New Orleans bowl

[Lucky Leo]

North Texas

They won their last eight games. covering 5 ats
They are 0-2 on totals.
They are 0-3 as a dog this year.
They lost to OU this year 37-3

Memphis

They won 5 of last 6 covering 3 ats
They are 2-0 on totals
They are 2-4 as a favorite this year
They also beat Mississippi this year 44-34

Also have R/B out 11/24
and have W/r out 11/19

Hope this helps don't help me much Let me know what you read out of this.

[shorty3830]

Leo

what do you mean with your records on totals?? the book i play with has totals for every game.....

i will say this--->i love dingle's confidence and there are a lot of respected guys on memphis, but tommy west is arguably the worst coach in the country and when you give a coach as bad as him time to prepare, it is like the reverse of giving bob stoops time to prepare.........that moron probably thinks north texas runs a run-n-shoot offense..........

i do think wimprine is a good qb though, so maybe i just won't play the game now

good luck to everyone
b

[Lucky Leo]

SHORTY

I PLAY WITH A LOCAL BOOK AND HE DON'T HAVE TOTALS ON EVERY GAME HE HAD IT ON TWO GAMES THIS YEAR SO I AM BASING THAT ON MY INFO. IF YOU CAN GIVE ME YOUR STATS I WOULD APPRECIATE IT. LEO

[Homer]

Shorty

but tommy west is arguably the worst coach in the country and when you give a coach as bad as him time to prepare, it is like the reverse of giving bob stoops time to prepare.........that moron probably thinks north texas runs a run-n-shoot offense..........


Love that Quote and your right on the money to

[Lucky Leo]

maybe this helps

North Texas vs Memphis - 5 & 48
New Orleans - Dec 16, 7 ET (ESPN2)
Handicapper: Staff

Bowl Game Results & Trends: 2002 result: NORTH TEXAS 24, CINCINNATI 19: North Texas has represented the Sun Belt in each of the two previous New Orleans Bowl games. The Eagles are 1-1, both SU & ATS, in those contests.


Memphis Tigers


North Texas
Mean Green

Memphis makes its first postseason appearance in 32 years when it takes on Sun Belt Conference champion North Texas in the New Orleans Bowl, the first of 28 bowl games in a 19-day span.

Despite a 27-20 loss to Texas Christian in their regular-season finale, the Tigers (8-4) completed their most successful campaign since 1973, tying for third in Conference USA.

The game is a homecoming for Memphis quarterback Danny Wimprine, the Tigers' career passing leader and a New Orleans native. Wimprine broke the record in the Tigers' season opener against Tennessee Tech.

Memphis will be without tailback DeAngelo Williams, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Cincinnati on November 22. Williams rushed a school-record 1,430 yards and ended the year with 10 straight 100-yard games.

North Texas (9-3) features the nation's leading rusher in Patrick Cobbs, who ran for a school-record 1,570 yards despite missing two games. Cobbs surpassed 200 yards on four occasions, rushing for 216 yards on 37 carries in the Mean Green's 13-10 victory over New Mexico State in their regular-season finale.

North Texas is headed to its third straight New Orleans Bowl, beating Cincinnati, 24-19, last season to earn its first bowl victory since beating Pacific, 14-13, in the 1946 Optimist Bowl.

North Texas won its final eight games after getting off to a 1-3 start. Its three losses came to Oklahoma, Air Force and Arkansas. The Mean Green went undefeated in the Sun Belt for their second straight season and their 18-game conference winning streak is the longest in the country.

Memphis leads the series with North Texas, 15-4, winning 14 in a row from 1960 to 1975. However, the Mean Green posted a 28-10 in the last meeting in 1980. North Texas coach Darrell Dickey served as the quarterbacks coach at Memphis from 1986 to 1989.

As mentioned earlier, this is Memphis QB Danny Wimprine's homecoming. The native son will be urged on by the big home town crowd. The loss of RB Williams will put a larger load on Wimprine and we think he'll be up to the test. Nevertheless, this is the third straight year that the Mean Green has been in New Orleans. It's becoming a home away from home and this will have a settling effect on Dickey's crew. The Mean Green D is not up to last years standards but they've improved steadily since the opening game. We think this game will totally depend on whether or not Memphis can handle the Mean Green Booger. We expect Memphis to double up on him and move Wimprine around in the pocket. With the loss of Williams, both teams are evenly matched. Look for a SU win by the Tigers, but it will not be easy. Close game to the final buzzer, so take Booger and the points.
Projected Score: Memphis 23, N. Texas 21

[Lucky Leo]

Nice little story

Scripps Howard News Services
The small woman stood before the large men and wondered what in the world she could say.



