Big E

Look what Cody Sokol brought to LaTech for just one year. Other teams won't wait to start positioning for good players. I'm sad for the UAB Nation and don't take it for granted that we still have our football program. However, this is an opportunity to say to their best players that we are sad to see this happen to you, but want you to know we want to talk with you about continuing your football career at North Texas and helping us be conference and bowl champions. I imagine recruiting can start soon under these circumstances. We need some help and they have some guys that can meet some needs.

Time to call up the best of the UAB players that outperformed ours this season and get as many as we can to come to UNT next season. They have some really good athletes.

McNulty made some clutch throws to get us back in the game and give us a chance. He certainly missed on some throws and his height was a disadvantage that led to several blocked passes at the line of scrimmage. But, he had some nice runs and throws and overall made good decisions. He proved to be elusive in the pocket when pass protection started to break down. He looks much better now than he did. And that is good for next year's team, regardless of whether he starts or not. He will either be a much more experienced starter or a very experienced back up, which will be much different than the situation we had going into this year. I'm glad he has one more year with the team. I recall that Derek Thompson really came on in his senior year. Going back in history I can't help but think of Jason Mills who was much maligned until he came on in his senior year and finished his career with one of the gutsiest performances in a victory over Utah State. Show McNulty some support. He earned it this year and especially yesterday. I'll be cheering on the Mean Green next year regardless of who starts at QB, because that's what true fans do...we support our team through good times and challenges.

Pegram has had some nice flashes, but he just doesn't seem the same after the knee injury and they seem to be protecting him by not using him a ton, certainly not like the workhorse that was Byrd. Jimmerson looks pretty good, but doesn't have the speed of a Dunbar, so he gets caught often trying to break it outside. Wilson seems to have the speed, but injury has prevented us from seeing all that he appears to have. I agree the o-line has not dominated like many thought they would in conference play.

Our defense is going to be really good. Even though the defensive line is smaller, they were not getting pushed off the line by the much larger Texas O-line. The rotation of players kept the players as fresh as possible and I was impressed at how our defense did not appear overly fatigued. The Wintrich strength and conditioning program appears to be excellent and will pay off. I feel really good about our defense and special teams. My only concern on special teams is will we have the big play ability we had with Brelan. To restate the obvious, QB play was poor with terrible passing accuracy. It's hard to tell what our WRs and TEs will be able to do with so little to evaluate based on the poor throws, but if our QBs can improve their accuracy, which I believe they will (at least to an average level), I think we will be ok at the receiver spot. RBs will be strong with better o-line play and a better passing game. Our o-line will be a strength this year, but they were only fair last night against superior athletes and under constant blitzing. They did not keep the pocket open as long as they did last year (even against Georgia, if memory serves me correct). They struggled to get holes open for the RBs. Canales found more success when he had the offense start running outside veers to stretch the defense and allow for a little more running room (in the 4th quarter). I think the team will be fine after they take their learnings from this weekend and move on and get a fresh start next week against a much more evenly matched SMU team. Go Mean Green!!!

Go Johnny, go!!! That's awesome!!!

HOD Bowl - Cheering with the largest group of UNT fans to ever watch the Mean Green in person! It was an awesome day! My UT grad wife was there with me and was very impressed!

Total lack of maturity by this young man. And he probably received some bad advice from family/friends and/or he didn't want to listen to good advice. Of course the other Tech QBs understood...less competition for them with Mayfield gone and they don't have to listen to him complain anymore! Interesting that he followed the lead of his best friend, Garrett Gilbert, by leaving his school when things got challenging. He will learn that life is challenging and things don't always go as you expect or desire. You learn to adapt and persist...building strength and character along the way. He will probably get lost on the depth chart at OU if he ends up there. Ridiculous sense of entitlement from this fella'! But an interesting story...thanks for posting.

First bowl game in person! Watched all 4 NO Bowls on TV.

TEXAS!!!

Oh, ok...thank you.

Anyone getting redirected to Dallas Morning News account sign-in every time you try to click on a link for Vito's blog?

