The Fake Lonnie Finch

And, again, why it would seem to make no difference if they simply let Means play. The "Top Three" on the depth chart have them to the point of re-opening the competition half way through the season. Well...if you already know what you have six games in, and none of them are good enough, why keep wasting time with the same three? My only problem is the timing. I'd say wait another game before turning over the apple cart. Give Dajon one last chance. If he falters early hand it to McNulty. Then, next week, seriously consider throwing Means into the mix. At that point, what could it possibly hurt? If you are really concerned about winning games and "keeping the momentum" of the 2013 bowl season, it doesn't make sense to me that you keep turning to the "Top Three" QBs who can't get it done. By the way...I never in my worst nightmares believed we'd be considering these things this season. It's unthinkable to me. But, if you go back and take an honest look at the depth and recruiting, well...I guess we should have seen it as at least an outside possibility that 2014 could be a timebomb waiting to blow up in our faces. We're always the fanbase that has the chair pulled out from under us, at worst, or has the whoopie cushion snuck under our butts at best. The Football Gods hate us...but, love laughing at our expense.

If Dajon and McNulty cannot beat a pretty bad Southern Miss at home, I don't see the sin in taking the redshirt off of Means. I mean, if we lose to a pathetic USM, we're sitting at 2-5. What more is there to prove? You will have given Dajon plenty of opportunities against "good" and bad teams. You know, after two seasons of being given the opportunity to learn the playbook enough to help the team, the coaches will have about all the information they need on whether Dajon will develop. So, if we fall to 2-5, give some other young kid a chance.

Yes. UAB was thankful we didn't bring our boring, ground-based offense to the game. Our exciting, wide-open attack suited them just fine. I've always believed that 56-35 = 21. My guess is, without all of the "excitement" Dajon gave the game, we'd have been down by maybe only a touchdown going into the fourth quarter. But, silly me...'tis better to have the game put out of reach in the first half than to try to be mistake-free and competitive on the road.

Then go to a two-tight end, pre-Lane Kiffin type of Alabama offense...because it is obvious that the passing game is not going to be our strength any time soon.

My thoughts exactly. The dad of a potential QB should be licking his chops at the thought of his son being able to start as a true freshman. All it would take would be one kid - one kid from anywhere - who could freaking learn a playbook quickly and completely and execute it. If he ran a 6.0 40 it wouldn't matter. Half or more of that battle is knowing what to do, then doing it... ...or, is knowing it half, then doing it the other half? F*ck it. Whatever. The point is, if a kid wants badly enough to start as an FBS true freshman, all he has to do for UNT is come in and get the playbook learnt and execute it with a minimal number of mistake problems.

He did win us. And, he won us our third bowl game. Anyone who doesn't see that is simply blind. As bad a Dajon is this year, do you really think if they'd flipped him in last year as a true freshman he'd have taken us as far as Derek Thompson did? Get real. Derek Thompson was The Man. He was the Father of your 2014 Mean Green hopes because of where he led us in 2013, whether you acknowledge the paternity or not. Don't deny it just because you sleep around with other theories of Mean Green Greatness and Hope. Derek impregnated your Mean Green brain with hope and joy. Go now, and take your Mean Green Hope DNA test. As Darth Vader goading hand cut off Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, "search our feelings; you know it to be true." It was Derek. It was, is, and always will be Derek. He is the Daddy of all our 2014 Mean Green hope, whether we admit it or not.

Southern Mississippi has only won two games as well: one against Alcorn State, the other against move-up Appalachian State...and, that one by just one point. I'd say if we can't handle this Southern Miss team at home, then it'd be time to hit eject. For this reason alone, I say start Dajon, but keep him on a short leash. Southern Miss is terrible. And, if we are going to have any hope of Dajon regaining the confidence he had after the Nicholls State scrimmage (sorry, I refuse to call that a game), this horrible USM team gives him that opportunity. After the last two games, it's difficult to know exactly how dumbed down the playbook has to be for Dajon to be successful. But, whatever it is, get it down there. If it comes down to "student-body-left, student-body right" get it down there. And, here's the other reason why: the offensive line, recipients of much offseason praise and love, needs to go out and earn those accolades! And, there's no better way to do that than a really dumbed down playbook that challenged the physical-ness of our line versus our opponent's. All of that being said, if it becomes apparent after a quarter or so that Dajon cannot handle even the most dumb of dumbdowned playbook calls, hand the reigns to Daddy-Scholie Boy and pray for that offensive line to live up to those preseason expectations. If we can't beat Southern Miss, then Katy bar the door...we will be deluged for the rest of the season...and, by pretty mediocre competition, unfortunately.

