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I don’t have to say anything to let you know what day this is.  This is September 11 which has become a day of remembrance for every American for the rest of our lives.  We now call this day 9/11.  It is a symbol of those who would ruin our way of life and of the heroism and sacrifice of those who lost their lives doing what they do every day.  Now, I am not saying everything about our country is great, but this is a great country with great people.  We try give aid to those in other parts of the world when disaster strikes.  Most of us look in horror the images from Cuba the last couple of week as Hurricanes Gustaf and Ike ravaged that country.  Therfore, if you want to stick a finger (a la Rick Flair) in the eyes of those who would seek to ruin our country, follow my advice.

Search the Net. . . . . Log on to your internet and go to your favorite site.  Maybe it’s ESPN.com, or SI.com, or Amazon.com, or even Collegefootballtopten.com.  I don’t care, search the net!  The internet is one of the things that make this country great.  It is to information what the Space Shuttle was to space exploration.  Go ahead, check your fantasy football stats and teams, check on that eBay transaction or read the New York Post, but, darn it, just get on the internet and search.

Watch some TV. . . . . Make that cable or satellite.  Don’t just settle for rabbit ears; no, pay money for it.  Make sure you can watch ESPN, Fox Sports Southwest, or the Mountain West Conference Network.  Check out the Battle for the Butter between Maine and Stony Brook.  That game may not be on TV, but it will be covered by Mike and Mike in the Morning on Monday morning.  Watch Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Phil, or Oprah.  I don’t care, just watch some TV!

Buy Something. . . . . . Go to Wal-Mart or Target or J. C. Penney.  I don’t care where you go.  Go to the grocery store to stock up on tailgating supplies.  Go to Gameday Connexion and get some sports memorabilia that is autographed.  Go to Amazon.com, Borders.com or even BarnesandNoble.com and buy something.  Buy something in a store or online.  Heck, if you’d like, go to the Collegefootballtopten Bookstore and buy a book or sports apparel.  Maybe you should go out to eat.  If you live in Fort Worth, go to the Railhead tonight and watch the Gary Patterson Show.  If you live in Dallas, go to Ford Stadium on Saturday and watch the Houston vs. Air Force game that was moved to Dallas because of Hurricane Ike.  Maybe we should all root for the service academies this week since they are largely responsible for us having a pretty pretty peacful life for the past 7 years.  You can also support our troops by buying a bag of coffee at any DFW Borders Bookstore and donating it to the troops through the store’s partnership with Soldiers’ Angels.  Please, buy something!

Thursday night was the first night of college football, and where was I?  I was watching a high school football game!  I know, blasphemy.  A young man I knew was playing his first game as a varsity starter, and I went to watch him play.  While there, I took the time to practice note taking at a football game.  Subsequently, I wrote a summary of the game for Pegasus News.  You can check it out here.  I am a content partner, and now I am a part-time-for-big-pay (ha ha) writer for Peagasus News.  Here is my contribution page.  I met with the sports editor yesterday to be trained on their system, and I still made mistakes.  Thanks to Erin for being patient with me.

Three games stood out to me when I came home.  UTEP got drilled by Turner Gill’s Buffalo Bulls.  Turner Gill is a rising star in the coaching business, and I still wonder how he would have done given the job at Nebraska.  Gill is also a native of Fort Worth.  In fact, Gill graduated from Arlington Heights, the same team I watched play last night.  The play by Buffalo’s Drew Willy made wonder if I should have put him in my Top Ten Returning QB’s list instead of UTEP QB Trevor Vittatoe.  Next, Baylor lost its opener to Wake Forest.  Well, Wake is ranked number 23, and it may be a long season for Baylor.  If Art Briles turns around the program, it might take a few years.  Finally, NC State just got beat down by the SEC’s South Carolina.  The Gamecocks have a history of starting fast, and it looks like that might happen again this year.  There is another big game this weekend between the SEC and the ACC.  Saturday in the Chick-fil-a Classic, Alabama plays ACC favorite Clemson.  How will that play out?

