Hook 'em & Go Green

Hi y'all, I am a Journalism Masters student at UNT's Mayborn School of Journalism. I am conducting an online focus group along with a classmate and we wanted to invite the members of GoMeanGreen.com to join our discussion. The focus group will take place on Wednesday evening, 7/30, at 7:30pm CST. We would greatly value your input. Details and instructions are listed below. If you have any questions, please feel free to private message me through GMG.com or reply to the thread. Thanks! Qualitative Research Project About Fan's Attitudes and Perceptions Toward an NCAA Division 1-A College Football Playoff System As part of a research study for a graduate journalism program, we are conducting an online focus group to gauge the attitudes and perceptions of a possible Division I A college football playoff system among fans. The focus group should last about 1 hour and the moderators will pose questions to the group in order to better understand the pros and cons, as well as overall feelings about this much debated topic. This focus group will be held Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. CST. Please visit the following link at that time to participate. http://www.meebo.com/room/playoffdiscussion/ This discussion is password protected. Once you are on the above page, the password that you should enter is: playoff You will appear as a guest in the participant’s column. To change this generic nickname to a name of your choosing, Right Click your name > Set Nickname > type in a name, and press enter. We look forward to this discussion. Thank you, Desmond Rice Russell Goslin Master’s of Journalism candidates University of North Texas

I realize the Big East plays a full round robin format and has only 8 teams. Actually the Pac-10 now plays nine conference games and a full round robin conference schedule too. All I am advocating is that each conference should expand to have 12 schools and play the CCG or else none should have to play it. In a perfect world, my ideas of realignment would take place and the National Champion would be decided on the field in a 16-team playoff.

I tried to use logic, something that seems to be lacking from the powers that be or even so-called journalists. Since I am a grad student at UNT, I have a vested interest in seeing UNT get into a higher conference one day or at least have access toward playing for a national championship in football. By that I mean a D 1-A playoff. In basketball, all conference tournament champions are given an automatic bid into the tournament thereby giving each of the 315+ Division 1 basketball teams access toward winning a national championship. The same is true in baseball or any other sport in collegiate athletics. Look at Rice winning the baseball NC a few years ago and this year Rice and Fresno St. are in Omaha right now in the CWS (much to my chagrin knocking out my Horns this year). I am a UT grad so that one hurt... I thought we might be able to get back to Omaha after winning the Big 12 Tournament in OKC. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. If major college football ever finally implements a playoff system, it MUST include all conference champions. Schools like Rice, UNT, or Fresno St. would never have a prayer in the current format. I think things are slowly improving with Hawaii, Utah, and Boise St. breaking through at least be invited to the BCS party. A playoff makes the best sense to me. I'd like to see a 16-team playoff bracket, with each conference champion receiving an automatic bid to the tournament and the next highest rated 5 teams regardless of conference affiliation receiving the at-large berths. In the meantime, I think the BCS should expand to add the Cotton and Capital One (formerly Citrus) Bowls to the mix and have all 11 conference receive automatic berths, plus the next 3 highest rated teams regardless of conference affiliation receive the at-large berths. This would allow each team in D 1-A to at least have the chance to prove their worth on the field and compete for the national championship. That's simply how it should be. As a UNT fan and student, that bothers me that there is no access for non-BCS teams. As a UT fan and alumnus, what bothers me the most is that the Big Ten, Big East, and Pac-10 don't play a conference championship game like we do in the Big 12, and the SEC & ACC. It should be all or none for the conference championship games to level the playing field in that regard. Since Ohio St. doesn't have to contend with surviving an extra week with the CCG, they are able to bypass it straight to the championship game. If that were true for the Big 12, we may well have seen a Missouri-Ohio St. NCG last season. Instead, Mizzou had to play OU again and didn't make it. If Ohio St. had to play Illinois or someone for the Big 10 Title, maybe they would have lost too. That's my two cents... I've been reading too much Phil Steele! Hook 'em & Go Green!

