//Collage is from the responses to the #ShowYourColors topic on twitter. Thanks, guys//
Let’s be real. That should have been a 70-3 game at worst. Derek Thompson over-threw, under-threw and poorly-threw. The student section was legit, however.
The rest of the fan base didn’t really show up. Now, I don’t know the breakdown nor do I really care. Eric Capper did say it best:
Nice to see the #MeanGreen ticket office slammed with folks buying tickets for tomorrow home-opener, temps in the 80s, no rain, no excuses.
— Eric Capper (@Eric_Capper) September 7, 2012
Well, most interestingly, the last part: “no excuses.”
- North Texas is coming off an improved season
- UNT alums are in the spotlight: Jamize Olawale, Lance Dunbar, Craig Robertson.
- Rangers were out of town.
- Saturday was a gorgeous day
- First game of the season
There are two variables that could possibly explain the relatively low turnout:
- LSU won 41-14, mitigating the excitement
- TSU isn’t a prestige game
Of the two, I think the first is probably the biggest factor. I mean, perennial comparison UTSA drew 30K to their game against Texas-A&M Commerce.
I’ll leave the haranguing about that to you. For what it’s worth, UNT has done a great job pushing the home games and following up. I received a survey call asking about my experience at Apogee today actually. I gave glowing reviews.
Despite the relatively disappointing attendance from (talking about regular, non-student, non-die hard folk) it was nice to be able to grab some concessions without fighting through a terrible line. Some of this is due to the design of the stadium. There are wide concourses and plenty of setups. More reason to show up.
On to the game proper:
This game should have been a trouncing. I mean, look at the dominance of the running game. 352 yards rushing on 57 carries and 4 touchdowns. That is an average of 6.2 yards a pop, guys. It is difficult to determine which player was the most impressive without re-watching at the game. Antoinne Jimmerson was at 9.3 yards a carry and probably has the most runs that people remember. Brandin Byrd was doing the hard stuff early and Jimmerson and Jeremy Brown benefited later. Still, AJ is an explosive player and showed it.
Derek Thompson didn’t play well. We all know this so we won’t go into amazing detail. Chris Bynes was open on a streak and the pass was underthrown early. Later, Brelan was open on a wheel and was –ahem– WIDE OPEN. The pass was overthrown.
Dan McCarney has talked about this. Derek Thompson has talked about this. Yes, even the next opponent Kansas State has talked about this. It was the biggest downer of a nice evening in North Texas.
Seriously, UNT controlled the game throughout. Even when Derek tossed that interception, and even when TSU snuck a 59-yard TD pass in there the game wasn’t in doubt. The Tiger’s offense was bottled up and never threatened seriously. It could have used a few more touchdowns by the home team.
That said, the goal was to have some fun and not get hurt. Unfortunately there were some injuries. Vito calls this portion of the season for-all-intents-and-purposes-preseason. I look at it as more of an opportunity. This weekend will draw the potential casual fan. Lots of college football fans will have the game on their TVs even for a moment and primed for conversion.
Last weekend we had as similar chance. It was taken advantage of, though not fully. Seeing a nice 70-3 thrashing turns more heads than a solid 34-7 win. Still, the win got the fringe fan excited and feeling good. So while beating up on lower tier schools doesn’t get the Advanced Fan excited, it has lots of benefits.
All in all, I think Sean Connery sums it up best:
<a href=”http://instagram.com/p/PVWV5TLCXH/”>Best Pic of The Night</a>
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