I have been invited to write at the Nebraska Sports Journal.  I have accepted the invitation given to me by John.  I am not sure what I am going to write about, but it will be fun.  I let the CFTT readers know when I post an article at NSJ.

Tonight, our SMU Ponies take on Rice in Houston.  I will have a Rice preview for the Texas Tour later this evening.  The beginning of the June Jones Era begins at 7 PM.  Rice has an experienced QB and dangerous WR.  They can light up the scoreboard with ease.  Their defense, however, has not been real good.  These two teams might score 100.

Collegefootballtopten.com will be hosting a Texas Tour.  The Tour will begin at some point in the next couple of weeks as details are still being worked out.  The idea of the Texas Tour is have guest bloggers to preview one of the Division I Football Bowl Championship teams in Texas.  We have already previewed TCU, SMU, and UNT, so we are looking to have Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Rice, Houston and UTEP previewed.  If you would like to preview one of these teams, drop me an email.  Just a note, I already have bloggers for Baylor and Texas Tech.

inbox@collegefootballtopten.com

While UNT’s offense was productive last season and stands in a position to improve, the defense struggled and its ability to improve is uncertain.  The defense seemed unable stop any opponent last year, and was a nation’s worst in scoring at 45.1 ppg.  In an era of the high-flying, air-it-out football of the Sun Belt, UNT gave up 229.7 yards per game rushing.  Much of the damage in rushing defense was done against stellar run teams and nonconference foes Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Navy.  UNT still gave up 300 yards rushing to Louisiana-Lafayette, and only held one opponent less than 100 yards rushing (Florida Atlantic).  UNT didn’t do much better with pass defense ranking 95th giving up 256.8 yards per game.  UNT ranked 110 in turnovers at -11 for the year.

With six returning starters, it looked as if UNT had something to build upon, but yesterday UNT announced that Eddrick Gilmore will not return for UNT in the fall.  Gilmore was one of UNT’s few returning starters at Defensive Line, but certainly not the only Defensive Lineman with experience.  UNT will return the services of Sophomore OLB Craig Robertson who had 48 tackles and 5 interceptions.  Robertson finished the year with an Honorable Mention All Sun Belt Conference award.  They also will return Antoine Bush and Kartey Agbottah in the secondary.  The Mean Green may have gotten a big boost to its defense when it nabbed Alonzo Horton.  Horton was rated as a JUCO Top 100 by Rivals.

Coach Dodge has turned the defense over to former Defensive Coordinator Gary DeLoach in an attempt to shore up the defense.  DeLoach’s defenses were very good in 2001 and 2002 ranking first in the Sun Belt Conference.  DeLoach may have to count on some young players to help turn the defense around.  If he can find more young players like Robertson, he might make the turn quicker than later. Royce Hill of Cypress Ridge HS in Houston, Darien Williams of Vernon, TX and James Hamilton of Cedar Hill, TX look to be able to contribute early.  A darkhorse early contributer is Jeremy Phillips of Waller, TX.  His brother is All Mountain West LB Jason Phillips of TCU.  Phillips is a coach’s son, and former QB for Waller.  He may be too good to keep on the sidelines.

Special Teams

If any area was worse than defense, it might have been special teams.  UNT Punter Truman Spencer fell off his pace last year with a 34.2 Net Avg.  His actual punting average went up, so look for improvement in the punting game with better coverage.  UNT Place Kicker Thomas Moreland was 8 for 15 kicking and did not hit a field goal longer than 37 yards.  However, UNT signed JUCO kicker Jeremy Knott who was an NJCAA All-American kicker at Northeastern Oklahoma A & M.  Micah Mosely held the KR duties last year and returns for the Mean Green.  UNT will be searching for a new Punt Returner and a second Kick Returner.