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Why are we poo-pooing a record crowd?

Great job to all the players and to Coach Ref!

Either way it was an awesome crowd. Most importantly, we did the #NewDenton thing, and actually delivered on the field in front of a crowd like that to kick off the season. Great game and great atmosphere. The fans will be back this year.

Setting his unbelievable stats aside for a minute.... How great is it to have our young stable of QBs be able to watch him and learn from him and see how he carries himself as a leader, with the media and off the field. He’s setting one heck of a standard This could help so much in the future.... The sky’s the limit on what his legacy will be here when it’s all done.....but wow are we lucky.

I will say the pregame was an improvement, but the running out instead of marching in to the stadium was not good. I swear, late it the game it appears they are just their to amuse themselves. Actually, I don't blame the kids in the band but the leader is to blame. They are good, but could be great. Also, the green shirts and black shorts were better but no uniforms is just crappy looking. If SMU's pep band can handle their Mr. Peppermint outfits, we can wear our uniforms.

That didn't work. Can't do much if the offense won't go. Everything got deflated after that targeting call (which was shenanigans) and the dropped int finished it out. I wasn't confident but I had to be Homer on the opponent board. Nice job, good crowd. See you next year for more gmg forum shenanigans.

From their board, I think this about sums it up: ”UNT team beat us solidly in all three phases of the game.UNT beat us in marketing and promotions vs. anything we have put forward in last 30 years. UNT game atmosphere was electric and was better than any that SMU has put forward in last 30 years. If you were there, you saw it before and during the game.”

This is an interesting Post Game Report from SMU, including commentary on how they had dominated the series with North Texas back before WWII and where the SMU Football program is today. Be sure to read the commentary in the report. Click Here: SMU Post Game Report

Sonny Dykes’ wiki.

From UNT Athletics- “The game was played before the biggest home crowd in school history of 29,519, surpassing the previous best of 29,437 set in 2003 against Baylor at Fouts Field.”

Jesse Palmer gave Fine a helmet sticker and called him an SMU killer

This is how the game really went down.

I think the Houston game probably had more people physically there, but I don't care. This was a great night. Let's revel in it. Period.

I thought the attendance was just right. The tail section was filled up pretty well...there was a tremendous amount of people walking around so if they were all sitting down then yes...the attendance was just right. IMHO

Agreed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the wing that full. I can believe it.

I kept reading different comments on their board about the game last night and many of them kept referring to us as NTCC out of disrespect and others kept saying NTSU. Most refused to call us UNT. We should have posted this gif of Ali asking Ernie Terrell "What's my name?" on the big scoreboard after every point scored while we were beating them into submission and make them call us UNT.

UNT rolls over longtime rival SMU in front of record crowd https://www.dentonrc.com/sports/record-crowd-sees-unt-whip-rival-smu-in-opener/article_43abce33-74f1-5c1c-882c-b0246bb7023c.html Notebook: UNT's defense dominates early, shows signs of dramatic improvement https://www.dentonrc.com/sports/notebook-north-texas-chemistry-and-growth-show-in-season-opener/article_22236373-8f64-5519-bf35-62b325f6bf56.html Five quick thoughts https://www.dentonrc.com/sports/five-quick-thoughts-on-unt-beating-smu/article_08ded3ab-c2a9-5357-aafa-333125a8e376.html

He’s the best. Quickly becoming my favorite North Texas player I’ve ever watched, going back to 1997. That’s high praise considering PC, Kennedy, Jamario, JQ, Dunbar are on that list. On top of the on field greatness, he’s a great ambassador for UNT. Watched him work the room at Rudy’s this past Tuesday for the Coaches Show when he was the guest. Everyone wants to talk to him and take pictures with him, and he’s super affable and gracious with his time. I’ve also seen him playing catch with the little Mean Green fans. The guy just gets it. We’re incredibly lucky to have him.

CHK4FG

Top story in the DMN college section with a great write up! Keep the Mojo going!

