mgsteve

LSUsports.net On North Texas not being able to find a hotel in Baton Rouge for Saturday... “That’s disappointing. I hope that they’re not too inconvenienced. I hope that they find a comfortable plan to get here and play. I understand why. I think the governor signed a bill into effect that says that no one can take you out of your hotel room is you’ve evacuated, need a place to stay and are paying your bill. I do understand that hotel rooms in this state have become a commodity and that those without power are gobbling up those rooms with power. I hope that our opponent isn’t terribly inconvenienced, and I mean it sincerely.”

2theadvocate.com

CJOnline Blogs "The Victory Cannon (“Boomer”) – Fired in celebration of every UNT touchdown. Received its name from former UNT great and NFL Hall of Famer Mean Joe Greene who said the cannon was “some kind of boomer” after a particularly high-scoring game."

K-Stated

Statesman.com

same seats

Stadium questions must be over, feed back up.

Lazer, looks like we saw the article at the same time, sorry for the duplication.

DRC

LAs Cruces Sun-News

theadvertiser.com

Scout.com Johnny Quinn is far, far away from the Favre Furor, Indecision ’08 or whichever moniker this summer’s bizarre twist of fate eventually is given. Quinn isn’t concerned with it. Down in McKinney, Texas, his routine doesn’t change. The Green Bay Packers wide receiver wakes up at 8 a.m. to eat breakfast, hops in his car, maybe gets about halfway through a Linkin Park or Nickelback song and arrives at the Michael Johnson Performance Center – a mere two-minute drive from his home. From 9 a.m. to noon Quinn trains relentlessly, sometimes in the brutal 95-degree Texas heat. He takes an hour off for lunch, and then from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., he’ll study notes he jotted during Green Bay’s OTA sessions. Clock in. Clock out. Five days per week. Oh, and on weekends, Quinn mixes in some cardio and yoga for good measure. Quinn knows he has no other option. Not this time. Not here. Not now. If Green Bay’s minicamp inside the Don Hutson Center was an effective movie trailer, the 2006 film Invincible will unravel at Clarke Hinkle Field during training camp. Quinn – the guy cut by the Buffalo Bills before training camp even started last summer – punctually runs his routes at full tilt, defense or no defense. Everything thrown his way is caught. No plays are taken off. No reason for coaches to scowl. So far, so good. Clichés aside, Quinn is the receiver whose height is three inches too short, yet whose heart is three sizes too big. Last year’s disappointment fueled this year’s dedication at the MJPC. He’s Invincible’s Mark Wahlberg in a Packers uniform. Quinn takes his helmet off, and you still think Wahlberg is the one in that No. 17 uniform. Really. “I grew my hair out in college down to my nose and people said I looked just like Mark Wahlberg in Four Brothers,” Quinn laughed. The odds are stacked against Quinn. After getting released by Buffalo last year and bypassed by all other 31 teams, he worked out with Green Bay on Nov. 13 and was eventually signed on Jan. 27. Arguably no team in the NFL is deeper at wide receiver than Green Bay – bad news for an undrafted 6-foot-in-steel-toes wideout from North Texas. But not so fast armchair GMs. Quinn is having a knockout offseason. The boxer-built, Wahlberg-clone, football/track dual athlete North Texas has carried a strong performance in OTAs and minicamps into the weight room – a backyard, state-of-the-art weight room. Through the six-week furlough between minicamp and training camp, Quinn has immersed himself within Michael Johnson’s brainchild of a workout center. “It makes me understand that I’m not leaving any stone unturned,” Quinn said. “I’m really hitting it as far as physically and mentally.” One of a kind The Michael Johnson Performance Center – which has trained more than 50 NFL players including LaDainian Tomlinson, Eli Manning, Roy Williams and Tony Romo – devises workout regiments focused on an athlete’s specific position. The 13-month-old center accomplishes this with a series of field work, lateral/linear work, route-running, explosion exercises and plenty of time in the weight room. One innovative drill that improves the peripheral vision of wide receivers is the Nike SST sport vision training lab. Quinn must catch passes with oversized sunglasses with shudders over his eyes. The shudders flicker at various speeds, which emphasizes reaction time and helps “slow the process down,” Quinn said. The half-blinding exercise is like playing basketball with a medicine ball instead of a basketball or adding weight to a baseball bat. The real deal becomes much, much easier. “It really works on slowing everything down and letting your brain process different things,” Quinn