we did give up almost 400 yards of offense to them. THAT is what has me frightened. Mac's ground and pound is going to have to work overtime and chew, chew, chew, clock for us to stay in this. Do that and we have a shot. Otherwise it could be a long day. 27 NT 24 Ohio

This is the game North Texas needs to win to turn the tide. Ohio is beatup from the Louisville game. They have 3 starters out total. 2 offensive linemen and 1 linebackup. If we can exploit these weaknesses and get pressure on the QB, then I think we win this one. North Texas - 24 Ohio - 17

I have never seen a UTSA car decal outside of San Antonio and I work in Fort Worth.

I like the "Zack Attack."

It's the Houston in them.

I don't think that Berglund's window ever opened. At least, none of us got to see it.

someday i'll find you..... and will probably give you a refreshing beverage.

Food for thought: Everyone keeps bringing up TCU's attendance. You might be interested to know that they didn't have regular sell-outs until the Utah game in 2009. At the time, ACS had a capacity of 44,000 and had only gotten about 60-75% full regularly until then. It wasn't until they hosted an undefeated Utah that night, that Fort Worth really recognized what they had on their hands. I mean, for crying out loud, they'd flirted with "busting the BCS" a couple of times already and had put up huge winning seasons. But they still only averaged about 31-34k. My point? Winning a crapload of games and playing a big-time opponent does a lot for attendance. In fact, if I remember correctly, that was about the time that the City of Fort Worth started marketing "purple Fridays" and literally painted the town purple -- even the Trinity River. Marketing the heck out of this thing certainly doesn't hurt. In fact, Emmitt has excellent ideas to do so. But none of that will compare to what playing big-time college football at Apogee would do. That trumps everything. On second thought, I guess it all goes hand-in-hand, really, and is all kind of cyclical. Winning gets the fans/students/alumni fired up --> the fans/students/alumni start showing up at games --> the ever-present and loud crowds fire up the players and athletic dept. --> athletic dept. starts putting more into the program --> bigger opponents start coming to Apogee --> The Mean Green start winning big games --> winning gets the fans/students/alumni fired up . . . wash, rinse, repeat . . . Hopefully that all made sense to someone. -- Stephen

tortillas.

Liked the classic look very much. Interesting that some thought about bringing back the dark green as an accent color. Made this quick on photoshop using LSU's pro combat uniform from a few years back. Its hard to tell but the darker stripes, number outline, belt, etc. are dark green. This post has been promoted to an article

oh... i thought it was just going to be a picture of the sun

We should have kept "Thunderstruck" as our intro song, make the tunnel a real tunnel with sides so we can't see the team, fog machines for them to run through prior to rubbing Spiriki's noggin and get rid of that moronic "Hey Baby" prior to the fourth quarter. Pipe some song in at that time to get the students wired for the fourth quarter.

And for those who are going to Oktoberfest at the Pavilion next Saturday, we will have the game on whilst sipping on some great beers.

CBS Sports http://www.cbssports.com/video/player/cbssportsnetwork/46593603674

The guy who corrected him was also unsure, calling us "north Texas" instead of "The University of North Texas." Maybe if we win they will get it right.

I just can't understand why we can't be called 'North Texas'. Having been on Campus when it was NTSU, then UNT, I find calling ourselves North Texas a happy medium. I blame this on myself, or Parents, since the Name Change back in '88 was on my 20th Birthday.

But wait.. according to some beating a team like Idaho won't matter... we need to beat a bigger opponent. Its amazing how much positive talk there has been this week. As I have referenced many times before wins is what matters for this program at this point. Who gives a flip if its against Texas Southern, Idaho, you name it. Wins create excitement ( I will now make my usual "follow Kansas State's plan" statement).

My thoughts are this.... Idaho's game plan was to stack it and not let UNT run the ball up the middle. (which they succeeded) This opened up the passing game and DT, the OLine and the receivers delivered. We are probably giving the Ohio coaching staff a little bit of a headache in preparation because we appear to be a truly balanced team. ESPECIALLY the amount of weapons used in the passing game. Do they sell out again to stop the run? (the strength of the team) Do they keep an extra eye on Chancellor? (They better) Both of those strategies could end up burning them like it did Idaho. It feels good to come off an offensive performance like Saturday and have an upcoming opponent guessing a bit. My feeling is they will still load up on the run and have a "prove it" attitude toward DT. I think DT, the OLine and the receivers will deliver again. Ohio adjusts late in the game and then we start to pound the rock. The bend don't break D continues to not break... UNT 31 - Ohio 24

I agree. It's one game. Crazy stuff happens in one game. I'm cautiously optimistic. My gut says we are more likely to blow them out than the other way around. UNT 31 Ohio 20

People like hearing music they know, not the band that played at J&J's Pizza last night. The question is more whether you skew towards the alums or the students with recognizable music to them.

I think Ohio wins this one 34-17. I think we still have a lot of work to do to win a game like this on the road. Plus, I don't see DT having the game he did against Idaho this week. He deserves tons of praise for what he did against the Vandals, but Ohio is better than anyone on our schedule not named Georgia.

If we lose to Ohio, no reason to hit the panic button. As long as we beat Ball State, we could be looking at 2-2 OOC which I'll take going into CUSA play any day. That being said, I think we beat Ohio up badly.

By the time we play them, they will be 1-9 and there will be no free chicken. Mark it: If your car decal theory held water, Apogee would have been over capacity with UNT fans on Saturday. It wasn't. Not everyone who puts a college sticker on their car cares about college football.

http://uniformcritics.com/football/college/north-texas-mean-green/2013-unt-centennial-throwback/ I don't know who Matthew Pearce is, but man do I love his photography.

It's from a North Texas Daily writer...take every word he says to the bank. Some of the most frightening times in my time at the athletic department was being interviewed by the North Texas Daily.

Look closely, golfingomez. My wife, son,(Texas graduate) and I are in the north end zone, top deck. I'm not saying everyone hangs around in a blow out, but the ones who did were having a fun time, with the band and it's music in spite of everything. Those are what I call real fans.

This is what college football is about. Make new friends, be hospitable to your guests unless they are from SMU and enjoy the day. Wish I could have met you all, but am glad you enjoyed your visit. Good luck to the Vandals.

Vandal fans view of the game.

really packing that home schedule full of teams people wanna see....

I'm having one in AZ as well, at Rock Bottom in Arrowhead (Glendale).