The Fake Lonnie Finch

Here's my problem with the Confederate Flag... It was a flag of rebellion against the United States. To me, it's as offensive as the Mexicans rioting in the streets earlier this year waving the flags of Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, and the former Soviet Union. Mississippi is part of the United States. Their side lost the civil war. Ditch the flag. It's really that simple. Now, before any of you knee-jerk on me, know the following: -I am white. -I was born and raised in Texas, a state that joined the Confederacy, and lost with them. -I vote straight ticket Republican every time out, without exception. As long as Democrats continue their unrelenting pursuit of slaughtering the unborn, pushing gay marriage, and appointing judges that legislate from the bench, I will be a Republican. It's been almost 140 years since the Civil War ended. The only people who insist on propping up the Confederate Flag are morons who cloak themselves in the lame "tradition and heritage" crap. The Confederate Flag should no more be flown over any statehouse than should the flags of Great Britian, France, Spain, Mexico, or any other country we kicked out of here or bought out. This is America. Fly the American flag. If you were a confederate state and have some part of the rebellion flag in your current flag, sack up and change it.

The early JUCO signers enroll in January and practice in the spring. JUCOs that sign in February report and practice in August. Since no one has been recruiting, it's unlikely we'll get any early JUCO help.

Careful, I've suggested lightening the OOC schedule before and got accused of being Kenny Evans. Keep up that talk and they may think you're Fred Bleil!

Dear greenminer, My life is such that I won't ever be a regular poster (wife, kids, job, etc.). I'll simply be a UNT grad who jumps in every now and again. If people who make this their life don't like it, that's their problem, not mine. Warmest Holiday Regards, The Fake Lonnie Finch

Yes, and Taurean Henderson from Texas Tech is only one of three players ever to rush for 3,000 yards and catch 2,000 yards worth of passes. No one says you can't do both. It doesn't matter, though. The nature of spread offense keeps a team's defense out on the field most of the game. Therefore, the role of the strength and conditioning coach and staff is particularly important for schools who run that type of offense.

Agreed. I think that's why Darrell Dickey sometimes went north to Oklahoma for guys like Kevin Galbreath, Patrick Cobbs, and Michael Thrash.

By it's very nature, teams with spread offenses are not on the field very long whether they are scoring or not. You go three and out with incomplete passes, throw interceptions, or you gain territory very quickly and score. The onus, then, rests on the strength and conditioning coach and staff to keep the defensive unit ready at a moment's notice. The weakness of Texas Tech since Mike Leach has been in Lubbock has been that the defense will wear out in the second half. They've had some good defenders there during his tenure, but the nature of the offense dictates that they rarely win the time of possession battle. Take their game against Texas, for instance. They jump out to a 21-0 lead inthe first 10 mimutes, then spend the next 50 futilely defending the three score lead. In the second half of that game, Texas held the ball for 9:25 of the third quarter and 8:30 of the fourth. Texas Tech didn't score a single point in the second half of the 35-31 loss. So, another thing to watch it whom the strength and conditioning coach and staff will be. Their job will be key since the passing offense will have the defense on the field whether winning or losing.

Yes. Inasmuch as we are not playing any high school teams next year, it's worrisome. You'd like to have some guys who have schemed versus other Division I-A schools... ...or not. If not, this will indeed be a grand experiment all the way around.

Yes. SMU and TCU are recruiting the area daily. We are sitting on our hands waiting for a high school football season to end.

Okay, folks, we're going to do this Amplified Bible style... Mean'n'Green07 @ Dec 13 2006, 10:46 AM) I agree with fake. Im excited by dodge, and i think the talent level will rise quite a bit in the next few years, but lets face the facts. I don't know if any coach in football could pull this off given the time restraints and our current athletes. My response It's not just given the time restraints and athletes [that would prevent any coach from pulling off an upset of an OU or Arkansas]. It's that Billy Bob High School Coach [who Todd Dodge currently faces every week at Southlake] isn't standing on the sideline of OU or Arkansas with a sideline full of undersized white kids [the suburban schools Southlake plays week after week] who are on the team more to have a better shot at the cheerleaders [the modus operandi of probably well over 4/5th of suburban kids who suit up in football uniforms and go through the motions] than to actually play football [very few Division I-A football players actually come out of District 5-5A]. [Discussion of future non-Billy Bob High School coaches Bob Stoops and Houston Nutt that Todd Dodge will have to scheme against next year and the type of athletes they have followed.] It's not rocket science, folks; it's just a message board. Those of you with hundreds and thousands of posts may want to consider a life outside of the board every now and again. There is being a UNT graduate, and then there is an obsession with being a UNT graduate. Those of you who are obsessed, please, come down off the ledge. I know it's hard to understand for some of you, but the world is full of people with different opinions - even among those who support the same cause. Hence, political parties that can include both Arlen Specter and Sam Johnson, Ted Kennedy and Chet Edwards. Hence, people who believe in Jesus have churches that do have instrumental music and churches that don't; churches that have women preaching and churches that don't; churches where priests and pastors wear robes, and churches where preachers and pastors wear suits. Etc., etc., etc. With some of you, it's as if everyone must say that Todd Dodge has some ultra-system to install that will bug out the football world. Newsflash - he doesn't. It's called the spread offense. Variations of it have been making the rounds in college and pro football for the better part of three decades now. And, as already pointed out, many coaches Todd Dodge will face have already successfully defensed the master architects of the spread game, Steve Spurrier and Mike Leach. It's just a point of view, nothing more, nothing less. You may agree with it, you may not. But, if you take it personally, open the yellow pages and find and phone a psychiatrist. Seriously.

And, they're confused about my Billy Bob High School coach comment, thinking it somehow involves UNT players. Unbelievable. Or not.

It'd be nice to see what Collins does. He played tight end, split end, and defensive end as a prep. With his speed, I hope we split him back out. A 6-4, 220+ pound receiver with speed is a nice thought - like the kid from Hofstra that New Orleans has, Colston.

He and Seidle both will benefit. Also, David Collins, the other returning TE who is 6-4, 220 and ran on the 4x100 sprint team in high school. That guy may be the sleeper of the bunch depending on his hands.

Look at former Tulsa TE Garrett Mills. Before Kragthorpe arrived, he was basically playing the traditional tight end role. Kragthorpe split him out and he caught a ton of passes. The New Emgland Patriots took him on the fourth round of the draft this year and he made the roster. He's not a huge kid. He goes 225-230, run about a 4.6 40. But, he can catch. I think Dodge does similar things with our TEs/FBs.

That's why I mentioned that the offense only needs to move the ball more and not turn it over. We're making the same point.

You're obviously read only the parts you want to read. Otherwise, you'd have seen my comments about the defense. You're way too touchy. Several poster on here have agreed with me. Are they "trolls" as well? Just because I don't spend every moment of my life on this board doesn't make me any less a UNT fan than you. Neither does having a differing opinion about some things. Newsflash - not everyone will agree with you 100% of time.

He didn't say last night in the press conference.

You must be kidding. Not agreeing with you about everything = troll? Being realistic about what we have as far as athletes right now versus what OU and Arkansas has = troll? Sad.

Look at what Kragthrope does at Tulsa; he also runs a spread offense. What used to be TEs and FBs are generally spread out, playing in the slots, and close to the line. Also, in his press conference last night, Dodge said that Southlake basically ran out of only three sets and that UNT was already running far more offensive sets. So, having better TEs/FBs on the roster may be a plus for Dodge; more pieces to work with than he needed at the high school level. No pure spread team has ever burned up the NCAA. You either score so quickly that your defense never gets to rest (Texas Tech) or you stubbornly leave your QB to be pummeled because you're too married to your system to adjust to quicker opposing defenses (Houston in the early 1990s). I think Dodge uses the TEs and FBs in a similar way to Kragthorpe at Tulsa.

Next year, we return our top eight defenders from this season, and ten of the top 11. Sky Pruitt is the only graduate among the leading tacklers. We did a great job on the road in the second half of the season defensively, giving up only 14 at Troy and 7 and U La-La. As I stated in another thread, we can regain the Sun Belt title without the offense going full guns yet in 2007. The key will be to either retain Bleil or hire someone in his mold to continue what was becoming a pretty good defensive unit at the end of the season. If the offense can simply gain some first downs and cut down the turnovers, we give ourselves a chance by not constantly putting the defense in a hole every time they step out on to the field. If you look at our roster, you'll see we had 35 freshmen, 1 redshirt freshman, and 18 sophomores - well over half the squad. This team has plenty of room to grow and many years to grasp a system. The defense, however, is far ahead of the offense as far as I can see, and keeping it together should be the focus of the defensive coordinator decision.

It's not just given the time restraints and athletes. It's that Billy Bob High School Coach isn't standing on the sideline of OU or Arkansas with a sideline full of undersized white kids who are on the team more to have a better shot at the cheerleaders than to actually play football. Bob Stoops and Houston Nutt have seen spread offenses. Missouri didn't faze OU this year. Neither did Baylor or Texas Tech. Stoops and Nutt have both coached either with or against the spread offense Steve Spurrier runs. What I'm saying is that some of you need to come around to the reality that what Dodge is selling isn't new. Yes, it's new around Denton. But, it's a philosophy Big 12 and SEC coaches have seen for well over a decade now, year in and year out. Combine the athletic differences in the players at OU and Arkansas with the fact that their coaching staffs have already seen the spread and its varients, and we're better served focusing our energy on winning the Sun Belt again. I personally think we have a chance to win the Sun Belt title next year, but not because of some offensive revival. Going 1-3 or 0-4 out of conference never hurt us before. And, as long as we insist on playing the OUs and Arkansas' of the world, that's what will happen. A great defense gives you a chance no matter what the offense does. Think Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears. During their Super Bowl run a few years back, the Ravens got almost nothing from the offense, but the defense was so dominant that it didn't matter. The Bears have done that this year. Despite our record, we've already got some players on defense. If Bleil or some Bleil-like guy is in charge of our defense, we can beat enough Sun Belt teams to win the conference title while Dodge "gets his system installed, gets the right players, etc., etc., etc."

Ah, yes, Rocky...good point.

I think what you mean is that I seem to inject reality into the discussion. Let's focus on beating who we can beat. We haven't hired someone who has ever faced the likes of Bob Stoops with the type of athletes Stoops has at his disposal on both sides of the ball. We've hired someone who's been outcoaching the guys at Grapevine, Colleyville, and various other high school teams.

Oh? Which part of the post is clueless? Bob Stoops didn't coach with Steve Spurrier and with and against Mike Leach? OU doesn't return the vast majority of its 2006 starters in 2007? OU hasn't hung 50 or 60+ on Tech several times? The likes of OU and Arkansas don't by default have better athletes than we do?

Um, here's something to note - Bob Stoops was an assistant to Steve Spurrier, coached against and with Mike Leach, and the "spread" that Baylor tried to install this year didn't work against him. I sincerely doubt a former high school coach is going to show Stoops & Co. anything they haven't seen. I mean, it's just laughable. Add to that, Oklahoma loses only two starters on offense and maybe three on defense, so you basically have the Big 12 Champions returning intact for 2007. Look for a righteous beating in Norman next September. Remember, OU has hung 50 and 60+ on Texas Tech several times. Look, some of you are really outdreaming reality. Dodge is going to be 0-4 or 1-3 going into Sun Belt play, just like Dickey was. It doesn't matter what the scheme is. We are playing schools that by default have better athletes.