Eagle1855

Which is why many have said that we probably would have won 11 games last year if the offense hadn't been completely and totally inept, most of the time. The rest of the pieces were in place. Now they aren't. Even the SMU game was largely won by the play of defense and SMU's love affair with turning the ball over.

We haven't ever had it.

We still don't have a starting QB and we are going into the 8th game of the season. That basically says everything you need to know about the 2014 season.

Wait... did I miss something? More info PLZ.

This. It's a bad year for what was one of the least-experienced teams to take the field, this season. No surprise here. Or at least -- it shouldn't be.

It's entirely possible Greer would have looked like the second coming of Peyton Manning against Nicholls St.

It could be worse: We could not even have a board, or a contingency of fans who give enough of a damn to post in the middle of a disastrous season.

Baylor has had about the same. TCU has had ~18. UH has had 20+ Tech has had close to 30. A&M has had 31. UT has had at least 36 winning seasons. (Since 1971, all per wikipedia -- and me doing quick count, so if it's off by one or two, whatever -- you get the the idea)

If it makes anyone feel any better, a radio host in Houston spent a significant part of today's show lamenting the fact that UH can't fill their new stadium and discussed possible reasons why. Sounds a lot like the discussions we have here. And they're in a "better" conference (Big East 2.0 which is I guess is basically C-USA 1.3) with a "newer" stadium. So it isn't just us. And they're actually still playing for something. It's a crowded world with a lot of things competing for everyone's attention.

This. But this entire season has been sheer desperation at the QB position. There's no reason for any QB to have any confidence because every single one of them is in a situation where they're playing scared, knowing the next mistake is going to get them pulled. In some instances, that's been justified (Greer @ Texas stands out). This is a mess. And the defining problem of the 2014 season.

You've named a couple coaches over a period of a few decades that have managed to turn around a program (and really went out on a limb saying Nick Saban could win at Iowa State). There are over 120 schools that play Division 1 football. Which means at any given time, there are at least that many coaches. And each of those programs has likely had at least 4 coaches in the past few decades. Assuming there's some overlap, that's a sample size that's likely well over 400 coaches. You've named just a couple that have managed to win "against the odds" in that time period. I'm not sure what your point is. I'm not sure you even know what your point is, other than to take a contrarian position without citing any actual figures, while telling us to "go look it up for ourselves." It's not my point to support, so I'll pass.

It's a money game. It has been for a while and it appears it always will be. As we've said in many other posts, we were late to the party related to investment in the program. Had we done all this before, during, or immediately after the wins in the SBC, the subsequent decade might have looked different. It might have forever altered our course. Or it might not have; who knows. But you get the feeling a window of opportunity opened and we weren't ready. And then it closed -- possibly for good. And thats okay: Tulsa, UH, Boise and many others also got left out, too. So we can endeavor to be the best of the rest. But, honestly, I don't think this fanbase cares enough to make it happen. We still haven't sold out the stadium -- not even to OPEN it against a notable regional opponent -- at a school of ~35k with 200k+ alum in the area alone. I will continue to support the program with attendance and with money because my time at UNT is a source of great pride. I am proud of my time there and support the programs related to it just the same. But I've largely abandoned this notion that UNT is this sleeping giant of a program that will inevitably someday make headlines like Boise -- or even UH. Not because it's not possible. Not because we're not in a great position to do so. But because the one missing component is the give a sh*t factor -- and it seems most people who hang a UNT degree on their wall simply don't have it. Is it a chicken/egg situation? Do people not care because the admin didn't care? Or did the admin not care because it didn't think the people cared? Maybe the next coach will be a million-dollar hire that the shoulder-shrugging Green can't ignore. Or maybe next year Coach Mac and crew pull a rabbit out of the hat and knock out 10+ wins and a marquee win on the road. Something significant has to happen. And in this landscape, with a surging UTSA program and a Texas State program that is on the rise, it feels like it needs to happen sooner than later.

Our university's president does it on the regular.

