MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF

I'm really, really doing my best not to laugh and spit out orange juice all over my laptop just thinking of Bear Bryant or Darrell Royal moving a practice indoors at the sound of thunder. The NCAA can legislate anything it wants. But, there has never been, nor will there ever be, an epidemic of football players (or, soccer players, or baseball/softball players, or cross country runners, or pole vaulters, discus throwers, or javelin hurlers, etc.) being struck my lightning. It's as false as the "too hot to practice" narrative that floats around these days.

Um...I wouldn't go sneezing at Tulsa. Along with Tulane, Tulsa has one of the top 100 endowments in the world. Not the United States, the world. http://www.thebestschools.org/features/richest-universities-endowments-generosity-research/

There was no lightning before the 21st Century? How did Bear Bryant, Darrell Royal, Barry Switzer, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Frank Broyles...Bill Yeoman, etc. ever get anything done having to practice with storm clouds, thunder, and lightning?

I think part of the deal is that most people in attendance at these things are already season ticket holders. The question is how to sell beyond these things. These are more "preaching to the choir"-type events. I'll wait for the regular counter arguments:

Agree, if it is the right teams. Big West, as Lifer noted, was bad. MWC would at least have some competitive schools that people have heard of. Wonder if we could do like BYU and split our football from the rest of our sports as far as conferences go. I'd be able to live with football and the basketball programs being MWC, and the rest something more local. Whatever happens, we and the rest of the "have-nots" will likely look more regionally in the future. If not for all, surely for the non-revenue sports. Schools like DBU and Oral Roberts mix levels as well. DBU and ORU both in DI baseball. ORU's basketball is also DI. (Asterisk: speaking of baseball, what the hell has become of Rice's once proud baseball program, languishing now at the bottom of the C-USA standings? Crazy.) Big 12 Wrestling has schools in the "regular" Big 12 plus Air Force, Colorado, and a few others whose football programs are FCS. The thing is, I think the future is get where you are competitive and get where your fans - and the families of the players - can see them; and, again, especially with non-revenue.

I would have kept Gainesville inasmuch as it's close to Oklahoma...and our current starting QB is from Oklahoma. Seems like it'd be a chance for some of the southern Okie coaches/players to drop by and here Seth. Occasionally, Ardmore will produce a good athlete.

Good thoughts! Not being an IT guy, I just see "screen" and think about screen cost and local (is local the correct term) memory, like that on a hard drive, and think it could be cheap. But, I see that's not the case.

No, I mean, I know it's not one of those because they are jpg and too small. But, not being in IT, I imagine there is a way to have a simple video display and pare down the cost by buying in bulk (100-120 lockers/units). However, we are talking UT spending, so.... My guess about the actual video production is that they use tech interns to mix it all together.

Could it not be just a bigger version of these things? http://www.toptenreviews.com/electronics/home-entertainment/best-wireless-digital-frames/

Agree. I'm a few ticks shy of 50, but old enough to think back to when you were assigned a locker, given a lock, and sent on your way - to change, then usually outside to run your ass off in the hot Texas sun before the coaches sauntered out with their clipboard to start practice. It's a different kind of "tough" these days, I suppose. Instead of Barry Switzer, Jackie Sherrill, Jimmy Johnson, and Darrell Royal hiding out in gas station and restaurant bathrooms the night before signing day, you've got twitter and shit like these HD lockers to butter up and entice kids year round.

Agree. It's catching lightning in a bottle: strong, veteran FCS school playing a name FBS that is simply going base offense and defense for Game One. Doesn't ever change the balance of competition overall; you can't with as much money as was being shoveled to even losing BCS programs back in the day.

Right there with you on the IPF, and the Rangers as well. Baseball is my favorite sport, but MLB is on the verge of losing me with their threat to to put a clock on pitchers. Can't imagine anything more sports-sacred than the pitcher versus the batter, individual versus individual, nine times per go round, wrapped inside a team game. And, especially in late innings with the way relief pitchers are used, and when the game is on the line. Can't fathom an umpire warning Goose Gossage or Lee Smith or Bruce Sutter to hurry it up when they were facing the heart of a lineup in the eighth and ninth inning - from back in the days when your closer was expected get you the last six as often as the last three. Crazy.

