GrandGreen

TCU got a whole 8 first downs in the Fort Worth game, but yet the froggy fans claimed pure dominance over the hapless Green. A game NT should have won but DD with new QB Smith in the game would not pass after he badly missed a couple of open receivers. This is the game were the famous "pass the ball" chant was initiated.

Being this poll identifies the voters, I am not sure a bunch of obviously NT voters is going to make much of an impression. It denotes fan interest but also can make other conference responders look kind of desperate. A move to CUSA would be good for NT because of geography and better known rivals, but I don't think it is a big leap in competition. A bunch of responses to this poll only feeds CUSA egos who think or hope that their conference is far superior.

Interesting that Dufus doesn't want to play ULM because it is beneath LaTech but wants to schedule an 1-AA every year. I would have loved to hear the conversation between Dooley and his boss over this little hiccup.

I am probably all those things, but have no idea who or what Sam Smith refers to.

OB Vizza, Meager, Tune RB Moseley, Montgomery, Dunbar OR Roberson, Dibrell, Barrett IR Fentress, Johnson, Walker IR Fitzgerald, Brigman, Taylor OR Strickler, Lewis, King OT Menard, Tomlison, Kaiser OG Santiago, Hollovay, Glass C Drake, Johnson, Leppo OG Bailey, Rose, Freely OT Jenkins, Gill, Frankin Obviously, Dodge could be the number two or even the number one QB if he does not redshirt. I think the number 1 and 2 receivers based on receptions are going to be Fitzgerald and Fentress. Strickler is the best blocking receiver and I believe he will start. Picking between Roberson, Johnson and Dibrell for the last starting receiver position is going to be close. Dibrell has a special connection with Vizza and started at the end of last year. Roberson is probable the most physically gifted of all the receivers. Johnson before being injured last year was labeled as one of the best wrs on the team but is probably more suited to the slot and I don't think he can beat out Fentress. Offensive line with 5 returning starters plus a lot of incoming talent is going to be very competitive. Only Drake at center and if the hype is anywhere close, Jenkins are sure starters. Look for real competition between returning starters Bailey, Santiago, and Menard with Rose who started both his freshman and sophomore year at center, Gill who is much bigger than most seem to realize, redshirt Tomlison and Juco Hollovay. Running back will be a rotation between Moseley and Montgomery with who starts not being important.

When I first starting perusing fan boards, I was struck with how fans of two schools seemed to be completely delusional about their athletic status and potential. One, was Central Florida which IMO due primary to a great locations, has made great strides. The other was La Tech whose athletic fortunes have basically been down hill from that point. Having been to Ruston for NT last game there and researching LaTech when both NT and LT were up for CUSA, I have no idea how they think they are significantly ahead of ULM or any other BC university. I was amazed that even SMU could have supported their position for CUSA above NT. Latech fans slamming other schools no matter how irrational, is to be expected; but when representatives of the school do so, then I think there are underlying problems with the institution. CUSA, WAC, MAC and MWC conference members putting down the SBC may make them feel better, but the truth is every conference is a group of "have-nots" in the college athletic game. To try to differentiate between non Power conferences, is much to do about nothing. If La Tech wants to stay in the WAC till they are invited to CUSA or the SEC and never play ULM, more power to them. It would also be fine with me, if NT and the rest of the Belt teams did not schedule them in anything.

Do you realize when she started recruiting? There is not going to be a lot of first tier recruits available when you have to start as late as Stephens. Getting a potentially big time transfer is great under the circumstances. The timing could not be better, NT is losing 4 guards next year and guard is really not a big need next season. As stated above, JJ has picked up some very good recruits this way, Dennis, Wooden and Davis. The fact that Hudson was rated the fifth best player in Texas a year ago, and will have three years remaining eligibility; makes this an excellent recruiting start for Stephens.

I think everyone is happy to have Mayberry has a Green commit. The only downside is that WR can hardy be considered a need position. Per TD on recruiting, 12 wr's is his target. He apparently has 14 on ship with 2 being seniors with the rest being freshmen and sophomores. The positive is that Mayberry must be a very good recruit to merit a ship at this position. Most expect TD is going to get great WR recruits so the "wow factor" is not the same as for other positions.

Franklin is not included on what I assume is the current roster on the Oil Bowl official site. /www.timesrecordnews.com/news/oilbowl/

Maybe, but he is currently not listed on the roster.

Thanks, for supporting my point. Yes, it does go for every team in every sport. "Well if we didn't make the plays we did we would have lost..." is exactly the same as "well if we make the plays we would have won". As far as the negativity, the focus of the comment was to question all that sunshine created by those near victories NT had last year. But CRAP, I am sure I could have been more positive.

