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Just wanted to stop by and thank everyone for a fantastic experience this weekend. Saturday night marked my first trip to Apogee Stadium--what a great place. I knew Apogee was a fairly new stadium, but I did not expect the incredible atmosphere as a whole. Even at the end of the first quarter when it looked like Tech was going to get boat-raced, I remarked to my brother that this was "still a helluva way to spend a Saturday night." If the facilities weren't impressive enough, I was truly shocked at how loud those 30,000 sounded during the "North Texas" chant. To cap it off, a lot of great, green-clad folks clapped me on the back with a "good game" and chatted me up a bit. Great stadium, great people. You guys should be proud. We'll see you guys in Ruston next year.

Wear your Mean Green to work every day this week. Dont let a little setback kill your spirit. Show your fortitude and let those around you know how damn proud you are of this team. Rick

Pardon me if I sound cross, but this one of the most ludicrous things I've ever read. "Not good enough"? Dude, we're not three calendar years removed from Portland State. We just damn near sold out Apogee twice in a month, we're about to be 5-1 after we annihilate UTEP this weekend. 10,000 people are not just going to up and abandon interest because we lost one game. Did parents weekend help? Yes, certainly. We also were able to sit 29,000 people for, albeit, a season opener, after back to back ass whoopings in December of last year. - Injuries happen. Had we hit that FG to win the game, Loren or Mason are still out regardless. - We were never going to go undefeated to begin with, and thinking that we would after winning 4 games is nonsensical. - It's week 1. LA tech is not going to win out, most likely. We can talk about "controlling destiny" in a few weeks. - You don't deserve to be ranked if you lose that game. - No we didn't. - Again, no we didn't. - We still have homecoming and a rematch with FAU awaiting us. Look, I apologize if I sound cross or rude here. I'm not trying to talk down to anybody. I am, however, very annoyed at the apocalyptic response from people over losing one game. This team, if we stay healthy and learn from our mistakes, should very well finish 9-3 or 10-2 in the regular season. I'm sorry if that's not good enough for some people, but 12-0 seasons don't just happen. It's next to impossible. I'll even go as far as to say, if we beat UAB, we will sell out for homecoming. I'll be in my seat every game and I hope you will too.

Wait...I thought all momentum stopped when we lost to La Tech?

Main thought: Just want to brag on Mason Fine and the toughness he showed. Even though he probably should have been taken out of the game (I think he would have gotten into a fist fight with Littrell if that had happened.. jk.. but seriously) the dude laid it all out on the field. I seriously haven't seen a player in a while with as much of a desire to win as Mason Fine, especially in the way he does it. He's been sacrificing his body for W's since he got here, there are so many examples: Florida game 2016 (dude was 170 lbs against an SEC defense), UTSA game winning drive last year, the bloody nose vs Arkansas this year, and the game last night with the limp (anybody know what the injury was yet?). We have a winner at QB, and we're witnessing something really special. I know nobody is arguing against that, I just think we need to remind ourselves how special Fine really is. Maybe we could put a statue of him with crutches and a leg cast right next to the Mean Joe Greene statue. 😂 Second thought: I've had my time to think and be depressed about the loss last night, one of the most heartbreaking losses I've witnessed as a fan in general. So many "What if's". But then I went and watched the video of the Florida game from two years ago. I remember my thoughts before the game were "We have no chance". We put up a decent fight yet lost 32-0. Fast forward to this year and the confidence we had going into Arkansas, and then afterwards "I don't think it's an upset,” North Texas coach Seth Littrell said. “We're very confident as a football team." That's a pretty big turn around right there. Yes we lost to La Tech. The best teams get the best performances out of their opponents each week. That was La Tech's best performance and NT's worst thus far. I hope this loss lights a fire under the players and reminds them how much it sucks to lose. Especially to lose in a game you could have won. Heck, I'd like to see North Texas take on a big school like Florida, Iowa, Texas Tech, or TCU this year in a bowl. I think it would be a great game that we would have a good shot at winning (that still feels weird saying). Will we get a shot at one of those teams? Probably not. Who knows, maybe I'll eat those words. Maybe we do get a shot and they smother us. The only point I'm trying to make is the stark contrast in confidence and attitude. Let's keep on showing up to these games. GMG! Anyways, that's my optimism for the day. Rant over. Commence to ripping it to shreds and bringing me back to Earth if you want lol. Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGu3HokbUBY (Florida Game) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B635h6y1Yk (Final Drive vs UTSA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG8z6d-D2qk&t=159s (Arkansas Game) https://www.apnews.com/d338057907584f7e99630f550cc77e04 (Littrell quote)

Do you guys just sit at home and jerk off to pictures of apogee with fans in the stands? They played their asses off and it was a great event to attend. I guarantee nobody left and said to themselves that this is the same old UNT losing football games. We’re 4-1 and any person who thinks this is classic UNT football is an idiot.

