Arkstfan

Because they had decent offers from Shreveport and Memphis. They really wanted to be in Lafayette but the hold up has been getting assurances that enough hotel rooms would be available. A very touchy situation since there is an executive mandate against kicking evacuees out of hotels in Louisiana.

Marshall's first four years in I-A. 1997 10-3 won the MAC. Non-conference 2-1. Lost to West Virginia, defeated Army and I-AA Western Illinois. Lost by 3 to Ole Miss in Motor City Bowl. 1998 12-1 won MAC. 3-0 Non-conference. Defeated South Carolina, I-AA Troy, and I-AA Wofford. Won Motor City Bowl over Louisville. 1999. 13-0 won MAC. 3-0 Non-conference. Defeated Clemson, Temple, I-AA Liberty. Won Motor City Bowl over BYU. 2000. 8-5 won MAC. 1-2 non-conference. Lost to Michigan State and North Carolina, defeated I-AA SE Missouri. Won Motor City Bowl over Cincinnati. Opponents ranked in final AP poll: 1997 Ole Miss #22 (bowl opponent) 1998 None 1999 None 2000 None North Texas first four years in Sun Belt. 2001. 5-7 won SBC. Non-conference 0-5. Lost to TCU, OU, Texas Tech, USF, Troy. Lost NO Bowl to Colorado State. 2002. 8-5 won SBC. Non-conference 1-5. Beat I-AA Nichols State, lost to Texas, Alabama, TCU, Arizona, USF. Won New Orleans Bowl over Cincinnati. 2003. 9-4 won SBC. Non-conference 2-3. Beat Baylor and Troy, lost to OU, Air Force, and Arkansas. Lost NO Bowl to Memphis. 2004. 7-5 won SBC. Non-conference 0-4. Lost to Texas, FAU, Colorado, and Baylor. Opponents in final AP poll: 2001: Oklahoma #6 2002: Texas #6, Alabama #11, TCU #23 2003: Oklahoma #3 2004: Texas #5 If UNT is following the Marshall plan you might better take a look at Marshall's schedules! Marshall played a MINIMUM of 8 games per season against MAC schools. In all four of those seasons they played 9 because of the MAC title game. The first four years they NEVER played a team in regular season that ended up ranked. They played a MINIMUM of one I-AA each season. That meant when their regular season schedule was set they had at least nine games every year they should either win or be competitive in. UNT has never had more than 7 conference games (some seasons had as few as six). UNT has played one I-AA school in that span and a couple of I-AA transition schools that were above the I-AA scholie limit. Most seasons UNT had one less regular season game that UNT should have won or been competitive in than Marshall. UNT played four top 10 teams to Marshall's ZERO, and six top 25 to Marshall's 1. I don't see UNT following the Marshall plan.

Among those teams with a losing record UNT beat. 2001 NMSU. But for a 2pts loss at Las Cruces, NMSU finishes 6-6. 2002 ASU. If ASU holds to a 10-6 lead late against UNT, ASU finishes 7-6. 2003 ASU. But for a whipping by UNT, ASU finishes 6-6 2004 ULM. But for a loss at Denton, ULM finishes 6-5. 2004 MTSU. But for a loss at Denton, MTSU finishes 6-5. 2004 NMSU. But for a loss at Denton, NMSU finishes 6-5. That's six teams that could have had .500 or better records but for UNT. If UNT had had the decency to go 4-8 last year, instead of 2 teams finishing above .500 the Sun Belt would have had four.

Missouri was ranked when beaten. Honestly I came into this season quite optimistic. Looking at the league schedules coming into the season I had certain expectations. So far there has been one suprise, MTSU over Vandy. But the disappointments... ULM losing at hom to NW State Troy losing at home to UAB. UNT losing at home to Tulsa. MTSU losing at home to Akron. ULL losing at home to UCF. I can't explain it. Five of the league's eight teams dropped games AT HOME you would have reasonably expected them to win and so far there has been only one suprise in other games. Compare that to last year; Suprises MTSU winning at Akron Troy winning at Marshall Troy winning at Missouri Idaho winning at Eastern Michigan Utah State winning at UNLV Disappointments MTSU losing at home to FAU UNT losing at home to FAU MTSU is clearly where they were last year. They dropped a crazy game and won one. Troy went from 2 big wins (and two close calls) last year to one disappointing loss this year. ULM and ULL each had disappointing losses this year after not having one last year. ULL didn't have Babb for the UCF game so that is understandable and UAB is pretty salty but the other disappointing losses are just puzzling.

The Belt is no worse than the Big West was. It's not like UNT got a pass joining the Sun Belt. While no one is claiming the Belt is a beast, the current Sun Belt members since 2001 have wins over: Vanderbilt (3 times) Mississippi State Missouri Hawaii Tulsa Marshall (2 times) UAB (2 times) UConn Akron Baylor Cincinnati Of those 15 wins, UNT has contributed 2. The conference cannot recruit for you nor can it provide coaches. It can eliminate the need to find X number of opponents each year (in the Belt X=7). It can provide television opportunities. It can provide post-season play opportunities. UNT has taken advantage of the scheduling and produced baskets of wins. UNT has not been as effective in taking advantage of the TV opportunities or the post-season opportunities but the responsiblity for that rests with UNT, not the Sun Belt.

From what I've seen. FIU better be worried about UNT's running game. The Panthers never came close to stopping ASU's ground attack. That said. FIU has a solid passing attack. If you can get pressure on Padrick he can be forced to make bad throws that turn into picks. Don't get pressure on him and will give you hell. Outside of the stupid panic throws (and the occasional "WHAT WAS THAT?") he made against ASU, he was very methodical and took what was available and kept the chains moving. FIU's linemen are HUGE and the biggest issue I saw was that their team speed wasn't what I expected from a Florida school.

