untjim1995

Whatever the reasons, we had no business being a 1-AA program for 12 years. That killed our meager fanbase that we already had by nuking the few that gave to the program as grads from the 50s thru the 90s. That we have anyone from those years to still attend or give to the program is simply amazing. That’s why you get 18k for your Homecoming against Memphis with an enrollment of 47k and 300k living alumni in a gigantic metro area.

What we made the mistake of doing was not leveraging the Old Big Eight against the SWC. Had we showed the Big Eight that we would entertain joining them, as well as the SWC, that league could’ve finally gotten into Texas for everyone to recruit and get TV markets for their schools, too. It may very well have made the SWC reconsider listening to the private schools. Rice couldn’t keep UH from joining and they immediately won big in the SWC. SMU and TCU were both bad at the time and the idea of Hayden Fry bringing NTSU into the SWC and having success like UH did was terrifying. But the better play would’ve been the Big Eight. We would’ve had Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Colorado at their heights over the next decade and a half. We would’ve had Kansas, OU, Missouri, OSU, K-State, and Iowa State as great basketball opponents. To me, that was the greatest mistake Hayden made. He knew what the MVC couldn’t do for the future. He knew the SWC was king to the region and he shot his shot. But we never had a chance with the leadership and citizenry he and Nolen faced. Denton has either been apathetic or actually loathing of our athletic department for its existence. It loves being the little Austin, just without care for sports. I’ve long come to realize that the location’s culture is what will always hold us back. You cannot have as large of a university as we do, from enrollment to alumni, as well as a large metro area surrounding it, and think getting an announced crowd of 18k for Homecoming against a very recognizable opponent in a conference game in October is acceptable. But it is what it is and we can do nothing but just accept it for what it is.

At this point, just accept it. Where else can you go and get to watch your team play for such a large value? It’s not any other school near here. Those 47k that attend UNT pay for this thing. If they don’t care about it, then don’t worry about it. We are never gonna be an athletics school. We just aren’t. We are an affordable option for students who want a quality education close to DFW. We are an arts and music school first. That our window to the university and it’s the one the leaders have preferred for decades. I used to get embarrassed by the lack of support and attendance. But now I just want their dollars to keep flowing here. None of us can make students, faculty, alumni, or Denton citizens care about this place’s teams any more than we have tried before. So just accept and move on. Enjoy getting great seats at DATCU Stadium without a hassle. And just enjoy that there are about 5000 or so folks who get to enjoy the program to themselves.

Because he will raise his price for NIL with any kind of achievement here.

Somebody like this is almost certain to go to the portal within 2 years to some power school with major NIL. Better to let him go on down the road now.

La Tech always acted like they were bigger and better than they were. Because of that thinking, they are now stuck in the worst conference in FBS. And ULM is now in a better setup. What has happened to them is what we could only dream would happen to SMU. And I guess, from TCU's persepctive, it has...

We “earned” where we are because of literally where we are. Our football history in the last 40 years is borderline atrocious. We dropped to I-aa for 12 years in the 80s and 90s. When we moved up, it was to make more money being a bought game for OOC opponents. The only conference that would ever take us was the original Sun Belt. Only reason we got to move up to CUSA was because SMU went to the AAC. Then, we moved up to the AAC because they didn’t want the MWC to get into Texas. We didn’t earn it from anything accomplished on the field or from attendance. We have exactly 6 winning seasons since 1995.

I think we all just need to realize that this is just how it is at UNT until we win and see more interest. It used to bug me so much to see such sparse crowds, but I’ve now come to realize that getting the athletics fees is 1000x better than seeing students at games.

I'm sure that there were plenty of them also watching the A&M/Bama game with bated breath, too...

In the College World Series, I've seen Coastal Carolina, Rice, and Fresno State win titles in the last two decades. I saw Oral Roberts in the CWS last year and they made noise while there. The NCAA Basketball Tournament and the NCAA Baseball Playoffs are what we wish college football was like. But the media behind football only wants about 30 teams to focus on and prop up. That will never change. And the sooner the Power Teams break away, the better it will be for teams at our level of play. Its patently unfair to the players, coaches, and fans to play at a level of football that doesn't give them a chance to be a champion. Every other level of football, from pee wee to the NFL, all crown a champion. Only exception is the G5s.

Well, in Emmitt’s defense, he probably Knows that more than half of our alumni care more about that Texas-OU outcome than anything we ever do…

This is still too soon

Most likely, the CFB world will make the playoff include the Power League Champions, then add in 8 others, of which they will say that ANYONE can be included, but in reality, the G5 will have very little chance of getting anyone into the playoff. For example, if it was this season's current top 12 teams were in play by 2025, it would look like this: (1)UGA, (4)FSU, (3)UT, and (2)Michigan would be the automatics, getting byes. (5)Ohio State vs (12 Alabama in Columbus (6) Penn State vs (11) Notre Dame in Happy Valley (7) Washington vs (10) Utah in Seattle (8) USC vs (9)Oregon in LA There isn't a real CFB journalist in the world who will campaign for Wazzou, Oregon State, or Fresno State to be included (these three are currently ranked and will not be in a power league by then). Currently, two other G5s are receiving votes: Tulane (33rd) and Air Force (36th). Most likely, Washington State would be given the right to play in the Fiesta Bowl against LSU, the last team not making the playoff (ranked 13th). Sadly, the G5s will probably love that deal...and the G5 fans, players, adn coaches will continue to be the only ones who never can celebrate even a hint of a chance at a national title opportunity.

I’ll be shocked if the powers at be allow this. There’s too much money to be made and too much media that only want certain brands included. And then you have the gigantic fanbases to cater to that the G5s just don’t bring I’m comparison. if Aresco can help to pull this off and we actually see a G5 make it, that would be amazing. But I feel like we are gonna hear the BS that we need the 12 best teams and G5s are gonna be eligible to make it like everyone else, then we get 12 teams from the Big 4 Power Conferences and ND every year.

This needs to happen. That G5s allowed themselves to be bought off without getting any real chance at a national title is so very, very sad. Heck, that ought to include another third or Half of the P5s, too. Just ridiculous.

He’s a typical CFB media elitist. They all looked down on us back then because we played teams they all thought shouldn’t be playing Division 1-A football at the time. As with almost every SWC media outlet, we are almost always looked down upon. Most of that is our fault, as we gave up on football for basically 20 years, many of which overlapped the SWC being filled with highly ranked teams. Today, almost all of the DFW media either ignores us or just looks at us as some “special” program that doesn’t fit in with the rest. It’s really too bad.

Yeah, what could Congress possibly have ahead of this important problem that needs solving? I mean, they have crushed it on budgets, border policy, homelessness, and crime enforcement...I'm sure this would definitely get solved perfectly with their involvement.

Mac Engel is a douchebag, but he is right about this. It's not like it isn't obvious. What has always been the saddest part if the entire SMU-North Texas history is that SMU only plays us when it helps them, while we act like its the most awesomest thing ever to play them. We pack their stadium, we get all fired up, and we completely panic our players and coaches the moment they fall behind when playing them, which leads to the eventual ass-kicking we receive. SMU, who brings a few dozen people to Denton in a good year, benefits amazingly, when we bring THOUSANDS of people to Ford Field each time we play there. I've always hated playing them and I wish our fans understood the awful effects that getting drilled by them almost every time we play has caused. But we won't do that--we will cry and gripe for years when SMU drops us from the OOC schedule, even though it will be the very best thing that we could have happen. Let them go their way and enjoy never playing anyone from Texas going forward. Let their oil money pay more for this ACC project, which will be really fun to see when oil eventually drops back to its $30 a barrel level again in the years ahead.

Well, let them enjoy those 3-4 hour flights each way. The biggest issue is dropping them from any schedule, just like TCU did, as well as Baylor, Tech, and UH have done.

They don’t care and the SWC media feels sorry for what happened. This morning on The Ticket, two UNT alums glowingly talked about SMU raising all that cash and being in the ACC. What UNT needs to do ASAP is stop playing then in anything. It really has never helped us anyway, but now, every Texas team needs to avoid them like the plague. Make recruits know that their parents have to travel to Louisville for the closest conference game. San Francisco to Boston to Miami… good luck with all that.

SMU uses their money to get into the club...everyone else in the Power Level club uses their combo of fans, media, money, and political power. The rest of us don't get the luxury of going into that club, so we all need to find our way forward. To me, the Powers are going to separate soon enough, probably withing 10 years. The top 40 brands will get to be NFL-lite teams and then there will be the next 40-80 teams that will look like more traditional college teams. Quite honestly, this cannot happen fast enough. We have had all of about 20 college teams dominate the CFB world over the last 60 years. That's colossally boring. The NCAA Tournament for basketball proves this point, as Americans always want the underdog to have a chance to beat the giants. But CFB media, politics, and money control that product so hard that its almost impossible to get included without winning so much that you cannot be ignored. This means finishing in the Top 10 on multiple occasions AND having a major market to sell. Hence, TCU, UH, UCF, Cincy, and BYU being able to jump upward. And those 5 teams are probably biding time until the future schism I mentioned above finally happens. I don't have any issue with UNT trying to be the best it can be with programs that are on our level with funding, fan interest, and media coverage. Sadly, that eliminates all the SWC teams, except Rice. But it does still include schools in the AAC, CUSA, SBC, MWC, and MAC. And that's still a lot of schools to compete against to be a great program. And I think we can do just that IF we can ever get the right mix of great coach, great roster, and both regular season and postseason wins.

ok

That RV really knew how to schedule OOC games, didn't he?

Just because they were down to their 6th string QB (true story, not exaggerated) and we were at home, that late 4th quarter TD saved us the indignation of probably the worst season of all time. Remember, it included the Portland State debacle that season.

Greatest punt return in CFB history