How I see a lot of our fans right now

Well, mostly calming down. Last night sucked, a lot. We should have won and had multiple opportunities to do so. I believe we tried to get (WAY) too cute in the 2nd quarter and abandoned the run. I also believe that, if our offensive line could have done more than act as a speed bump, the play calling is irrelevant. I believe that the coaches have to teach our returners not to field a punt inside the ten...and I believe that, if they are going to field the punt, it is on the player to catch it. We can point fingers every which way...but it won't change the loss. So, here is my morning after take. We are 4-1. Four wins...one loss. If you had approached me prior to this season and said, "Hey Emmitt, if you'll suffer through a La Tech game where literally every way to lose is explored, I'll let you watch the Mean Green curb stomp SMU, embarrass a pair of 1AA schools, and run Arkansas out of their stadium" I would have taken that offer and never looked back. Barring something drastic (like Mason being hurt for an extended period) we will return home 5-1 in a week and have a chance to win every game left on our schedule. I literally laughed out loud when I read people talking about how a potential 11-1 season was no longer good enough for them. WTF school have you been watching in the past? Another thing, our attendance is NOT about to drop to 15,000. We drew 15k a game while playing in Fouts and not winning very much. Many of you must have missed the ground breaking for our new indoor practice facility where not one, but two, multi-million dollar donors spoke. You must have forgotten that 29,000+ watched us take apart SMU...BEFORE any of the hype from the punt return, or the 4-0 record, or parent's weekend, etc. I know we want to be pissed, and I am certain some casual fans were there to see the unbeaten team they heard so much about, but let's not become unreasonable whiners. We had a chance to win that game on the final play last night and put an entertaining product out there, mistakes and all. We likely won't see 30k again for some time, but I'll be downright shocked if you don't see 22k in two weeks, 28k for Homecoming, and (if we take care of business between now and then) 25-27k for FAU on a Thursday night. I believed we had turned a corner prior to yesterday's game. That hasn't changed because of one sloppy night where we did literally everything possible to lose and still almost won. Our athletic department has never been in a better position, we have a coach who will fix what's wrong (and the finances to make taking him less than a foregone conclusion), and our facilities are finally such that we can recruit at a higher level. I'm not happy about being 4-1 this morning...but I'm happier five games into a season than I have been in my Mean Green life.

I think a lot of people got a taste of what big time CFB is like, and it tasted delicious.

I'm sorry, but the whole "Kiss that attendance goodbye" attitude is exactly what WILL kiss that attendance goodbye. We lost by 2 points to a good team. We'll crush UTEP next weekend and return home with a 5-1 record. Sorry, but the hype train doesn't slow down because of one loss. The students have absolutely shown up every home game this year and that's going to continue.

LA Tech is a much better team than Arkansas.

Just to echo that, great experience. Hope you guys win out.

Whew - I feared we would discontinue all athletic programs after our 2 pt loss to la tech 😉 Love the master plan... I've gone back-and-forth between a new basketball facility versus an Athletics/University combined effort to enhance the Super Pit... but this new plan includes Volleyball and practice courts in the new basketball arena which is nice. I've also gone back-and-forth about resurrecting baseball. I do believe having baseball makes us more attractive to other conferences as we claw our way up the food chain and would give the athletic department more ways to advertise the university during Spring and early Summer.

Forget about Iowa? Coming in cold and taking the team in for a TD with just a few seconds left on the clock.....Mason Fine style? Iowa may have prepared for some of Fine's way of playing, but mainly they prepared for the offensive system.......which Shanbour (in his brief stint) worked to perfection. He didn't run any trick plays, he just took off on a 7 or 8 yard run, then threw (according to the announcer) a "perfect" pass to Lawrence on the sideline. And then, whilst rolling out, he threw a perfect throw to Guyton or Bussy, I can't remember which. Struggling? How has he been doing that? All he's allowed to do when he goes in is run the ball......which he does better than Fine. But you want to know the ironic thing about that? His running ability was not what caught my attention when I first noticed him in practice. It was his throwing ability, which included the quickest release I had ever personally witnessed. He wasn't able to run because he was recovering from turf toe. When he was allowed to go through 11 on 11 drills he would often throw the ball so hard that receivers would often drop it. So (IMHO) he's had to dial it back some. For whatever my opinion is worth, in the fall of Fine's freshman year I assessed Quinn as having a better arm than Fine and Morris, and he was a step faster than either of them. But what I also assessed was that Fine seemed to "ooze confidence from every pore". Which is not to say that QS was lacking confidence.....it just wasn't as obvious. If Fine is not able to go this Saturday, it should be QS starting, with Cade Pearson backing him up. I haven't seen Bean enough to totally assess his readiness, but Martin was too raw in the spring to consider putting him out there at this time.