"Safety valve?" What in the hell are you talking about? This is an FBS-level football program...or, at least technically is such. There are redshirt freshmen and freshman doing things that you say we should expect Dajon to do. That is utter crap. This isn't the University of Dajon Williams. He's had a poor attitude and didn't learn the playbook. In my opinion, he's pretty damn lucky McCarney didn't pull his scholarship earlier after he had crappy off season workout, showed up out of shape, and didn't know the f*cking playbook in this second season with the team! We didn't play Alabama today; we played Alabama at Birmingham, a terrible program that can't draw more than moms, baby mommas, grandmas, cousins, and aunts and uncles. And, Dajon directly gave them three touchdowns - in one game! That has to be a school record. This "Dajon can't be expected" garbage has got to go. Other QBs around the country who are freshmen or redshirt freshmen are doing things we are supposed to wait for him to be able to do. You can't coach up a kid who won't be coached, okay? They gambled and lost on Greer. They "daddy-friend" scholied McNulty. And, that is why we are stuck with a kid who won't bother to put in the work to be a good QB. I honestly do not care who they play at QB the rest of the season. The offensive line is overrated. The supposed top three quarterbacks are all terrible. We have no one at WR...again. I'd bet you Ross Perot's dollars to doughnuts that you could cold start any of the true freshman QB sitting on our bench right now for the rest of the season and they wouldn't be half as bad as the three who are supposedly ahead of them on the depth chart. Honestly, you could begin next week to rotate Means, Wells, and Cousins in and out of the games and we'd be better off. Who knows? You might accidentally stumble upon someone who knows the playbook, can execute a play action pass, and not directly give up three touchdowns to opposing defenses.

Look, I'm not ever going to say Chico is Jesus, but... ...tell me why a redshirt freshman on scholarship at an FBS university shouldn't be expected to be able to execute a play action pass? Play action pass is pretty f*cking standard for any type of American rules football-type offense. Sorry. If we are waiting around for this kid to learn all the "intricate" nuances of a f*cking play action pass, then we are in deeper sh*t than we ever imagined.

Yes. It's certainly the correct adjective to describe ours. On the other side of the ball, though, the line is anything but defensive. We should, therefore, change from calling it the defensive line to calling it the accommodating line.

How hard is it, really, to find one quarterback who: (1) Is motivated to learn a play book? (2) Is careful with the football? We don't have one QB on the roster like that after four years with this staff. Or We don't have one QB on the roster like that after four years with this staff?

Wear a rubber.

I hate conflict.

I kind of get it. I shopped at Sack-n-Save when I was an young Eagle. They had really, really cheap beer...and, snacks. I suppose there are other places the new, young Eagles can buy their beer...and, snacks.

I don't think anyone has said "fire him." I think what people have asked is, "After four years and a bowl, why do we still have so many question marks at so many positions?" My opinion is one that few people like - North Texas has sucked for so long that it will be difficult for any coach to recruit well here. Many posters to this board get really worked up over the two-star recruits we sign. And, that's fine. They even denigrate the star system itself. Fine. But... ...for whatever reason, the schools who sign the highly starred players seem to do the best. Do they go undefeated every year? No. But, they do well. I don't see Alabama, Florida State, OU, Texas, etc. saying, "To hell with this star system, we'll just sign anyone." I'm not saying they recruit based on the stars. But, the people who made the system are somehow identifying, more often than not, the better players. Few, few coaches who have been in our situation - stuck with taking Unrated to two-star players, to an occassional three-star player - have done well for long. You can throw TCU's Gary Patterson into that camp. Also, the several coaches who have coached at Boise throughout the years. Until last season and this, Tulsa had made a good habit of it (see...who you hire at AD and football coach counts, TU...idiots). Mac did build Iowa State's success on unheralded guys. Will he do the same here? We don't know. Last year's squad was teeming with Dodge leftovers. I know we all despised Dodge. I certainly had no love for him football-wise. But, in the end...his last couple of classes had a few gems. Understand this... ...we've seen the post on the other thread showing how many kids from Mac's first two recruiting classes left or "didn't pan out" (or transferred to a JUCO, then to Baylor to sit on their bench as they had success without him contributing much). That's left us with less depth and talent than many of us thought we'd have by now. So, what to do? Nothing. Just suck it. You can sit and be wistful and unrealistic for only so long. But look, if everyone had a chocolate flavored penis, we'd all be more popular with the girls. We don't have chocolate flavored penises, so it is what it is; and, you'll have to work, scratch and claw for your own wool. Same with McCarney and his team. And, whatnot.

Look... ...The C-USA sucks, okay? There. I said it. It's nothing more than Sun Belt II with a couple of FCS/Startups included to make it suck even more. Alright? So, what does that mean? It means we don't have to be great to go to a bowl game in this conference. We are the de facto old Sun Belt, so we only have to be old Sun Belt good because C-USA had many more bowl contracts than the old Sun Belt. (That, of course, will change when the contracts expire and the bowl boards and advertisers see that C-USA is now AAC and Sun Belt is now C-USA. But, for now, it plays into our hands very nicely.) So, don't worry. Teams who get to bowl eligibility in the current C-USA do not have to be world beaters. Not even close. They will all be like us - win every other week. Just admit to yourself - or, just realize - that the conference we are in sucks, with teams sucking and with many questions about themselves as we have with half the season gone. Okay?

Pitt is on the lists I make of schools I thought would be willing to home and home us. I know Marshall is closer to them. I hope we get some news like this soon.

