AnotherEagleFan

nice read even with some of the numbers being estimates. I notice how many of the non AQ teams are doing pretty well.

www.whatifsports.com http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaafb/

Not hard to do I'm on here most every day. But you have to admitt that I spend as much time defending the belt as I do my conference.

FWIW I cannot remember CUSA not filling their bowl slots.

Yes this is an attendance issue. The are in the heart of SEC country and want an SEC Team - Everyone would... But the article says that if all this happens CUSA will pick up another bowl... Bacause we always have enough teams to fill our bowl slots.

Maybe. Of all the "big 6" non conference games only 21 are on the road. When you consider the number of AQ Teams (65) and that most have 3 non conference games the number is pretty small. Just using basic Mississippi math I come up with 195 "big 6" non conference games. With "big 6" teams traveling a total of 21 times we are looking at just over 10%. So the chances are pretty great that if you want to play one of the teams you will have to go to their house. Or you can play a non AQ team at home. Vanderbilt at Miami University, Aug. 28 Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech, Aug. 30 Minnesota at Bowling Green, Sept. 6 West Virginia at East Carolina, Sept. 6 Maryland at Middle Tennessee, Sept. 6 Texas Tech at Nevada, Sept. 6 Texas A&M at New Mexico, Sept. 6 Connecticut at Temple, Sept. 6 USF at UCF, Sept. 6 UCLA at BYU, Sept. 13 Wisconsin at Fresno State, Sept. 13 Arizona at New Mexico, Sept. 13 Stanford at TCU, Sept. 13 USF at Florida International, Sept. 20 Iowa State at UNLV, Sept. 20 Cincinnati at Akron, Sept. 27 Oregon State at Utah, Oct. 2 Cincinnati at Marshall, Oct. 3 Louisville at Memphis, Oct. 10 Washington State at Hawaii, Nov. 29 Cincinnati at Hawaii, Dec. 6 Something else that is interesting is the number of games the "big 6" schedule against 1AA opponents. Why because they are cheap wins that only hurt recruiting if they do not win. 2008: 51 games 2007: 41 games 2006: 47 games 2005: 31 games I found the data in a Yahoo article sorry but I do not have a link.

Every non conference school gets paid to come to your house. Believe it or not. Some schools require less money then others. (like every business deal it depends on what everyone wants). If you want 3 AQ BCS teams at your house every year you can do it all you have to do is pay. If you don't think that money has anything to do with it then why do schools buy out contracts. Many AQ BCS schools will pay you to come to their house for your 2 away games but when it is time for the AQ team to visit your home they offer a payout that you cannot refuse. Why, cause they really dont want to come and they have the money to throw at you. Those easy practice road games are only available when your team is always questionable and then they are still few and far between. When you get good they are harder to schedule and you have to pay. We played Alabama for years in Birmingham but they would never think of coming to Hattiesburg so we dropped them. But guess where they went last year and then guess why. And those games are not free it is a 2 for 1. IT helps them out more then it helps you. But congrats on K-State I hope that RV can continue to keep those teams coming into Denton.

It is all about money. If you pay enough they will come to fouts. Not all of them but many of them. The simple fact is that most schools do not have the budget bring the big games to their house.

I was at the game in question. ASU had a great QB. Southern Miss is know to have a bend but dont break defense. I knew at the half that (despite how bad Southern Miss was playing) we were going to win. ASU just could not put anything away. I was thinking the whole time what a year we would have had if we had their QB. But the Sunbelt is a good conference that is getting better... It is a great place for UNT.

A+

Well if they mean at best they do not have a clue... UNT has way to many things going their way to stay mediocre. I kind of expect them to jump everyone like South Florida. UNT is part of a Big Market with a large student body. UNT just needs money and you will not be able to stop the snowball.

Utah, Marshall and Tulane also had great runs in the last 10-15 years. Look at where they are... You must build attendance based with your fanbase and the willingness of the rival fans to travel (not many fans fly to games). If that happens then you may pick up 1500 locals like me who just want to support the local team.

