[Official Liberty Game Score Prediction Thread]

Offense gets going again. Defense harasses Calvert, and shuts down run game. Liberty gets some mop up duty points.

UNT 55

Liberty 27

[Liberty]

7 hours ago, Jacolby757 said:

Excited to watch this game! You guys are definitely the best team we've hosted as the next ones down would be ODU (first FBS team at Williams Stadium) or JMU a few years back. Our New stadium opened this year and seats 25,000, we had about 23,000 for ODU. I hope those in attendance anjoy the game atmosphere!

 

 

Thank you for the insights. Your athletics facilities are very impressive. Is there somewhere we can see them and total up the investment Liberty has made in facilities in recent years? If memory serves me correctly, I believe it’s nearing $500,000,000 or so.

[Seth Littrell Rumors Mega Thread]

On 9/16/2018 at 12:15 AM, JesseMartin said:

If a P5 is in a down season...they would have to be lower rung to offer at this point (a la Western Michigan to Minnesota) and we are paying well enough to provide a more solid future. And Seth will need to turn us into a Boise State level program before a P5 with better funds and a real future offers. We are actually paying well now. Of course if he gets offered OU in the next couple of years he is outta here. Maybe Tech or another up and down P5 but honestly I don't see him leaving for anything other than an elite program if he keeps elevating the program and getting paid accordingly.

Exactly. Elite program means competing for conference championships and a spot in the CFP on a routine basis. Think Oklahoma. Otherwise, why leave a place that you’ve built into a perennial, respected G5 power where your family loves it and is compensating you and your staff accordingly (albeit at the top of the G5)? 

Follow what a Chris Petersen did as a practical example. 8 years at Boise State winning 88% of his games, had plenty of opportunities with P5 programs “fishing”, but stayed until he received one of his dream jobs. Now, he’s not going anywhere, and his family is set. 

If you look at UNT, Littrell and his staff have made the turnaround, and now the fun is just beginning. As others have posted, how good can you be with players who are the caliber of athletes in the 2019 signing class, or what we can imagine the 2020 class will be? It’s scary really, and it all goes back to “this place can be a monster”, and his family and his staff’s families love the North Texas area and community. Again, stay here until you get an elite job that’s the right fit for you and your family.

[Getting Ready to Ball]

10 hours ago, UNTexas said:

Denton isn't the greatest airport for service. Alliance can handle pretty much any aircraft and be Johnnyon the spot. Denton is a good little airport, especially for learning. I've flown into both a lot when I was a flight instructor. Alliance wins. At least they aren't having to bus down to Love, DFW, or Addison. 

4 private planes of UNT fans from Denton heading to Fayetteville to witness the win.

[DRC: UNT to unveil statue of Greene this fall]

8 hours ago, Stix said:

So why did they decide to unveil the statue at the La Tech game, as opposed to, say, the So Miss game?  Could it be that a certain NFL teammate of Joe's, who played at LT, will be attending?

Question, no answer.

Tying it all in with the biggest regular season conference game of the season. Indoor Practice Facility groundbreaking ceremony, Joe Greene Statue unveiling, and the throwback game versus our biggest competition in the CUSA West. Huge day in Denton and we need a packed house to support our (hopefully) 4-0 team!

[DRC: UNT to unveil statue of Greene this fall]

On 8/29/2018 at 11:19 AM, Brett Vito said:

 

Outstanding. This follows a 3:00PM groundbreaking ceremony for the Indoor Practice Facility. Big day in Denton, and a huge game!

[DRC weekly prediction: UNT will win a thriller at Arkansas]

3 hours ago, Silent Eagle said:

Now I’m nervous

Nah, he’s 2-0 or 1000% this year on these picks,

[Official Arkansas Game Score Prediction Thread]

8 hours ago, golfingomez said:

Do you think we are going to stick with a normal 3 man front against Arky? I'd have to imagine if their gameplan is to run it down our throats we would put a fourth man on the line.

Exactly what you don’t want to do. Put another guy on the LOS who can get double teamed and hammered by 700+ lbs all day. That’s what EIU and CSU have done and they were hammered up front. Instead, we will stick with 3 man and move all over the place which should screw up those big OL ability to get locked in. It’s much harder to hit a moving target.

[Keys to the Game]

5 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

Smith and Darden in the slot will be big weapons! GMG

Darden will go off against slow, stiff Linebackers and Nickel. Big day from he and 87

[DRC: Early work has begun on indoor facility]

2 hours ago, greeneagle1 said:

When is it supposed to be completed?

Fall camp 2019, basically same timeline completion as the stadium turf this year.

[CBS College Football Analyst Rick Neuheisel Talks Mean Green at Razorbacks]

14 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Does he live around here?   
He seemed very knowledgeable, about both UNT & SMU... even mentioning that SMU is in "Highland Park" (close Rick!), not Dallas.

