AnotherEagleFan

As ranked by rivals (may not be the best but it is what we have to go by) 2003 - 84 2004 - 72 2005 - 97 2006 - 111 2007 - 114 2008 - 80 currently I dont consider 80 a big jump over 84 and we are not quite up to 72. A good recruiter (which is the main reason we hired TD) should be able to get any team in the 60's. a top 60 class will have UNT winning the Sunbelt each year as well as competing agianst the non conference opponents.

I always find the different opinions interesting. "Besides, if he doesn't show some serious production in terms of this new stadium in the next year or so, the pressure around here could be more than he wants." The AD can only do so much. If the fans want a new stadium they will get one. My opinion is if UNT decided to fire RV the new stadium would not go up any faster. The pressure will come from his gamble to hire a HS coach as the head coach. If TD is not successful that will not bode well for RV. And so far I am not seeing the recruiting "jump" that his HS ties were supposed to bring. But then again TD was the fan favorite so you cant come down on RV too much for that hire. "Why would RV go to Louisiana Tech ? Isn't that a lateral move at best ?" That conference has had two teams playing in a BCS bowl game each of the last two years. They sent 3 teams to a bowl games this year. Troy (8-4 reg season) had a great season and stayed at home for the holidays while (in my opinion) an inferior Fresno state (8-4 reg season) went bowling. So I think that there is a perception that the WAC is a better conference. SO I could see where someone could put up a fairly good argument that it is a promotion. I believe that RV has stayed because of the potential of UNT. Great football market. Great President who wants success on and off the playing surfaces. Great capital campaign for the entire campus. A conference that has taken great strides recently.

So true... If only you could measure that today.

Did you follow the link above? If Hawaii is not a BCS school then how did they play in a BCS bowl game? Just because you are not an automatic qualiferf does not mean that you are not a BCS team.

I think that you should. You have a better chance of going to a BSC Bowl game then Baylor.

It all about the chips... How many of the blue chips turn into cow chips and how many of the cow chips turn into blue chips. Those who sign the most 3 - 5 stars increase their odds of having players. Those who dont decrease their odds. The key to recruiting is having great relationships with HS coachs and out working the other teams. Bottom line is everything is speculation until the lights come on and the ball goes into the air... then you find out real fast what you have.

No the BCS is made up of...... never mind check out this link http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/conferences Also the "premium" fee that I was referring to is 250 divided by 12. In your case it is 250 divided by 20 or $12.50 per seat. That is the yearly premium you pay per seat for the right to have a better seat then say the endzone. Yes you still have to pay the ticket price for the seat. At least your administration is thinking that UNT is on the verge of having a good football product to sell.

According to Rivals they have very few who have committed. In fact, their class is so bad that I am willing to bet that they are not updating the rivals board.

A couple of comments about this thread... 1st of all UNT is a BCS team just not an automatic qualifier. In fact UNT probably has a better chance of going to a BCS bowl then baylor. 2nd this is a very reasonable program. It does not say that you cannot buy 50 tickets. They are mearly putting a cap on how many "premium seats" you get with each level of donation. For 1 person to join at the $250 level then buy 12 tickets means that you pay a 1 time fee of $20.83 premium per seat for the entire season. WOW. That "premium" seat should be worth more to you then $20.83 per season. 3rd Those families with 3 children who need 5 tickets will most likely be able to talk to the ticket office to get that extra ticket. It the children are small they will probably tell you to buy an extra ticket in a "non premium" location but have the children squeeze into 2 seats. If you are talking HS age then you may have to split the family for the game but in reality you will be able to sit together in your premium section for all but maybe 1 game. 4th the fact that they are doing this means that they are expecting more season tickets holders in the upcoming years.

Rice was a stepping stone he was gone no matter who the coach. It has long been rumored that that Saban is very difficult to work with but has gotten better since being at Bama. Applewhite is coming home which is a big deal (a dream) for most athletes. Good luck to him.

It only favors the big conferences because they always put up the winners. Those who win get more money for their conferences. The cycle is never ending. If a conference such as The Sunbelt or CUSA was able to put up multiple winning teams (BCS Bowl elig) they would be included. What makes the system unfair is that Baylor can go undefeated next year and play for a National Champion. For a Mid Major to have a chance at a National Championship they must go to a top bowl game one year then go undefeated the next. So currently it takes a Mid two years to play for a national championship. A BCS plus system or a playoff will allow a Mid the opportunity to win a National Championship in one year.

Yes and a bottle of Dr. Pepper will cost $20... but we will be drinking 25.2 oz by then. Just kidding have a good day

I remember posters saying the same thing when the HS stadium was built. The idea was to build a stadium that could be used for all High Schools and UNT. But if I remember correctly the bond had already passed.