Nancy Fortner hadn't planned a speech or anything. She didn't know University of Memphis coach Tommy West would even ask her to talk.



"I'm not a good speech maker," said Fortner, 48. "I'm someone who used to get physically ill during speech class."



She looked at the boys. Her boys. That's how she had grown to think of them. Like her, they could use some breaks.



"I told them everything they had meant to me," she said. "I told them to keep fighting, and that the past was past.



"I said, 'You don't give up and I won't give up, and together we'll get to a bowl game.' "



This is the story of a football team and a head coach and a dying woman who wanted to see one last Memphis game.



The game was last year against Army. The final home game of the year. Fortner, riddled with cancer, had decided to abandon the chemotherapy treatments and savor the little time she had left.



She wrote John Flowers at the Memphis football office and asked if he could help.



Flowers talked to West. West had an idea.



"Let's put her in my box," West said. "She can enjoy the game with her family and friends."



This is typical West. He does this kind of stuff all the time.



It reaches back to when West was little. You know why he wanted to grow up to be a football star?



"I wanted to be the guy that went to visit people in the hospital," West said. "That's a true story. I wanted to be big enough that I could be the one to walk into a room and make people smile."



So Fortner went to the Army game with her daughter and her best friend, Kathy, and that would have been it except for one thing.



Somewhere in there, Fortner decided she wanted to see another game, another year.



"I don't know what it was," she said. "They had an abysmal year last year, but the team never quit. I just thought this year was going to be great, and I wanted to be there to enjoy it."



It would be nice to report this decision is what kept Fortner alive longer than anyone predicted. That's impossible to know.



What's beyond debate is that Fortner thinks it's what kept her alive, and that it buoyed her on the hardest days.



It's the image she held on to for both solace and strength.



"I would try to think of things that I could get excited about," she said. "I kept telling myself, 'I'm going to live to see the Tigers go to a bowl."'



The Tigers go to a bowl?



Whoa.



Who wouldn't have wanted to live that long?



But Fortner, a 1977 graduate of Memphis, had faith that this would be the year.



Calls from Flowers helped. Over time, they became friends.



West telephoned as well.



"Just to check on me," she said.



Sure enough, when the new season rolled around, Fortner was fighting still. West invited her to use his box for the homecoming game against UAB in October.



That one didn't go so well, of course. UAB games never do. The Sunday after the loss, West invited her to meet the team.



It was not all for Fortner, understand. West had something else in mind.



"I wanted our guys to appreciate the impact they can have on people, the responsibility of being an athlete," he said. "Whether you want to say you're a role model or not, you do have that responsibility. You meet Nancy, and you understand that pretty quick."



Fortner mustered her small speech. The players seemed genuinely moved. As for the bowl promise, well, that was nice and all. But the team was 3-2 and headed on the road for three straight games.



Which is when a magical thing began to happen. The Tigers began to win.



They stumbled against Mississippi State but found their game in the second half. They then thumped Houston and Tulane to get to five wins.



Six wins makes a team bowl eligible. West invited Fortner to the East Carolina game.



"I must have been pretty confident, eh?" he said. "I just really wanted her to be there if we won."



They won. Afterward, West brought Fortner up in front of the team. If there is one locker room moment everyone will remember from this season, this was it.



Flowers still can't talk about it. His words catch in his throat.



"I gave her the game ball," West said. "Honestly, I couldn't say much and she couldn't say much. She was shaking like a leaf."



By now, Fortner had become part of the team. The players called her Miss Nancy. She called them friends.



She went to the airport to greet them after the Louisville win. When West heard she had no particular plans for Thanksgiving, he asked her to eat with the team.



"You'd think the players would say, 'What is this old woman doing here again?"' Fortner said. "But it's not like that at all. They hug me. They're respectful. It's been like Christmas every day."



For a worrisome few days, Fortner wasn't sure she'd be well enough to come to the bowl game. She tires easily. She fights through pain every day.



But Sunday morning, she boarded a train in Memphis bound for New Orleans. She brought her best friend, Kathy, and her game ball.



Ten hours later she stood in front of the Superdome, a setting sun the perfect backdrop for a moment she'd fought so hard to see.



The Tigers are at a bowl. Miss Nancy, too.



A promise is a promise, you know.