casual fan

NCAA Division 1 schools must meet a set of standards that apply to athletes in all sports. Football is the only Division 1 sport subdivided into 2 divisions (FBS and FCS). Division 2 schools have a different set of standards and so forth, down to JUCOs. Harvard, Yale, etc. may set their standards higher. Other schools may accept the NCAA minimum. It depends on the school. Point is many really good FCS players just get overlooked every year.

All of them must have been ineligible because FBS schools never overlook talented players. Oh, wait a minute. Josh McCown started out at smu but transferred to Sam Houston State. He passed for 3,481 yards and 32 TDs as a senior at Sam Houston and won the Walter Payton Award given to the top D 1-AA player. Cooper Kupp won it last year and has moved past Jerry Rice's FCS total. He will be a senior next year at Eastern Washington. Interestingly enough both Kupp's father and grandfather were on different Dallas Cowboy rosters.

I got to looking and counted 26 players from non FBS schools in Texas that are now on NFL teams. West Texas A&M has 9. Consider less than 10% of the FBS players make it to the NFL That means there were probably 250 players or so that were FBS quality playing for those Texas teams. Talented high school players get overlooked every year. No stars doesn't always mean no talent.

Right now there are 12 QBs on NFL rosters that were FCS or lower. Two of them came from small Texas colleges.

Speaking of small school players that were overlooked coming out of high school...... The Cowboys have 6 NFL hall of famers from small colleges. Larry Allen played at Sonoma State, Charles Haley at James Madison, Jackie Smith at Northwestern Louisiana, etc. My question is why Cliff Harris from Ouchita Baptist isn't also in the NFL Hall of Fame? He was a 6 time pro bowler with 2 Super Bowl wins, 5 NFC championships, and was a member of the 1970s all-decade team. He is still being overlooked.

Last year in 2015 there were 133 FCS players on the week one NFL 53 man rosters. There were another 45 FCS players on the practice squads. I'll stand by my point that a lot of good high school players get overlooked every year and end up playing for small schools. Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco, Tony Romo, etc, etc. etc.

The 2nd player taken in this years NFL draft (Carson Wentz) had no FBS offers when he commited to North Dakota State. Central Michigan might have offered late, but Wentz was stuck on NDSU at that point. The UNTs of the world have a near impossible task battling Big 5 conference schools for highly rated players. There are some gems that are overlooked. Finding them and then recognizing their talent is the real trick.

Speaking of recruiting and getting players drafted, look at North Dakota State. They are FCS yet they had their QB taken on the 2nd pick of the first round. Carson Wentz shows there are some great players from obscure places like Bismarck, North Dakota.

Last was 1989 Kim Phillips DB round 3. In 1971 we had a 1 and 3. In 1970 we had 5 drafted. 1, 2, 5, 10, 16. That 1970 group played in over 300 pro games. Cedrick Hardman should be in the NFL hall of fame. He picked up a Super Bowl ring with Oakland. Ron Shanklin started in the Steelers first Super Bowl win in 1974.

Sorry, I could only give you +1 and not +100. A high school QB who threw for over 13,000 yards, runs a 4.52, and can hit a WR 60 yards down field needs to be looked at. When was the last time UNT had a QB who could hit a WR a few yards deep in the end zone while straddling his own 45? He is also a strong kid.......275 bench and 400 squat.

We hope you're right about Bethune Cookman because they were 9-2 last year and rated higher than us by Sagarin. I noticed they signed a juco RB that had 11 FBS offers. They also signed 6 OLs,,,,,shortest 6-4 ....only 1 under 300 lbs. After last year, I take nothing for granted.

Steve Ramsey went 22-6-1 in 3 years as a starter. Still holds UNT record with 69 TDs. Ah the good old days.

Top 5 things that relate the Titanic to UNT football. 5. The Titanic sank one year before UNT started playing football. Coincidence or omen? 4. The Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches long, the exact distance from Fouts Field to Apogee Stadium. 3. In 1998 the Titanic lost 600 lbs of metal per day because of corrosion, which happened to be the same amount as Fouts Field. 2. In 2010 mapping projects started to search the debris fields of both the Titanic and UNT football. 1, The Titanic had 2.224 people on board when it sank. Ironically this was the actual attendance at UNT's last home football game.

I didn't realize S. Carolina State jumped from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, dropped State from their name, and became a P5. They must have one hell of an AD.

Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, and UNT have each had 3 home games vs P5s since 2003. Kyle Field is in College Station. SMU plays at Ford Stadium in Dallas. Carry on.

The only team in CUSA west to do it last year was UTSA when they played K St in the Alamodome in front of 29,424. Most G5s that did it were in the backyards of P5s which gave their fans basically an extra home game. (FAU vs Miami, etc.) Frankly, playing us in Denton because Dallas is a firtle recruiting ground has become a little overrated. UNT is at a crossroad and Littrell had better be the answer. Let's hope he is.

You made me laugh. +1 That goes under the sad but true column.

Scheduling P5s in Denton is not as easy as some seem to think. The Big 12 with 10 teams played 9 out of conference games last year. SEC in Denton? Don't think so. Pac 12? ACC? Where is the incentive for them to play in Denton? As you -1 me, go ahead and answer that question.

From a coaches perspective, they want stability. 2006 Dickey was fired 2 years after winning 4 titles in a row and going to 4 bowls. 2010 Dodge was fired. 2010 Canales takes over for the last five games. 2015 McCarney was fired 1 year and 5 games after winning a bowl. 2015 Canales takes over for the last 7 games. 2016 Littrell takes over. You can debate whither or not there has been coaching accountability, but there has certainly been very little coaching stability.

So you are predicting that this is the year when Hell freezes over?

Mason Fine will become the starter during the season and put up some good numbers.

I get it that Mason Fine played small time ball in Oklahoma, but he has something Riley didn't have.........the ability to hit a receiver 60 yards down field. Check out his senior highlights. It takes an arm to hit a receiver a few yards deep in the end zone while straddling your own 45 yard line. How many high school QBs have that much of an arm and run a 4.52 40? Another inch or two and he wouldn't be here. He should red shirt, but he probably plays this year.

Mason Fine ran a 4.52. If he doesn't RS, he might be our wild card in the wildcat.

I'm just waiting for KOHLER or American Standard to sponsor the Toilet Bowl in Flushing, New York.

Fine has the arm, the foot speed, and understands the offense. He's also a strong kid for his size and should be able to gain some weight. A QB's height should be less of a concern than his skill and his arm.