gangrene

I think it's time to pass around the peace pipe.

When I first saw Akron on the schedule I sort of snickered to myself. Now I'm a little concerned. I just picked up my annual copy of the The Sporting News preview and Akron is nationally ranked at 46 while we're ranked 95!! I don't put a whole lot of faith in those rankings but that's a BIG difference. Beating SMU and winning the Sun Belt are obviously top priority but if we lose to a team nicknamed the Zips....

Truly saddened by your news...she'll by in my thoughts and prayers.

I wasn't at all pleased by those predictions either. And you left out the predicted loss that I thought was most alarming; Akron.

OK Greenflag...I took your bait and went to that site. It's waaaaayy too early to be getting riled up over this game but this statement by a pony fan "With three cupcake NC games, SMU has to go 7-5 or Bennett should move on," really makes my blood start boiling. If we don't beat the hell out of SMU I'm going to be pretty disappointed.

Let the optimism of the green-tinted glasses begin! I'll be more than happy if the difference in the score is less than 17 points. Hell, I'll even be happy with a repeat of the 20-0 loss a few years back. Another 60+ point shellacking and I'll start calling for Dickey's head again. Please DD, get the team ready to play respectable football and forget about this "let's get through the game without any injuries" unwritten policy crap we've seen the last two years. Yes, Texas is the big and bad defending national champion, but let's show up and make it a game this year!!! A close game can win respect, confidence and fans; a blowout just makes everyone laugh at the thought of North Texas football.

The day after I saw it first posted on this site, the Dallas Morning News printed that Patrick Cobbs was indeed invited to the New England Patriots rookie camp on May 13-14. It made no mention of PC having signed any contract, which is what the 15 rookies previously mentioned in this thread did. It's probably not a good idea to participate in any form of football drills or practices without a contract for insurance purposes, but I guess it's possible. Then again the DMN could have incorrect information?

ESPN also has PC listed at 5'6"!!!???? http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/...raftyear%3D2006

Looks like ESPN finally laid off the crack pipe. We're now ranked #106 in recruiting: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/...cker%2frankings However, I still find it a little hard to believe the FAU has the #12 ranked national recruiting class.

I saw it and I'm pretty sure it was in the 1st quarter. It was an ugly looking screen pass to the left side of the field. The QB just lobbed it up in the air but the blocking was decent and PC made a couple of good moves to pick up 13 yards.

I saw that too. While this year was a stellar year for high school football teams in the North Texas metroplex, it's sad that we can't even get one area top 100 recruit. I wonder if we'd have any if that list were expanded to include the top 150? 200? 300?

Out of 16 commitments, we got ONE??!! ONE commitment?? And it's for an "athlete" who's listed as 5'8", 162 lbs. Is DD recruiting a new Diet Coke Boy?

If he's back, I think we should let Joey Byerly start. At 6'4", 260 lbs, he's the most durable QB we could possibly hope for and, against a defense like Texas, that is very important. Whether or not he actually wins the starting QB spot is irrelevant, he'll give us the best chance of a respectable game against UT because he can take a hit.

Yuck...that's not real exciting to me.

I've got on OU alumn in my office that is rooting for Texas!!! However reluctanct it may be.

Ditto...we never EXPECT to compete with top tier D-1 schools. If you recall, we held UT to 24 points a few years ago. Now we had a very good defense that year, and I would love to think that UT was unsuccessfully trying their best to score 100 against us, but I just didn't see it that way. The 65-0 debacle was simply a showing that UT's second and third stringers are much more talented than our defensive starters...especially when our defense had been on the field all game and faced fresh legs in UT's back-ups. We should all be ecstatic that we didn't play Tech last year because there's no doubt they would have run the score up on us.

I don't remember DD saying that, but I can already hear the pre-game excuses for why we'll have another humiliating loss to UT next year.

