Better Field Position Tops Unt To-do List

FirefightnRick · October 3, 2007

http://www.star-telegram.com/college_sport...ory/255375.html

By TROY PHILLIPS

Star-Telegram staff writer

DENTON -- North Texas resumes play in the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday in need of improvement in several areas. Starting field position should be near the top of the list.

UNT (0-4, 0-1 Sun Belt) travels to Louisiana-Lafayette (0-5, 0-1) looking to give the Todd Dodge era its first win. The offense and defense both have pressing issues, but UNT's return teams have been an ongoing concern.

The Mean Green's offense can overcome poor starting field position when it's clicking, but it can't expect to do it on every possession.

That was a disadvantage Saturday in a 66-7 loss to Arkansas. Of UNT's 17 possessions, 16 averaged starting at the 19-yard line. One at the UNT 41 came after Arkansas turned the ball over on downs.

On punt returns, UNT has returned too few (three) to impact field position. UNT's 1.67-yard return average ranks 118th out of 119.

More pressing are kick returns. Only two teams, Toledo (32) and Florida International (34) have returned more kicks -- than UNT's 31. UNT's 18.7 yards per return rank 107th.

"When we get punted to, we needed to catch the ball," Dodge said, reiterating his team's return goals. "When we get kicked off to, we need to get it to [at least] the 35.

Meager the starter

Todd Dodge repeated Tuesday that junior Daniel Meager is UNT's starting quarterback. Where possible, true freshman Giovanni Vizza will continue to get playing time.

The possibility of redshirting Vizza is gone, so Dodge wants to play him. Whether that occurs in a close game is uncertain. Vizza has appeared only in blowout losses at Oklahoma and Arkansas, but he has led UNT to it's only touchdowns in those games.

"[Arkansas] was a deal where regardless of what was going on in the game, he was going to play the second quarter," Dodge said of Vizza, who also played in the fourth.

Dodge didn't rule out playing Vizza in a close game if the move gives UNT "our best chance to win at the time. If that change of pace needs to happen, sure, it could happen."

Dragged out

North Texas is tied with three teams (Hawaii, Troy and Florida State) for the fifth-longest games in elapsed time, averaging 3 hours, 36 minutes.

Tulsa (3:42), Texas Tech (3:40), Indiana (3:39) and Minnesota (3:38) lead the nation in average game length. Of the top five, games involving Tulsa and UNT are running considerably longer than a year ago.

UNT's spread offense and 51 passes per game have lengthened its games by 37 minutes, from 2:59 to 3:36.

Briefly

Saturday's game at Louisiana-Lafayette will be televised on KTXA/Ch. 21 as part of an ESPN Regional package.

Arkansas' time of possession was only 24 seconds more than UNT's, mainly because seven of the Razorbacks' eight offensive touchdowns took less than two minutes. The eighth took 2:36.

UNT at Louisiana-Lafayette

6 p.m. Saturday

TV: KTXA/Ch. 21

Radio: KWRD/100.7 FM; KNTU/88.1 FM

tphillips@star-telegram.com

Troy Phillips, 817-390-7760

North Texas averages a little over 18 yards per return. Consider Oklahoma, with all of it's speed is the 5th best kickoff return team nationally, is averaging 28?

Our defense is giving up 580 yards of offense per game to our opponents and our return game tops our list of concerns? :sleeping:

Rick

island eagle · October 3, 2007

http://www.star-telegram.com/college_sport...ory/255375.html
By TROY PHILLIPS
Star-Telegram staff writer
DENTON -- North Texas resumes play in the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday in need of improvement in several areas. Starting field position should be near the top of the list.
UNT (0-4, 0-1 Sun Belt) travels to Louisiana-Lafayette (0-5, 0-1) looking to give the Todd Dodge era its first win. The offense and defense both have pressing issues, but UNT's return teams have been an ongoing concern.
The Mean Green's offense can overcome poor starting field position when it's clicking, but it can't expect to do it on every possession.
That was a disadvantage Saturday in a 66-7 loss to Arkansas. Of UNT's 17 possessions, 16 averaged starting at the 19-yard line. One at the UNT 41 came after Arkansas turned the ball over on downs.
On punt returns, UNT has returned too few (three) to impact field position. UNT's 1.67-yard return average ranks 118th out of 119.
More pressing are kick returns. Only two teams, Toledo (32) and Florida International (34) have returned more kicks -- than UNT's 31. UNT's 18.7 yards per return rank 107th.
"When we get punted to, we needed to catch the ball," Dodge said, reiterating his team's return goals. "When we get kicked off to, we need to get it to [at least] the 35.
Meager the starter
Todd Dodge repeated Tuesday that junior Daniel Meager is UNT's starting quarterback. Where possible, true freshman Giovanni Vizza will continue to get playing time.
The possibility of redshirting Vizza is gone, so Dodge wants to play him. Whether that occurs in a close game is uncertain. Vizza has appeared only in blowout losses at Oklahoma and Arkansas, but he has led UNT to it's only touchdowns in those games.
"[Arkansas] was a deal where regardless of what was going on in the game, he was going to play the second quarter," Dodge said of Vizza, who also played in the fourth.
Dodge didn't rule out playing Vizza in a close game if the move gives UNT "our best chance to win at the time. If that change of pace needs to happen, sure, it could happen."
Dragged out
North Texas is tied with three teams (Hawaii, Troy and Florida State) for the fifth-longest games in elapsed time, averaging 3 hours, 36 minutes.
Tulsa (3:42), Texas Tech (3:40), Indiana (3:39) and Minnesota (3:38) lead the nation in average game length. Of the top five, games involving Tulsa and UNT are running considerably longer than a year ago.
UNT's spread offense and 51 passes per game have lengthened its games by 37 minutes, from 2:59 to 3:36.
Briefly
Saturday's game at Louisiana-Lafayette will be televised on KTXA/Ch. 21 as part of an ESPN Regional package.
Arkansas' time of possession was only 24 seconds more than UNT's, mainly because seven of the Razorbacks' eight offensive touchdowns took less than two minutes. The eighth took 2:36.
UNT at Louisiana-Lafayette
6 p.m. Saturday
TV: KTXA/Ch. 21
Radio: KWRD/100.7 FM; KNTU/88.1 FM
tphillips@star-telegram.com
Troy Phillips, 817-390-7760
North Texas averages a little over 18 yards per return. Consider Oklahoma, with all of it's speed is the 5th best kickoff return team nationally, is averaging 28?
Our defense is giving up 580 yards of offense per game to our opponents and our return game tops our list of concerns?
Rick

Rick,

You are on the money with that observation. The DEFENSE (or lack of it) is the elephant in the living room. I hope that somebody on the staff recognizes the problem or it is going to be a long, long season. We've gone from one-dimensional conservative to one-dimensional offense. Ranking near last nationally in defense shouldn't be acceptable.

Dodge2007 · October 3, 2007

We have played every combination of DE's, LB's, DB's and we still have not figured out any way to stop our opponent. FAU would have scored more if they would have caught the ball and if that QB would have been more consistent. I don't give a lot of credit to our scheme against FAU.

Dodge needs to accept some responsibility and take on more of the rope when it comes our defensive scheme. Has he done that yet?

Has he mentioned that yet? I have not heard one person on the staff take any responsibilty for our lack of defense.

Our staff called it our strength, then either we are not well prepared or they lack the complete ability to judge college level talent. Maybe Dodge early on saw this collegiate level defense and compared it to what he saw in high school and said "this is going to be the strength of our team."

Anyone not thinking that Dodge and Mendoza are not learning on the fly, need to have their head examined. HS football is not NCAA football. I think our staff is realizing that now.

Edited October 3, 2007 by Dodge2007

GoMeanGreen1999 · October 3, 2007

it is going to be a long, long season.

Go ahead and bank on that fact - it will be a long season. But deep down, I think we all kind of knew it might be. I originally said we would win 5 this season, but now I think it will be closer to 2.

Edited October 3, 2007 by GoMeanGreen1999

flyeater · October 3, 2007

North Texas averages a little over 18 yards per return. Consider Oklahoma, with all of it's speed is the 5th best kickoff return team nationally, is averaging 28?
Our defense is giving up 580 yards of offense per game to our opponents and our return game tops our list of concerns?
Rick

If I had to guess, I'm pretty sure the story wasn't meant to minimize the defensive concerns. That was addressed in the Startlegram's game story on Sunday.

The thing is, starting field position is going to get fixed sooner than a crappy defense that gives up assloads of yards by any opponent. Watch the damn kick return team and notice the hole we're in starting just about every drive. How does that help the offense? How does it help the defense if the offense can't get going, and we have to punt from near our own end zone, which we've done WAY TOO MUCH this season. Starting field position is crucial, so don't act like it's just some candy-ass thing to be ignored. Also, given the high number of kicks returns (third in the nation??!!!) is an accurate indicator of our terrible scoring defense, we need any good field position we can get on every drive. Bottom line is Bush, Roman and their blockers aren't doing their jobs.

