The Fake Lonnie Finch

This is where the 'UNT doesn't exist in a football vacuum' point is made. They know how to defend quarterbacks who can run. Every coach of every team we play has already done it against bigger and faster quarterbacks. So, they won't have to do anything special or new for Riley. They already know how to account for quarterbacks who are bigger and faster than what we'll throw out there. Here is our problem - our offense isn't innovative or challenging to the degree that opposing defenses have to dream up new schemes. To wit: (1) Because they know we're going to have our QB stand back in the shot gun everytime and throw the ball the majority of the time, linebackers don't have to worry as much about the run game. There's no guesswork to it. They can clog and crowd passing lanes against what is essentially a short passing offense. Or, they can blitz. It doesn't matter. There is no fullback and rarely a tight end for them to account for either as recievers or blockers. (2) Along the same lines, because our opponents know we're not going to even attempt to establish the run, they can drop a variety of players into short zones and send any player from any part of the field to blitz. (3) In normal offenses where the run game is used, receivers learn how to block. No so with us. All opposing defenses have to do against us is either (1) drop into a passing lane, or (2) wait for our receivers to catch a pass, then tackle them for the puny gain or pass break up. As long as our opponents are sure tacklers, our offense is ineffective. It didn't take them long to figure it out, as the 1-11 season following the 2-10 season demonstrated. (4) Because we don't have a quarterback who has the ability to throw an accurate deep ball, opposing safeties are freed up to spy or go ahead and blitz. They could chase butterflies on most plays since our quarterback will rarely have time to throw that far downfield anyway...even if any of them did have the arm strength to do it more than once or twice a game. (5) Because our head coach and offensive coordinator have little experience with the speed of the game and intricacies of the opposing defenses, they haven't shown the ability to adjust to what is being thrown at them. Nothing Dodge or Ford have in their high school bag of tricks will prevent opposing defenses from bringing the house to us series after series. Until they show they can, they will not be respected by opposing players or coaches in the schemes. (6) Not having a fullback or tight end regularly simply exacerbates the problems. A blitzing linebacker or safety can simply shoot a gap. If a defensive end wants to stay at home and bat down short passes at the line, that option is more than available. Corners can blitz with impunity knowing short routes can be clogged with linebackers, safeties, or defensive ends and there are no backs to impede their progress to the quarterback. My suspicion is that opposing coaches and defensive coordinators look at our game film and salivate at the opportunity. And, knowing there is virtually no experience in our quarterback ranks in 2009, I'd say we're going to see heavy blitzing right out of the gate. I won't matter whether Riley is pulled for ineffectiveness or injury. There is no credible back up and our opponents know that. These are the very reasons that I say quit pretending like our success depends on the offense in 2009. It doesn't. It depends on the side of the ball where we have college coaches who can adjust in game - the defensive side of the ball. It will be Deloach, Nelson, & Co. and their charges that will keep us competitive in 2009...if we are to be competitive. All the offense needs to do is protect the ball. Unfortunately, I don't think our offensive gameplanners understand that enough to swallow their pride and actually adjust their "high school title winning" playbook to better suit the college game.

Obama really is naive when it comes to foreign policy matters. Unfortunately, so is just about everyone he's appointed to foreign policy positions. It won't be long before we are reaping what he has sown in gathering less intelligence and being less vigilant about the more evil regimes around the world. Again, world leaders must just be licking their chops every time he or Hillary Clinton walk through the door, frothing at the mouth with anti-Americanism and handing out cash from our recession-strapped taxpayers. It's a pitiful sight to behold. You'd think the world - especially Western leaders - would have learned the hard lesson of appeasing tyrants by looking at Hitler and Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, for many of our policy leaders today, America's history began in the 1960s and they look no further back for guidance and example.