I still want this to get started after every score between the extra point and the team coming out for the kickoff. Automatically, after the cannon fires it starts. Maybe have scrappy stand on an elevated platform, do push-ups, then lead the chant? Also, we REALLY need to have something on the Jumbotron give people a clue to shut up when we line up on offense.

Quinn Shambour has been preparing like 17 years for this opportunity and he won't let us down. He has certainly earned my trust. He may not be The Legend Mason, but the force is strong in this one.

If you want to blame questionable play calling, it wasn’t in the 4th quarter when you’re playing against the clock. It was in the 2nd quarter, when we tried to move away from the run that was so successful in every other quarter. But thats only “if” you want to blame the play calling. Personally, I think there were several breakdowns on offense, defense and special teams so there’s plenty of blame to go around. However, I’m ready to reset too. We’re still backing a great team. This is still a very special team and a very special time in Mean Green football history. I’m just going to sit back and cherish it and enjoy every game possible.

My thought is Brett must have been desperate for a story today. That article has a whole lot of nothing.

Why, as a fan, do you need minute by minute updates on injuries? Not knowing a player’s injury status has no influence on my support of this team. Im all for keeping that information out of the press. Opponent coaches don’t need to know that either.

This! I believe I'm correct in saying LaTech had only one penalty and zero turnovers. They played a flawless game and yet we still had a chance to win. I hate the outcome, but if a person wouldn't want to come to another game like tonights then they just don't like football. That was a great game in a great atmosphere.

Come watch the North Texas Mean Green take on the University of Texas - El Paso Miners. Nothing beats watching the Mean Green with fellow North Texas fans! Make sure to enter the drawing to win UNT door prizes at half time. Killarney's Live - Irish Pub, 352 Town Pl, Fairview, TX 75069. October 6th at 6:30pm. Note: DirecTV has dropped beIN Sports, but have no fear! We'll be streaming the game into Killarney's from the magical interwebs. They have a kickin' A/V system at Killarney's that will still allow us to stream the game to as many TVs in the restaurant as we want, including to the 10 foot projector screen. The game audio will also be blasted throughout the establishment. https://www.facebook.com/events/344599762774703/

DRC: Plan will detail moves UNT will make over the next 20 years in terms of facility projects https://www.dentonrc.com/news/unt-to-unveil-facility-master-plan-for-athletics-this-morning/article_27318cfb-730c-5706-a9d9-3c7437bc246c.html

...is embarrassing. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but when, at home, our QB has to flail his arms trying to quiet the crowd (on a crucial 2 point conversion no less) and the crowd gets even louder, that gets to the point of being detrimental. If we need to play a pregame video reminding the crowd of proper offense cheering etiquette, so be it.

Getting into and leaving fiesta texas, sea world, and six flags Arlington on busy days take forever. When Att is sold out I have to park and walk from Grand Prairie. I take the train to avoid traffic for AA center. I take the VIA to avoid the traffic at spurs games. I literally drove for an hour to find parking at SMU game. I went to allstar NBA in new orleans and omg that was 30 minutes to get into and out of any event. Any event in Austin is traffic hell. I don't understand all this complaining because every place that is close to capacity is a cluster fuck.

Why did I watch this again? I was just about to reset for the week..

This post title would be unimaginable 8 years ago (great venue) and significantly modified just a few years ago (great fan?). I have never been more proud of our stadium and fans than Saturday night. Well, except for the jerks sitting to my left in Section 110, Row 15. Always sad when cousins marry....sets the genetic wiring off for generations to follow. After the disappointment of the loss starts to fade, I am left with the realization that I spent the day hanging with 20 good friends and was surrounded by about 30,000 more folks with whom I would be good friends if any one of them were sitting in the seat next to me. We have North Texas in common, and that's enough. Favorite tweet this game: "The blue lot is sold out." Extra money in our coffers that, it seems, the previous administration didn't need. GMG

The reality of the situation: ESPN puts us in whatever the hell the Heart of Dallas Bowl is called these days because they know that 40,000 of us will show up at 4 o'clock on a Tuesday morning, and throws in whatever the hell opponent they feel like who has nowhere else to go, doesn't travel, and doesn't bring in TV revenue. ESPN uses the situation to further extort the City of Dallas for exorbitant payments going forward. It's a G5 world -- 15-0 or GTFO. We just GTFO'd.

This plan is so much more well thought out than what the previous administration had proposed. This will require the cultivation of new donors, but I love the team we have in place and can see this becoming a reality.

Incredible plan from our University and Athletics Department leadership! Very well thought out and done. If we are able to get the Athletics Center expansion and/or renovation completed, the basketball arena completed, and baseball completed, we could arguably have the best setup in the G5.

