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He didn't lose the Tulane game...

Through five games, we are tied for ninth out 14 C-USA team is rushes per game with 34.6. We throw the ball 38.6 times per game, good for fifth best in the league. We throw for 287.4 per game, third best in the conference, behind only East Carolina and Marshall. Our 112.6 yards rushing is tied for 11th in the league. Look, those of you who bitch about the playcalling, saying it isn't balanced...how much more balanced can you get than 34.6 rushes and 38.6 passes per game? It's almost perfectly balanced so far! The problem is the results. We are getting results through the air, not the ground...and, this is something no one expected before the season began. Further... Among C-USA starting QBs, only four have more touchdown passes than Derek Thompson. Marshall's acclaimed QB Rakeem Cato has thrown four interceptions in 180 attempts; Derek has thrown five in 181. Neither Tulsa nor Rice's starters have thrown for more touchdowns than interceptions...and, these are considered pass-oriented teams. Among the C-USA starting QBs, Thompson is third in QB Efficiency (139.5) behind only ECU's Shane Carden (148.5) and Marshall's Cato (139.6). He and Cato are neck and neck in efficiency. Cato was written about as a dark horse Heisman candidate before the season. Among C-USA starting QBs, Thompson is second in completion percentage (68.0%), behind only ECU's Carden (73.4%). Thompson and Carden are the only two starting QBs in the C-USA who are completing more than 63.0% of their passes. Folks, our problem is not Derek Thompson. Not in the least. In fact, let's be real. Many of you pooh-poohed him severely before the season, and he is performing at the highest level in this new conference. I think we need to give credit where creidt is due, so far. Derek Thompson has played above and beyond what many of you expected. I'm been 137% on the DT bandwagon since the spring, and he's doing better than even I thought he would. Offensively, there also needs to be a ton of credit given to receiver coach Mike Grant. This is a guy who spent nine years with McCarney at Iowa State. He is the epitome of the type of assistant we needed on staff badly after the Dodge years. Grant was a hell of a player at Nebraska, and he's obviously a hell of a coach. Whatever we are paying him, it isn't enough. In addition to Grant, his group of players. I bitched and complained about the lack of playmakers in 2012, especially after Chancellor was gone. The team needed guys to step up this year, and they have. Darnell Smith is fifth in the C-USA in receiving yards per game at 80.2; Chancellor is seventh at 74.2. Only two C-USA receiver who have caught at least 20 passes this season also have hauled them in for 15.0 per catch or better. Brelan Chancellor is getting us 15.5 per catch. Only UAB's Jamarcus Nelson is better at 17.6 per catch. Three UNT receivers are in the C-USA among the top 11 in receptions thusfar: Smith is fourth in the league with 36, Chancellor is 10th with 24 and Carlos Harris is 11th with 23. No other school even has two other receivers in the top 11! That means guys are getting open and making plays when the ball is distributed to them. We have much to be happy about in the pass game, folks. The run game, not so much. If the run game can get on track, we DO have the backs to inflict pain and suffering on defenses. We have a trio who are more than capable. If it begins to click the way the passing game already is, then...BANG...no one will come close to us in the C-USA West for the rest of the season. As always, hear me now, believe me later.

We started Sun Belt play with a loss to a Lousiana team on the road we probably should have beaten, then we returned home for a game with Middle Tennessee, which we won starting a streak of 25+ conference wins in a row...maybe we will have similar results and this was just the kick in the pants we needed to get going.

Yeah, I don't agree with that. I think there are some really good players coming up.

And so did the defensive line...the corner backs....the wide receivers...the running backs... It certainly sounded like u meant that he lost the game...Thompson put the team in position to win...

I hope not. I hate when people continue to spout the same crap over and over again. Don't you?

Isn't Tulane supposed to have calls go against them since they are leaving CUSA?

Actually our offense gets better every time we fall behind. It's not a coincidence that we have fallen behind in every game and then fight back into it. We play too conservatively, run into 8 or 9 man fronts and get get scored on, then we start throwing and move the ball. Idaho was an outlier because so they were so bad at the time. I have always been a run first guy, I loved dickeyball, but this isn't working. We obviously need to throw, and not just short routes to the flats and 1001 8 yard crosses. We need to throw over people and force those safeties back. Then we can run. We scored 21 in the second half, if we had scored 21 in the first Tulane would never have been able to score enough to beat us. Instead we wasted a half running into stacked fronts and punting.

Some people use question marks at the end of statements.

Good lord some people on this board understand football worse than my wife does.

Not worth discussing. He'll be te starter till he graduates no matter what.

Good enough to get us to the bowl game, the offense he is asked to run is not.

Teams lose games, not individual players. Unless you're Tony Romo.

Looks like they're setting it up for Dajon....