Here's the part where the obvious must again be stated - UNT doesn't exist in a football vacuum. It doesn't matter what Riley or any other single player on the field does. He doesn't have anything different than any of the opposing coaches haven't seen before for someone else, and many someone elses at that. And, in most cases, they've seen it from bigger and faster someone elses. The first two games, for example, are against two MAC twos who are coached by fellows who spent much of their careers in the Big 8 and Big 12. Those guy have both coached and coached against quarterbacks who can run. Hello, McFly? Frank Solich spent the better part of five decades at Nebraska. You think he hasn't seen quarterbacks who can run? Just in the time he spent as head coach at Nebraska he faced opponents featuring quarterbacks such Michael Bishop, Corby Jones, Tee Martin, Arnaz Battle, Jonathan Beasley, Zak Kustok, Casey Printers, Seneca Wallace, Brad Smith, Reggie McNeal, etc., etc., etc. Listing the run-pass QBs he's coached would be redundant to the opponent list. Look at the career of every other coach for every other opponent on our schedule. They've seen quarterbacks who can run. The wheel hasn't been reinvented because Riley Dodge is now the quarterback. They've all coached against spread offenses. Again, this is something that isn't new. It's the same with every coach and coaching staff of every team we face. They've coached and/or coached against the running/passing quarterback and have done so for decades. The hard truth is, year three of the Todd Dodge Experiment is going to come down to defense, special teams, and whether or not the weakest links in the coaching staff chain - Dodge and Ford calling the shots on offense - can finally recognize opposing defenses and make real-time, in-game adjustments to thwart their schemes. Dodge and Ford have failed miserably during the first two years. That the offense regressed in 2008 when the same cast of character from 2007 were around doesn't bode well for the inexperienced 2009 crowd who is taking their place. They have got to recognize what is happening right in front of their eyes on the opposing defenses. They have yet to prove that they can do it at this level. They haven't even come close.

That's the old law. Jesus said don't kill or hold grudges (Matthew 5:21-24), he who lives by the sword will die by the sword (Matthew 26:52), and if someone didn't believe in the gospel you were to simply walk away and let God handle their punishment of the judgment day (Matthew 10:14-15). While it's still true that those not on board on the judgment day will die, the method and time of delivery was taken out of Israel's hand and put into God's hand solely with Christ's teachings.

No. Most of the schools on our schedule have already seen bigger and faster players than Riley at QB, even in the Sun Belt. And, without a tight end or fullback (or both) to protect him every down, they will send guys in from all angles. It's not Riley we should be worried about. It's whether or not the core of offensive coaches - specifically Dodge and Ford - are able to make in-game recognitions and adjustments to what opposing defensive coordinators are doing. The first 24 games, they've been lost a majority of the time.

The only garbage is a 3-21 record over the past two seasons with only one win over a full FBS school. I'll see Santa Claus coming down my chimney with the Easter Bunny and both of them eating milk and cookies at my kitchen table with the tooth fairy if Todd Dodge is still our coach in 2013.

I don't care as long as we someday have green helmets again...and, I mean the darker green, not this sissy Southlake green that has been foisted upon us. And, an interlocking NT for the logo. But, no sissfied, high school helmet stickers.

This can't be real. You are talking about programs who had legitimate college head football coaches at the helm. We don't have that luxury. To think that Todd Dodge is going to do the things Jeff Bowers did is the height of idiocy. Just ridiculous. And, the 1996 TCU Horned Frogs didn't exactly set the world on fire after beating the John Blake-led Oklahoma in 1996. They were shelled 52-17 the very next weekend at home against Kansas. They finished 1996 with a 4-7 mark, then went 1-11 in 1997 before firing Pat Sullivan and hiring Dennis Franchione (and with him, Gary Patterson). OU was in the middle of five consecutive non-winning seasons when TCU "cut their teeth" on them. Just ridiculous. What got TCU off the ground was hiring coaches with years of college experience to lead them. We don't have that. Get us winnable games to help get us off the ground the way Kansas State did two decades ago when they began their turnaround.

Maybe or maybe not. You're talking about rural Oklahoma here. There's no telling what could happen. Many of my friends from law school who stayed up around Tulsa, which is up in Creek Territory, are now either prosecuting or defending meth users and sellers. A state trooper in those little town, or any little town in America...you never know what people are doing when they're speeding along and won't pull over. For all they knew, the ambulance could have been stolen or something. Criminals have stolen ambulances and squad cars before. It's easy to Monday morning quarterback the troopers here. But, I wouldn't put myself in their shoes. What they see and what they know they've got to be ready for, and then to be ready for the unexpected as well? No. I'm not second guessing them. http://www.redorbit.com/news/oddities/1646...rash/index.html http://wbztv.com/local/stolen.ambulance.Wi...m.2.666664.html http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/03...ance-crash.html http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/strange/offbe...200901022145414 http://www1.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/11...07-1354725.html http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/200...html?&wired http://publicsafety.com/article/article.js...;siteSection=20

This is something that would help us if we would do it.

