The Fake Lonnie Finch

Amen.

Look, we ran the ball three more times against SMU than Texas Tech did... Versus SMU: Tech - 18 rushes, 80 yards UNT - 21 rushes, 12 yards We did try to run against SMU. But, we couldn't. That's what some of us are saying the problem is. Not run more, but actually be able to run when we try. If we can't run against SMU, when they are expecting passes on every down, then who will be able to run against? That's the question. And, since you're a coach, you should know best that if an opposing defense doesn't have to worry about your run game, they simply drop an extra man into coverage. We won't see another defense as good as OU's, but we also won't see another as bad as SMU's. We didn't pass all that well against OU, we lit up SMU. We'll get defenses in between the two for the rest of the season (except, maybe, Arkansas, who will OU-us to death). So, when we have our passing game shut down against some of those better defenses, what to we do to loosen the pass coverage...well, it looks like nothing. A big bag of nothing.

Well, I can see where this season is headed...if we lose, don't mention the things we need to work on, just keep talking about passing and receiving records: In back-to-back games, opposing QBs have career days...doesn't matter, we had career passing and receiving games against SMU, a team with the nation's worst defense...next to us. In back-to-back games, we have 15 and 12 yards rushing (yes, we ran for fewer yards against SMU than we did against OU, who crushed Miami)...nevermind, look at all the passes we completed. In back-to-back-games, we've given up 124 points total...irrelevant, do you realize we set a record for pass attempts? In back-to-back games, we given up 265 and 181 yards rushing...who cares, on the offensive side of the ball we had a receiver catch 300+ yards worth of passes. After two games, we have 5 total punt return yards and average far less than 20 yards per kickoff return...so what, did you see all the passing yards we had. What a great, intelligent fan base we have. You kool aid drinkers believe what you want, the rest of us don't have to go merrily along. We just saw SMU light up our defense through the air and on the ground. SMU. We passed on a poor defensive team, but couldn't run on them. We get nothing out of special teams on returns in either game. And, so, we're supposed to be elated? Sorry. What we need is mass improvement on defense, offense, and special teams before FAU comes to Denton. I hope other people see the reality here and aren't blinding by passing stats.

Our run game is non-existent... 21 rushes, 12 yards. Folks, SMU's defense was breaking in three new DLs and had lost their leading tackler, a linebacker, from last year. And, all we could do was get 12 yards on the ground? In addition to the defensive problems, this has to change. You can't succeed without a run game. This is something we need to watch as we begin our Sun Belt schedule. We may set a lot of passing records, (if we see defenses as bad as SMU's again) but we'll also be on the losing end of many 45-31-type games, too. Am I the only one concerned about this after two games...one against a pretty good OU defense and another against a crappy SMU defense. In two games, we've run the ball 52 times for 27 yards. It's bad. Really bad. Texas Tech ran 18 times for 80 yards, a healthy 4.4 yards per attempt, against SMU just five days before. Am I the only one thinking along these lines? If all we do is worrying about how good passing stats are, we're going to be in trouble?

Guys, USF's football coach was co-defensive coordinator with Bob Stoops at Kansas State back in the 1990s. The deal is, as we found out last night, it doesn't matter how good your offense is if your defense can't stop the other team either. I posted last week that I'd withhold judgement on Mendoza's defensive until after the SMU and FAU games, but...how else can you put it...our defense is awful. USF's defense is great. It has been for a few years. They seem to always play big teams close. But, it's their defense and not their offense that keeps them in those games. Leavitt's a great coach.

Stickler, I think, was the one that almost had the touchdown in the north end zone where we were sitting. He'd beaten his guy, but the throw was a bit too far to the sideline. Soon enough, Meager or Vizza will be able to "thread the needle" when that happens. All in all, after seeing some pictures and video clips of the game, I'm more pleased. The first quarter sunk us when OU didn't run like we thought they would. When their two WRs got into open spaces on those chintzy little bubble screens, they just outran us. We all agree that we'll speed nowhere near like OU has. So, here's to beating SMU tomorrow night!

