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Man, that effort by Mestemaker was amazing…considering everything he had to face, that was a lot to be proud of…

@SUMG - THANK YOU for posting this. I was going to do the same thing so you saved me some time. Glad to see the national media sees what occurred yesterday at the same time we had moronic hot sports takes tagged under "We picked the wrong quarterback" and "So sick of the crap this football program slings us". Pretty sure most of us expected to get blown out (let me raise my hand) with so many hitting the portal, so IMO we played a really solid game and barely lost. For those people that constantly berate all things UNT and are never happy, it's a New Year -- find something that DOES make you happy. Back to the point, great article by ESPN. Very eye opening and well done! 🙂

I'm calling him Drew "Breeze" https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43278528/north-texas-mestemaker-opens-eyes-first-responder-start

Drew Mestemaker may not win this game, but he’s shown more heart at QB for us than we have seen since Mason Fine…

So a lot of you think that NT is not deserving of your valuable fandom. I actually was proud of the team that continue to battle with a completely revamped lineup including a completely untested QB. Yeah and spare me the low expectations accusations that are usually leveled at anyone that dares to not rave and rant about a loss.

I keep seeing someone post that we lost half our team. Outside of Morris and Sheffield, who do we lose that were major contributors? Mercer? He was replaced with a three year starter. I did miss Hammond. I hope Mestemaker is give a shot to start next year. I like him and hope he is put in scholarship asap. Enjoyed the Texas State fans. We need to play them every year. The coordination between their band, fans and cheer squads is something we should strive for. It is sad that we can’t do the basics like that.

By all means feel free to step away and not come back.

Like he won all those other bowl games. 😜

After Morris and Sheffield transferred, how many here were actually expecting to win? Many of us were just hoping TXST didn't handle us like they did UTSA this year or Rice in last year's First Responder Bowl. Sure, it's the head coach's job to have his team ready to play and in position to win regardless of the adversity faced, but it's still incredible the performance Mestemaker had. Tonight was better than any game C. Morris has had since Memphis. Coastal Carolina lost their starting QB to the portal and got dog walked in their bowl game against UTSA in their own building. Yes, the loss increases our bowl futility streak to an active high, and it sucks to lose to an intrastate program in an inferior conference, but that shouldn't take away from Drew's game. The biggest disappointment to me was how badly we were outnumbered by TXST fans. We went from packing the lower level of the Cotton Bowl to being matched ON OUR OWN SIDE. Like our team, our fans also struggle to wear green. However, there should be optimism surrounding next season. Eric made a poor hire with his first DC obviously, but made the tough (but right) call in getting rid of him. Next year's presumed starter will be in his last year of eligibility, so no losing another 4000 yard passed before the bowl game. If we struggle to another 6/7-win season and bowl loss with next year's schedule, I think Eric's seat should be pretty hot again.

People having a temper tantrum over a game Vegas expected us to lose by multiple touchdowns without half of our starters. They entertained us and were in till the end. I am not high on Morris but he isn’t a bad coach simply based on this showing. Hell looks like they will get the ball back with a chance to win.

He proves it again by an unbelievable performance by a less than no name qb. This is why I lobbied for him to be our coach. Excited about next year.

Tulane and UNT were the only AAC schools to lose their starting QBs for the bowl. That's the difference. Mestemaker played a great game. I think a *healthy* Chandler Morris wins the game. That's just me. Mestemaker made great plays for sure but there were also several deep misses early on. Before the Coleman TD, he was 3/8. He found his groove then sputtered some then picked things up again. I hope he stays and I'd love to watch him start next season. On the flip side, we played a 25 year old QB who started all year for Texas State (edit). There's no substitute for experience and continuity. I don't think this loss indicates in any way we're stuck in neutral. I think it shows how well this staff identifies and develops offensive talent. To compete in your bowl, you either need a senior QB, a loyal QB, or to get very lucky like we did with Mestemaker.

Sucks to lose, but I am proud of the players who stuck around and the noobs who showed up and played way better than anyone expected.

I'm going to hire an airplane to fly a banner over DATCU stadium that says "Hire Rick Villarreal".

Meanwhile the basketball team has been easy to love. Don’t forget about them.