Lake Highlands High School Wildcats, Dallas, TX (Richardson ISD), class of 1992. Played TE and DT, wishbone offense, Wildcat/Ram Stadium was nicknamed The Boneyard. Consistent playoff team. Coached by the late Mike Zoffuto, who was made famous by providing guest commentary for the famed Plano East/John Tyler back and forth game, when he said, "God bless those kids...I'm going to throw up!" after JT came back to win the game. Coach was a great motivator who was driven by his battlefield experiences in Vietnam. Had three fellow seniors go on to play Div. 1A (Detron Smith, FB at TAMU and Denver Broncos/Indianapolis Colts; Marcus Coleman, DB at Texas Tech and Houston Texans/New York Jets/short stint with Dallas Cowboys; John Walters, LB at Alabama (played special teams true freshman year and won a national championship). Locker mate my senior year was a junior by the name of Phil Dawson, kicker at UT and longtime kicker of the Cleveland Browns. Another junior was a RB by the name of Roderick Newhouse...dad Robert of Cowboys fame. Roderick went on to play for Rice. Great memories!

I'm partial, but my vote is for my former teammate at Lake Highlands, Detron Smith (Class of '92). He was a man among boys as the fullback in our wishbone attack. Went on to play for Texas A&M, the Denver Broncos and finished with the Colts. He was 240 in high school with power and speed and quickness. He was the strongest guy on our team. Great memories!

The Interstate Batteries CEO is Norm Miller, UNT alum. I emailed Rick V. a few years ago to see if Norm had been contacted about Interstate being a major sponsor of North Texas athletics and never got a reply. I've always been surprised that Interstate hasn't had more of a presence at UNT with Norm's relationship to the university. I've heard Norm speak in person and he speaks very positively of his time at North Texas. Perhaps they are content with their NASCAR presence.

This is a no freak-out zone...this team will progress as the year goes along and this program will progress each year. FIU is very good and simply has better overall talent and had better execution. They won the Sun Belt last year and are the favorites to win it this year. Give it time...things will get better...we have the right coaches, the right facilities and this team is slowly, but surely getting the players and experience this team needs to win, but there is not a quick fix. In the mean time, I am excited to make the trip to Denton for our first home game in our new stadium!

Yep...saw it. I'm thinking free tickets possibly?

I share your excitement, FloMoGrad! As someone who has followed and supported this program since 1992, this is definitely the most support and "doing it the right way" I have seen from the administration!

Wouldn't that be $150,000? Regardless, pretty nice!

Thanks

Anyone know?

Just to clarify...I agree on Mean Green 93-98's post. With all due respect to Tasty Greek, I still think Bower would be worth checking into. But that is where RV steps in.

Absolutely. I agree with you.

Some thoughts: 12 players out for most if not all of the year since two-a-days...the 12th player is a true freshman, Knockus Sashington (gotta love the name). Most of these players are starters. Jason Sehorn and Dave Ryan, commentators for CBSCS were discussing how these injuries of this magnitude are unprecedented and break down the leadership and connectedness of the team in addition to the obvious problem of having so many of your top players out. They also brought up the fact that we are already short of the 85 scholarships available to FBS schools, so it just makes it worse. We need to support our team the entire season, no matter what happens with the coaching staff. It will be a monumental feat to overcome this many injuries, especially when you consider how tenuous the situation is already. The fact is that most of these players will be around next year and in future years. We need to support them...period. If Dodge can lead this team to a dramatic turnaround under the current circumstances, he'll be a hero. If not, RV will be faced with the biggest hire of his career. RV has done a great job with the athletic program in his tenure. He overcame huge deficits in facilities, lack of school and fan spirit and support and has helped to create a culture where people are proud to cheer our student athletes and our programs and facilities are vastly improved. The game atmosphere is dramatically improved, despite the W-L record. We will succeed and become a solid football program again. Perhaps Dodge pulls off the amazing turnaround. If not, I'm thinking Mike Leach and Jeff Bower are good places to start the coaching search. Leach may not be interested/affordable and I'm not sure what Bower is doing these days, but they are both proven HCs and are top of mind to me. For now, let's support the Mean Green as Dodge and his staff work to overcome improbable odds. Put yourself in their shoes. I can not imagine the pressure they are under right now. They want to succeed...let's support them in that. If they don't succeed, RV will make a change. The players, coaches and we, the fans, all understand that. Now they have a lot to do to get ready for FAU.

Just to clarify: Jackson dropped Thompson's deep throw, not Darius Carey, but Jackson came right back and caught a TD not long after.