UNT gets there faster (bowl game). But the real question is who goes the highest... UNT has more potential SMU seems to be spending more money.

Thanks I've been drinking..... Just Kidding

Ya'll have had a bad run but not that bad. Look at the improvement from the 1st game to the last. If you could keep that same schedule you would think that UNT would be able to beat everyone but OU and Ark in 2-3 years. (Assuming the opponents do not improve at the same pace as UNT). And then in another 2-3 years you will be beating Ark half of the time and having those "woulda, coulda, shoulda" games against OU. I think that is a great schedule. A top 10 team, A mid pack SEC team, Navy and a cross town rival. This is the type of schedule you want every year. Ok it would be nice for Ark to play in Denton every so often.

Actually I think that it did hurt Boise St. Had they beaten 2 very respectable OOC teams last year and then Beat OU they would have been National Champs. Instead, they were an undefeated Mid with 1 credible win.

I think that the weaker schedule ultimately hurts the program. If you want respect you have to play a tough schedule. Neither CUSA nor the Sunbelt provide a tough conference schedule so the OOC games are important.

Carolina Panthers?? They are close enough to make an impact.

FYI I am going from memory.... I am not going to spend time looking up the facts.... AND this is not a CUSA vs Sunbelt post so please do not read it as such. I still think that CUSA and the Sunbelt both have a long way to go. But I truly think that they are the only 2 Mid Majors that are going about developing conferences the right way. Look at either the Sunbelt or CUSA OOC schedule and then look at any other Mid OOC. We by far have tougher out of conference schedules. Most Sunbelt and CUSA teams tend to schedule ar least 2 - 3 "named" opponents each year. The other Mids may schedule 1 per team - instead they schedule the weak BCS teams or average Mid Majors. So as our OOC wins start out numbering our losses both conferences will start surpassing the other mids.

Echo chooo oooo oooo Just kidding, glad that we are on the same page.

Didn't the Sunbelt help to start that Bowl Game?? I dont think that ya'll have anything to worry about. New Orleans is a great place for a bowl game. I think that there were several reasons for the low attendance this year. Many fans dont travel well to the bowl games but the community supports the games. New Orleans had what 3 bowl games this year. AND did you notice how many empty seats there were last night? It was not a sell out and it was for the National Championship. I dont think that CUSA thinks of themselves of the Gods of Mid Majors. Most of us realize that we have been down since sending 3 teams to the Big East. But there have been several very good hires in CUSA this year and last. We look to be on top of things in a couple of years but we certainly were not this year.

Not going to get into a UNT Southern Miss debate. I agree that UNT has great upside. Big school, great metroplex for recruiting, a great town (Denton) for living in.. My original point is that you should set your sights higher then comparing the Sunbelt to CUSA. That evolved to me defending CUSA. If you want to debate potential then yes UNT has more potential.... More students more money... But potential does not make you better either in conference or school

Stebo - it was a long post so I am not going to try to address everything.. It is hard for me to defend the Southern Miss VS UNT comments without coming across as talking bad about UNT so I will leave that alone on this board. But in terms of talent Southern Miss currently has 13-15 players in the NFL. I cant speak to the other universities in CUSA and the Sunbelt with authority. But my guess is that you would have a difficult time putting the players for 2 Sunbelt teams together to get 13-15 players in the NFL (not counting the "other" leagues). The only way that we are even having this conversation is because the Sunbelt is "up" right now and CUSA is "down" right now. But again we recently sent 3 teams to a BCS conference. We (as a conference) will not stay down long. We will start surpassing all other Mids shortly then we will have to replace 2 teams that will likely go to a BCS conference - That is if the Big east wants to stay part of the BCS. Sending teams to a BCS conference is part of being a superior Mid Major.

Unfortunately MS is a small state with 2 schools in BCS conferences. I doubt that we would get a shot at a BCS program without major reform to the current structure of the BCS. So the next level for most Southern Miss fans is to be in a position to win CUSA every year with a true BCS run every few years. So basically where Boise is currently but being able to sustain it over time. Most schools peak then fall back (see Tulane and Utah). On another note, Coach Bower has never beaten a top 20 team (one of the main reasons that he was fires). He was also fired for not increasing our winning % during his tenure. Prior to Bower we would often beat these top 20 teams just to lose to a weak mid major. Our winning % stayed the same under Bower with a weaker schedule. Concerning CUSA... I think that it can be the best mid major conference top to bottom. The only reason that we are down now is because 3 teams left to go to a BCS conference. We do have some really good programs who are building. Who would replace Memphis or UCF? I dont see Memphis getting the invite. I do see UCF going fairly soon. I am not sure who will replace them. Most likely school with a large market closer to Marshall.