I think (from what I'm reading on here) that people aren't necessarily frustrated with a "balance" or lack of. I think the frustration comes in the coaches (or Mac's) stubborn refusal to get away from the run when it's obviously not working. 35 rushes per game and 39 passes per game..... Maybe if the breakdown was 25 rushes and 49 passes we would be 3-2 or 4-1 vs 2-3. Our own QB said it felt like they just kept ramming their head into a brick wall. Maybe if they took the 3rd quarter strategy and applied it to the 2nd quarter we wouldn't have been playing from behind in the second half.....again. For whatever reason, our running game is not working early in games this year. Adapt or die.

Thanks for the info, Rick?

This is a good example of how "stats" do not tell the true story. DT might well finish his time here as one of our all time leaders in stats - How will his W-L record be?

Somehow watching the video hurt even more than being in the building when it happened.

I just hope he is smart enough to produce a winning season. I have my doubts.

you probably use just your thumb and 2 fingers to make the talon, too.

Kinda sad that we had 2 years with both Chancellor & Dunbar together , but only managed 8 total wins

Among NT QBs at the Division I-A/FBS level, Thompson is now: Passing Attempts 1. Steve Ramsey: 1,015 2. Giovanni Vizza: 876 3. Derek Thompson: 843 (needs 24.6 attempts per game to pass Ramsey) Passes Completed 1. Giovanni Vizza: 532 2. Derek Thompson: 507 Passing Efficiency 1. Scott Hall: 132.26 2. Riley Dodge: 125.71 3. Derek Thompson: 125.5 Touchdown Passes 1. Steve Ramsey: 69 2. Scott Hall: 50 3. Derek Thompson: 34 (needs 5+ per game to surpass Ramsey; 2.3 to supplant Hall at #2) Passing Yards 1. Steve Ramsey: 7,076 2. Scott Hall: 5.975 3. Derek Thompson: 5,897 (needs 168.5 per game to pass Ramsey) Completion Percentage 1. Riley Dodge: 64.7% 2. Jordan Case: 61.6% 3. Giovanni Vizza: 60.7% 4. Derek Thompson: 60.1% (can probably catch Case and Vizza) Career 200 Yard Passing Games 1. Steve Ramsey: 20 2. Derek Thompson: 16 (has a outside shot at getting past Ramsey) Career 300 Yard Passing Games 1. (T) Steve Ramsey: 6 1. (T) Derek Thompson: 6 (one more game) Career Total Offense (Passing + Rushing) 1. Steve Ramsey: 6,568 2. Scott Hall: 6,440 3. Derek Thompson: 6,142 (needs 60.9 per game to pass Ramsey)

You can place the responsibility on our loss squarely on the shoulders of Chico (and maybe Mac). In every instance of a DT mistake yesterday, it was set up by the horrendous play-calling and game plan by our coaches. The Tulane defense was practically running a scout practice on a tell-tale offense.

Keep your heads up and kick MTSU's asses.

Are they pissed at BB for not being able to beat out a below average college starting quarterback?

Yeah... I know a few of you saw me after the game. I share the same disgust and pissedoffness that some of you have. I went to my hotel in the barrio and was asleep by 11:30. The sting was still there when I woke up this morning. AND I'm not just talking about my bank account being raped this weekend, my feet being raw (No, Green P1, I wont send you a pic of them) or that I will be bathing in Purell for the next few days. When our defense plays three quarters of the game... and performs like that...Yeah. Fist bump. OUR offense lost this game for us. crappy play calling, stupid a penalties, biased Refs...etc. I unfortunately won't be there next weekend. But, if you people don't have candy for my kids and I bring them to a Halloween game. S&@t will hit the fan. Moving on.... That is all.

What a complete baby. It's disgraceful to read that garbage coming from a member of the football team.

As soon as we run out of Dodge's leftovers this thing is really going to be screwed. That's what's saddest to me.

Roy Metzler has the liquor license for campus...talk to him about beer and the TABC rules if you want the particulars.

Um...you guys... Rex Rollins would do no better than Byrd, Pegram, or Jimmerson given the way the OL is blocking. My point was to show how ridiculous it is to be bitching about Derek Thompson. Byrd, Pegram, and Jimmerson...and Thompson...are fine. The big picture is, it would be really swell if the run game were going as well as the pass game is. If we ever get to that point, we will be difficult to stop.

That was a really strange, circuitous route via New Orleans to get a jab in at RV. Whatever personal bent you've got with the man, and a lot of people seem to have a lot of bents, he is the LAST reason why there isn't beer sold at athletic events. Hell, if it were up to him, we'd probably be able to buy seat licenses in pairs -- one for our butt and the other for our personal in-game keg. The problem lies in lingering puritanical culture and residual laws that came from it. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna head over to Oak Street and swipe my license into their database...again, so that the big brothers of Denton County can know that I've been drinking.