Hardly. While winning on their present scale is novel, winning is far from a new adventure for Mississippi State: SEC Champions 1941 SEC West Champions 1998 Final AP Poll Ranking 1940, 1941, 1942, 1957, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2010 Final Coaches Poll Ranking 1963, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2010 Bowl Victories* 1911, 1940, 1963, 1974, 1981, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013 Bowl Appearances* 1911, 1936, 1940, 1963, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Iowa State would trade every record they have to hold that kind of trophy case. As would we. Ole Miss? They've been to 30-something bowl games and have players in the HOF and claim 3 national titles. That's hardly a fair comparison to the suck-hole that is Iowa State football Iowa State has been to 12 bowl games -- 8 of which came in the last 15 years (all 8 of which occured after the day Dan McCarney was hired -- and yes, I realize there are now more bowl games than ever). If you feel you must compare Iowa State to an SEC program, you make want look further north, into the blue hills of the bourbon state at a mostly-basketball school named Kentucky. Their suck has been consistent, on par with that of Iowa State. I don't really care if McCarney is the long-term solution or not and I'm not defending his employment here. But the notion the guy is nothing more than Dickey 2.0 is absurd.

No, please do. We want to learn. We want to be better as fans and as a football team. Tell us.

Which still has nothing to do with the fact that 38.5% of the man's career losses as a head coach came from the first years of taking over a program that -- on its very best of days -- was entirely mediocre. (Again, they hadn't won more than 6 games in a season since 1978 -- over a decade and a half before he took over the program.) I'm not saying the guy is the Second Coming of Touchdown Jesus. But I also don't think citing his career winning percentage as evidence for his ability (or inability) to coach is entirely fair. If he had amassed that record at several different schools over that time, I might think differently. Another fun fact: at both UNT and Iowa State, the guy managed to tie each school's all-time record for number of wins in a season. Which might be a coincidence, but it's in an interesting tid bit all the same (at least, it is to me).

Exactly this. Which saves me the trouble of even reading the lengthy tome about the differences between Iowa State and UNT -- which are obvious and vast -- and not in any way the crux of my previous comment. So thank you.

Almost all of which came from the other "hardest situation in the country" that goes by the name of Iowa State. And the bulk of those losses came on the front-end of his time there, accounting for 42 of his 109 career losses. In other words, almost 40% of his career losses came from the first 5 seasons at Iowa State -- a program which hadn't had a winning season since 1989 (and hadn't won more than 6 games in a season since 1978). Here are his first 5 years at Iowa State: Y1: 3-8 Y2: 2-9 Y3: 1-10 Y4: 3-8 Y5: 4-7 And then in year 6, he landed a 9-3 with a bowl win. Our 5-7, 4-8, & 9-4 look pretty good, in context of his coaching career. So I'm not sure I care if this is an "off" year -- as long as young guys get snaps, experience, learn from all this and come back next year ready to win.

So what's the point of hiring a gemologist if there are 10x as many players in Texas?

Just to supplement my jackassery with an actual response: 1) Mathematically, we're very much in the hunt for bowl eligibility. 2) Every game left on the schedule is winnable. 3) "The Trademark" will only improve as his snap count increases -- so keep him in as the starter and let him work it out. 4) This was still a very, very young team coming into the season. Even at the highest level of football, inexperience is a tremendous hurdle to overcome. We were late to the party, related to our investment into the program. But we still have a lot going for us -- this season and as a program overall.

None. And this post is dead-on accurate. The brand is not associated with winning in any way, shape, form. Conference affiliation, budget, and W/L record are all indicators of the quality of a program. The next question is, how do we change it? I'd argue we've done several things to change our standing in the college football landscape, which includes massive facility upgrades (investment into the program) and change in conference affiliation (changes perception). We just need that to translate into a couple marquee wins and a big, big season. Once. Not a 9-4 effort. A 12-1, nationally-ranked effort.

I don't know about the rest of this cut-off-nose-to-spite-face line of thinking, but the parts in bold are painfully accurate. I know someone got mocked for the comment about the person stopping them in the Houston Galleria asking about the jersey, but that's a pretty regular occurence outside D/FW. Casual fans of football haven't a clue what division UNT plays in -- and that matters. And I recognize this is a subject that's been beaten to death. We need momentum. And not "oh neat, they won a few games in a weak C-USA and landed in a bowl game in Dallas -- which was only half-full, despite being in the backyard of their entire fanbase." The brand needs to do something that makes a statement, that people can't ignore. Then the brand will begin to change and folks will associate it with positive things -- like TCU did throughout the 2000's. We've never made a statement. We've never won a non-conference game that anyone remembers or cares about. We tied the most wins in history last season -- at nine. That's not a selling point. That's a stepping stone. Even if this was a good plan -- going outside the state for talent -- I'm not sure we have the recruiting budget to make it happen.

Our uniforms look good. Scott Bakula is working again. I got my taxes turned in on time. My lady scored six bombers of the ever-rare and hard-to-find St Arnold's Pumpkinator.

LIKE.

Isn't it possible a(nother) change at QB can't fix what ails this team?