Since I'm bored during the LONG off-season, I'll take a stab at future conference realignments in Division 1-A (FBS). I have 10 conferences with 12 teams each, except for 2 of the conferences having 14 teams. I have a Mountain West/WAC merger which would drop the WAC from D 1-A. Since all conferences would have at least 12 teams, each one would play a conference championship game. Each of the 10 conference champions would receive an automatic BCS Bowl berth, thereby leveling the playing field in D 1-A by adding automatic bids to champions of C-USA, MAC, MWC, and the SBC. My idea would produce 124 teams in D 1-A (FBS), adding South Alabama (which is already tentatively scheduled to join the Sun Belt by 2013), Appalachian St., Georgia Southern, and Texas St. from D 1-AA (FCS). Let me know what y'all think of my idea for the D 1-A (FBS) college football landscape. Thanks and enjoy! My Ideas For Future Alignments of NCAA Division 1-A College Football (Football Bowl Subdivision) Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division 1. Boston College Eagles 2. Clemson Tigers 3. Florida St. Seminoles 4. Maryland Terrapins 5. North Carolina St. Wolfpack 6. Wake Forest Demon Deacons Coastal Division 1. Duke Blue Devils 2. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 3. Miami Hurricanes 4. North Carolina Tar Heels 5. Virginia Cavaliers 6. Virginia Tech Hokies Big East Conference North Division 1. Connecticut Huskies 2. Marshall Thundering Herd 3. Pittsburgh Panthers 4. Rutgers Scarlet Knights 5. Syracuse Orange 6. West Virginia Mountaineers South Division 1. Central Florida Knights 2. Cincinnati Bearcats 3. East Carolina Pirates 4. Louisville Cardinals 5. Memphis Tigers 6. South Florida Bulls Big Ten Conference East Division 1. Michigan Wolverines 2. Michigan St. Spartans 3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4. Ohio St. Buckeyes 5. Penn St. Nittany Lions 6. Wisconsin Badgers West Division 1. Illinois Fighting Illini 2. Indiana Hoosiers 3. Iowa Hawkeyes 4. Minnesota Golden Gophers 5. Northwestern Wildcats 6. Purdue Boilermakers Big 12 Conference North Division 1. Colorado Buffaloes 2. Iowa St. Cyclones 3. Kansas Jayhawks 4. Kansas St. Wildcats 5. Missouri Tigers 6. Nebraska Cornhuskers South Division 1. Baylor Bears 2. Oklahoma Sooners 3. Oklahoma St. Cowboys 4. Texas Longhorns 5. Texas A&M Aggies 6. Texas Tech Red Raiders Conference USA East Division 1. Army Black Knights 2. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 3. Navy Midshipmen 4. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles 5. Temple Owls 6. Tulane Green Wave 7. UAB Blazers West Division 1. Houston Cougars 2. North Texas Mean Green 3. Rice Owls 4. SMU Mustangs 5. TCU Horned Frogs 6. Tulsa Golden Hurricane 7. UTEP Miners Mid-American Conference East Division 1. Akron Zips 2. Bowling Green Falcons 3. Buffalo Bulls 4. Kent St. Golden Flashes 5. Miami (Ohio) Redhawks 6. Ohio Bobcats West Division 1. Ball St. Cardinals 2. Central Michigan Chippewas 3. Eastern Michigan Eagles 4. Northern Illinois Huskies 5. Toledo Rockets 6. Western Michigan Broncos Mountain West Conference East Division 1. Air Force Falcons 2. Boise St. Broncos 3. Colorado St. Rams 4. New Mexico Lobos 5. New Mexico St. Aggies 6. Utah St. Aggies 7. Wyoming Cowboys West Division 1. Fresno St. Bulldogs 2. Hawaii Warriors 3. Idaho Vandals 4. Nevada Wolfpack 5. San Diego St. Aztecs 6. San Jose St. Spartans 7. UNLV Rebels Pacific 12 Conference North Division 1. California Golden Bears 2. Oregon Ducks 3. Oregon St. Beavers 4. Stanford Cardinal 5. Washington Huskies 6. Washington St. Cougars South Division 1. Arizona Wildcats 2. Arizona St. Sun Devils 3. BYU Cougars 4. UCLA Bruins 5. USC Trojans 6. Utah Utes Southeastern Conference East Division 1. Florida Gators 2. Georgia Bulldogs 3. Kentucky Wildcats 4. South Carolina Gamecocks 5. Tennessee Volunteers 6. Vanderbilt Commodores West Division 1. Alabama Crimson Tide 2. Arkansas Razorbacks 3. Auburn Tigers 4. LSU Tigers 5. Mississippi Rebels 6. Mississippi St. Bulldogs Sun Belt Conference East Division 1. Appalachian St. Mountaineers 2. Florida Atlantic Owls 3. Florida International Golden Panthers 4. Georgia Southern Eagles 5. Middle Tennessee St. Blue Raiders 6. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers West Division 1. Arkansas St. Red Wolves 2. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns 3. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 4. South Alabama Jaguars 5. Texas St. Bobcats 6. Troy Trojans

