DRC Monday column: No denying it now -- UNT, SMU rivals

[Brett Vito]

DRC:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/sports-headlines/20140907-brett-vito-no-denying-it-now--a-rivalry-is-born.ece

[UNT90]

Not really.

We can do MUCH better...

[emmitt01]

Why the hell do people continue to bring up the all-time record? Games played prior to the Civil War are irrelevant.

[EagleGreen]

Ponies Down! Great article.

[Cerebus]

I loved that win against SMU. I don't know if it will ever be a "true" rivalry simply because their fan support is so low. Maybe if a new coach can energize them.

Their turnout on Saturday was pathetic. Once you take out the band and parents. I am not sure they brought 100 fans.

Idaho, Ball St, MTSU, UTEP, Troy, and even South Alabama all had to make a long trip and brought more fans.

Texas Southern is FCS and brought more, and Nicholls St brought more to Fouts years ago, so I can only assume they'll have more in two weeks.

I am so glad to be in a CUSA west. Four Texas schools, and then LaTech and USM, all fan bases that will bring people to Denton.

[Baby Arm!]

So SMU isn't a rivalry because SMUt has a 23 game edge in the series?????

If that's the case then somebody better call these schools and tell them they don't have rivalries either, Series records are way to lopsided....

Iowa v. Iowa St.- Hawkeyes have a 19 game lead in the series,

Minnesota v. Iowa - Forget that this is a trophy game.... Golden Gophers lead series by 17 games

Michigan v. Minnesota - Another trophy game, Michigan leads by 49 games

Michigan v. Michigan St - Wolverines lead by 35 games

Texas v. OU- Why call it the Red River Rivalry- cant be a rivalry since the Horns lead the series by 17 games

Texas v. Texas A&M- No rivalry here. Horns lead series by 39 game. Hell, these teams don't even play each other anymore.

[untjim1995]

SMU is just dead...they have dreams of yesteryear, but they are on par with the non-SWC peers now. They think they should be Baylor or TCU, that they should be way above RIce and (gulp) North Texas, while in reality they are on par with Texas State and UTEP (maybe).

This program has almost no support, only plays teams in the OOC that their fans care about because they are old SWC teams, and they have now turned on the only coach who has done ANYTHING there in the last 25 years. They are a Division 3, non-scholarship program, waiting to happen. No way they are playing football at this G5 level when the P5 breaks away--they'll say its below them and costs too much, which will be ironic because money is all they have on their side and their history of paying players in the 80s is what cost them the program that they still think they should have today.

And I love every part of it....

[meangreendork]

SMU is just dead...they have dreams of yesteryear, but they are on par with the non-SWC peers now. They think they should be Baylor or TCU, that they should be way above RIce and (gulp) North Texas, while in reality they are on par with Texas State and UTEP (maybe).

This program has almost no support, only plays teams in the OOC that their fans care about because they are old SWC teams, and they have now turned on the only coach who has done ANYTHING there in the last 25 years. They are a Division 3, non-scholarship program, waiting to happen. No way they are playing football at this G5 level when the P5 breaks away--they'll say its below them and costs too much, which will be ironic because money is all they have on their side and their history of paying players in the 80s is what cost them the program that they still think they should have today.

And I love every part of it....

What's even better is that they were caught in the open and continued to do it, and then acted all surprised when the NCAA killed their program.

Edited September 8, 2014 by meangreendork

[JRock]

I dropped by daughter off at school this morning and dropped by the local Starbucks. In the corner, there were some retired men and their wives talking about how UNT whooped SMU.

[UNT90]

We are still in search of a rival. SMU isn't one. They are awful and have zero fans.

I hope this series is shortened. We can do FAR better.

[ColoradoEagle]

SMU is just dead...they have dreams of yesteryear, but they are on par with the non-SWC peers now. They think they should be Baylor or TCU, that they should be way above RIce and (gulp) North Texas, while in reality they are on par with Texas State and UTEP (maybe).

UTEP may be bad historically, but they have an ardent fan base. SMU is a step below UTEP.

[UNTexas]

Not that I care, but when they got the death penalty for cheating weren't some of their victories vacated like Penn State? You'd think when you're the worst cheating offender in NCAA history you're cheating victories would be vacated. Penn State had to and they didn't cheat. (They were worse in my book though.)

[SilverEagle]

We are still in search of a rival. SMU isn't one. They are awful and have zero fans.

I hope this series is shortened. We can do FAR better.

I know you hate the notion. But UTSA is our best bet for a long time rivalry.

