Houston Christian (12/22/24)

This is my first time in Miami and I've enjoyed it quite a bit; I'm not at the team hotel and haven't ventured anywhere near South Beach or the clubs. Today has been more golf and then plans to eat some more Cuban food and see the Miami Science Museum. And then eat more Cuban food!

Here are my thoughts from the game. I don't think any of us saw this kind of shellacking coming, but it's happened, it's over, and there are some correctable things that I think the coaches and players will take away from it and improve on before next weekend's home opener versus Houston:

...let's talk nuts and bolts about the…game?…last night. I hesitate to call it a game, because it was more of a football massacre than a game. In the run up to the season opener, I had told everyone who would listen that one of the two keys to having a shot at upsetting FIU was keeping T.Y. Hilton from beating us. From the opening kickoff through the end of the first quarter, T.Y. Hilton came out to make a statement, and he made it. He had big plays that directly contributed to all of FIU's 28 first quarter points. His 62 yard return of the opening kickoff set up the first FIU TD, he scored FIU's second TD on a 60 yard pass from Wes Carroll, he converted a 3rd and 2 with an 18 yard reception and drew a 15 yard pass interference penalty on the drive for FIU's third TD, and he ran a 31 yard reverse to the Mean Green 1 yard line to set up the Darrient Perry 1 yard TD run for FIU's fourth and final touchdown of the first quarter.

I don't think there could be a more emphatic example of letting a single guy beat you than what T.Y. Hilton did to the Mean Green in the 1st quarter.

The short and sweet of the game from the Mean Green side of the ball is this: on offense, we never established a credible passing threat, which allowed FIU to tee off on Lance Dunbar and the running game. Derek Thompson didn't have much of a chance to get comfortable in the pocket as FIU's relentless pressure, although resulting in only three sacks, hurried him and knocked him down all game long. That same pressure resulted in lots of balls thrown too early or too late that were easily defended by the FIU secondary. When passes were there, too many were dropped. The one that really stung was the wide open drop by Breece Johnson, a pass that would have gone for 30 yards or possibly even a TD instead when through his arms, off his number 17 on his chest, and into the puddles on the FIU turf. On the defensive side of the ball, adjustments were made after the first quarter, but the defense was never able to shut down FIU's running game. The Golden Panthers didn't throw for a huge number of yards, but thanks to their ground dominance, they didn't need to. When Wes Carroll did drop back to throw, the Mean Green were unable to get pressure on him.

I paid attention to the line play on both sides of the ball for the Mean Green last night. That's what I decided I was going to focus on in the offseason: the lines. So much of what goes on in the rest of the game is determined by how the lines play; success on each side of the ball begins at the line and radiates out from there. Good offensive line play allows you to run the ball on any down and distance and gives your quarterback time to throw from the pocket. Good defensive line play stops the opponent's inside running game and pressures the QB from the outside. Unfortunately, I don't have much positive to say about the line play in last night's game beyond the obvious that we never established the running game, Derek Thompson was hurried and knocked down more times than not when he dropped back to throw, we were unable to stop FIU's running game, and Wes Carroll likely felt like he was wearing the red jersey in practice with the lack of pressure he had on him. I think most of us understood that this was going to be a transition year for both lines; we lost a lot of experience last year due to graduation. Going forward, though, the coaching staff and the guys in the trenches are going to have to find ways to step up and make some plays or else what's likely to be a long season will be that much longer.

The injury bug bit the Mean Green in this game in a potentially big way. J.J. Johnson, our senior center, broke his non-snapping hand. If they can set the fracture, he'll miss three or four weeks. If they can't, then he could be done for the year. That would be a tremendous blow to the Mean Green o-line, a unit that after one game doesn't look like it can afford too many big blows.

There are three North Texas players that impressed me in the midst of this otherwise unimpressive evening: Brelan Chancellor, Derek Thompson, and Brent Osborn. Had T.Y. Hilton not been on the other side of the ball, Brelan would have been the individual player performance talk of the game. He racked up an astounding 200 yards in returns, caught passes for 55 yards, and even rushed for 7 yards. I think our return game is safe in his hands for the season. Our two QBs also impressed me. About now, you might be asking yourself how the starting QB who went 14/27 for 167 yards and no TDs was impressive. What impressed me was his fire as exhibited in his body language. I doubt that was evident on the ESPN 3 broadcast. It was evident in person at the game. Down 28-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, Thompson was fired up. He was angry. He was in the faces of his receivers and his linemen for getting into the game late as substitutes, for dropping balls, and for blowing blocking assignments. While that's not exactly what you'd like to see from your starting QB (think more Cap Rooney from "Any Given Sunday"), I liked that he was fired up instead of dejected. I liked that he was still after his guys to do better instead of hanging his head and staring at the field as he walked to the sideline. I was also impressed with what I saw of backup QB Brent Osborn. He plays like a pocket passer, but I was most impressed with his delivery; his passes have some authority to them. It's hard to give much more of an assessment than that considering that by this time in the game FIU was subbing in a lot of bench players on the defensive side of the ball.