said. “Once you take the shudders off, it feels like the ball’s coming in slower and you can see it better.” Under the guidance of Director of Performance Lance Walker, who served three seasons as the Dallas Cowboys’ assistant strength and conditioning coach in the Bill Parcells regime, a slew of other NFL players have joined Quinn in the pre-camp grind: Dan Campbell (TE, Detroit), Michael Huff (S, Oakland), Mark Clayton (WR, Baltimore) and Arnaz Battle (WR, San Francisco). Also, Arkansas running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones prepared for the NFL Combine in McKinney and McFadden ran a 4.33 – the second-fastest time at the Combine. Something’s in the water down there. And for Quinn, it’s an ideal primer for training camp. “Everything is tailored to your position, your weight class and any deficiencies you may have, depending on whether you’re a little beat up from minicamp or maybe what you need to strengthen,” he said. “Everything is really individual-based.” The man himself – Michael Johnson – is “in and out,” Quinn said. When Quinn and Company work on straight-line training outside, the five-time Olympic gold champion often puts his two cents in. History indicates the final roster spots on a Ted Thompson/Mike McCarthy team usually boil down to versatility on special teams units. Johnson’s expertise feeds this full-speed-ahead necessity. “On special teams you’re covering kicks, covering punts,” Quinn said. “You need to get down there as fast as you can.” Sprinting isn’t anything new to Quinn. Comes natural, now. But it wasn’t easy. A ‘humbling’ experience This was the college experience? During North Texas’ football offseason, when Quinn’s teammates went to the lake to relax, he was making four-hour bus rides to Norman, Okla. – knowing full well he was going to finish dead last. Quinn walked onto the track team at North Texas and was a sprinter for four years. The two-sport experience helped him mentally, just as much as physically. “It’s a very humbling sport. I got my scholarship in football, not track,” Quinn said. “That’s for a reason. I walked onto the team and for the first two years, I was just getting blown out. Just beat bad. It’s humbling. “That’s probably the best thing at North Texas that helped me out speed wise. I put on weight in the weight room and got bigger. No one really taught me how to run with that weight. We had a track coach up there that really helped me with my stride.” And that coach is still helping him chase NFL glory. Carl Sheffield was the sprints and hurdles coach at North Texas when Quinn was in school. Now he’s a full-time trainer at the Michael Johnson Performance Center, where he specializes in linear speed development – still there for Quinn. “I believe track helped (Johnny) continue to get faster, training with people that were faster than he was,” Sheffield said. “He began to run his routes a lot better because of his deceptiveness of how fast he actually was.” Still, even in the fall, opportunities to grab the limelight were rare for Quinn. The Mean Green was very run-oriented, featuring the nation’s leading rusher twice during Quinn’s four years. Subsequently, Quinn doesn’t exactly replicate typical wide receiver rhetoric. “I feel that from a blocking standpoint, I bring a different asset to the table to the receiver corps,” he said. “Green Bay has some very talented running backs and if they’re going to get the ball it’s imperative that you block on the outside.” While that may be true, there’s a very real possibility that Quinn also falls under the underutilized, waiting to erupt category. Quinn caught 34, 49, 47 and 57 passes in his four years, averaging 676 yards and five touchdowns per season. Consistently consistent, yes, He accepted the fabric North Texas’ run-to-glory scheme. But Sheffield sees more – especially now after seeing his spiked hunger this offseason. “You always have those guys that come from small schools or really didn’t do that much in college and get to the NFL and just explode. I think Johnny, given the opportunity, can be one of those guys because of his passion for his sport and how disciplined he is at being the best he can be.” Case in point: Johnny Quinn’s senior season with the Mean Green. Injury derails first crack at NFL, sparks the second Quinn could practically see the fork in the road. Halfway through his final hurrah, Quinn tore and dislocated a tendon in his left ankle. He sat out one game to let the swelling dissipate, and then he faced a decision. Play on a sinking team that eventually finished 3-9, or safely sit out and prepare for the pros? Quinn took the hard road, and played five games with a torn tendon in his ankle. Before each game from then on, Quinn numbed his ankle with lidocaine and joined his teammates. “We were struggling early on, and you just don’t