I've been posting that we should open at home for years. Although, my argument is to have the home opener against a very beatable team from the FCS/I-AA ranks - Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Missouri State, Northwestern State, etc. To me, it's the only part of our schedule that's missing. I like the idea of an FCS to open, a couple of games with mid-majors, and one BCS school. It's a formula many other schools have used to grow out of the mediocrity. Again, nothing builds confidence in a player than winning - even if its against a Sam Houston State. To me, you get a lot more mileage out of that in the long run that going up to Big 12 school to be whipped 79-10 or 45-6 to start things out. What good does it do to install your game plans in spring, fine tune everything in the fall, only to fold it away halfway through game one? Get game one at home against an opponent where you can actually run everything you practiced throughout spring and fall for an entire game. This isn't rocket science.

...the Creek Nation ambulance, which did not have its emergency lights or siren on.... The ambulance didn't have its siren or lights on. If the ambulance had hit another car causing injury or a death, they'd be sued for driving at those high speeds without their siren and lights on. There have been many lawsuits against police agencies for police hit other vehicles while speeding to the scene of crimes without their lights and sirens on. The reason for lights and sirens is to clearly warn the public that the vehicle is in route to or in the middle of an emergency. You can't just speed because you drive an ambulance, fire truck, or police squad car. This is basic driver training for those employed in such fields. The guys in the ambulance should have had their lights and sirens on if they were in an emergency situation. A police officer can't just guess what is happening if he tries to pull over an ambulance which is speeding through towns without its lights and sirens. It's not up to a police officer to read a driver's mind.

JG's in Dallas Jerseyville in Plano

Post of the f'ing Century, dude!

Marshall Bob Marcum 7 years 16 teams $19.5M budget $ 86,372 salary Wow. This guy oversees 16 teams and a $19 million budget for a base of $86k. Props to him. Maybe his wife works as well.

Further, where is the "Gang of 14" featuring John McCain, Lindsey Graham and other Republican sellouts? Remember, they blocked some of Bush's federal nominations because the GOP had an almost filibuster proof majority in 2004-2005? Come of McCain. Step up, big guy. What a fraudulent bunch of spineless copouts the GOP senators are.

No one to suck up to Dodge in print next year. Pity.

I'm against it. The tax code is excellent for catching white collar criminals and insurance frauds. It also carves out many areas for tax exemption or deferral. Plus, taxes rarely go down. The thirst Congress has for money is mitigated by the tax code by a large degree. There are many things you can do to delay the taxing of your money. There is no way to do that with a national sales tax. The national sales tax crowd are as shortsighted a political bunch as you'll meet.

I'm happy the drug dealers are killing each other in Mexico. Barry McCaffrey is so lost it's not even worth discussing. The world is getting four years of aimlessness out of American foreign policy with all of the idiots Obama has appointed. We're going to fold just about everywhere. Where we don't fold, we'll be railroaded. It really is sad to watch.

I wouldn't laugh. The idiots now in charge really believe in this stuff.

3-9 or 4-8 because the front seven of the defense and special teams should be better.

Van de Velde is a longtime Big 8/12 guy. He's been at Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Iowa State. He's a good fundraiser.

Not just the scheme, but the ability to recognize what the other team is doing and adjust, not just at halftime, but in-game. This goes not just for the defense, but the offense. That's the trouble this year, we are a passing offense that is still relying on a core of high school coaches trying to react to what veteran college defensive coordinators are throwing at them. They haven't proven they can do it. And, schools really throttled us good last year despite the experience of our skill players. And, more of a running game early in the games. People can harp on the old-fashionedness of it all they want. But, if you don't have a run game capable of picking up a yard or two when you need it, at any point in the game, you don't have jack.

Shup up and win. If you don't beat the teams who supposed have washed their hands of you, they'll never respect you. Too many excuses in this league. Shut up and win.