Knows a lot about Littrell and Dykes (and Patterson) from an annual Coaches Classic golf tournament held each Memorial Day out at Pebble Beach. Additionally, Neuheisel gets to interact with head coaches at an annual conference held each June in Scottsdale.

Also, Rick does his homework, and is well connected nationally. 

[DRC: UNT aims for historic 2-0 start against Incarnate Word]

5 minutes ago, NT91 said:

What is his score prediction?

Believe Vito’s prediction was 59-24.

[Let's Talk About Player Development & Evaluation]

1 hour ago, Caw Caw said:

Yeah, i'd love to be a fly on that wall and see what those two new staffers are doing that the others weren't. I mean clearly there is merit to those hiring moves.

No question. Walerius and MacIntyre are clearly doing an unbelievable job. 

The previous recruiting guy, David Stenklyft, is at Colorado State.

[FAU?]

3 minutes ago, RiseUNT said:

Watching Houston I think FAU lost their offense that killed us last year.

Based on the first game, FAU’s offense looked similar to last year from a scheme standpoint. The problem against Oklahoma seemed to stem around their Quarterback and his lack of accuracy. Driskel “retiring” from football does not appear to be favorable. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Kiffin tinker with multiple QB’s early in the season.

[BTG 2018]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Lol. 
SL: "What do y'all wanna do?"
MF: "Lets throw a corner fade!"
SL: "Hell no, we're not throwing a fade!  We're kicking a field goal!"

This was great.

[19' CB Offer: Dorian Morris; Mesquite Poteet - 3-Star .8265]

On 9/5/2018 at 9:53 PM, UNTLifer said:

At this age, I would guess faster.  Don't forget, but our current freshman Bean is a burner as well.

Bean was a 10.4 kid. Darden was a 10.6 kid. Bussey and G. White were 10.7 kids. To put Morris’ 100 meter speed in context, he’s between our three fastest receivers.

[It may be time to look into expanding Apogee]

9 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Well, I was being sarcastic, and if my math is correct, they are doing this 7-8 years after Apogee opened.  It's what they do.

Yes, typical city of Denton. Worst group of bureaucrats anywhere around who can’t plan ahead to save their life.

[Seth Littrell Rumors Mega Thread]

20 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Money talks... but for the sake of the argument, let's just leave money out of this conversation.

Tech can be more successful than TCU in the long run... absolutely. 
The others, maybe... probably not, but those jobs are pretty secure right now.
You never know when the next availability at OU will be.   Riley could be the next Stoops there & remain for 20+ years.   
It would be every Mean Green fan's dream to keep Littrell around here that long...   Judging by his track record, that's just not going to happen.

And again, regarding Kansas...   Littrell got his start on Mangino's staff.   He knows how high Kansas can go.

The same arguments everyone is using about these schools were being said about North Texas as far as G5's go in 2016.  North Texas was 1-11 & lived in the ESPN bottom 10 perpetually.   Why wouldn't Littrell just continue tearing it up as OC at North Carolina and wait for the "best opportunity"?   Because he's looking to move up.   Even if he has to start at the bottom (Kansas) to move up.

If, big if, Texas Tech hires a bona fide coach and let’s them build the program properly, there is a chance that they could be as or more successful than TCU long term. This takes years and years of 10+ win seasons which have been quite elusive for Tech, and based on the current state of the program, would likely take another 3-4 years to even sniff that mark. You’re talking about surgery, not a band aid at Tech. That is not very attractive if you’re sitting in Littrell’s shoes in that you don’t have to take one that’s in bad shape or has disadvantages within the conference. You can wait.

Agree on the deal with Lincoln Riley’s potential tenure, but there’s always a chance he could be intrigued by a NFL position (apparently several head coaches and front office people are high on him) at some point. Understandably, a coach like Littrell may not want to wait on this to possibly happen. But if you do know Littrell, he will wait on the “right” one and those don’t appear to be opening after this football season.

As for the best opportunity coming out of North Carolina, UNT was it. During an ACC championship game run, and after having learned under Larry Fedora, Littrell has professed publicly that “he was finally ready” to be a head coach. UNT was no doubt, an uphill battle at that time, but he saw it as an opportunity to get closer to home and cut his teeth as a first time head coach at a place that had substantially underperformed and had tremendous potential to be the best program in the conference,

Do Kansas and Tech posses similar characteristics? 

[Seth Littrell Rumors Mega Thread]

22 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

almost as silly as Littrell's wife looking for a house in Lubbock a month before the start of this season...

What proof do you have of this taking place?