OU played us in a 4-2-5 most of the night. In that picture of us on offense, they are completely ready to shut down underneath routes. The corners are each in man, then they've got the strong safety and both linebackers inside our slot players. Gosh we needed a score on that drive. We had just gotten a turnover deep in their territory.

An OU fan has posted some pictures of Saturday's game. Our DBs are in man, but playing well off the line. Fine. Many places play 10 yards or so off. Below, they also appear to be playing off, but their linebackers/strong safety appear to be in better position for the impending pass. Although, our pass protection looks pretty good. Meager looks set to throw, but the receivers aren't in their breaks yet. Below, OU's very lonely quarterback and a very open middle of the field: I'm really just convinced that Mendoza/Dodge were going to run their defense come hell or high water. So be it. SMU won't have the speed of OU. Neither will anyone else we face this year. I'll only panic if SMU whips us. But, after watching them Monday, I'd say that would be a tall order for them. Their secondary is awful.

Also, Euless - Did you notice OU put in former Trinity DL Tommy Taggart in the fourth quarter? Other DFW walk-ons I noticed were Carrollton Creekview's Derek Gove and Rowlett's Garrett Bothun. I bet we get guys like this coming to UNT instead of them going up to OU before too long.

On the whole Meager versus Vizza thing... If Daniel Meager can go 15-27 against OU, things aren't as bad as the anti-Meagers think. He wasn't doing that well against much worse competition last year. I think Vizza is a better runner, although Meager did have a nice run. Vizza also appears to throw a better long ball. Either way, it looks like we'll do well as the season progresses. I can't really complain about either guy at this point.

Please absolve Aaron Weathers from this discussion. Here is a clip from a Sooner YouTube thingy. Weathers, temporarily, stopped two TDs. If he's not our best athlete, I don't know who is: Also, the very last thing on the tape is the TD that TD contested. That receiver from OU made an amazing catch. We won't see another like him this year, or in a long time. Can't really blame the Nurudeen for that one. He had the guy pinned to the sideline and he still made the catch. Almost no one else makes that catch. Although it's painful to watch, there were something upon seeing it from these different angles that might help put things in perspective. Here's a couple of things I noticed: -The interception their #11 had was stolen from Fitzgerald. I expect the coaching staff will be on him to not let that happen again. Fight for the ball. -Yes, their d-line was bigger. Yes, it was faster. But, sheesh...Venegas was getting his lunch eaten out there. I thought he was hurt. After watching this video and seeing him get beat, I kind of wonder why he wasn't pulled sooner. Facing guys bigger and faster is challenge enough, but to do so while fighting through an injury...maybe a questionable call. Who knows. Leftwich is probably the coach with the most college experience, so I trust him. I just feel bad for Adam after seeing the clips at the different angles. Finally, again...I wouldn't worry about the tackling/coverage/schemes unless those things are breaking down against SMU and our Belt foes. Also, again, this game gave the coaches plenty of teaching material. I bet we see massive improvement this weekend. Plus, SMU coming off a short week...things can only get better.

I'm reading this thread and thinking we need some perspective. First, there's no way, given the conference we are in, it takes until 2009 or 2011 to be competitive. Realistically, it could happen this year, and certainly next year. This isn't like Bayor and their never-ending search for a way to become competitive in the Big 12. We're in the Sun Belt, and teams rise and fall pretty quickly due to the hit and miss nature of every school getting more lower level/"project"-type recruits than schools in bigger, more competitive conferences. Second, it may sound crazy after getting pasted 79-10, but we will only see that kind of athletes OU has one more time at Arkansas, so don't panic. Malcom Kelly is one of the best receivers in the country. He lit Evyn Roman up, as did Juaquin Iglesias. But, remember, Kelly and Iglesias weren't starting their first collegiate games. Both are juniors with tons of experience against other big programs. Once we're back in our conference, things will look different. Third, statement #2 may make some of you mad because one of your chief complaints about DD was his OOC record. Well, guess what? Rome wasn't built in a day. Getting over the hump for against big time OOC school will take some time. When you look at Appalachian State beating Michigan, you've got to step back and realize that their coach has been there 19 years and has a roster full of players who are coming off back-to-back national titles. Yes, they're I-AA, or whatever they call it now. But, they're not spring chickens just coming out in the yard. We're working with new schemes on both sides of the ball. It's not going to happen overnight against OOC schools the magnitude of OU or Arkansas. Fourth, the learning curve isn't just with players, but with coaches. Many of us last night wondered why Mendoza didn't give more help to the corners. Well, in the end, it doesn't really matter. If that's the way his defense is, that's the way it is. Players will either sink or swim. You might have noticed OU does the same thing. They play a ton of man converage. Again, the difference is they had juniors who had been working in the same scheme for three years playing man. We didn't. As I've posted a couple of time already, it won't be worry time for me until (and if) Sun Belt teams are abusing our corners. If that happens, then we can question Mendoza 'til the cows come home. Finally, as one poster said earlier to day, jump out of the mean green kool-aid if you thought we'd compete with OU and Arkansas right off the bat. Dodge did what we wanted - he kept with the game plan. Due to the speed and talent differences, that led to a lopsided score. If you wanted more than that, it'll be pretty much impossible for this or any coaching staff that hits Denton to ever please you. And, now...SMU. P.S. - To all of you going to the radio show, please don't spare Dodge to death with "why didn't you do this or that" questions. Give the guy a break. Congratulate him on the things we did well, and thank him for acting competitive at the end. Asking him to pick apart a game where he didn't have the horsepower to stay in the race is going to give alot of people tired head, including him.

If I'm not mistaken, Roman is a JUCO guy that signed late in June. So, he only went through fall practices in this scheme. Like with everything and everyone else, I'm reserving judgement until we hit SMU and then the Sun Belt. The SMU's young WRs are flying past him, then I'll start worrying. There were a few times where he jammed OU's big guy at the line...just not enough times. Listen, there's a cliche that you do most of your improving between game one and game two. I'll bet alot of these who seemed to look bad up in Norman don't look half bad against the Ponies.

I sat in the north end zone smack in the middle of Sooner fans, they were fine. Most of them were busy watching those side score boards and talking about how Oklahoma State was getting whipped by Georgia and how Texas was struggling with Arkansas State. I think that pleased them more than anything. Besides, most of them left during the third quarter.

I posted in another thread that I wouldn't worry about Medoza and the defense unless Sun Belt teams were running track meets through our secondary like OU did. It could well be that Mendoza told the guys, "Look, this is our defense, you take your licks and learn it." With the speed difference and the experience OU had in the WRs and TEs they returned, I'm not sure any amount of in game tinkering would have made much of a difference. The point, to me, in all of it, is that Mendoza, Dodge, and every coach now has game film to show the players what they mean when they're coaching. Practicing a new system against one another for spring and fall practices is one thing, doing it on game night is quite another. No matter how much Dodge and his staff coached and encouraged the guys in the spring and fall, there really was no way to know if player really grapsed what to do. Well, now there's plenty of game film for the coaches to say, "Hey, when we said do this, this is what is looks like if you don't do it." It's all a good, good in the long run... ...unless Sun Belt teams are doing the same thing to us late in October. Then would be the correct time to panic and bitch. Not now.

I agree with this to some degree. Each level has more sophistication and speed as you go along. I watched Mendoza last night and he was really mad in the first half. Yet, he didn't change his game plan. To me, it just as big a learning curve for him and the high school coaches we hired as it is to a freshman playing his first game. OU ran the same pass plays over and over. They worked and we didn't adjust. Hey, you know what? Maybe we should have or maybe we shouldn't have. It probably wouldn't have mattered in the long run. I wouldn't worry yet. It could be that the coaching staff has told the guys, "Look, this is our defense, and you're going to have to take your licks and learn it." I won't worrying about it unless Sun Belt teams are doing it to us. If Arkansas State and FAU, etc. receivers are running all over our DBs and the game plane doesn't change, then I'll be worried. But, against OU and Arkansas...what can you really ask the DBs to do about the speed difference, and with OU the experience? All of the their WRs and TEs had significant playing time over the past two or three seasons. Most of them were returning starters.

Scouring the Sooners website, the guy who got beat on the TD, then later picked off Vizza is a third year sophomore who had only played in one game his entire career. Before last night, the kid had no stats. No tackles, no assisted tackles, no interceptions...nothing. Also, the guy is listed as a linebacker, not even as a defensive back, and they ran him out there to cover a wide receiver. So, what do you want? I suppose Stoops could have called the cheerleading squad over and put uniforms on them, but...what else? So, please. Spare us the, "Stoops ran it up on us." Guys who had never been on the field were picking off passes and sacking our QB because we were still passing in fourth quarter behind 63-3. Seriously. Who's fault is that? There isn't even any fault to be assigned. To me, it's just game film stuff Dodge and the staff can use to help make the players involved better. And remember, OU didn't even play their top two tailbacks. Alan Patrick was out injured and Chris Brown was suspended for the game. So, we faced guys #3, #4, and #5 on their depth chart....plus some scout teamers at the end. So, can we please... ... move on to SMU, please.

As usual, the newspaper only includes one sentence of a whole group of thoughts. Here was the entire answer to the question some newspaper idiot asked Stoops after the game: “Well, we were telling our guys not to score, if they broke free we were telling them to take a knee or something. I got worried when Mossies Madu tore around the corner and looked like he was going to score. Their style of play didn't really help either. They got on the line and snapped the ball with 20 or so seconds left on the play clock. I'm not criticizing, I'm just saying that the style of play doesn't help either.” Todd Dodge answering the same line of questioning: "“I just talked to my team and I told them that obviously Oklahoma is a great football team and they are very, very impressive. When you play a great team like that you always have a chance of having a disappointment. I told my football team that you have to give credit where it's due, but part of the final score had to do with us not waving the white flag. We've got to continue executing to try to execute our offense late.” You know, we can't be unhappy that Dodge is still throwing even when we're beaten. It's like when guys train by using wind parachutes or Mike Alstott pushing a Volkswagon around the parking lot in high school and college to get stronger. Okay, Dodge knew bad things could happen. An OU walk-on (Lamont Robinson) got beat for a 69 TD, then turned around and got an interception on the next series. Big deal. The point is, SMU will not have the same size and speed as OU. Neither will anyone else in the Sun Belt. The mass we push will not always be as big as OU or Texas or Arkansas. Stoops is right in what he said afterward, and so was Dodge. If a guy drops back to pass, in the end zone, and his team is behind 77-10, what do you expect? Are the OU coaches supposed to tell the third teamers who rarely see game time not to play hard? Like, "Hey, son, if the guy drops back to pass, just stand there and let the lineman knock you back." Please. Dodge did what he needed to do. SMU is probably more like OU's third teamers that were scrambling on the field for OU in fourth quarter. So, that Dodge kept working his game plan against them is, in my eyes, nothing but good. Plus, there can't possibly be any negative in Vizza getting as many snaps as possible. Look at it this way... On the bad plays Vizza made, would you rather it have been up at OU gaining experience, or would you rather it have been against SMU or FAU when he's pressed into action in a game we can win? Dodge keeping him in there, depsite the errors, is good. This kid made some errors that Dodge can show him on film and he can correct before SMU and the Sun Belt. As for Stoops, there's only so much you can do when the team on the other end of a 63-3 score keeps throwing and running a hurry up offense. The guy who had the safety, Alan Davis, has been at OU for four years. He hadn't made a tackle since 2005, and had none last year because was moved to fullback - third team fullback to have enough guys on the scout team. So, Stoops and his staff are supposed to tell these guys who maybe have played in a handful of game in their career, some of them walk-ons and career scout teamers, to do nothing once they get on the field? Newsflash, a defensive end's job is to rush the passer. I guarantee you Todd Dodge and Spencer Leftwich are not pulling aside the offensive lineman who got beat by OU's third string DE for a safety and letting him cry on their shoulders. I guarantee you they're not sitting the OL down and saying, "Oh, those bad Sooners should have stopped rushing the passer when we kept throwing." I will guarantee that Dodge and Leftwich are sitting with them over game film and pointing out their mistakes and telling them how to avoid making the same mistake again. Finally, don't be so sensitive. Many of you have spent the whole offseason building this whole thing up into something it can't be until the right athletes are recruited into it. You've got to be realistic. It doesn't matter what Dodge's high school record was. He was coaching and game planning against high school coaches and players. It's not that way anymore. There will be a stiff learning curve against the OUs and Arkansas' of the world. It's no big deal. At least he's still making the players run the system until the end. He himself said it best, that we weren't out there "waving the white flag. We've got to continue executing to try to execute our offense late." He's right. You all who confuse lack of perfect execution as OU running up the score are wrong. And, if Todd Dodge were standing in front of you, he'd say the same thing. Be thankful for his mindset, too. It will help this thing get off the ground sooner rather than later.