I would love to be in the position to demand a run at the national championship every year but it just ain't gonna happen. Texas has waited 36 looong years to be back in the position they're in right now. Since 1936 (the first year polling began with the AP poll), there have been a total of 30 schools that can lay claim to being crowned a national champion. And many of those years the national title was shared between two schools. Those 30 teams are: Notre Dame, USC, Oklahoma, Alabama, Miami, Ohio State, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan State, Florida State, Penn State, LSU, Pittsburgh, Army, Syracuse, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Washington, BYU, Clemson, UCLA, Maryland, Texas A & M and TCU. Aside from the teams listed above, only 13 other teams have finished ranked in the top 5 since 1970. Those teams are: Houston, Arkansas, SMU, Boston College, Air Force, West Virginia, Arizona State, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Oregon and Utah. The way the system is set up now, it's practically impossible for a school in a non-BCS conference to play in the national championship game. Does anyone on this forum truly believe we'd be playing for a national championship this year, had we gone undefeated? Even if we had blown out LSU, we'd be lucky to be ranked in the top 5. The reality is that national respect doesn't come quickly and easily in NCAA D-1 football. It costs a lot of money and requires a LOT of commitment by all parties involved with the program to ensure continued success and progress from one year to the next. We are at a very critical crossroads for this program and we can take one of two directions. We can either learn from this season's failures, regroup, rebuild and re-dominate the SBC next year. Or, we can take the attitude that "it was fun while it lasted" and continue to make lame excuses for why we sucked and everybody else is in a better position than we are (like "those Florida schools"). I fail to see how my expectations for an 11-2 or 10-3 record (that's winning 1/2 of the OOC games, 8-0 in SBC and winning/losing the NO Bowl) are reflective of " the attitude that has afflicted this program for years".

If we were on the playground, I'd push you down and you'd run to the principal's office crying.

Now that's funny!

I agree. I never expect to see the words dynasty and North Texas football in the same sentence...talk about high expectations! We're NOT Miami (private university) and it's not 1970 or whenever they started to turn their program around. We've got very stiff competition for recruiting, fans and media coverage. As long as UT and A&M are around, we'll always be an afterthought. I simply want a football program that can be competitive with Top 25 programs, win half of our OOC games and dominate a conference that even SMU could win every year. I would like a program that Big XII opponents wouldn't mark down as a "win" before the season even started. I expect to get progressively better each year and to occassionally crack the Top 25, but I don't expect us to EVER play for the national championship. At our stage of D-1 football, I still don't understand why we can't do more to promote the program. And, speaking of SMU, I think SMU probably still has fans from their "Mustang Mania" campaign. As I recall, that campaign consisted of a lot of cheap freebies, like stickers, buttons, posters and buy 1/get 1 ticket offers. They got an enormous amount of PR coverage out of it and they had a youth program that included more freebies for children. They were filling Texas Stadium and the Cotton Bowl on a regular basis...but they also a good product on the field that could compete with top-notch programs (even if the players were bought and paid for). I saw a good attempt to promote the UNT football program (with the press coverage of PC ad JT) this year from a media perspective, but there is so much more that could be done. We NEED to fill up Fouts on a regular basis.

but, at 6'9" and 345 lbs, he sure would be an intimidating force to have: http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewp...y=31690&Sport=1

Good eye...he IS a giant! That picture was from 2004, but #76 is Marcus Gordon for Highland CC. He was listed as a 6"6" 320 DL from Memphis, TN. After playing for Highland CC, he transferred to Louisville. It looks like they converted him to an OL and he's listed at #3 on the depth chart at LG behind a 6'4", 300 lb SR and a 6'5", 290 lb SO. He should probably reconsider his decision if wants to get any PT.

PHS Coach has it right. That information is even posted on the UNT athletics website: http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle...562&SPSID=37327 All potential walk-ons who are currently enrolled at another institution of higher education (i.e., junior college, community college or four-year college) and currently on the football roster (or at one time have been on the football roster) fall under the category of transfer. Because of this, no member of the North Texas Athletic Department may be in contact with you (regardless if you contact North Texas first) until North Texas receives a release from your current school (per NCAA rules).

NT80 - thanks for posting.