want to leave your buddies out there,” Quinn said. “It just would hurt after the games after the lidocaine wore off. If I had to do it again, I’d do it again.” Unfortunately, the ankle injury came back to haunt him, and prevented his first NFL team from seeing the real Johnny Quinn. Well, actually, he never even got that chance. One week after his senior season concluded, Quinn had surgery. Ankle rehabilitation usually takes a full six months, but Quinn tried to crunch his recovery into four months. At North Texas’ Pro Day, the bum ankle rendered Quinn to straight-line drills – no route-running whatsoever. He was then invited to play in the North-South All-Star game, but obviously couldn’t participate since he was still in an oversized boot. Buffalo gave him a shot, but when Quinn tore his hamstring at the Bills’ OTAs, Marv Levy’s front office cut him. Quinn speculated that the quick ankle rehab rush probably contributed to the freak hamstring injury. Through four years of running track at North Texas, Quinn never tore his hamstring. Until last summer, when he needed his health most. “A lot of stuff came up that I had never experienced,” Quinn said. “I think that’s the reason I exited early out of Buffalo.” No other teams called, and Quinn returned to McKinney. Instead of playing in the NFL, he was a personal trainer for LA Fitness. “Now that I look back at it, the time off this past year was probably the best thing for me,” he said. “I was doing everything I could to get my ankle right and get everything going, but I probably needed more time to rehab it.” Quinn didn’t relinquish his goal. From October to February, he scheduled clients in the evening so he could continue working out at the MJPC in the morning. Time to think. Time to reflect. Time to prepare for Round Two. “Getting released from a team is very humbling, especially when you didn’t get a chance to put the pads on,” Quinn said. “It added a lot more fuel to my fire. Every Sunday you turn on all the NFL games and you know you’re capable of being there. You wish you were there. You just need that opportunity to be there.” Sheffield sees every day just how sincerely committed Quinn is to embracing his second life in the NFL. His main goal for Quinn has been to improve the receiver’s hip flexibility. Beyond that, Sheffied is astonished at Quinn’s round-the-clock motivation. Johnny Quinn (81) caught 34, 49, 47 and 57 passes in his four years at North Texas, averaging 676 yards and five touchdowns per season. “I only see him from 9 o’clock to 12 o’clock, three or four days per week,” Sheffield said. “I asked him, ‘Are you being a bum the rest of the week?’ And he said, ‘Coach, as soon as I leave here, I have lunch and study notes from 1 to 4 and there’s a junior college kid here I throw balls with from 6 to 8. “He’s already preparing himself psychologically for the schedule he’ll have as an NFL guy ... He told me how big the playbook is and that he is going to know it all by camp. He knows he only has a one-shot chance, and not knowing the playbook is not going to be a reason.” Competition will be stiff The only writing that isn’t on the wall at wide receiver for the Packers are the crossed T’s and dotted I’s. Donald Driver, lock. Greg Jennings, lock. James Jones, lock. Jordy Nelson, lock. Fifteen of Ruvell Martin’s 16 catches last year went for first downs and four for touchdowns. Chris Francies and Shaun Bodiford are veterans in the system. Seventh-round pick Brett Swain is in the mix as a receiver/returner option. Taj Smith the wheels (4.3 40). Jake Allen has the height (6-foot-4). Call it cutthroat musical chairs. Seven players fighting for two spots. Still, Quinn isn’t playing the number’s game. “I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason,” he said. “The Good Lord put all of us receivers in Green Bay, Wisconsin for a reason. I can only control what I can do, and that’s making sure I’m in the best physical and mental shape possible going into training camp. If I can do that, things will be OK. “I’m just excited to have another opportunity. I felt that I didn’t get an opportunity with Buffalo.” So the routine doesn’t change. Wake up. Hit the weights. Hit the field. Hit the books. And in any free time, hit up some Halo on Xbox 360 (In 2004 Quinn placed 16th at Major League Gaming’s National Halo Tournament). Over and over and over and over again. Since getting that phone call from Green Bay in November, Quinn’s lived by one motto: Do not leave any regrets on the table. Stay hungry. And when training camp comes, be ready. Now, he is. “I’m ready to roll,” Quinn said. “Sitting out a year has really humbled me and made me appreciate everything and I’m just ready to get out there, throw on the pads and show everybody what I can do – my teammates, the coaching staff and the fans in Green Bay.”

