Big E

Yes...another great job!

I understand. Personally, I was thinking the same thing, but understood what SL was trying to do.

Coaching to give his team a chance to get the ball back and try and score. I imagine he could care less about the score in that situation.

Oh, that's right! I forgot...probably because it's so far away, but very good! Thanks for the reminder!

Brett, you should add the 1997 and 1999 wins over Texas Tech in Lubbock. Those were huge wins that made everyone in Texas take notice! Unfortunately, the rest of those seasons didn't turn out the way we hoped, but for one week in each of those years it felt really good! I wish we'd renew that series. It's a very competitive one, historically speaking.

I'm not sure if it was all AAC. I didn't see the called chop block play from my seat, but I did see that Jordan Murray had good position with his hands on the called holding play. I couldn't understand how they could call that. When playing a team like SMU, those are the kind of calls that make a big difference in momentum. At the end of the day, we just got beat. I just hate to see numerous questionable calls against us at such critical moments in the game. There is no doubt, though, that SMU is talented and well-coached. Chad Morris is doing a really good job. I expect they will have a good year and go bowling this year.

Agreed! The homecooking by this AAC officiating crew was nauseating and the fact that they let the home sideline influence their calls was crazy (toward the end of the game when the momentum of our defenders caused the running back to fall backwards as they blew the whistles. Have these officials never played tackle football?! It is a scientific impossibility to instantly stop yourself from falling forward once you have fully committed to a tackle...before the whistle). The home sideline and crowd starts yelling and then the official throws a flag. Unbelievable! Junior high officials would get that call right...as a no call!

This is spot on! Without him in the game, this game looks very different and becomes a battle until the end. I agree with Brett that SMU does have a talent edge, has outrecruited us to this point, but there is no doubt we are improving the level of talent coming in. Darden and Guyton are the real deal! Lawrence looks like he will be a solid possession receiver for us and Fine may not be as tall as Hicks (hence the batted balls), but he definitely is a more accurate thrower and better scrambler. Our o-line was only fair last night. They couldn't get any push for the run, but they did hold most of the time for the quick pass and the late deep passes. Guyton is a real deep threat for us. He will light some people up this year. Our RBs will be solid in CUSA. Our dbacks are athletic and will get better, but Sutton is on a different level. Dline play was pretty good and will hopefully be better when English is in the mix. Linebackers were pretty decent last night, especially Ejiya. Our punt return game was sad...two weeks in a row...unbelievable. No protection and no room to run. That has to get fixed now.

Make a nice long weekend of the Aug. 31 road trip and tour Mobile and/or take a day or two on the beaches of Gulf Shores or Destin! I like it!

BTG is one of the best sports, documentary-style, programs I have ever seen! It is truly first-class! I sure hope it stays on the air!

Gotta give him credit for taking a senior-laden team in 1994 and pulling them together to have a good season with an SLC Championship and a playoff appearance. Showed some hope with a 5-win season in 1996, but it seemed he and Helwig got crossways with each other, from what I recall. Also, I loved the parking lot comment when he said it...and didn't mind that we didn't have Safeway's anymore! We all got the point!

That's right! Great point! It really is a solid bowl game!

This afternoon, on ESPN radio - Dallas, Steve Dennis said that he really likes North Texas being in this bowl. And how they were one of the few 5-7 teams to get in to a bowl game and how excited the team will be to play in a bowl game. He said he is excited for this program and for this coach. He and Tim Cowlishaw then went on to say that it was just a few years ago that Penn State was in the HOD Bowl during a time of rebuilding. Nothing but positive comments about UNT being in this bowl!

He's from Carthage...it puts him back close to home.

As alluded to in another post, Dave Barnett used the word "dismissed" and I believe "dismissal" a few times as I listened to the radio broadcast of the UTEP game when he was discussing TG and WR during an on-air conversation with Wren. It was understated...kind of like this had already been announced, but it sounds like this was the first time those words were used publicly. Anyway, it's a shame, but obviously the infractions must have been serious.

Wow, would have thought the score would have been flipped on this one! This was a reminder that we are very much a middle of the road CUSA team...not the worst, but certainly not the best. The program has made significant progress this year, but there is so much work to do with recruiting and player development. The competitor in me says we don't deserve to go to a bowl. However, we desperately need the practices and time to develop these younger players. So, for that reason, if we get the invite, we absolutely need, and there is zero doubt that we absolutely will accept the invite and the several weeks of practices, experience and money that comes with it. Everyone must admit this season exceeded expectations after the horror of last year. The program is certainly heading in the right direction! Go Mean Green!

