Greendylan

This is one of the tougher CUSA road trips that we'll face, so pulling off a split was a major victory, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, that appears to be the mantra this season. Regardless of the quality of our play, we need to figure out how to close out games against good teams. We desperately need wins, and they need to start against Marshall on Saturday. If we lose that one, it may indicate that we're simply not conference title contenders. I'm still confident that we'll be a tough team to beat at the Super Pit, but we can't lose nearly every road game and still pretend that we're one of the top tier CUSA teams.

We could still win 10 conference games, but I think that's toward the upper end of what is realistic. We've gone 8-10 the last two years, and while I could see us maybe picking up an extra win or two this season, I wouldn't expect much more than that.

For those of you who think we're ready to roll through conference play after losing a whole bunch of tough non-conference games, giving up 61 points in a half should give you pause. We still have only 1 win away from home, which was in Arlington. I don't feel too optimistic about our chances at Marshall in a couple days.

It is quite possible that we will end up being outscored by 30 for the second half.

This is one of the worst second half meltdowns I have seen from this team--and I have seen a lot of them over the years.

We hired Todd Dodge and Tony Benford. And, it's not even the hires that bother me but how long we kept both of them, despite historic failures.

Skip Holtz is the absolute model of G5 consistent coaching/recruiting. He was a tremendous hire for Louisiana Tech and, if he ever leaves, will probably be a solid hire for whatever program next gets him. But, there's no chance in hell that he would ever leave LaTech for UNT, regardless of money. If he did, it would be because his stock fell or somehow his relationship with the AD there soured. One thing I've always admired about Louisiana Tech's athletic department is that they so rarely are ever terrible at any major sport. They aren't always conference championship caliber, but they are almost never at the bottom of the conference. Meanwhile, at North Texas, history tells us that after things go south and we miss a bowl game, it usually takes MANY years of rebuilding before we are even competitive again.

Odufu-who? Odufu-wa!

OU about to take the lead after we were up 10 like 2 minutes ago. Complete meltdown.

Andrew beat me to it. OU did pick up a few toward the end of the half. To be fair, some of the disparity was due to Z. Simmons being out much of the first half and our other players struggling to defend in the paint.

7-0 in fouls

I realize that this is a different era, but we had a clear majority (2/3 at least) when we played both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. I could be mistaken, but I don't remember it that way at all.

We won't.

I hope so. I actually think that game is far more important than many realize, if we are considering the long-term health of the Littrell era.

4-8 this year. Next year we will win about 2 games. The trajectory is not pointing upward.

Game over with that Rice first down

Exactly. We need a jumpstart, and more importantly, we need experience for next year. This season is done.

Those are the numbers of a team that is either playing a top 5 opponent . . . or has given up.

Hello, bottom 10!

I think this team is done.

Absolute disaster of a second half.

Seems to be a game of runs for both teams so far.

OK, we no longer get to complain when other schools get our name wrong.

OK, point taken! For the record, I am pretty optimistic about the season overall, and I have a lot of faith in McCasland. I am just trying to emotionally brace myself for a lot of tough moments in the early part of the season. Having so many new pieces to fit into our offense, we are struggling to find a rhythm and any consistency (though the NC A&T game revealed signs of improvement). I think we have a deeper roster, which will pay dividends by the end of the season, but we are missing Woolridge's explosiveness out of the PG position. So, new faces plus a challenging out of conference schedule probably equates to a frustrating first month and a half of the season, but hopefully (fingers crossed) we will make up for those early losses with a big improvement in conference play vs. last year. But yeah, Rhode Island has a very strong program. Utah State is one of the top teams in the nation.