Bleacherreport.com PLEASE DO NOT CUT AND PASTE ENTIRE ARTICLES.

Star-Telegram.com Western Kentucky coach regrets team's behavior against North Texas By TROY PHILLIPStphillips@star-telegram NEW ORLEANS — North Texas coach Todd Dodge and Western Kentucky coach David Elson had no problem being cordial during Sun Belt Conference media days. Their teams might not feel that way Nov. 1. Elson’s Hilltoppers have one more provisional season before joining the Sun Belt and the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (former Division I-A) full time. UNT travels to WKU in 2008, and Elson said he doesn’t want a repeat performance from last year on his side of the field. "It’s a lesson learned," said Elson, whose team lost 27-26 to the Mean Green after missing a 35-yard extra point that resulted from a double personal foul for unsportsmanlike conduct. "Our guys are well aware we have to be smarter." WKU players danced on UNT’s 50-yard line before senior-day festivities. The teams had a combined nine personal fouls. After a touchdown, WKU was flagged twice for celebrating before the extra point, once for a choreographed "bomb" dance that’s a major no-no in college football. Postgame shoving ensued, and UNT coaches and players were visibly incensed. "There was nothing right about it," Elson said. "It was the combination of being our last game of the season on the road. We got a little too excited in that game and didn’t control ourselves." Asked about the return trip during a television interview, Dodge kept his comments short. "We’re really looking forward to going up there," Dodge said. Sun Belt bowl deals The Sun Belt champion again will play a Conference USA team in the New Orleans Bowl. A new deal could get more bowl-eligible teams into games. Troy was 8-4 last year but stayed home. In 2008 and 2009, Sun Belt teams could play in the Papajohn’s.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., the Independence Bowl in Shreveport or the new St. Petersburg Bowl in Florida. Those games have partnerships, in some combination, with the Southeastern Conference, Big East and Conference USA. If those leagues don’t have enough bowl-eligible teams, the Sun Belt is contracted now to fill that spot. "There are 34 bowls now, but no more eligible teams than five years ago," Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters said. "The chance of an eligible team in our league being able to compete just went up." Briefly In 2012, South Alabama will become the 10th football team in the Sun Belt. The Jaguars will debut as an independent in 2009. The university has raised student fees $150 per semester to help fund the program. UNT receiver Casey Fitzgerald and center Kelvin Drake were selected to the preseason all-conference team, which includes no Mean Green defensive players. Quote of the day: "Ten teams? Aren’t there enough teams in this league already? Do we really need any more?" — Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger

Star-Telegram.com From fast food to fast track, UNT receiver still has a grip NEW ORLEANS — If you can question one thing about Casey Fitzgerald, it’s his menu choice in a town full of eclectic native cuisine. At Serio’s Po-Boys and Deli, one of the city’s stalwart eateries, the North Texas Mean Green’s senior receiver steps up to the lunch counter and orders ... a grilled chicken sandwich. With ketchup and mustard. This is tantamount to ordering pork at Del Frisco’s steak house, but Fitzgerald doesn’t second-guess his choice. A lunch companion offers him half of his muffaletta, Serio’s signature sandwich. "I don’t think so," Fitzgerald says with a grimace, recoiling from the sandwich’s oil-soaked olive relish. For one of the Sun Belt Conference’s most glamorous offensive players, Fitzgerald is refreshingly unglamorous. His path to stardom is so humble and ordinary, yet so unlikely. After flipping burgers for years to help pay for college, he’s with UNT coach Todd Dodge at the Sun Belt Conference media days this week. "I was just excited about the opportunity to get on the field and show what I could do," Fitzgerald said of being unearthed by a new UNT coaching staff last year, when he had 111 catches and 12 touchdowns. Named to the 2008 preseason all-conference team, Fitzgerald played little in two years at UNT after walking on from Red Oak High, where he was an outstanding but unrecruited basketball player. He showed promise in football in 2006 on then-coach Darrell Dickey’s "Green Team," walk-ons and roster stragglers Dickey used in games to light a fire under the regular offense. Not until Dodge and new receivers coach Clayton George put a fresh set of eyes on Fitzgerald did he flourish. He was working a longtime job at Whataburger to help pay for rent, books and other incidentals while his mother, a special-education teacher, paid his tuition. "I didn’t know until recently that he wasn’t even a preferred walk-on," Dodge said. "He went through a tryout in the fall of 2004 to walk on the spring of 2005. There were 30 to start out, and he’s one of two guys left." Grateful for a scholarship awarded in August, Fitzgerald soared on the field and never wavered in class. He plans to be a student teacher in Lake Dallas this spring in preparation for a high school coaching/teaching career. He’s still at Whataburger part time, but his last day is Sunday. He’s a rarity; a working college student who takes pride in a means-to-an-ends job, even one in fast food. "Any job builds character," said Fitzgerald, who can man a grill of 30 burgers at a time. "It’s taught me responsibility and prepared me for my real job some day. In fast food, you’ve got to have patience and deal with all kinds of customers and situations. Maybe, one day, I’ll buy one of those places." The middle of three brothers, Fitzgerald will be the second to graduate college. Older brother Johnny played for SMU, and younger brother Tony is a junior at Texas. Football glory is nice, but Casey comes from a family that values education. Being 5-foot-11, that’s a good idea. "I have to take care of other things," he said, referring to any pro football prospects he might have. "You can’t depend all on one thing happening like that." That safe/smart approach works for someone who runs routes and catches passes like he’s out of his mind. True to his nature, the only seafood he’ll touch in New Orleans is plain ol’ fried catfish. "None of that weird stuff," he said.

Jacksonville Progress Gowin adjust to life after the NFL Jacksonville Progress By Don Wallace sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com Now the shoe is on the other foot for former NFL punter Toby Gowin. His days of being an unassuming professional football player are behind him; now he is thrust into the competitive world of commercial real estate sales. “It’s strange. For years I was private. I wanted to shield my family from publicity and I was low key. Now I kind of have to promote my name and get out and meet people since I am selling real estate,” Gowin said. Gowin works for Burns commercial Properties in Tyler and has for several months. He was a punter/kickoff specialist in the NFL from 1997 to 2004. He punted for the Cowboys from 1997-99 and in 2003; he also punted for New Orleans for three years and one year for the New York Jets, his final year in 2004. In seven seasons he had 629 punts for an average of 41.2 yards with his longest boot being a 72-yarder. Gowin had 189 punts downed inside the 20. “I went to training camp with the Falcons in 2005 and then tried it with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2006; it just did not work out. That was the last time I punted. I was kind of bitter for a little while; I thought I could still punt. But I am over that now,” Gowin said. Gowin is a former Jacksonville High School standout which led to him nabbing All-American honors while punting at the University of North Texas. His final year for the “Mean Green” he punted 89 times during the season. Gowin said he would have never made it to the NFL without the guidance and leadership of former JHS coach Danny Long and later Dennis Parker at North Texas. “Lots of people helped me along the way. I was lucky to get coaches like Long and Parker. Plus, my family was always very supportive along the way. That is a big help; to know you have your family behind you makes it easier,” Gowin said. Gowin smiled and his voic filled with excitement as he recounted the story of his first job in the NFL. “I grew up a Cowboy fan; you almost have to be a Cowboy fan around here. To get a job punting for them was something,” Gowin said. “I remember the day in 1997 when I drove into Valley Ranch and Steve Hoffman (then the kicking coach) told me I had the job. I was so excited and I signed as a free agent.” Gowin said, “To play on the same team with Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman ... it was an awesome experience. At that time I really wasn’t shocked that I was there; it was what I had been working toward for a long time.” The one-time Fightin’ Indian who took the field in the first varsity game weighing 120 pounds soaking wet had made the big time. He said he was fortunate that in his NFL career he got to kick most of his career in stadiums with little or no wind. “I liked kicking off better than punting. If I am kicking off then that means we scored or something good happened. If I am punting, it is the opposite. You punt when the drive stalls and you try to put the team in as good field position as you can,” Gowin said. Gowin said seeing some of the guys on kickoff teams gave him an insight into the wild and unpredictable nature of pro football. “Those guys on kickoff teams are crazy. Usually they are rookies or guys trying to make the team somehow. They are reckless; they really sell out their body for the team,” Gowin said. “I looked at the NFL as overgrown kids. You don’t have to grow up, you can keep playing the game.” Gowin said he is often reminded of his 33-yard carry on a fake punt while with Dallas. He said people don’t remember his speedy carry did not spark a touchdown and three plays later he was punting, for real, again. Gowin said, “When I first signed I was single and pro football was what I had to concentrate on. I was very dedicated and I put in all the work, because I didn’t have anything else going on. Then I got older, got married. It was harder to manage.” Gowin married a Jacksonville graduate, Nikki Green, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. The couple have two children, Jaeger and Greenlee. He said he was sorry to see his career come to an end. He said then Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells was less than understanding about a punter with an injured quad. He did not want to use a spot on the injured reserve for Gowin. “I kept punting even after I got hurt. Of course I was not as affective as I would have been with two good legs,” Gowin said. “It all came down to a numbers game. Pro football is a business and that’s all part of it.” Gowin’s dream of playing golf and fishing lasted only a few months. “I wanted to play golf and fish, but everybody else was working. So that did not last long. Then I was a stay-at-home dad and that was a really tough job. It really made me appreciate the jobs that my wife and all the other people do staying at home to raise kids,” Gowin said. Gowin said he is still a big fan of pro football. He enjoys watching people he knows and has followed the career of the McCown brothers, Luke and Josh. “The McCowns are doing all right. I think quarterbacks make more money than punters. So when they retire after a few more years they can do what they want to do. I enjoyed my time in pro football. I thought I could play longer, but I have accepted my retirement now,” Gowin said. Gowin said, “Selling commerical real estate is a challenge, a new chapter in my life. I have been working at it a while, getting all the book work done, studying all the laws and regulations.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinal

CSTV ARLINGTON, Texas - - UT Arlington men's basketball coach Scott Cross says a 2008-09 non-conference schedule filled with trips all across the country will reveal quickly how tough his team is, and he's hoping it will teach the Mavericks how to win on the road. UTA opens the season Nov. 15 at home against Hardin-Simmons in one of 13 non-conference games. Ten of those non-conference games will be on the road. Highlighting the non-conference slate is a game in Denton against North Texas where the Mavericks will try to make it four consecutive victories against the Mean Green.

Pegasus News When Todd Dodge became the new head football coach at The University of North Texas, few people doubted that he would put up big offensive numbers. Some even believed he would be successful leading the Mean Green to be a top program in the Sun Belt Conference. Others, however, doubted his ability to be successful at the college level. Dodge’s previous stop was at the high school level, head coach at Southlake Carroll High School in Southlake, TX. Dodge proved both sides right, and wrong. Dodge’s offense was good. Freshman Giovanni Vizza was Freshman of the Year in the Sun Belt Conference. He threw for over 2300 yards with 17 touchdowns as a starter in 8 games. Wide Receiver Casey Fitzgerald was a 1,000 yard receiver for UNT, including a game against SMU where he caught 18 passes for 327 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Mean Green moved the ball well, but struggled to score a lot of touchdowns in the red zone. The big problem was their defense. Dodge and his defensive coordinator, Ron Mendoza, seemed to be overmatched at the college level. At the end of the season, Dodge made a defensive coaching change. Dodge brought former UNT Defensive Coordinator Gary DeLoach. DeLoach’s defenses at UNT were spectacular. During the spring practices, it seemed as if the UNT defense is already making progress. This move may have been a college level move by Dodge. If DeLoach can make the UNT defense significantly better, then UNT will be a dangerous team in the Sun Belt Conference. For the Mean Green to be successful, Dodge, DeLoach, and UNT has to put the mean back into the Mean Green. They have to force turnovers like they did against UL Monroe, their lone conference win in 2007. They will need more depth at the defensive line. There is enough talent in the DFW area to recruit and find the defensive skill players, therefore, it is the defensive line they have to find talent to help make the front 7 better. If we remember Terry Bowden’s characteristics of a champion, we will recognize the need to stop the run. A good, a better, defensive line is key to stopping the run. The highlight of UNT’s ineptness against the run was against Navy when the Mean Green gave up 572 yards on the ground. Keep an eye on UNT this fall to see if they put the Mean back into the Mean Green.