Unless Tommy Perry was involved with his recruiting, then the kid has a beef with people that are gone from the North Texas program. And, if Coach Perry was involved, it sounds like Coach Mac overruled him. Perhaps someone should tell the kid the people involved in his "non-recruitment" are not at NT anymore. I imagine the "undersized" Coach Ekeler wouldn't have overlooked him.

Four turnovers, including short field turnovers, and not finishing offensive drives was the difference maker between two evenly matched teams. Despite the turnovers, the Mean Green still had a chance to come back and win this game. We just couldn't get it done tonight. These are two improving teams that will continue to get better and represent CUSA well. We will both get better recruits and climb the ladder of Texas teams. Both schools and athletic programs have a lot to offer and I'm glad to see a rivalry starting. We beat them last year...they beat us this year. I anticipate two improved teams will meet next year and I'm glad to see both schools have good coaching staffs. So, on to this week and a chance to correct mistakes and get prepared for a very good La Tech team. But, with a return to home and a Homecoming crowd and great weather, I look forward to seeing the Mean Green come out ready to compete and go for the win!

It was really good! Talked about the bye week and then had great coverage of the experience at Army! Well done!

I watched the Florida Gator press conference on their YouTube channel. McElwain had multiple opportunities to admit that Wheeler was tripped and didn't intentionally go low on his hit. But, he chose to allow the perception that the hit was dirty. He said the hit wasn't right and talked about how much he cares for his players. When asked about coming out on the field, he said he wasn't one you wanted to cross and when the last question specifically asked him after seeing the video of the hit, what are your thoughts about it now, he said, you saw it, I'll just leave it at that...and then he walked off. What a classless coach that he would allow this false perception to linger. He could have come clean, but he chose not to. Now he is trying to use it as a rallying cry for his players. None of the reporters would challenge him on it. It seemed the last reporter gave him a chance to come clean, but he chose the low road. Poor character displayed by McElwain!

I agree...he let his emotions get the best of him before he really knew what happened. And he escalated the situation on the field and in social media by his poor behavior. And erroneously stated that Wheeler had issues with low hits before. I imagine some grad. asst., etc. told the coach he looked online and saw where Wheeler did the same thing to the SMU QB, but of course didn't take the time to see what really happened.

And Wheeler's tackle on Matt Davis (SMU QB) while he was running downfield was a textbook tackle at the waist...not at the knee. That is why there were no issues or complaints after Davis went out...everyone knew it was a clean hit, but unfortunately, his knee was hurt. It's a tough reality, but knees get injured in football, at every level of football, every single day around the country. The nature of the sport puts knees, and other joints and bones, at risk. I have a couple of orthopedic surgeon friends and they get very busy this time of year! Wheeler came out of Tyler JC regarded as a sack specialist. He is going to get to the QB and hit him cleanly, but he will indeed hit him hard, like his nickname, "18-wheeler", suggests.

Watch the video frame by frame. The blocker's bottom of his right foot trips Wheeler's bottom of his left foot and he immediately moves from a running position to a diving position. The bottom of their cleats touched...cleat on cleat. You can clearly see Wheeler's left leg extend in a disrupted fashion after being tripped. Was the trip intentional by the blocker or incidental? I'm not sure on that. The blocker knows the answer to that question. The Florida fans, for some sensationalistic reason, may feel better trying to make this into something it's not, but the reality is our D played good, clean football and Wheeler gave tremendous effort, but the video clearly shows he was tripped and it altered his pass rush into a low dive. The reality is the officials could have called tripping on Florida and roughing the passer, as they did, on UNT. At the end of the day, football is a violent sport and accidents do happen. I'm convinced nobody wanted to see Del Rio hurt. He's a tough competitor, just like his dad. I grew up cheering for his dad when he was with the Dallas Cowboys. I pray that Luke has a swift recovery.

I watched the replay over and over on my DVR and it is clear to me that Wheeler got tripped up coming off of the tight end's block. The tight end was beat and the tight end's leg flared out and Wheeler clearly stumbles and falls forward while trying to make a sack. And Wheeler's head hits Del Rio's leg awkwardly and bends back, which makes sense, considering he was stumbling as he went in for the sack and lost some of his ability to make a form tackle.

The defense played with toughness and tenacity all game long. Great job of coaching by Ekeler and crew and a great effort from the players. I was impressed by the conditioning of the players as they were left on the field a lot and did not wear down like we've seen so often in years past. As far as special teams, they were pretty solid. The rugby punts were very effective. Now time to get the offense clicking now that we won't face another defense like Florida has.