In terms of looking forward, I think it's a good idea to think about the things that are correctable versus things that aren't correctable. Correctable issues are things that can be changed in practice. Things that aren't correctable include hoping our offensive line suddenly plays like two year veterans or that our players go through growth spurts in a month's time. On the correctable side of the ledger, I think the first priority is to get the defenders to wrap up in tackling. FIU likely would have had a third less rushing & return yards last night if the guys had gotten their arms around the FIU runners and brought them down in the first half. To both the players' and coaches' credit, it appeared that they did a much better job of this as the game progressed. Second item on the correctable side is dropped passes. The dropped passes last night were drive killers and, in the case of Johnson's drop, a real momentum killer. I would guess that the wet weather combined with the Golden Panthers' relentless pressure on Derek made for a lot of less-than-desirable balls thrown to receivers. FIU's receivers didn't have issues with drops, but then again their QB is a senior veteran who had plenty of time to throw, which led to many more receivers making grabs in stride. This is going to be one of those seasons where we simply can't afford the dropped balls, no matter the quality of their delivery.

At the end of the day, though, a tip of the cap to FIU. They've got a very good squad, better even than I expected in my preview of them. As a side note, FIU's students were really into the game, but their tiny stadium wasn't even halfway full. If the cards fall the right way and given their weak non-conference schedule this season, it would not surprise me to see FIU in the Top 25 at some point. T.Y. Hilton also deserves some love for the Heisman. I think playing in the Belt will likely make him a ghost as far as the Heisman race goes and FIU's weak non-conference schedule is going to hurt their visibility, but perhaps ESPN will fall in love with him and give him that crucial national recognition that he deserves. Good luck, T.Y. I'm sure glad we don't have to play you again!

+1 for a very thorough writeup.

But, what did you think about their dance team that was as big as the band- Envy?

Giant chorizo dog, you say? Go on...

I don't think any of us saw this kind of shellacking coming

I agree with this 100%, but it seems a lot here did based on game night discussion. Still find that surprising and defeatist, even by NT standards.

I don't expect the offense to get shut out in conference again. Not even a little - excuses be damned.

+1 for a very thorough writeup.

Thanks!

But, what did you think about their dance team that was as big as the band- Envy?

Their musical selection and dance team made me think they were filming a sequel to "Drum Line" during the game, except with less talent and less booty! Their students were eating it up, though. I was really impressed with their students showing up for the game; they're clearly into the team. I was amazed to find out that their enrollment is quite a bit larger than ours. On the other hand, for a school with so many alums in the Miami Dade Metro area, there was almost no alum presence.

Giant chorizo dog, you say? Go on...

I'll share the pic when I get back to Denton. It was almost a foot long, chorizo on a sourdough bun with grilled onions and grilled peppers. Considering I missed the tailgate thanks to Miami rush hour, that chorizo dog was a lifesaver...and it was dang good! Almost went back for an arepa (corn cake with cheese), but my friend said the one he ate got him nauseous, so I steered clear. FIU definitely gets kudos for getting some great local food options into the stadium along with the regular football fare.

Maybe we could get some Metzler's and some Mi Casita into Apogee...

I agree with this 100%, but it seems a lot here did based on game night discussion. Still find that surprising and defeatist, even by NT standards.

I don't expect the offense to get shut out in conference again. Not even a little - excuses be damned.

I read through the discussions after I posted my write-up. I agree with you. I was surprised at how negative some folks were here. I'm probably one of the more pragmatic folks around these parts when it comes to this team's chances this year, but all the hair-on-fire stuff after only one game seems a bit much.

That's not to say that I'm not sympathetic to the folks saying "no more excuses". I understand that the last thing anyone wants to start off this season with is another heavily-qualified statement like "it doesn't look so bad if you ignore all the T.Y. Hilton yardage and scoring." We've had three years of living week in and week out with this kind of heavily-qualified scramble for silver linings.

To me, the difference is that this year we have a coaching staff that will have us moving in the right direction. We didn't have that these last three years. Instead of making progress, we were really only treading water. I've always felt that this season was going to be more about being competitive in losses than winning games. You've got to crawl before you walk and we're going to crawl this year. I think 5-7 would be a solid result for this team and 6-6 would pleasantly surprise me.

Great writeup.

Now my question on the big ol' chorizo, did you like getting it as much as they did giving it to you?

Edited September 4, 2011 by Got5onIt

Just curious... did FIU seem to call the dogs off after the 1st quarter? I know it was a bad one but if you take away the big plays and the first quarter, the men in green paced and even outscored the Panthers for qtrs 2 through 4. I know that doesn't mean much at the end of the day...but we were breaking in a new QB and a new coach. Wonder if Riley would have done any better.

When it comes down to it, this game is 80% mental. Just got done watching the Boise / Georgia game and those kids won because they believe in their system.

I couldn't tell from my internet broadcast and the radio feed kept cutting in and out from the weather in FL...did they put the 2nd string in after the lead or did we match up well with those guys after the first quarter ended and the team settled down a bit?

Hey some good stuff here.