I am definitely a homer, but trying to somehow elevate last season's performance because of a few close games is more than a stretch. First, the two victories could have been more easily defeats than any of the games that NT lost that could have been wins. NT had a nail biter in beating out essentially a 1-AA team, WKU. The 10 point victory over ULM was primarily due to two interceptions returned for td's. The only really close lost NT had was by four points to ASU. While not on the order of 69 and 59 loses to OU and Arkansas respectively, loses to MTSU by 20 and Troy by 38 were hardly stellar performances. Add to that the fact that NT was the only team to lose to both SMU (by 14) and FIU (by 19) should definitely quite any "so close to winning" talk.

Unlike most of you, I though last year would have been substantially better than it was. Based on a good Belt level defense and an improved offense, I predicted that NT would be among the leaders in the conference. What I failed to recognize was just how inexperienced and ill prepared the coaching staff was. Last years team was as bad as I have ever seen at NT. Yes the offense was improved, after DD's last two years, improvement was not difficult. However, most of the offensive fireworks occurred in two oc games and NT did not exactly light up the Belt on either side of the ball. Again, I hope not as foolishly as last year, I think NT will be among the top tier in the Belt. I basically think that both the offense an defense will be substantially improved. The defense with the exception of the defensive line should be more talented and obviously the coaching will be much better. With another year in TD's system, the offense should be vastly improved. With five returning starters in the offensive line and upgrades in the receiving corp, the offense should be in the top two the Belt. I think seven wins next year is very doable. The level of skill personnel talent that TD has assembled in just two years, although still young, should begin to overwhelm the Belt.

If I remember correctly, NT got commits from some of its highest rated recruits last year after seasons end. I think the slower start is due to less scholarships and the fact that NT need areas are the most difficult to recruit. NT biggest need is defensive lineman which is the most competitive area of recruiting. TD's offensive reputation is not a lot of help recruiting defensive linemen. TD's first two classes although overall were excellent for NT, defensive linemen were clearly the weakest area. I am not concerned about linebacker recruiting, it is a relatively easy position to recruit and I think NT will do well getting impact linebackers. I think NT already has potentially very good young players at QB, RB, OL, WR and DB, going after the sub-blue chip recruit in these positions is not a priority.

Actually they only paid for a portion of it. State funds keep getting reduced, but students are still a way off from paying for the full cost of their education. Yes, people have a choice about what they support to some extent. Obviously, if you are a taxpayer you are probably supporting many causes that you may not subscribe to. As for as paying for an education, I think most would think that is a very good investment. There is nothing mandatory about any charitable contribution, but thankfully many chose to give. If owing to you denotes having a contractual obligation to donate, than nothing is owed to your degree institution. Of course, the same could be said about your most important relationships with friends and family.

Underclassmen scholarship cornerbacks Adams Jr Bush Jr Neal So Cooks Fr Hill Fr Hamilton Fr Like any other positions, I am sure that NT will offer the right prospects; but this doesn't appear to be a need area. As far as Vito, I enjoy his blog although it is a little over dramatic. But what else is there to report in June?

Just do any kind of financial model and see if you can replace a so called "money game" with any one for one series, not going to happen. Any home game in an even series between schools usually means that the home team is going to get paid once for two games (home and away). Make your wildest assumptions, such as NT could sell 15000 seats at $30 that would give you $450,000 ticket revenue plus parking and concessions less game expenses for the home game and traveling expenses for the away game. Even assuming NT could net the total $450,000, highly unlikely, that would give NT an average of $225,000 a game compared to a money game of $500k to $1m. There is no way in the foreseeable future that NT won't have to rely on "money" games. The only exception would be if NT decides to completely drop out of bowl level football.

Just wondering way some assume that TD will have such a down year recruiting this year? TD's late season recruiting was as good or better than his early commits. This was after a dismal season on the field and the off field controversy. The lack of scholarships probably will make NT a little more selective plus NT has a lot less immediate needs. I agree with those that think that TD's recruiting effectiveness will be substantially down if rapid improvement in the team does not occur, but I don't think that has happened. I think TD could have a slew of good wr and db recruits by now, but that clearly is not a need. As far as Mendoza, he was clearly not qualified; but TD picked the coaching staff. He chose to go with the most inexperienced staff in major college football. It's not like Mendoza was an unknown hired by TD. Unfortunately, TD paid the price in his first season, but hopefully next year will be a vast improvement. If significant on-field improvement occurs, TD's recruiting should even be better.

Yes, SMU, Rice, Houston and Tulane are all big attendance schools. It seems to me that Western CUSA members who have the benefits of higher profile schools, more regional scheduling, and higher budgets should be the last to mention attendance deficits.

There is a lot being inferred based on early commits of two players that NT had a reported interest in. All of a sudden June Jones and SMU are going to have their way with NT in recruiting and TD has lost his touch. Never-mind the majority of TD best recruits were signed after the awful 2-10 season last year, not before. SMU, other than last year, has always clobbered NT in recruiting. I think it is too early to declare SMU recruiting superiority based on one JUCO commit. The fact is that NT has hundreds of recruits being pursued and evaluated and it is hardly big news when the majority go elsewhere. Even the UT, OU, and LSU's occasionally lose recruits. TD could follow DD's example and only pursue recruits with few other options.

