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Mean Green Family is far more than a cliché, you're absolutely right. It is truly something special and has helped me through the worst time in my life. Right before the Rice game, my wife told me she had endometriosis. I suited up for the first time, and let it all out on Halloween night. It was therapeutic for me, and the performance on the field was inspiring. She had surgery right after the HOD Bowl during which they found it was stage 4 and had to remove her Fallopian tubes. We will never have children of our own. And though some may think I'm a weird dude dressed up in a suit, it means everything to me. These players, these coaches, this message board, the UNT Twitterverse, all of the Mean Green Family will forever mean more to me than I can ever thank them for. I am in the best shape of my life, I received a promotion/raise this year at work, my marriage is stronger than ever and I choose to look at the positive rather than the negative in life because of the words of our head football coach. So when some of you say it's just "coach-speak" you're absolutely wrong. I thought this was just a neat idea for a Halloween costume, but it took on a whole lot more meaning in my life. My support system through this challenging time was the Mean Green Family and I look forward to spending some quality time with all of you this fall!

Thanks Stan, something we are definitely considering but not in the immediate future. For now, I have adopted every young man that straps on a UNT helmet and will do all I can to show them they are loved and appreciated by the fans. It's been pretty special being able to share messages with some players and coaches who tell me they appreciate me...means the world.

I want to party with Don.

We don't even know either of the starting quarterbacks yet and they are making a prediction of the final score?

Well I certainly hope not. It wasn't that good at scoring points last season and was probably the main reason we didn't win the conference. As the QB position goes, so goes our chances at another good, strong showing in CUSA in 2014. So to answer the question, I'll say "I don't know." Because there are so many unknown variables related to QB and WR play, it's hard to say. There's cause for optimism with the O-line and at RB, but Texas probably isn't going to be a very good gauge of what we have, early on. By the time conference play rolls around, we'll have a really good idea of what kind of team we'll be... and the identity of this team in 2015 (which I think has the potential to be another big season for us).

Yep. Keep it 24 or under means good things come conference time. And that is the most important thing, after all.

The teams that win these types of David vs Goliath matchups (and that's what this is---the gap is beyond huge at this point in time) tend to be returning experience at QB. Appalachian St, North Dakota St, LaMo, Ark St, etc all returned experienced and *mostly* all-conference level talent at QB. Had we had last year's team going into this game, I'd be more confident. If we are able to keep this game close, it means that our front 7 is going to be fine, but most importantly that we'll have a pretty good answer at QB.

AWESOME! It's going to be an epic night and one I cannot wait to experience win or lose.

OK 66. It's still ridiculous. Tom Brady couldn't perform with the o-line in EP. These preseason hypothetical ranking are pretty silly. Especially when you're trying to judge players who haven't played college ball yet. Like McNulty & Greer. They have barely played yet so you can't really predict how they will be.

Emmitt is the first in line to bash UT. He's either saying the game will be UNT in a route over UT, or the refs will have their burnt-orange way.

Oh ye of little faith

This was the game where, the night before at a gathering of fans/alumni, Coach Dickey said "I hope that when Dr. B, looks up at the scoreboard at the end of the game, she remembers how much we are making out of this game". ................

This game, along with the rest of the season, will need the same kind of help that we got from special teams last year.

The SMU prediction is way too close. Give me Baylor 63, SMU 14.

Kirk Herbstriet tweeted out a link to this story on Mark Richt and his development of the Paul Oliver Network. http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/07/12/3197627/help-for-when-the-dream-ends-richts.html?sp=/99/210/ In summary, it discusses the depression that can set in when a football player's career is over and Richt's development of a program assisting players in life after football. I'm sure many will want to spin this as nothing more than an SEC recruiting tool and attempt to poke holes in the entire thing, but I read this and what immediately came to mind was the larger impact of Mac's cultural overhaul in Denton - both in the classroom & the locker room. I don't know details of any similar programs that may exist for our guys but, at the least, the consistent emphasis on academic performance sets our players up to have worthwhile career opportunities when their football days are finished. The Mean Green Family feels like more than a cliche around this program and stories like the ones highlighted in the story are why that is something to appreciate about this staff.

MGB recruiting target series : http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/07/unt-recruiting-target-series-davion-freeman.html/

I was at the game and have it recorded (on VCR), where you can see replays of the official "miss calls".. Still burns me. A good friend (now deceased) who was a big UT supporter and alum, but a very fair person told me that after the game, one of the refs admitted to UT officials that they had given the play to UT. Since Jim was honest to a fault and a UT alum and a friend, I tend to believe the story.

Yep. We would probably have been ranked higher than Texas last year.

Despite losing some real playmakers, I actually believe that it will stay similar or even get better, due to the O-line. Also there is room to grow here, as UNT primarily won with defense, not offense last season. Now if only I could hold a shred of hope that no regression would also be the case in our D. But alas I think it is almost impossible that we will not suffer more against the run there than last season. And I can't imagine that we will not miss the hell out of BC in special teams

Can't make it to the actual game, but plan to be down there with a group for tailgating. Is there information on where the Mean Green will be set up? We'd love to be with a huge group of fans!

It is not comparing how well they will play, it is ranking the current QB situation at each school. Given that we have very little experience at the position, our situation is probably where it should be.This list is not about OL, defense, WRs, or anything but the QB situation at each school. I would bet that in a ranking last year, we would have been much higher with the experience that DT had going into the season. It is not a predictor of talent, simply looking at where we are right now.

Let's see who steps up. Pretty much an unknown at this point.

Yes, out loud. Humor does that to me.

out loud?

8 AM Pacific which is 10 AM Central/11 AM Eastern. That's still very early.

Why? Because I believe in every single one of our players to get the job done. That's all. I believe they will accept the challenge and show tremendous resolve. I believe they'll play for the man beside them and go to war for the honor & fame & glory of UNT. You can call me delusional, I've been called that all year. Mostly by Horn fans, but also among the Mean Green faithful. The US hockey team wasn't supposed to beat Russia. Appalachian St wasn't supposed to win in the Big House. NC State wasn't supposed to survive and advance. Jack Nicklaus was too old & washed up to win another Masters. Sports are full of miracle moments. Underdogs win games all the time that they are not supposed to win. Why Not North Texas? #Believe

Wow! Happy Birthday guys!!!! I ordered up some cool weather this week just for the occasion.................

Also the day that about 2 hours before kick-off RV told me he thought a lot of Longhorn fans would be surprised today. If they were, it was only because of quickly the game was over once it began. Seems like they got the ball in mid-field just about every possession, while our guys were well inside our own 20, most of the game. Hard to play competitively under those circumstances. Was just a good old-fashioned ass-kicking all around.

Why? Honestly, we couldn't run against anyone last season and now we've got a huge question mark at the quarterback position, so teams haven't any reason to do anything but key-in on the run game. What makes you think it's going to be better the very first game of the season, on the road, against a team that's decidedly deeper -- and better at the run -- than our squad? No one's saying we're not going to Austin to win -- many of us are going in hopes of seeing a win, and spending a good bit of money to do so -- but some of us aren't going under the delusion that we're an "even" match for Texas, and that the only way we lose if the refs hand it to the 'horns.

Like I said, hope you are right.

MeanGreenMan wants to party with you! UNT90, "When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to lose, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world - No. You lose."

Love your enthusiasm and really hope for the upset, but... If we have early success running the ball against a very stout UT defense, they will go away from their vanilla game plan and start putting 8 and 9 in the box, forcing us to throw the ball if we dare. If they game plan at all for us, they will start with 8 or 9 in the box. We couldn't run the ball against conference foes that did this last year. We darn sure wont be able to run the ball against a VERY talented UT team unless we can keep them honest with the forward pass. Terrible game to break in an unproven QB. I'll be happy with a game that is close at the half with UT pulling away in the 3rd and 4th qtr. A game like UG would work, and we lost to them by 24. What I fear is a blowout with UT rolling up over 300 yards rushing. This would cause a further attendance hit for the SMU game (11AM kick will keep some at home). I have enough faith on Mac and especially Skledaney to believe huge blowouts are a thing of the past... I think.

I wanna party with MeanGreenMan.

O-line opens holes for dynamic duo #2 & #22. We had 7 rushing yards vs. Georgia. 7. That will change. Our big boys up front lead the way and set the tough physical tone and we run, run, run, run, run and run some more. You could say we'll "run...to set up the run" Throw in some option reads. Hit 'em with a play-action. Take advantage of what they give us. We are going down there to win a football game. Why is it so hard for you to believe? Your post is basically accepting losing already. "We don't accept losing" - Coach Mac Stop worrying, stop doubting, stop questioning...just believe.

oh. that's because I didn't go to this game...watched this on my buddy's couch after a night bartending in Denton. '04. that was the adventure.

Don't underestimate the power of young Leftwich.

that was an adventurous weekend. I remember next to nothing about this game.

I agree. How many televised games will we have this season? How many did we have in the Sunbelt? Sad that the quality of the conference is down, but things are still looking up for us!

Unt can do strang feats sometimes we ith coach directing things. You can beat he eill have us a good game plan. Just wait and see all of you will be surprised. Go A Mean Green beat U T. Which has the same abreviation as Tennessee, and you know E hat happened when our coach Fry team went snd played them UPSET.

I like that North Texas is not having this July 18, when schools such as Texas, Baylor, and LSU are also having events. Not because North Texas is gonna get the elite guys who will be at those schools; because there are solid FBS-caliber players who aren't gonna get offers from the high-major schools who don't understand that and will be at those camps, anyway.

Harry remember the Baylor game where we sat together. That was pretty hot. It was like 98 at kickoff, which was 7:30. Just no sun, that was the only thing that made it decent.

I remember a few UNT students full-on supporting Texas this day. Was terrible.

Goofy time to predict scores.

NBD... We had a guy scorn us for the pros this summer as well.

So hard to predict these kinds of things. For example, look at our predictions last year:

9 starters for a class (and a half) is not "great" its expected. Especially for a lower tier school where many dont leave early for the nfl. Im sure most teams have a lot of seniors starting. Not a big surprise or outstanding job. most likely average.

Interesting that "Greg" in the comments section gave his own picks: Iowa State 28, North Dakota State 21 Alabama 31, West Virginia 17 Kansas State 55, Stephen F. Austin 24 TCU 35, Samford 17 Texas Tech 59, Central Arkansas 10 Oklahoma 48, Louisiana Tech 6 Florida State 28, Oklahoma State 31 Texas 35, North Texas 27 Baylor 52, SMU 20 Getting warmer "Greg", but still wrong

I can see it, but I think it'll be closer than that. I think we'll see some classic Coach Mac maneuvering throughout the game and challenge like we did at Georgia last year.

As if losing in the present is not enough for us, we must relive the losses of the past.