One more all the way through the sack. Unbelievable atmosphere at Apogee on Saturday. C86BD8CB-4FEA-4352-B0D0-A7DFD7F1105B.MOV

I’m seeing a lot of negative things about attendance and how things will drop off. Maybe they will. I might also be really naive but.. I’m gonna go ahead and hold on to hope though. We as fans need to come together and do our best to make sure this doesn’t happen. Everything from inviting friends and family, to posting on here about free tickets/discounts will help. I don’t want to just give into this old idea of, “well, this is the way things are and that’s that.” Nah, this is New Denton, let’s do something about it y’all.

Both QB's will be seniors next year, got to figure that''ll be a damn good one too.

Agreed. There are still 12 wins to be had this year, even if we don’t get back into the CUSA title game. Let that sink in.

I keep reading this sentiment, about MF being in the game or not and I question if some of y’all ever played football at all?🙄 Rick

Are you 12? There is no place on this board for that kind of language. After this post, I would not advise you to call anyone stupid. If you can read above a third grade level, you might notice I never defended leaving Fine in the game. Only stated he was the best option to win the game.

Ok, so did anyone else notice that the crowd noise for that "NORTH TEXAS" chant actually did take place as La Tech (for once) did not convert on third down? I couldn't help but thinking that they "crowd sourced" chant actually helped in that.

We actually jumped 12 spots in the S&P+ rankings to 32 due to CUSA demonstrating a depth yesterday that was not previously predicted.

“I’ve been to @MeanGreenSports FB games three times in my time at @LATechSports,” McClelland wrote. “This was by far the best atmosphere I’ve witnessed at UNT or any other road CUSA stadium. @wrenbaker and company are doing a remarkable job in Denton.”

So we have to go undefeated every season to have fans?

That literally gave me chills. (and made me mad again that it ended up a loss)

Thank you for the comments and thank you to our fans for being great hosts. I hate places that have the reputation for being a-holes to visitors, LSU, UTEP, UTSA, etc... and am glad we aren't one of those venues.

Ruston is one of my favorite road trips. Glad some good folk in Denton were able to return the hospitality.

Sorry, you can go ahead and just shut it. Our Dean attends every game (check his Twitter), and a large contingent of COM faculty and staff were at the game Saturday.

Did I throw a chair after the game? Yes Reason why ? We gave them the game, it didn’t help that the game ended on a block field goal. Why we need to stay positive? Plenty of games left across the board and we need UAB to win over La Tech this Saturday. Will I be at the watching party at Killarney’s? You damn right I will be! GMG!

So awesome. From reading responses on twitter and other place, while people were disappointed with the loss they still had fun and were supportive. I think that's huge. The stands were still full even towards the end of the game. We're gaining some loyal fans. Keep winning, and this will keep happening. I don't think there will be a drastic drop off. Imagine this many people showing up every home game.

@peanuts104 This is just a legitimate question because I'm asking myself the same thing: Do you think we would still be saying Fine should have come out if Hedland makes one of the two kicks? I'm not sure, I'd like to say probably not. Then again, I'm not even sure what play Fine got hurt. Yeah, I agree with you. I kept thinking they could've put Shanbour in there when they got to the 40 yard line and have him run a veer with whatever RB was left. Shanbour normally gets like 7 yards a run in the games he's come in, and with a fresh set of legs against a tired La Tech defense... But again, what if? The main point of the post was just to highlight the fact that Mason Fine was marching the team down the field with one leg. Maybe they don't trust any of the QB's behind Fine. Seriously, maybe they are all garbage? I have been a little frustrated with how long Fine has been playing in those blow out games. I'm not sure why they haven't been giving other QBs game time in case he gets hurt.

As much as I want to praise him for his toughness and as much shit as I'm going to get for saying this, his unwillingness to take himself out of the game could have been a deciding factor. I don't like to play the what if game, but he was not able to operate the offense like it should have been in his condition. He made some good plays but him keeping himself in the game, while a display of toughness, was also a display of arrogance on both the part of himself and the coaches (for not pulling him), one that might have lost us the game. I love Mason Fine, he is a fantastic quarterback, but he was a liability on the field, and while he put us in a position to get the last minute field goal at the end, we stalled on the previous two drives with him hobbled. He should have taken himself out of the game or the coaches should have done it for him, end of story. Edit: Also failed to make mention of this, it is a long season. If him moving around on that knee made the injury worse and we lose him for more games, he did us an even worse disservice.

I know in a 12 game season there will be ups and downs. I have seen a lot of bad football in the past. This club is many notches above past teams. I can absorb this hiccup as can our team and rebound for a nice season. Lets keep our perspective and root the boys on toward great success! GMG