[rws69]

Rivalry or not, I am really looking forward to when we can buy tickets to next year's game at SMU. That said, the next ten (or more) 2014 games are more important right now.

[MeanGreenTexan]

We are still in search of a rival. SMU isn't one. They are awful and have zero fans.

I hope this series is shortened. We can do FAR better.

They may be down now, but with the $$ they'll throw at the next guy... it won't be long before they're competitive again. They're close, the stereotypes are dichotomies, we're in on most of the same recruits... so we're naturally a rival with them.

[UNT90]

I know you hate the notion. But UTSA is our best bet for a long time rivalry.

If they had a football stadium or weight room, I would agree.

Until then, they are just a craphole.

[NorthTexan95]

UTEP may be bad historically, but they have an ardent fan base. SMU is a step below UTEP.

That's what I was thinking. SMU would've been pounded by the UTEP we saw this weekend against Texas Tech.

[TIgreen01]

SMU is just dead...they have dreams of yesteryear, but they are on par with the non-SWC peers now. They think they should be Baylor or TCU, that they should be way above RIce and (gulp) North Texas, while in reality they are on par with Texas State and UTEP (maybe).

This program has almost no support, only plays teams in the OOC that their fans care about because they are old SWC teams, and they have now turned on the only coach who has done ANYTHING there in the last 25 years. They are a Division 3, non-scholarship program, waiting to happen. No way they are playing football at this G5 level when the P5 breaks away--they'll say its below them and costs too much, which will be ironic because money is all they have on their side and their history of paying players in the 80s is what cost them the program that they still think they should have today.

And I love every part of it....

Agree with the start of this post, but I think we need to look out for programs like SMU once the pay for players thing becomes fully above board. They have the money to make June Jones one of the highest paid coaches in the country. They have the money to pay players like few other schools can. Look what they did when they finally landed in a power conference (and like it or not, the AAC is currently a power conference for basketball). They hired a big time coach, re-did their arena virtually overnight and completely unseated us as the best basketball team in DFW (Benford didn't help, but JJ's teams never captured the metroplex media the way Brown's smu team did last year).

They aren't in a power conference for football, so just hiring a coach isn't going to cut it b/c he's never going to be able to bring in enough players to truly dominate. Once they can throw money at them, though....look out. It is sickening, but in sports money usually wins out. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Edited September 8, 2014 by TIgreen01

[Cerebus]

(and like it or not, the AAC is currently a power conference).

Not in football. They are in the G5 payout pool with access bowl / bid the only way they get into the playoff.

[TIgreen01]

Not in football. They are in the G5 payout pool with access bowl / bid the only way they get into the playoff.

oops...I meant to add 'in basketball'.

[JesseMartin]

So SMU isn't a rivalry because SMUt has a 23 game edge in the series?????

If that's the case then somebody better call these schools and tell them they don't have rivalries either, Series records are way to lopsided....

Iowa v. Iowa St.- Hawkeyes have a 19 game lead in the series,

Minnesota v. Iowa - Forget that this is a trophy game.... Golden Gophers lead series by 17 games

Michigan v. Minnesota - Another trophy game, Michigan leads by 49 games

Michigan v. Michigan St - Wolverines lead by 35 games

Texas v. OU- Why call it the Red River Rivalry- cant be a rivalry since the Horns lead the series by 17 games

Texas v. Texas A&M- No rivalry here. Horns lead series by 39 game. Hell, these teams don't even play each other anymore.

Good call. Not to mention (again) the fact that their violations never resulted in vacating any wins.

[NT93]

I don't know that I'd call it a rivalry, but it should be a game that's a little bigger on the schedule based on the geographical locations alone. I think it would be great if UNT/SMU/TCU each played one another. Obviously TCU has a leg up on both programs now, but it's all somewhat cyclical.

[FirefightnRick]

So SMU isn't a rivalry because SMUt has a 23 game edge in the series?????

If that's the case then somebody better call these schools and tell them they don't have rivalries either, Series records are way to lopsided....

Iowa v. Iowa St.- Hawkeyes have a 19 game lead in the series,

Minnesota v. Iowa - Forget that this is a trophy game.... Golden Gophers lead series by 17 games

Michigan v. Minnesota - Another trophy game, Michigan leads by 49 games

Michigan v. Michigan St - Wolverines lead by 35 games

Texas v. OU- Why call it the Red River Rivalry- cant be a rivalry since the Horns lead the series by 17 games

Texas v. Texas A&M- No rivalry here. Horns lead series by 39 game. Hell, these teams don't even play each other anymore.

Thank you for bringing in a little bit of common sense to the subject.

Rick