Well UT and A&M could accommodate their whole student bodies in their stadium but they would have to get rid of the majority of their season ticket holders. I have wondered what would happen if all of NT students suddenly showed up for a game and at least 20,000 could not get in. It would be very difficult for NT to justify student fees when they could not accommodate all the students who wish to attend. Sadly, there does not seem to be any chance of that happening. In fact, student attendance is less than almost 40 years ago when I attended with a student population of less than half of today's. The facts are that NT has never filled a 30,000 seat stadium and it appears it will take a miracle if NT builds a stadium of any size. It would be nice to have a 35 to 40k seat stadium but to build one larger would be completely irresponsible. Empty seats cost money and also distract from the atmosphere. Those that think power conference teams are going to flock to a new NT stadium of any size need to better understand "big time" college football. Or look no further than the Super Pit which has had one sellout for a NT game in its 30 plus year history despite playing some big time teams such as Depaul when they were number 1, Alabama, UT, Indiana, etc.

I don't have the same concern many apparently do about the offensive line. NT have in reality 5 returning starters with Drake, Santiago, Rose, Menard and Bailey. With a bevy of newcomers inclusive of jucos' Hollivay and Jenkins plus promising redshirts Johnson, Tomlison and Kaiser, it appears that the offensive line is going to be both stronger and deeper. I think the lack of depth due to injuries during the spring caused some to be more concerned than is necessary about the offensive line. With according to my count 16 offensive linemen on scholarship with only one being a senior, NT should be set for at least a couple of years. That is a lot of offensive linemen for any program. The defensive line is another matter with very little experience returning. The best two linemen last year, Stevenson and Chapman have graduated. Therefore, I think that Alonzo Horton will be the most important new player next year. Along with Gilmore the defensive ends should be at least adequate with depth supplied by Sykes and Davenport. I look for Miller to have a big senior year and hopefully Thomas can at least be a positive factor at the other tackle position. Depth at defensive tackle looks very suspect with little experience or size returning. Journeyman Stewart and converted from TE Brown are both small for the positions and have limited playing experience. Desoto and Scoggins are both young but have not been impressive thus far, but hopefully can progress enough to at least give some quality minutes next year.

It is always much easier to spend someone else's money. Some may not recognize that students fees are probably the biggest current component of NT athletes funding. So it's not like students are not already doing their part although the vast majority never attend any sports event. Is anyone even sure how much more could even be raised by student fees before NT gets to the state maximum? I'm not totally against mandated increased athletic student fees because I think that it will in time add value to their degree even if they never attend a game. But I think NT should use a balanced approach assuming as it is looking that NT will never come close to funding a stadium with just donations. NT should never build a stadium unless at least half of the cost can be raised by donations. NT already owns the land, has a huge alumni base, is located in one of the most prosperous parts of the nation with more corporate headquarters nearby than available in most states, and has a great location. With all these advantages, if NT cannot raise at least half the funding through gifts than IMO we should all learn to love Fouts.

Has any school actually been punished for inequality in providing resources to men and women athletics? I think title IX has provided great opportunities for women but I also think it is a great burden on athletic programs. NT is apparently a leader in gender equality but what exactly does that provide to NT? Are great women athletes scrambling to get into NT because NT is a leader in diversity? Are females which are the significant majority at NT rushing to support women's teams. I suppose it is better to be a leader in equality then not, but IMO title IX is just another set of NCAA rules that continue to further divide the haves from the have-nots.

This thread has been obviously hijacked to a discussion relative to NT's athletic program development. It is obvious we have two extremes represented, those that believe that everything is rosy and preceding ahead and some who believe that NT is one of the worst managed universities in the country. Some look at the present AD as a savior and other greatly question his accomplishments. My view, is that the communications have been handled so badly that it is difficult to determine what in the heck is going on. It appears and I certainly hope I am wrong that very little has been accomplished in the construction of a new stadium. It seems that lack of real progress is covered by intermittent glimpses of favorable information either in official releases or apparently leaked. This kind of keeps the ball rolling without really committing to anything. Relative to the AD, it still amazes me the number of fans that seems to credit RV with every success but excuse away the failures. If you want to give the AD credit for title IX compliance, Eagle Point, tailgating and the successful coach hires, you should weight the negatives also. The thing that NT is missing is a strong commitment to big time college athletics. Long term plans are cheap and make interesting reading but mean very little unless there are commitments and resources to bring those to fruition. In general, NT's academic goals are eventually met through allocations from state funds. Athletics are a total different manner. Just about everyone familiar with this site can name the handful of major donations to NT athletics. Since returning to 1a football there by my count have been 3 gifts announced over a million dollars. Not exactly awe inspiring when you are trying to build an athletic program inclusive of a new stadium. I still have confidence in the new administration and they really have accomplished a lot in their short tenure. However, I do feel that if NT is in danger of blowing another chance in substantially upgrading NT's athletic program.