The Hudson Valley Press Online Not sure if this was already posted regarding our 2009 schedule

Pegasus News TCU football has announced the hiring of Clay Jennings as cornerbacks coach. Jennings, who has coached five current NFL defensive backs, comes to the Horned Frogs after serving as the cornerbacks coach at Baylor last season. He replaces Charles McMillian on the TCU staff. McMillian left to become a defensive backs coach at Texas A&M. Prior to serving the 2007 campaign at Baylor, Jennings worked two seasons (2005-06) as safeties coach at Houston. He helped the Cougars to back-to-back bowl appearances and the 2006 Conference USA championship. In 2006, Cougars' free safety Will Gulley earned Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year honors while Brandon Brinkley was named to the league's all-freshman squad. In his first season at Houston, Jennings saw Rocky Schwartz earn Conference USA third-team all-league honors and Kenneth Fontennette be named an honorable-mention Freshman All-American by The Sporting News. Prior to his two-year stint at Houston, Jennings spent two seasons (2003-04) as the defensive backs coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, where he helped the Ragin' Cajuns to a No. 11 national ranking in pass defense. At Louisiana-Lafayette, Jennings tutored current NFL players Antwain Spann (New England Patriots), C.C. Brown (Houston Texans) and Michael Adams (Arizona Cardinals). Jennings also worked two years (2001-02) as secondary coach and recruiting coordinator at Sam Houston State. He helped the Bearkats to a share of the 2001 Southland Conference championship and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. At SHSU, Jennings coached All-American and Buck Buchanan Award finalist Keith Davis, who just completed his fifth season with the Dallas Cowboys. Jennings also coached the secondary at Southern Arkansas (2000), Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa (1999) and Morehouse College in Atlanta (1998). At SAU, Jennings mentored Jordan Babineaux of the Seattle Seahawks. At Morningside, Jennings coached first-team All-American Matt Walker. A four-year letterwinner (1992-95) as a defensive lineman and special teams standout at North Texas, Jennings was a member of the Mean Green's 1994 Southland Conference championship team and the school's first NCAA Division I-A squad in 1995. He began his coaching career as a student assistant (1996) and then graduate assistant (1997) at North Texas before moving on to Morehouse. A 1992 graduate of Waco's La Vega High School and a 1996 North Texas alumnus (bachelor's of science in kinesiology), Jennings and his wife, Belinda, have two children: son Kirby and daughter Kenzie.

30th here.

USA Today Sports Scope Blog NCAA executive committee chairman Michael Adams has sent a letter to NCAA president Dr. Myles Brand, proposing a plus-3 playoff system in college football in an effort to settle the issue of a national champion on the field. Adams, who is president of the University of Georgia, proposes a four-team playoff at the conclusion of the four major Bowl Championship Series bowl games. Two games would be held the first Saturday that is at least one full week after the New Year's Day games, and then a final game would be held the following Saturday. Effectively, the national championship would become an eight-team bracket with seven single-elimination games according to Adams' plan. If applied to this year's calendar, the semifinal games would be Jan. 12 and the championship game Jan. 19. Adams will discuss his proposal at a 2 p.m. press conference today. Ohio State president Gordon Gee said Monday that he opposes a plus-one playoff system, but incoming BCS coordinator John Swofford said expanding the BCS system to include a plus-one format merits further consideration. Adams told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the BCS system is "fundamentally flawed, given the bowl arrangements with the various conferences and all of those cross-currents. I think what I'm suggesting is the fairest way, first of all for the (players)." He wants the NCAA to run the football championship, as it does other sports.

Mean Green Blog The Sun Belt Conference just released its postseason honors team and UNT quarterback Giovanni Vizza has been named the league's Freshman of the Year. Vizza led the nation among true freshmen in passing yards with 2,388 and passing touchdowns with 16. Wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald and defensive end Jeremiah Chapman were first-team all-league selections, offensive lineman Kelvin Drake was a second-team pick while wide receiver Brandon Jackson and linebacker Craig Robertson were named to the honorable mention team.

And to think this is the same FIU offense that scored 22 on our defense last year.......after SEVEN overtimes.