He only turned a perennial bottom feeder that belonged in FCS into bowl champions at the height of Big 12 dominance, right? 43-36 (18 of those losses coming on two poor seasons due to graduating seniors) during the 2000-2006 years, right? So, before Mac, they had never won a bowl game and had only been to four. Mac took them to 5 bowl games, beating their former total, winning 2 of them. Most of the Iowa State bowls have come in the 2000-after era, thus indicating that Mac built a solid foundation. Iowa State's bowl games: December 18, 1971 Sun Bowl L LSU 15 33 December 18, 1972 Liberty Bowl L Georgia Tech 30 31 December 31, 1977 Peach Bowl L NC State 14 24 December 20, 1978 Hall of Fame Classic Bowl L Texas A&M 12 28 December 28, 2000 Insight.com Bowl W Pittsburgh 37 29 December 27, 2001 Independence Bowl L Alabama 13 14 December 31, 2002 Humanitarian Bowl L Boise State 16 34 December 28, 2004 Independence Bowl W Miami (OH) 17 13 December 31, 2005 Houston Bowl L TCU 24 27 December 31, 2009 Insight Bowl W Minnesota 14 13 December 30, 2011 Pinstripe Bowl L Rutgers 13 27 December 31, 2012 Liberty Bowl L Tulsa 17 31 I mean, Lane Kiffin is a great head coach, right? 35-21! THAT'S A GOOD RECORD, GUYS! Just go ahead and tell me how Romo is a great QB because he THREW FOR 500 YARDS! STATS DON'T LIE!

Here is a bylaw of interest that may apply to Dajon or any other athlete down the road, and I'll update the Waiver thread with this as well. Rick

Hmm, where have I seen a season with "tough close losses" and bad playcalling/time management at crucial times in close games? Oh yeah! Todd Dodge's "so close to winning" seasons. So close to winning = losing. Look it up.

And a super popular pastime on the internet is to get caught up in punctuation, grammar, and syntax when one realizes that one has poorly formed arguments. (Intentional use of the Oxford comma in that sentence for your linguistic enjoyment.)

I don't really want to see us going to a bowl if our only wins are at home. That, to me, isn't deserving of a post season reward, and is likely a setup for a post season embarrassment. Until this team can show that it can play anywhere, and come away with something more than a mere moral victory, then it doesn't deserve a December game with swag bags waiting in the locker room. I've already heard the husbands and fathers remark, verbatim, this season. If I start hearing that we graded out well, then I'm ruh-heally off the bowl game bus. There's still a shot, but I need to see wins at LA Tech and Southern Miss for me to believe.

The defense gave up 10 points so we can agree they do enough to win the game. However, if you are going to argue that the blocked FG returned for a TD lost the game then by your logic you can also say offense lost the game and damn sure didn't "do enough to win the game". The pick 6 gave up almost as a many points as the defense did all game.

Uummm, people are still going to use the term redshirt. Coaches, players, announcers, etc still use the term incorrectly. Who says medical hardship waiver other than NCAA officials?

This is why I can't stand that damn Peter Rabbit. A hare like no other, I tell ya. And if our alumni have minions, can't they just send them to the games in their stead?

After driving back and reflecting, here we go: Those were probably the worst officials I've seen since following NT since 1997. Even the ruled no catch was PAINFULLY obvious that it was. That being said, we still should have won the game. I do not get the playcalling. We know Derek's strengths and weaknesses. This offense seems to move better when it is up tempo. WHY DO THE OPPOSITE?! Futhermore, you had 2 (TWO, DOS) weeks to put together a game plan, and that was the result? WHAT THE HELL?! This pick 6 wasn't Derek's fault. Tulane did their homework, they knew it was coming. This game was lost on the blocked field goal. I'm still trying to figure out how we can go from blocking for a field goal against Gerogia to, well, that. Tulane is not that good, we should have blown them out. This team could still win out. But coaches and players have to live up to their potential. As a fan, I am honestly getting to the end of my rope with these repeated kicks to the nuts. At this rate, I'm not sure if I will ever have kids anymore. I will always go to the games, but when you continously invest in 4-8 hours of tailgating, in triple digit heat it becomes a beating. When you travel to these road games and waste weekends, it becomes a beating. Let's not forget that this economy still sucks ass, and many of us spend what little money we do have to follow this team. We deserve better. Eff it. It's done, its over, and it's time to move on to Middle Tenneessee. We can still do this.

So last year Mike Grant was coaching running backs, and we had a running game but no passing game. This year, he is the wide receivers coach, and we have a passing game but no running game. The obvious answer is to clone Coach Grant, but since that's not possible...

Ha! Well, I didn't want people to get the wrong idea after spending time in New Orleans!

Serious? The offense put enough points on the board to win without the gaff by special teams. How is the special teams' gaff on DT? Not wanting to argue, just wondering why folks want to put this loss on his shoulders? They seem to look right past the 10 point swing due to that one BIG gaff.

I am sick over the loss but I still believe we are going places this season. Derek will get us to 6+ games. Time to stop ranting and to keep moving forward.

Only "pretty" cool and funny?? Don't lie to the people Kram... I'm the worst.

Great post

Couldn't locate his road record but with a stellar overall record of 56-85 and 27-68 conference record I wouldn't expect a whole lot better.

They already burned his red shirt. He played.

boo freaking hoo.

I would go for the Fight Song sign, but it doesn't have MF'er on it.