I agree with the number. Yes, I was there for Houston and yes I was there last night. The number of people who were standing in the various concourse sections and up in the club (went up there too) was substantial, all while the tail had a good attendance and the home and visitor sides were damn near full. Oh, and it was 36-0 North Texas to start the 4th quarter before we pulled our defense (the same defense we all thought would get shredded). Just thought that was important to note.

I think what contributes to this perception is the Tail Fin Endzone looking 2/3 full. The entirety of the bowl and Club seats were at 95% through the whole first half. There were 1500-2500 people milling about on the concourse at any given time, however. If everyone physically in the building were in seats, the 29.5k would absolutely be agreed upon.

Speaks for itself...

Good luck to you guys tonight. Off to a great start. Here’s to a CUSA win over smu! 🍻

Are we never happy here? We kicked SMU ass and I would not care if I was the only one in the stands to see it.

I disagree. Both sides were close to full and the tail section was over half full. That is a unique section, but it would be better served as a typical "horseshoe" section. The upper reaches are way away from the action.

No. F’em

Wilson signed to 49ers Practice Squad

I was at Fouts at its first sellout against SFA in 1988. I was at its second sellout against SMU in 1990. I was there at Fouts for the Baylor game in 2003. I was at Apogee for the Houston game in 2011. And I was there last night and that was BY FAR...HANDS DOWN...the largest collection of NT fans to attend on campus event I've ever witnessed. Congratulations to WB and company. Y'all just set another bar never reached before. Let's keep climbing! Rick

I can't remember the last time the student/visitor side was as full as it was tonight... and yes I was there.

D-Line looks like the most improved unit on the team to me. Very important. We'll see how true it is when UNT visits Fayetville.

Rewatching the game this morning. The new turf and the end zone look great on tv! Always bugged me on tv the turf had a brown tint. This shade of green is perfect.

https://i.imgur.com/Dzvov87.gifv They definitely won't miss Davenport, basically reloaded.

It will always be the end of the world for them when we beat them. Because they STILL think they’re in the SWC. They still think they’re on a level above us. Although they’re now 1-4 (?) in Denton. Everything about their program is sans substance. They still hold on to the 80s which have no credibility due to their cheating. They’d probably do it again if they thought they could get away with it. I saw something comparing our two programs since 1996. Literally dead on equal records. Look at their turnout last night. They’re a pathetic bunch. They look down on us. And always will. And they’re not any better than us in the grand scheme of college football. Look...I get it. They used to be in a confererence with UT and A&M. They never did anything against them but get demoralized but they can still hold on to that “history”. They use that to their advantage today. They’re headed for a world of hurt in the coming weeks with their schedule. Can’t stand his popped collared douches. f them

I thought the ref mic wasn't working again. Then I re-watched the game online, and realized that I couldn't hear him because the crowd was so damn loud. Greatness!

I watched on Stadium. Even more impressive than the crowd shots was the decibel level of the crowd. Sounded like a Notre Dame game

Good effort offensively, if the offense could convert half of those field goals it would 've been a more productive effort. Clean up some things and let's keep those sacks to a minimum.

No disrespect to the Volleyball and Soccer teams, but this was the introduction to athletics for the 2018-2019 school year for the vast majority of UNT sports fans. And could it have gone any better, realistically? Attendance record while smoking one of our biggest rivals who looks down on us with a lot of recruits present including a current SMU commit visiting us. Football won 9 games and basketball won 20 last year. This could be the first year in school history where football hits double digit wins and basketball breaks 20. Not to mention Women’s basketball in a great spot to possibly push for 20 also, as well as other sports like soccer and volleyball. Year 3 of the Wren Baker era really looks like it’s shaping up to be a new golden era in UNT athletics. Should be a fun ride this year.

Looks like Sonny Dykes joined the forum and gave you a downvote.

With today’s performance, Fine passed Scott Hall to move in to 5th place in school history for career passing yards. He is also one touchdown pass shy of tying Scott Davis for 5th in school history, and just two back of tying Derek Thompson for 4th. His 444 passing yards today is also good for 5th most in a single game in school history. This broke his career high of 424 in a game that he set last year against SMU. Should be a fun year to watch and see what records Fine can break and when.

Bryce and the rest of the D- line looked better than anyone could of anticipated! Great Job!!

I keep reading these statements that SMU leads the Safeway Bowl rivalry by a 31-6-1 margin. That's simply not the case. SMU held an 18-1-1 advantage in the pre-WWII days when they granted athletic scholarships in the University Division while North Texas did not in the College Division. All games were played at SMU and all officials were Southwest Conference employees. It was clearly an uneven playing field. SMU held a 7-1 advantage in games played 1974-1984 while they were wildly cheating, paying players, in what culminated with the Death Penalty for their program. Note - Until June Jones, every SMU coach that has had a winning season since 1958 when the NCAA started policing infractions had been caught for major recruiting violations. SMU held a 2-1 advantage in the games 1989-1992 while North Texas played at the FCS (1-AA) level with the significantly lower 1-AA scholarship limit. The playing field was finally leveled when North Texas moved to the FBS subdivision in 1994 but SMU refused to play North Texas. This prompted North Texas coach Matt Simon to issue the challenge "If they'd like to play on a Safeway parking lot just give a time and date." SMU dodged the challenge by stating that they weren't cowardly, but that the match-up just didn't make good business sense for them." By the early 2000's SMU had a new stadium that sat relatively empty except on the few dates that it was filled by fans of former SWC opponents like Baylor, Tech, TCU and A&M. SMU cancelled their men's track & field and cross country programs in 2004 citing financial reasons. Those home and home non-conference series with former SWC opponents, all except TCU, soon started drying up. The Safeway Bowl series was then started in 2006, the first time ever that SMU and North Texas met on a level playing field: no scholarship differences, no paying players. North Texas won that game 24-6. The Safeway Bowl has been played six more times with SMU holding a 4-3 edge in the series. The series has been good for North Texas because it's fans are possibly only ones in the nation that are excited about playing SMU, and just as importantly for SMU they now have a home and home rivalry other than TCU that brings out more fans than any of their supposed 'conference rivals'.

I am not sure I understand your mission to disprove the attendance number, @KingDL1. What does it matter? We know two things: 1) Attendance figures do not reflect butts in seats. 2) Our announced attendance figures are the second most accurate in the conference at 69% (butts in seats/announced). Watching this on TV, which is how most people that saw this game would have seen it, the crowd looked AMAZING (especially the tail/wing) and sounded loud. Not 100% sure on whether or not this was the biggest crowd in our history (sure seemed like it), but it seemed to be the BEST crowd ever, especially since it was almost all NT fans and we were not relying on visiting fans to fill it up.

at the end of the day, this might be a record for most UNT fans at a game... I bet Houston brought 3,000 more fans for their game in 2011, and i would imagine Baylor had more fans at Fouts

It was absolutely packed on the Alumni/Home side. Great atmosphere! Well done to Wren Baker and all of the AD staff! They were right about having a large walk up crowd and I was wrong about filling up all of those available seats. Winning and great marketing came together last night. A corner has been turned. The key to all of this: Keep winning.

First team defense allowed 1 rushing yard tonight, only 4 first downs (it was 0 for A VERY long time) held Ben Hicks to 9/21 passing for 110 yards, and won the turnover battle. Literally all of SMU's offensive success came against backup players in garbage time. People will look at this game and say "Oh, 46-23. Good win." Nope. It was dominance. If the run game had been even average we could've and would've hung 50-60 on them. Damn proud of this defense. You can clearly see how much work they've put in over the spring/summer. Hell of a game.

Pony tears are delicious. Here's the first drop of the game:

I'd be curious for your take on what Bear Bryant would think of Kristin Balboni reading Facebook comments about football uniforms during the game. Ill hang up and listen