It's basically semi-pro now that they've legalized what they put SMU on probation for. It's the "who can pay more in stipend." The Bamas, OUs, and Texas' of the world are like the Yankees and Dodgers. Sad that it's gone to that, but....

I guess here is the reality: if everyone is coddled, we're back at square one - need to win consistently with our coddled versus their coddled. So, coddle away!

Practicing outside becomes an endangered species in all of this. Got to do away with that. God forbid these snowflake footballers let a drop of rain touch their skin during practice...or, go more than 15 minutes without air conditioning and water.

Hasn't helped them. OU still goes down to Dallas and regularly kicks the sh*t out of them...along with several other schools per season. This will only add to the 'Horns players' feelings of self-importance. I mean, you are watching highlights of yourself before you've really even won/done anything.

Punt and kick returners do not take as many hits in a game as a QB, especially in a pass-based offense. He's a fearless enough player that he'd make a great returner. Your stats show that his completion % decreases as we get into enemy territory. This makes sense when you factor in that he threw less than a touchdown per game and never threw multiple TDs in a game. Up to three or the five wins last year occurred because Wilson went off in the 2nd half of the games. If we could have a QB that is consistent throughout an entire game - for an entire season's worth of games - we'd be tough to beat. I just don't think that QB is Fine.

Not overreacting at all. I simply think that people should not say that we automatically redshirt Pearson, especially if it becomes apparent that Fine isn't making progress, My deal is getting your best 11 on the field on both sides of the ball. I think on offense, Fine is one of those best 11; just not as QB. For the record, I also think he'd be one of the best 11 in both return packages - punt and kickoff. (And, for what's it worth, I'd bet he'd make a hell of a nickel back if put on the other side of the ball, and be one of the best 11 on defense as well!) And, again, I always thought the same about Riley Dodge. Great in the open field; should have put him in positions to take advantage of that instead of forcing him in at QB. If Fine's still sub-60% completion percentage in this "Air Raid" offense - which when run well completes absolutely ridiculously high completion percentages - and isn't throwing many TD passes, it really is time to makes some moves at QB. The coaches thought we "needed" to play Fine after one game last year. That's water under the bridge now. I just don't see how they could make a different conclusion if we're not moving the ball effectively at the beginning of the season. You have to do what's best for the team. In addition, as stated in every conference realignment thread, time is not our friend. We need to win and win now. We can't be wasting two year or three waiting for a QB to get up to speed. If one isn't working, we've got to let someone else in there to see if he can't make it click better.

The basketball is way better, for sure. And, the football programs more recognizable. I'm for a more regional alignment of school in the C-USA and Sun Belt. However, if it come down to styaing in the C-USA and taking an invite to the MWC, we'd be crazy not to move. I disagree with those who say MWC is no longer a move up. The main problem, as always, if that decades of neglect have brought us to this. The last AD did a good job of upgrading the facilities. We'll see if the new AD can bring in coaches that win consistently. We'll need a combination of both - plus, luck and prayers - to move up even to MWC or AAC. Excellent insight as always. Thank you. Particularly the splitting money angle. It's one of the reason I favor a nine or 10 team regional conference over a 14 or 16 team conference...full of schools with no prayer of making much money to split in the first place. Miss the hard-hitting UNT-Arkie St games as well.

Littrell had to rely on Wilson because the passing game rarely clicked on a consistent basis. We are fortunate that Wilson was already on the roster. He had as many rushing TDs in the regular season as the team had TD passes. Without the home run threat of Wilson in 2016, we were not close to going to a bowl game. -The 75 yard run versus Rice that put us in the lead for the first time; 3 TDs in the game. -The 72 yard run that broke the tie with Marshall; 2 TDs in that game -The 41 run that broke open the regular season Army win on the way to 3 second half TDs In fact, all of those runs were second half TDs that provided us the spark we needed when the offense was bogged down...and, yet the coaches kept sending Fine out there. I'm not interested in getting Fine up to speed when a more talented QB is on the roster. Fine has a talent in open spaces, but he's not big enough to take the hits QBs take even in G5 conferences. And, Wilson is our best offensive player, hands down. What I want is for the this coaching staff to do what its predecessors didn't: make the correct call at QB, and put the rest of the pieces together in a way that keeps opposing defense on their heels. To me, a more accurate, stronger armed QB with the threats of Wilson and a Welker-like slot in Fine are more dangerous than a Fine at QB completing less than 60% of his passes in an "Air Raid" offense and having to wait for Wilson to break the games open in the second half. In the end, we both want the same thing: UNT winning. We just have a different point of view about how we get there on the offensive side of the ball. We both believe Fine is a good athlete. You believe he contributes more at QB; I believe he could contribute more at slot and in the return game. Time will tell. Go Mean Green!

Here's the problem with Fine at QB: -We ran an "Air Raid" offense last year, but had the same amount of TD passes thrown during the regular season as the season before with McCarney and his cavalcade of quarterbacks who did not run an "Air Raid" offense. -The QB not named Fine in 2016 threw multiple TDs in every game he started, leaving many to wonder what might have been had Littrell/Harrell not panicked after one game. I think the same of Fine as I did with Dodge's kid: good athlete, not big enough to play QB at this level. And, because of that, what should have been a surprise to no one, Fine - like Dodge's kid - ended up injured by season's end. I'll say the same thing about Fine as I did about Riley Dodge back then, it's perfectly fine and acceptable to be Wes Welker or Julian Edelman. Riley had the talent to do it, but his dad and him were hell bent of having him play QB. If Littrell/Harrell are as hell bent on Fine staying at QB, they are making the same mistake. Fine is a good athlete and will adapt well to slot receiver and returning punts and kickoffs, same as Welker and Edelman. Otherwise, he'll end up like Riley - damaged goods long before his career is over. In short, they should put Fine in a position to use his open field elusiveness, not be the target of linemen who outweigh him by at least double down after down. Doing so would free Littrell/Harrell up to start a QB with a stronger arm, and probably a more accurate one. It will be a win-win if they do it sooner rather than later. Everything else is just akin to arguing about the ingredients of corn chips. Hmmm. Gee, I don't know what's more dumb: looking at an "Air Raid" offense that doesn't produce more TD passes in the regular season than McCarney's offense and being in denial about it or admitting that it's a problem and saying so.

Exactly. If there was no reason to redshirt Fine in 2016, there is no reason to redshirt Pearson in 2017. We need to win and do so consistently as soon as possible. We don't have the luxury of having guys wait around redshirting if the people in the front of them can't do the job - at all positions.

My problem with NMSU is that the prior athletic director said that they weren't judging the football program by wins and losses. If that's still the case, why would anyone - including UTEP - throw them a line? At least Idaho is trying and has been trying. You think we've had bad direction in the football program? We're nowhere close to NMSU when it comes to mishandling a football program. NMSU needs to simply fold or go FCS. I no longer include them in any future conference discussions.

As posted several times over the past two years, I favor two separate conferences, not a super conference. The schools in the East and Southeast can form a conference with two divisions. There are enough schools in the Lousiana, Arkansas, Texas area for form one conference of nine or 10 schools. We need to leave behind the notion that we must be tied with schools from state on the eastern seaboard.

Once Littrell and Harrell pull their heads out of their asses, Pearson will be QB and Fine will be moved to a position better suited for a little guy at the FBS level - slot WR or scatback or something. I do find it funny that Vito has fallen in love with Fine and basically ignored/avoided reporting about Pearson. But, when the spring game arrived, there was only so long that the truth could be hidden. Shanbour is as fraudulent as ever as well.