CaribbeanGreen

Btw, good sports topic, Grad88.

OU, except on occasions, has defensed EVERYTHING awfully well.

But they WEREN'T winning. They didn't change for the sake of change. Those were great teams, yes, but that was a decade ago, and they stopped winning. The closest thing to a run run run team around here is Texas A&M, and I think they've beaten Tech twice in 10 years or something ridiculous? If you're gonna run all the time, you gotta have the horses (see Dickey, Darrell).

That all used to be true... Times have changed, though. It's all cyclical. Nebraska hadn't been dominant for a few years by the time they brought in Callahan. What was the last team to win a national title with that kind of offense? Probably Nebraska, mid-nineties. Some run-first teams have won, yes, but it's a totally different style. That zone-read shotgun formation Texas won with and something similar the Tee Martin UT Vols won with... and those teams still threw a bit - one had just come from the Simms/Applewhite era and still was loaded at WR, and Tennessee had spent the previous few years with Peyton Manning throwing it around. Frankly, the spread is, in a way, the modern version of the wishbone. The very unbalanced, gimmicky, unique-to-defend, talent equalizing offense of the moment. There are a lot of similarities there. Texas Tech doesn't have near the athletes of TAMU or most of their conference, but they've competed well because of that offense. That being said, you have to have SOME athletes -- see Baylor's failed spread (or Army's wishbone, for that matter). My feeling is that you can't be a national title contender and be that one-dimensional anymore. Defenses are too big, fast, and sophisticated at the highest levels. Now, if you're a low to mid level school, you can go really unbalanced and sneak up on some people and be a Mumme or Leach and have a decent little record and mid level bowl every year, but that's usually the ceiling. Not saying that's bad - most schools would take it. The 90% running team just isn't sexy anymore.... it's not as flashy or exciting, and it's harder to recruit to that way of thinking than it used to be. Nebraska stopped getting players.. you have to be absolutely physically dominant to win big when you're that one-dimensional to the run, and that's hard to achieve in this era. It may (and probably will) swing back, but this is the way it is now.

Well, looks like Nick Saban has a clear opinion of why USF is successful. Wow.

oh my god. Whatever douche is in charge of that needs to NOT be in charge of that. The fact that it happens over and over verifies embarrassing moron status.

did we really just burn Dibrell's redshirt as Georgie said?

Gee, what do you know?? Meager comes back in, the Hogs blitz (as they did GV countless times), and suddenly "Meager never had a chance".... again, funny how that works.

I bet Weiss smells like bacon-wrapped sausage with a hint of lighter fluid and a dash of "3 yard loss"...

Meager.

Maybe all Ty needed was to get a botched thumb stomach. Ever think of THAT, Jim Crow?!?!?

Shades of last year... Meager... Wilson... Phillips.... regardless of momentum. The more things change... the more they get worse.

and somehow, Meager comes back in.

it was making my computer crazy.

Maybe. Unfortunately, I'm not helping NT's already lofty "collegiate STD" ranking go down any. Wait... what?

In the second half, yeah... but second quarter??

It's the 2nd quarter. This is on us.

It HAS to be. The difference in the offense is staggering. Arkansas still has some starters in on D, and even their 2nd team is better than anything in the belt -- suddenly, Vizza comes in, and the offensive line is blocking well!!! Gasp! WRs are catching balls downfield!! We are driving -- we get into good FG position and score a TD! Conicidence? Even the staunchest Meager supporter couldn't say so. We should have seen the last of Dan Meager at Qb barring injury. Period. Quoting Dennis Green, he's exactly who we thought he was. Time for the new era. That being said, it really doesn't matter if we lined Jesus up at QB. Our defense can't stop a gang of drunk 5 year olds.

Isn't it funny that we just heard "the Mean Green O-Line is pass protecting VERY well" for the first time with Vizza in the game? Somehow, the O line is terrible when Danny's in there. They're blitzing every time, and Vizza is hanging in there.

Let's call a spade a spade. I know The Hogs are talented, but this is a sub-.500 unranked team. We are offering NO resistance. We are non-competitive so far. I know we can't criticize the staff... but I wish I knew why we shouldn't expect as much as freaking Indiana or Cincinnati is getting from the 1st year staffs. I still support TD and staff, but I'm tired of hearing how much time we need to give, how we should just accept disaster till then. These same players are WORSE than they were last year... just in the fundamentals. In every aspect. Like Mark D'Antonio, the new coach at Michigan State, told his team when he got there.... "There are no 'my players'... YOU are my players. I chose YOU. I took the money and the offer to come here, and I chose YOU to be my guys. No excuses. We win now." Guess we just can't expect the same at ol' North Texas.

Even George Dunham was just surprised we ran DM back out there.....

Hey, we held them to a FG try. It's good. 17-0 Hogs.

Just give it a sec... ..12 men on the field, holding calls, two yard passes, Meager getting sacked, wide open Hog WRs running free deep... you're not missing too much in the chat. You can probably imagine it.

I was just so thrilled for him personally and for the team to see that kind of play after such promise three years ago and then just two years and two games of disaster ever since. It was a flashback to better days, and you could almost feel how happy he must have been. And yeah, there's a great feeling when you see a big run get popped off.

` Giggle. The following is from the TYSports blog linked above by TTG ... (which is really good stuff and worth checking out, especially for us Maroons)... I even left out the part comparing DD's offensive impact at USU vs. TD's here. Go there yourself for that gravy. There were 24 coaching changes in the FBS (erstwhile D-1A) this year. 24 new coaches are saddled with the old coaches' system and players. So far with, each team just three or four games into their seasons, only THREE out of the 24 are winless - Rice, FIU, and North Texas. 10 of these teams have at least 2 wins. 4 are undefeated. Not counting North Texas, new coaches are an overall 43-44. Basically .500. Statistically almost the same record as the FBS teams with returning coaches, illustrating no appreciable difference. No excuses. But at North Texas, we should apparently accept a 3 or 4 year plan. We should be so thankful anyone would come pat us on the head and coach our team. That's garbage. Things haven't changed -- we need to WIN. That's all that will spark this program and put butts in seats. We didn't see an appreciable bump from the casual NT/SLC fan at our home opener. We shouldn't expect one. It doesn't matter if our coach is Todd Dodge, Darrell Dickey, or Moses. Any initial publicity or tiny spike in media coverage or interest is fleeting and worthless until you win. This isn't remotely a knock on TD. I still have confidence in this new direction, and I'd venture to say he wouldn't disagree with much of the above. He's probably damn disappointed right now. He should be. My point is, we shouldn't be content with being non-competitive and winning two games this year in this conference. You can be upset and unhappy with the performance of the team without attacking the coaching staff and players and calling for their jobs and scholarships. That's what a fan board is for. I'm still excited, I know we have no choice but to be patient. I know we may have a bigger learning curve than other teams. I don't, however, enjoy or feel lucky to be 0-3. I just wish we were in the same boat or held ourselves to the same standards as the majority of other teams who hired new coaches and put in new systems. EDIT: By the time I finished this post, I had missed TFLF's post. He said it far better than I could have. Good work, sir.