UALR and ASU accept plastic at basketball. ASU also take plastic for merchandise at football. No idea if we take plastic for food and drink at football because I always stop and get cash before games. Arrowhead Stadium and Kaufman Stadium both take plastic. I'm not sure I've ever used cash at the Edward Jones Dome for the Rams or the Final Four and I'm pretty sure I didn't use cash at the Saavis Center the last time I went to a Blues game.

Some of the best college fans in the world are LSU fans. The problem is they are engulfed by people that couldn't figure out how to make change for a dollar if they had four quarters in their pocket. If the Cajuns could swap their 10% nuts for LSU's 5% great fans both schools would be happier.

When we visited after the team got the locker rooms the defensive coordinator said he had never been flipped off that much in his life. Coach Roberts answered that he had never been flipped off by a 5 year old before. That's just not true. Everyone on the ASU busses talked about how the LSU fans were shoving the sides of the busses making them rock from side to side as they drove to the stadium.

I kind of like this

It's not like he accomplished those bad seasons in a quality league either. 1998. 3-2 Big West (wins over Boise State 3-5 vs. I-A, Nevada 5-5 vs. I-A, NMSU 3-8 I-A, losses to Idaho 7-3 I-A, and Utah State 2-8 I-A) 1999. 1-5 Big West (win over Boise 8-3 I-A losses to Idaho 5-4, ASU 3-7, Nevada 3-8, NMSU 5-5, Utah State 3-7) 2000. 1-4 Big West (win over NMSU 3-8 vs. I-A, losses to Utah State 4-6, Boise 8-2, Idaho 4-5 I-A, 1-1 I-AA, ASU 1-9 I-A, 0-1 I-AA). MTSU in 2001 was easily comporable to most of those years best team, as was 2002 NMSU. There was very little difference in the caliber of schedule. Since 1996 UNT's league schedules have been roughly similar, regardless of having Big West or Sun Belt patches on the uniforms. The only difference has been UNT winning in league play the past four years. Best I can tell UNT follows the Groucho Marx rule. He said he wouldn't join any club that would be willing to have him as member, likewise UNT fans assume any league they can win isn't worth winning.

Coming into this season he was career 9 games under .500. That's a big strike. He doesn't throw the ball 30+ times a game, not something that sells easily. Gary Pinkel won three titles at Toledo and didn't get hired away until 2 years after his last MAC title when he went 10-1 (beating Penn State) and finished second in his division. Bob Pruett took a I-AA title and six MAC titles and still is at Marshall. Dan Hawkins has three WAC titles and three top 25 rankings and is still at Boise State and hasn't had a really big offer.

Sure there are I-AA's better than I-A, it's always been that way. There are always Division II schools better than many I-AA, and there have always been Division III schools better than some Division II. My parent's high school came out of the smallest classification in the state to beat the state's then largest school for the state basketball title. My complaint is that Sagarin's rankings don't reflect true power because there is not enough overlap to measure schools. Last season Harvard was rated #37 in the nation after going undefeated. They defeated one team that made the I-AA playoffs (a first round loser) and one team that had played a I-A school (lost to Navy). I just don't believe non-scholarship Harvard could have stayed on the field with 75th ranked Memphis or 102nd ranked UNT last year.

I gave up on Sagarin once I saw how highly I-AA's can be ranked because their schedules don't interlock much with I-A. Right now Sagarin sez UL Lafayette ought to be a 7 point favorite at home over NW State. The Cajuns beat them by 21 and botched several scoring chances. Oklahoma State would be an 18 point favorite at home over Arkansas State. ASU a 38 point favorite against Tenn-Martin at home, a game ASU won by 49 and could have easily score at least two more TD's if not three by leaving the starters in and could have netted a shut out if not for playing the 2nd and 3rd team defense guys. Sorry I can't give it much weight.

I agree totally. The current administration at Arkansas State promotes "Tailgate City" and the "Kids Zone" far more than who the opponent is and I think it is starting to pay off.

Why are you scanning tix? The NCAA only requires a ticket sold count.

Humm probably a waste of time. From a United States Supreme Court decision regarding the NCAA. and from the same case Layman translation. I order to create some degree of competitive balance the NCAA may limit scholarships and squad sizes (which it does) and it may limit budgets and fund raising (which it does not do) and limit how revenue is spent (which only does in limited areas). That's a 21 year old decision and unlikely to be over-turned.

#1. It's good politics. #2. It's good public relations. #3. Part of the budget for the bowl comes from a subsidy paid by the state of Louisiana to bowl games played in the state.

It happens so routinely. But maybe if it were for a bowl game some of the 8.13 million cars that pass by each day will stop.

Selfishly I'd like for it to be in Shreveport because in Shreveport I probably go no matter what. Lafayette, only if ASU is in.

No suprise there. ULM held us up for cash when we needed to move a game to play LSU.

ULM and ULL may come out of this very well. If LSU is expecting to make $3 million and pay UNT $500,000 they've got wiggle room in their budget to compensate them for their trouble.

I like the home/home series that Arkansas State has. Army and Oklahoma State (road 05, home 06), SMU (road 06 home 07), and Memphis (road 06, 08, home 07, 2010 or 2011). No world beaters, mostly regional or in the case of Army nationally recognized. But I hope we have good enough buyouts to protect us in the event of a cancellation.

In most game contracts there is no buyout if a game is cancelled as a result of an act of war, insurrection, civil disorder, national emergency, or natural disaster.

THIS JUST IN! UT Tyler has rocketed to the top of the Sun Belt expansion list because UNO's basketball team will be there.