With the Big East getting a tie-in for their #7 team in an 8-team conference, I would bet they can't fill all of those slots this fall. The SEC may not be able to fill down to #9 in the PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham either, especially if two SEC make the BCS. I would bet the Sun Belt gets the runner up in the PapaJohns.com Bowl or in the new St. Petersburg Bowl in Florida. With 68 teams out of 120 now going bowling this fall, I think 3 Sun Belt teams in bowls this season would not be out of the realm of possibility. I sure hope the Mean Green can turn things around in my last fall as a grad student. I'd like to watch them play in a bowl and then watch the Horns play in the BCS! That would be sweet for me personally!

A new WAC like that would be interesting and certainly an upgrade for UNT. There would be better competition in Hawaii, Boise St., and Fresno St. I wouldn't mind seeing something like this play out for UNT.

I doubt UT would play UNT in Denton. At least not until the new stadium is built, but even then it would be highly unlikely. The only way they would play up here would be a 2 and 1 deal, where UNT would get one home game with two return trips to Austin. I think if UNT could get a deal like that it would be worth it just to host the Horns because it would be a guaranteed sellout. UT might play them at JerryWorld in Arlington too, because alumni enjoy being able to buy beer and watch the Horns in a pro stadium. We have played Rice on 2 and 1 deals before with two home games in Austin and an "away" game at Reliant (with beer sold in the stadium).

What games are in place for the '09 non-conference football schedule? Just wondering because I read on Hornfans that Arkansas is probably going to back out of UT's game with them scheduled for Fayetteville in '09 because they don't want to play UT and A&M in Arlington the same season. This leaves UT the task of finding two more non-conference opponents to add next season because the Horns still have not filled the home-opener yet. Some were saying UNT was mentioned as a possibility to fill one of the slots on the schedule and the other might be an away game with another BCS opponent, with a guarantee of two return trips to Austin. From UNT's standpoint, I'd like to see the Mean Green schedule more games in which they can get a home-and-home, and shy away from the so-called "body bag" games. If UNT could get a C-USA, MWC, WAC, or MAC opponent in a home-and-home series, that would be much better in my opinion. I realize that sometimes UNT has to play games like this at LSU, UT, OU, etc. just to make enough revenue, but I hope UNT can move up to a higher league in the future and upgrade its schedule with guaranteed return home games played in Denton when scheduling non-conference games. So my original question: has the '09 slate been set and would UNT possibly play UT in Austin again if asked?

I think UNT's best prospects would be if the Big East decided to go to 12 football members, adding possibly some football-only schools into their conference mix from C-USA. Say if they took UCF, Memphis, East Carolina, and Marshall. I'll play this as a "what if" scenario and assume that C-USA would expand back to 12 members: Imagine this for C-USA of the future: East Division FAU FIU Southern Mississippi Tulane Troy UAB West Division Houston North Texas Rice SMU Tulsa UTEP I realize this is far-fetched, especially for the Big East adding 4 football-only schools. It doesn't hurt to think about the what ifs. Should the MWC want to expand to 12 members in all sports by adding 3 more schools to its conference, then perhaps UNT could be considered as a geographical complement to TCU. Think about a possible 12 team MWC: East Division Air Force Colorado St. New Mexico North Texas TCU Wyoming West Division Boise St. BYU Fresno St. San Diego St. UNLV Utah Which of these two "what if/dream" scenarios would you all prefer?