One thing before you call out one of our players for a drop pass #17 Breece Johnson ( that did not happened) you might want to make sure of it before you type it. Breece had one pass thrown his way for 7rds. The 3 passes that were big drops were from the inside slot not the out side WR. We had one drop from TE but it was raining pretty hard at the time. Mayby you confused the drop pass from the 2nd team slot>>>the player that replaced the slot that had 3 drops. Glad you were at the game and glad you had a good "Dog", but if you going call out a player make sure you have the right NUMBER !

Hey some good stuff here.

One thing before you call out one of our players for a drop pass #17 Breece Johnson ( that did not happened) you might want to make sure of it before you type it. Breece had one pass thrown his way for 7rds. The 3 passes that were big drops were from the inside slot not the out side WR. We had one drop from TE but it was raining pretty hard at the time. Mayby you confused the drop pass from the 2nd team slot>>>the player that replaced the slot that had 3 drops. Glad you were at the game and glad you had a good "Dog", but if you going call out a player make sure you have the right NUMBER !

Thanks for pointing out my error, saysojoe. I'll correct it immediately. I usually take notes during the games and write down the important things like the player numbers, but thanks to the weather, I didn't for this game. For some reason I had #17 in my mind on that play when it was actually #3 (verified that on the broadcast replay a few minutes ago). So, Breece Johnson, if you're reading this, MY BAD! I owe you an apology.

I don't want to give anyone the impression that I'm only calling out players when things go wrong. I mention names and numbers because I think that's the main detail that most of us as fans want to know: who did what. I always want to give players credit before being critical of them because I'm a Mean Green fan and I want our guys to do well and I'm going to try my hardest to find the silver lining in any situation. Yes, there were other dropped passes in the game, but from my vantage point there wasn't a bigger one than that one.

But I dropped the metaphorical pass, too. Like the correctable dropped passes, I'll work to be sure I don't do it again.

Great writeup.

Now my question on the big ol' chorizo, did you like getting it as much as they did giving it to you?

No matter where this goes from here, it's going to be bad!

It's even worse if I say I had to pay for it!

Just curious... did FIU seem to call the dogs off after the 1st quarter? I know it was a bad one but if you take away the big plays and the first quarter, the men in green paced and even outscored the Panthers for qtrs 2 through 4. I know that doesn't mean much at the end of the day...but we were breaking in a new QB and a new coach. Wonder if Riley would have done any better.

When it comes down to it, this game is 80% mental. Just got done watching the Boise / Georgia game and those kids won because they believe in their system.

I couldn't tell from my internet broadcast and the radio feed kept cutting in and out from the weather in FL...did they put the 2nd string in after the lead or did we match up well with those guys after the first quarter ended and the team settled down a bit?

I think that the difference between the 1st quarter and the rest of the game is a combination of UNT settling in and making adjustments on special teams and defense and Christobal taking his foot off gas a bit. Hard to tell if one was a bigger factor than the other. I don't know if Riley's presence would have made a difference; the passing game's issues were another area where it was hard to distinguish between the weather causing problems and rawness of our QB and our WRs. Like calling off the dogs after the 1st quarter, I think it was both of them together. Do some of those dropped passes get caught if it's not raining and the ball's not wet? Probably. Do some of them still get dropped because they're too strong or a little too far behind in perfect weather? Probably.

I agree with you whole-heartedly about the game being mostly mental. The FIU game was a great example of the adage about everyone having a plan until they get punched in the mouth. That first quarter was more like getting punched in the mouth, then trying to get back up, only to get punched in the mouth again. I don't think anyone would have blamed the guys for mailing it in in the second half, but they didn't. Besides being mostly mental, football is also about the difference in your margin for error versus the other team's margin for error. A team like our Mean Green this year has almost no margin for error week in and week out. We don't have the experience and personnel to make mistakes and go on to win despite them. A team like FIU has both the experience and the personnel to do just that. In a game like this where you have a disparity between the teams' margins for error, the underdog has to play nearly flawlessly and get a few lucky bounces to have a chance. We got some lucky bounces, but there were just enough penalties at critical times (I can think of three off the top of my head, the big pass interference call on one of our secondary guys in the 1st, another was a block in the back on a Brelan return that would have set us up nicely and the third was a holding call that negated a nice catch-and-run in the flat by Lance) and just enough dropped passes that caught up to us. We played penalty-free ball for most of the game, but the few penalties we got happened at critical junctures. And, not to forget the big contribution that FIU is very good.

We matched up well in quarters 2-4.5. The backups didn't start replacing starters wholesale on either side until about halfway through the fourth quarter. In quarters two and three, it was still starters versus starters, and we played solidly on both sides of the ball in those quarters. I was particularly impressed by the special teams and defensive adjustments made after the 1st quarter. Even if Christobal took his foot off the gas, you can be sure T.Y. Hilton didn't, but the guys did a good job of containing him the rest of the way.

Thanks for the excellent write-up and responses. FIU is the defending champ and there are several publications that have them picked to win it outright this year. Take away that first quarter and we played right there with the best of the conference. I know that we can't take away a quarter but it is encouraging to know that they kept their starters in the game and we were able to outscore them for 3 out of 4 quarters without a single point from the offense. For a first year coach and a brand spanking new QB, we just need to look for improvement from week one to week two. Should be a great ride watching these men build this program over again.