For the record I stated earlier in this thread that I believe that the Sunbelt is a good conference and is a great fit for UNT. I think that UNT can build the program that they want in this conference. The competition is much better in the Sunbelt then it was just 3 years ago. A team that can dominate in the Sunbelt year in and year out will (at minimum) be a top 25 team. Back to your post.. which I normally find pretty insightful and fun to read. I will respectfully disagree with you concerning those games. And do not care to debate what could have happened. The w's and l's are recorded. But CUSA is currently a better conference then the Sunbelt. My original point is that can possibly change in the future. CUSA is currently down. But the Sunbelt is not in a position to play catch up. IF CUSA has a couple of teams to jump ship in the next few years the sunbelt will be in a better position to pass CUSA. But some things need to happen. 1. The big market teams must perform. 2. Attendance at the games must improve. 3. You have to keep having the ULM's beat the Alabama's (or at least give them a really good game) 4. It helps for those wins to be on tv. 5. You need half of your teams to have winning records not 2. 6. Stability - Something that CUSA has not had... I;m sure you saw my earlier post of the teams who were tied to CUSA.

ASU choking at USM... Kinda like the Memphis choking at ASU?? Do you really think that ULM had any chance at beating Tulsa? SMU had a better chance at beating ASU. (though that is not saying much). Our problem is stability due to sending teams to AQ conferences. There are some exciting things going on at CUSA the problem is stability. The belt seems to be more stable. I think that is your argument.

Well kind of? The real answer is that they were able to get a corporation to give a ton of money to Athletics. This happened when the team was crappy.... I remember when people laughed at the color of the Turff. Now it is a home field advantage.

I completely agree. The city gets behind the Broncos and that means corporate sponsors. In fact, did you know that the turf was originally "Albertson" blue? You can guess why....

Wrong.. The casual fans that you speek of are few and far between. They watch the game from the sofa. The impact of big name opponents has more to do with the number of fans that they bring. And neither Hawaii nor Boise travel that well to their own stadiums much less to others stadium. i would love to see ya'll in CUSA but there is nothing wrong with the direction that the belt is going in.

That is fantastic...

The VW is awesome.. I like to think that it can pop a wheelie so if it can't please dont tell me.

This conference is much improved and is not the same conference as when UNT dominated it. Focus on what you have and make the best of it. Hey go to the So Miss board you will always find a thread about us hoping to go to the Big East. Everyone wants to be better. But I am thinking of the long run and I think that the Sunbelt is a better fit in the long run then another non AQ conference. Had the Metro stayed together here is what it would look like: Cincinnati Georgia Tech Louisville Mamphis Tulane Florida State Virginai Tech Southern Mississippi South Carolina University of South Florida There were 3 other non football schools. I think that other then South Carolina all of the other schools on that list would take the old Metro conference over what they currently have. Especially when considering that Miami was headed to the Metro if Florida State would have stayed. This league in my opinion is much better then the Big East and very comparable athleticlly to the ACC.

I dont understand... The belt is not that bad. 1. Fairly Local 2. Stability - No one really looking to jump ship (see CUSA) 3. Some teams are in really good markets 4. Teams are starting to play really well against (and beat) AQ teams 5. Most teams have shown that they want to better themselves (improving facilities) 6. Many teams have upgraded their coaches. I say dominate the belt. Make it so everyone in the conference wants to be your rival (because you ALWAYS WIN). If another conference comes calling then entertain them. But I am not so sure the in the long run another non AQ conference is better for UNT. I know that most people, if not all, are joking with their posts. But I am responding because there is a thread and where there is smoke........

He can. And If UNT improves their facilities and budget he will probably stay much longer.

Just a little different. Bower was the Star of the football team. He and his girlfriend at the time were voted Mr and Miss Southern Miss. He married her. And his daughter lost her life in a car accident in the Hattiesburg area. So there were some pretty strong ties. I wish that Southern Miss would have handled his departure in a much more respectful way.

Money talks... If he wins and is offered a job at a top football school do you really think that he would stay because he likes UNT??? If you think that he is going win enough to get looks from these programs you better start building a new stadium today.

The answer is simple.... MONEY.. The question is how to get it... AND I still think that a few good alumni (with shallow pockets) can make the biggest impact. We hired a professional one time to get us a sell out game. It worked. and the opponent was forgettable. Really I can't remember the opponent but the game was fun and we won big... The "professional" put together a team (12-16) of somewhat popular alumni. They in their spare time had a competition to see who could sell the most tickets. The tickets went at a discounted rate and was 1st come 1st serve at the game (other then season ticket holders). Basically they oversold the game and had a spill over area (bleachered endzone). People came that had not been to a game in years. They saw a product that they had not seen before. We are not just killing the attendance numbers but our season average has climed pretty well since then. I really think that it took us to the next level of over 20K....