Yes, but who has a winning record at North Texas? These guys don't live in a vacuum. They understand what an uphill battle guys like McCarney accept when they come to these schools. If nothing else, it likely impresses them that he was able to take schools like Iowa State and North Texas and turn them into bowl teams. Not an easy feat. You notice that Iowa State hasn't exactly been the bowl regular without McCarney as it had grown into with him. Coaches at this level understand. I think what he probably has a right to bitch about his working his ass off, doing more than his predecessors with trying to help attendance and interest, yet coming out on Saturday home games to a beautiful new stadium that isn't near full. At some point, that might wear even a high energy guy like Mac down.

How is it too early too question Mac? We questioned Dodge much sooner than his fourth season. And, it was at about this point in his fourth season that he was fired. We're not talking about firing. I think what we're beginning to question is the depth and development. Canales has been here for five seasons, Mac four. And, yet... ...at QB, we're "hoping" the current guy develops because no one else on the roster has ...at WR we only have one guy making plays consistently ...at TE we appear to have depth, but not consistency in making plays ...at OL we were led to believe that this group was going to dominate based on experience; but, outside of Nicholls State, that hasn't happened this year, which is a shame because the one place we do seem to be okay is at RB. ...at DL we are thin on experience, and getting blown off the ball ...at LB we have not had a playmaker step forward to replace Orr; and, really, who besides Orr was a consistent playmaker at LB? ...at CB we still seem to shuffle a lot of bodies from here and there, and it hasn't helped us against teams with half-decent passers, which is a shame because we do seem to have had some decent Safety play. Special teams seems okay. The new kicker is pretty good. I know we were spoiled by watching Chancellor as our return guy for the past few seasons. But, still, where is the talent to replace him? We all fully understand that this isn't a "reload not rebuilt"-type program the way an OU, Texas, or Alabama are (should be, anyway). But, doesn't it strike you that after four years with a coach that the depth and development shouldn't be as...lacking in so many areas? I can understand if you were not deep in maybe one part of a unit. But, on offense and defense, we seem to be waiting on development in many moving parts. I suppose at the end of the day we only have to finish 4-3 in a pretty mediocre conference to make another bowl. But, if we can't make a second bowl game in this conference with a coach and staff as experienced as any in the league, isn't it right to start to raise some questions about recruiting and development? And, please recall, I've been staunchly in McCarney and Canales' corner when many here raised these questions sooner. So, I wasn't lighting my torch after the Texas loss, or even the Louisiana Tech loss. Hopefully, we can whip UAB and this thing will begin to gel. But, honestly, I'll be worried if we can't run on UAB, or if they somehow beat us. I know they are "improved"...however, I'd have a hard time digesting a loss to a team that has been down for so long, then led by an FCS via high school coach guy in just one season. Ya know?

I believe in being honest. All they are doing is forming a union of conferences and schools to be able to do what they gave SMU the death penalty for. They got tired of policing themselves, so they just decided the infractions weren't going to be infractions anymore: "We're all committing these crimes, so they are not crimes." (By crimes, I mean breaking their own rules they made as NCAA members...and, by allowing the general lawlessness of certain players who brought them money for their athletic prowess.)

Their coach is another one of these high school whizzes who did well at a lower school, then got the call up. Still wonder if that wouldn't have been the better route for Todd Dodge.

If we show our ass at UAB due to the passing part of the offense, I will strongly disagree with Coach McCarney. What we have out there now is one playmaker...or, the same problem DT faced much of his career here as well. Difficult for any QB to improve when the doesn't have more than one guy he can really count on. Also...makes things much easier for opposing defensive coordinators to scheme if you've only got to take one guy out of the game. I know this is well covered territory in other threads but...we just seem too thin at many positions for four recruiting classes in. I'm straining to be a glass half-full type fan here because I do like McCarney, Canales, Grant and the crew. But, at some point, you have to look around and wonder why there aren't more viable contributors at this juncture.

Any chance Dan just gets bored of or frustrated with it? Bored of/frustrated with the inability to draw fans even when successful? He's not on the climbing up side of his career. And, while I loudly called for experience in the next hire, I fully understand the reality of apathy the coaches and department are up against in trying to get non-UNT and UNT grads alike excited about UNT sports. This message board is like preaching to the choir. The converts are out in the world, but they are not easy to convert. Dan could probably still command a pretty decent salary as a DL coach at a Criminal 5 school should his term here end, whether that end be voluntary or involuntary. So, in the back of my mind, I wonder what his jumping off point is. Forget firing. I'm talking about him just sayin, "F*ck it. I've begged these people long enough, delivered better results than what were here before me. I can make enough scratch coaching a line at Texas, OU, Michigan, Iowa...wherever, and not have the headache and bitching of this place."

I think that the network - whichever one wants to own the rights to Sun Belt, Sr. televised games - will pretty much dictate to Banowsky the terms of the deal. That is something I will pretty much guarantee.

Sometimes we wear the white hat. Sometimes we wear the black hat.