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Major Division-I college football powers like the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University football sustain decades of success and bowl game appearances, but the UNT football team hasn’t reached that level yet. For the first time in nine years, the team is projected to go to a bowl game with hopes of winning one for the second time in school history. The last UNT bowl-winning team comes from 2002, where the Mean Green came out victorious at the New Orleans Bowl. The bowl win came in the midst of four consecutive Sun Belt Conference titles and four New Orleans Bowl appearances. Those teams provide many similarities to this year’s squad, with each bringing its own specialties to the gridiron to be successful. “Both teams have provided all of us with so many good memories. It is eerie how much these teams are alike and yet they are still so different,” Athletic Director Rick Villarreal said. “I’ll say one thing – it is impossible to favor one of these teams over the other.” Read more: http://ntdaily.com/current-football-squad-draws-similarities-to-former-bowl-teams/

The move to Conference USA brings in-state rivals to all UNT athletic programs, but the Mean Green basketball teams also made it an emphasis to schedule key local rivals in their non-conference schedule. Men’s Basketball For the first time ever, the men’s team will take part in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Tip-Off Showcase, a charity tournament that collaborates between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches to raise funds for cancer awareness. One of the teams UNT will take on is tournament host University of Oklahoma, who lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year. UNT will also face off against the University of Idaho, the University of Columbia and the Universiy of Portland in a three-day span as part of the tournament. Other standouts in the nonconference schedule include away games against Brigham Young University and the Texas A&M University, as well as the home opener against Nicholls State University. “The non-conference schedule is going to be really difficult and it’s going to prepare us for the conference games,” senior guard Vertrail Vaughns said. “It’s going to get us ready for the long run.” One notable game missing from the schedule is the annual match up against metroplex rival University of Texas-Arlington. UNT bought out the final year of its contract with the Mavericks because of other conflicts within its schedule, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, but may resume next year. The Mean Green held a 30-23 edge in the rivalry that dates back to when both teams were in the Southland Conference in the early ‘90s. Read more: http://ntdaily.com/2013-basketball-schedules-designed-to-be-challenging/