[Seth Littrell Rumors Mega Thread]

1 hour ago, Cerebus said:

SL no doubt is doing that.  If Kansas comes calling, I don't think they are a big threat.  

Could Tech be a threat?  Depends on how much of that $70+/bbl money those guys want to slosh around. 

Kansas is on par with UTEP in the college football world...he ain't going there!

[Seth Littrell Rumors Mega Thread]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Littrell was coaching at Tech when they were ranked #2 in the nation.   He knows what they/he can do out there.

This is certainly true. However, are you better off jumping into a deal at Tech where you aren't positioned to be nearly as successful as Oklahoma, TCU, Texas, Oklahoma State, etc.? Or are you better off to wait on a place like Texas to open? This is the dilemma, but the prudent decision is to follow the path of Chris Petersen and stay here until your dream job (Oklahoma in this case) opens. 

[Seth Littrell Rumors Mega Thread]

1 hour ago, Venson said:

I agree. I do not think we have to match 3.5 million but at least go above 2 million. Don't get me wrong, 3.5 is significantly more than 2+ but when you consider other factors that may go into his decision, it may not be all about the money. Lubbock is a bad location for one. Secondly, if UNT is winning, it is easier to recruit kids to want to come to DFW instead of Lubbock. Thirdly, his children are getting older and have friends and family closer. Trust me after moving around in the Army several times in the earlier part of my career, it gets tougher and tougher to uproot your family and move again when kids start to get older. They hate leaving their friends. They want somewhere to establish themselves and have friends that they can grow with and graduate high school with. I think all that plays a part in his decision. 3.5 is a lot, but if we can get him to 2+, is it enough for him to want to move his family to Lubbock? This administration, regents, and AD are 100% behind him. The only thing in my mind that Tech can provide that we cannot is the chance to compete at the P5 level. However, that could change if we blow up for the next few years and that crap show in Waco continues to falter. 

Agreed. Lubbock stinks, and the Tech program is what it is. 

Littrell has had several colleagues take the 'intermediate' step to a lesser P5 only to be fired, and start the carousel all over again. Have a feeling he will hold out until he gets the "right" one which should be a major P5 in this part of the country (which there are only a few).

Build this place into a monster, get compensated appropriately where an offer from lesser P5 is frankly not desirable, have an excellent quality of life for your family, and wait on the big one. 

[DRC: UNT picked up commitment from DE (updated with story)]

Love the size of these defensive line commitments. Both DE are massive and Roland is a big athletic freak. Walker is a nice pickup!

[It may be time to look into expanding Apogee]

1 hour ago, ADLER said:

I know there is the "keep selling it out first" argument, and I hear you, but you're wrong.

But, having a 30K stadium and a 28K fan base is going to keep regional P5 schools from wanting to schedule games at Apogee. The costs of not expanding Apogee may therefore exceed the costs of expansion through lost revenue. 

One of the main reasons schools would schedule UNT is to provide a game in the metroplex that their DFW fans and alumni can attend. Unlike SMU we do not have a practically empty stadium to offer.

Where would the fans of Baylor, Kansas State, Texas Tech, A&M, or TCU sit if we were to schedule them? North Texas was able to host Baylor, Kansas State, and TCU at Fouts Field because we had a relatively small fan base at the time. That is simply not he case now. Games against Texas Tech and A&M were diverted to the Cowboys Stadium because our own stadium couldn't accommodate the crowds. We certainly don't want to have to do that again.

Growing pains. What a great thing to have.

We have to generate more consistent demand where annual season attendance averages a sellout prior to even considering an expansion.

[Clock Management (end of 1st half)]

10 minutes ago, keith said:

Perhaps nit picking, but during the game I thought we didn't handle this well after we got down to the 1-yard line on the Fine-to-Bussey Jr. play.  Things obviously turned out OK, but with all three TOs remaining, it would have been better, IMHO, to get another shot (or better shots) at the end zone before settling for a FG.  The announcers mentioned this as well and settled on the theory that we felt we had the matchups we wanted on the field at the time and didn't want to give the defense an opportunity to reset/adjust if we took a timeout.  I don't know, but it's plausible I guess.  It's hard to find much to complain about after such a dominating performance (the late scores not withstanding), but this was still with an entire half to play and could have come back to bite us.  In the vein of you can always improve, this is one thing that stuck out to me.

Overall, a fantastic performance by the players and coaches in front of a fabulous crowd. If this game is any indication, this is going to be a fun season. 

Good point. Littrell admitted that we should have taken a timeout there. Gotta knock a little rust off for everyone.

Also the 40 second play clock starting before the SMU defense takes the field, yet we were penalized for a delay of game after they were late taking the field, and our offense got set after identifying SMU alignment. This will be an interesting call to watch as the season progresses, as it could technically be the defensive unit that gets penalized.