Banowsky's dad was OU's president in the late 70s/early 80s. He also got this undergrad and law degrees there. Probably smart to withdraw. It makes more sense to have someone leading a conference with no ties to any of the schools to prevent favoritism.

Baylor also went to a spread offense last year. There are tons of spread offenses around the country. Stoops sees Tech's version every year, and last year saw Baylor's and Missouri's in addition. He also was defensive coordinator at Florida when Leach was offensive coordinator at Kentucky. And, as the Florida D-coordinator, his defense lined up against Steve Spurrier's Fun and Gun everyday in practice. ' So, to say Stoops has seen a ton of different spread offenses over the past decade would be a vast understatement. That's the rub - the more common an offense becomes, the more opposing defensive coaches get accustomed to defending it. The I had it's day. The wishbone. The spread has been in college for the better part of three decades now, beginning out West and eventually going coast to coast. But, really, only Spurrier at Florida has won it all (1996) using a spread offense - and that was with Stoops as his defensive coordinator. People are getting used to defending it, so it's not as novel as some like to believe. Saturday will be a long day. As I posted over the summer, special teams will have to make plays for us to stay in the game and keep them from having continuous momentum. OU's game plan will be decidedly vanilla due to their game the following week against Miami. This work in our favor only if we can do something on the lines. Their D-line is their big question mark; ours is our O-line. It'll be interesting to see who gets the better of it there.

Defer all you want. You have right here in this thread a parent dispelling your statement that DD didn't want his son. And that was the crux of the thread. Nitpick it all you like, it doesn't change the fact that you were simply wrong. And, further, that your wrongness on this issue is nothing but the manifestation of your continued irriational DD hate spewing. You might just give it rest one day...but, I doubt it. You're too wrapped up in what you think is "loyalty" and being a "true fan." In other words, you're blinded by a sick obsession to be right about all thing UNT football...even if it means lying about what DD did or did not do about POP's son. Also, that I don't off the cuff have every assistant coach in North Texas history memorized is nothing but evidence that I have a life outside this board, something some of you may also want to consider. And, I mean seriously consider.

Rick and Lifer- You apparently missed the post by POP...or ignored it. Probably ignored it: Hmmm. According to POP, it was Martin who decided not to offer. Or, are you unable to read English? Or, is it that you simply hate DD and just make stuff up about him? I'd say it's probably a combination of both.

"I'm extremely disappointed, coach Dickey has always been there for me," said senior receiver Johnny Quinn. "He gave me a chance out of high school, and he believed in me. I believe he will go on to bigger and better things." -Quinn on RV asking DD to quit, from The North Texas Daily, November 11, 2006 Hmmm. Seems Johnny tells a different story about whether DD wanted him. Oh, well. I guess you can't always go by what a player says. It's better to look for truth on message boards, where posters pine after Division II wide receivers.

Wow. A website by Texas fans ripping a team that beat them last year. How novel. I wonder if this kid will turn in the website as a creative writing project since its value in term of football insight is nothing.

When life gives you lemons....