I was at the game. Were yall at the game? Our fans were just sitting...no emotion, no fire...nothing. Not until the end of the game, kinda... This also makes me sick and tired, as well as mad.

Guess what won’t happen… This place kept RV for over 16 years as the AD. After he hired Todd Dodge…after he hired Shanice Stephens…after he hired Tony Benford. But man, he stayed in budget really well.

By the way, that story is on the front page of the ESPN website. (at the time I am posting). So the kid got us great national publicity. https://www.espn.com/

I’m glad for the early success, but we all need to pump the brakes a bit.

How has Texas State and UTSA done it?

I thought they fought hard and I wasn't absolutely embarrassed to have gone to North Texas like I thought I would be since they usually shit the bed in games like this. There were a lot of good things to take from this game, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't exhausted of constant "moral victories".

I will admit I am an optimist and I believe with a halfway decent defense we win 8 games next year and go bowling and break our bowl game losing streak, and from what we saw today it could be even better. Offense will not be the problem next year.

That was a great game. Off work early, 15 minute Lyft, nice crowd, better than expected showing considering our portal losses. Disappointed we didn't win, not gonna cry about it though. All the State fans were pretty nice.

I am proud of our team they played hard and never quit. Too many mistakes but everything considered they just came up short, those two turnovers killed use or we would have won fairly easily.

Seth would have been more worried about golf and lost by twice as much.

we would have lost in typical SL fashion 52-21

The team actually didn’t look that bad today. Could very easily just be a head coach away from being a competitive program.

Or GJ should just come here to make it easier.

Did you really expect a win with our record and all those who deserted to the portal? I didn't... but went to the game anyway.

Sometimes its just so hard to keep loving my UNT. But i always will....looking forward to next year.

I was at the game. We have the most uneducated fan base in America. Guy sitting behind me was telling his TX State friend that our fans were mainly family members of players and the band. Idiots like that drive me crazy. Our cheerleaders try to start the North Texas chant when we are on offense and our band is a shell of what it used to be.

By all means sometimes less is better when you have fans who spend most of their time bitching about the program and complaining about everything.

Well, on a positive note, we sure learned alot about Mr. Mestermaker.

Can ServPro make it like this game never even happened?

The NCAA or whatever governing body exists that oversees this sport must take a look at defensive injuries to stall offenses. It's happening far too often throughout the game and Kinne is using it anytime we get any momentum going at all. it's pathetic.

Let’s look at those turnovers. The first I put on him, he threw it straight to the defender (I remember saying immediately after that someone HAD to have run a bad route or fallen down for the INT to be that easy) The second one was a fumble when he was hit from the blind side after literally nobody tried to block the blitzer…a theme, by the way, during this game of defenders running free. Hard to blame the guy when he’s trying to keep his eyes downfield to make something, anything, happen to keep us in the game. The third one was a desperation heave with (if I recall correctly) 8 seconds or so left in the game with no timeouts. Again, not sure how much I knock a kid for just trying to make a play there. The bottom line is this. A kid who was making his first start since he was a high school freshman was asked to carry our team in a bowl game…and he damn near pulled it off

What are you people talking about???? Drop back down to D1AA? Drop football altogether and put the money into basketball? Crazy talk!!!

State fans showed up because they rightfully expected to win in this game. If the AD thinks they're going to depend on people to show up just cause NT has a team there, they are dead wrong. There are a few, but there are many many more who will not show up when they don't think their team will win. There are too many obligations and opportunities to devote precious time and money watching a team lose.

Where did they go? I'm fairly certain they're still in the Sun Belt.

Defense. Rick

I think the band part is spot-on. How many times do you see UNT ticket buyers leave after halftime because the Green Brigade has marched and that’s all they cared about…I’ve seen it for about 35 years now.

I completely agree. To see the coordination between Tx St band, cheer, and their fans...to put it bluntly made me envious.

I know we are all frustrated and this wait for next year shit gets old, but the team is improving albeit not as fast as we would like but it is improving and there is hope for the future but it is time to step up and if EM cannot produce next year then it will be time to move on. I would say 8 wins is the floor! GMG!!!

Whelp, guess who's back?

Yeah, perfect. Just what we need, less fans.

Didn’t we say that last year?

At least Mestemaker may be having the best game of the season for a UNT QB.