Someone asked which was the better game last year for UT, Ark. St. or UCF. I'd have to say the UCF game was better, but both were way too close for comfort. All of us orangebloods were concerned over the lackluster performances over these teams that we certainly outclassed talent-wise. Last season the team seemed to lack any sort of fire when it came right down to it. So that lead to the loss to A&M, where the Ags wanted it more and thoroughly dominated the game. This offseason, UT added Will Muschamnp to the defensive staff as the coordinator and brought Major Applewhite back to Austin on the offensive staff, so I expect a much better work ethic this year. The Holiday Bowl win was impressive and I hope that leads to a good start to spring practices and a solid '08 campaign. But like most Texas fans, I want to see wins vs. OU & A&M and a conference championship. With the talent we have there's no reason those things can't happen. A lot of it can be attributed to coaching, so I'm hoping these staff changes help get us back to the BCS. On the topic of UNT season tickets, I will attend at least one or two home games as a student this fall. Beyond that, I'll still hold on to my UT season tickets, but would like to support UNT as well. I thought I might buy UNT season tickets after I graduate and come to the games I can when I'm not at a Longhorn game. Do any of you know if I bought UNT season tickets in the future, is there a way to donate my tickets to other fans or a youth program if I am unable to attend certain games? I am a member of the Texas Exes and was involved in the Texas Exes Student Chapter as an undergrad at UT. I am definitely planning on joining the North Texas Exes as well after I complete my grad program in May '09 (knock on wood). If UNT has a student chapter of the North Texas Exes, I would be interested in joining that while I'm still in school. What do y'all expect next year from the UNT football team? I think the Sun Belt games are all winnable, but going on the road to FAU and MTSU will probably present the biggest challenge. The home games vs. ULL, FIU, ASU, Troy, and OOC vs. Tulsa I think all could be won, with Tulsa and Troy presenting the biggest challenge. I don't think we can expect wins at K-State or LSU, but the Rice game is winnable as are conference road games at ULM and WKU (I realize WKU still has one more year of transition into the conference and technically is still a non-Sun Belt game). All that being said, my early bird projection is for UNT to finish at 8-4 (6-1 in conference). Wins vs. Rice, ULL, ULM, Troy, MTSU, ASU, FIU, and WKU... losses vs. LSU, KSU, FAU, and Tulsa. I may be overestimating, but I think the Mean Green has a shot at the SBC title and a berth in the New Orleans Bowl, or perhaps another bowl game as an at-large selection as the SBC runner-up. What do you guys think? Could Dodge Ball Year 2 see the Mean Green back in a bowl game... what are your projections?

Thanks for the welcome! While I plan on keeping my UT season tickets, I'm hoping to catch some UNT games on the off weeks. I'd like to make it down to the UNT-Rice game in Houston and hopefully the final home game of the season at Fouts (after the UT-A&M game in Austin the day before, or from what I've heard maybe Thanksgiving Day this year). It sounds like UNT put together a pretty decent recruiting class, so hopefully there will be more wins in '08. I'd love an excuse to travel to New Orleans, so I'm hoping they could win the league title again and make the N.O. Bowl. Maybe a tall order for year two under Dodge, but I think they will be much improved this season. That WKU game last year was brutally cold... but I've been in my fair share of cold games following the Horns to Lincoln, Manhattan, Lawrence, and Boulder over the years! Glad to talk football with y'all! Go Mean Green!

Hi Mean Green fans… I decided to join this board yesterday after simply lurking and reading it over the last year and a half since beginning graduate school at UNT last fall. As you may have guessed from my handle, I am a graduate of UT and a die-hard Longhorn fan. I graduated from UT in 2002 and still am a season ticket holder with my wonderful seats in the west side upper deck on the 20-yard line, 6 rows from the very top with an illustrious view of I-35. Anyway, I’m quite the sports fanatic and have enjoyed going to some Mean Green athletic events while living here in Denton. I grew up in San Antonio and am a huge Spurs fan as well (much to the dismay of my roommates). I moved to Denton in 2006 when I started school at UNT to work on some undergrad courses required of me before beginning my graduate work in Fall ’07 in the journalism department. I got to witness the Mean Green beat WKU in wet and cold conditions in the home finale last season. Prior to that I had never seen them win in person. The only other games I saw them play in were in Austin, when I was wearing orange, and saw them lose by one point to FAU in the ’06 season. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself to the board and say that I wish UNT athletics nothing but success in the future. I hope Todd Dodge can turn things around and get UNT winning the SBC regularly again. In the long-term I think UNT has a lot going for it and should have its sights set on bigger conferences like C-USA or the MWC. Last season I flew to Orlando and watched the Horns open UCF’s new stadium. I thought to myself that UCF should be a blueprint for what UNT should aspire to. UCF gave UT all we could handle that game. There’s no reason UNT couldn’t have that kind of support with the size of the enrollment, the alumni fan base, and the DFW community. All that being said, I have a few questions to pose to you guys. What is the timetable for the new stadium I keep reading about? When would it open? What are your dream scenarios for UNT’s future conference affiliation? Personally, I’d like to see them in C-USA with UH, Rice, SMU, and UTEP. Who knows what might happen the next time there is a major shakeup in conference alignments in the college football landscape. If the Big East expands and invites a few current C-USA members, I would like to think that UNT would be on a short list to get invited to join C-USA. I look forward to joining in on discussions with y’all in the future… Hook ‘em & Go Green!