UNTFan23 · October 3, 2007

I'll never forget in the UA game on a kick off we fielded the ball on the sideline hash. We could have taken the chance the ball would have gone out of bounds and either gotten a re-kick or the ball on the 35.

We also seem to fair catch too many balls and don't let enough many balls roll into the end zone when inside the 15. I think our kick return coverage is much to be desired since we can only manage a couple yards before contact.

I think we aren't taking enough manageable risks on special teams and are playing it way too safe.

NCMeanGreen · October 3, 2007

We have played every combination of DE's, LB's, DB's and we still have not figured out any way to stop our opponent. FAU would have scored more if they would have caught the ball and if that QB would have been more consistent. I don't give a lot of credit to our scheme against FAU.
Dodge needs to accept some responsibility and take on more of the rope when it comes our defensive scheme. Has he done that yet?
Has he mentioned that yet? I have not heard one person on the staff take any responsibilty for our lack of defense.
Our staff called it our strength, then either we are not well prepared or they lack the complete ability to judge college level talent. Maybe Dodge early on saw this collegiate level defense and compared it to what he saw in high school and said "this is going to be the strength of our team."
Anyone not thinking that Dodge and Mendoza are not learning on the fly, need to have their head examined. HS football is not NCAA football. I think our staff is realizing that now.

Hey, don't worry...TD says he is not worried at all about our defense. There...it is settled...now we can move on...

NT80 · October 3, 2007

I'll never forget in the UA game on a kick off we fielded the ball on the sideline hash. We could have taken the chance the ball would have gone out of bounds and either gotten a re-kick or the ball on the 35.
We also seem to fair catch too many balls and don't let enough many balls roll into the end zone when inside the 15. I think our kick return coverage is much to be desired since we can only manage a couple yards before contact.
I think we aren't taking enough manageable risks on special teams and are playing it way too safe.

I would like to see some different punt and kickoff return guys.

Edited October 3, 2007 by NT80

NT80 · October 3, 2007

Meager the starter
Todd Dodge repeated Tuesday that junior Daniel Meager is UNT's starting quarterback. Where possible, true freshman Giovanni Vizza will continue to get playing time.
The possibility of redshirting Vizza is gone, so Dodge wants to play him. Whether that occurs in a close game is uncertain.

I thought from reading Vito's blog that Dodge would not play Vizza at all; this sounds better.

Play VIZZA!

emmitt01 · October 3, 2007

Dodge didn't rule out playing Vizza in a close game if the move gives UNT "our best chance to win at the time. If that change of pace needs to happen, sure, it could happen."

Really coach? Cuz I can recall two games where your starter threw picks at critical times, in close games, seemed rattled, and you sent him right back out there. This is not a knock on Danny but would it have killed you to give your backup a series, maybe two, so that your starter could rest and regain his wits about him?

GoMeanGreen1999 · October 4, 2007

Really coach? Cuz I can recall two games where your starter threw picks at critical times, in close games, seemed rattled, and you sent him right back out there. This is not a knock on Danny but would it have killed you to give your backup a series, maybe two, so that your starter could rest and regain his wits about him?

Bingo. When I read him make statements such as he made in this story, I just think back to the SMU and FAU games where all he did was throw pick after pick, only to trot Meager back out there, and both of those games were very winnable. I will believe it when I see it.

FirefightnRick · October 4, 2007

Starting field position is crucial, so don't act like it's just some candy-ass thing to be ignored.

I'm not saying it's something to be ignored. But if by including all 20 of our possessions, including the 2 turnovers that came out to the 20 yard line, our average STARTING field position against Arkansas was the 18. And much of that may be due to their kicker consistently kicking the ball deep enough that we had to field the ball a yard deep from the endzone which I'm hoping we will not see a lot of when conference heats up because of kickers having to kickoff from the 30 now. But I fail to see this as the "TOP" concern when our defense allows our opponent(see Arkansas) to score easily and at will from anywhere on the field, including 6 scoring drives of 4...that's FOUR PLAYS or LESS by 18 returning defensive veterans who were able to make stops at a much better rate than this last year. As I mentioned on another thread, this is the same group of guys that held Troy to 243 TOTAL yards and was ONE stop away from knocking the trojans out of the Bowl game last season. The same Troy team that obliterated Rice for 376 yards and 41 points in that bowl game.

Rick :pinch: