GrandGreen

I am confident I don't have any more answers than you do. I think most agree that the team has the talent and experience to be much better. The question is can the coaching staff improve enough to guide this team to challenge for the league title. In your style, I think NT has a 75% chance of winning 3 or more games and about a 20% change of winning 7 or more. As far as recruiting, I am not sure of what constitutes taking a hit. We won't get any players that SMU or TCU recruits and probably will lag the rest of the Texas fb division schools. However, this was basically what happened last year. I don't think recruiting will be much different from last year. As far as attendance, it will be the same as this year. The attendance will mirror the play of the team; the more wins, the better attendance. 95% chance Dodge will finished out next year's season as head coach. That is quite different from asking whether TD will return for his final contract year. I would put those odds at about 50%.

There is no way this could be anything but the opposite of bold. I frankly don't know what RV hoped to accomplish with this evaluation fiasco. What purpose did it serve? If he truly believes that TD can turn it around next year, why all the drama?

Not sure you can tell much from a game like this, but it certainly wasn't the high scoring dunk fest for NT some envisioned. USW lost their last two games 77-111 to Southern Utah and 75-130 to Oklahoma Baptist. So a 91-62 victory does not look all that good. Not to mention Evans scoring 40 points on the Green despite being benched with over 3 minutes left. He could have broke the all time record for scoring at NT which I believe is 45. He averaged 20 per game prior to the NT game. There was little defense by either team. If White hadn't had his A game, this game might have been in doubt.

MG playing no defense. Already Evans with 26 points for USW.

I doubt an one win conference team is going get a lot of support for all conference selections.

Obviously, RV should be judged based on his performance and nothing is more important to an AD than the football program. RV has largely escaped criticism throughout his career despite a lot of wrong turns mixed in with his successes. A successful stadium campaign will probably give him job security despite the Dodge hire. I do question what the heck, RV is doing with the Dodge decision. This meeting with the President to determine Dodge's fate seemed to be a smoke screen, but for what?

While waiting for the big decision, a look at what NT should/could have coming back. QB-Everyone returning- A lot of people don't like Dodge as QB and his many injuries do raise serious questions. However, he was third in the conference in average total yardage as a red shirt freshman. It is also questionable he will return if a new coach is hired. I think QB will be a real question going into next season. If Dodge is not the answer, NT better look for a juco to take over the position. I have never understood why Dodge backed up Riley with two drop back passers who basically can't run the same offense. RB- Lose Montgomery, but position should be super strong with Dunbar. Good supporting cast with Hamilton, Mosley, and Mathis. WR- Lose Dickerson, but all starters return plus heralded redshirts Cole and Stradford. Big question mark going into last season but looks like a good cast next year. OL- Lose Menard, Hollovay, Bailey, return four starters plus Freely who started as a freshman. Also return Tomlison who started several games and a good cast of redshirts in Franklin, Flax and Noble. The offensive line with three year starters Santiago and Drake and two year starters Johnson and Gill should be best in the Belt. The offense should be loaded, but the quarterback issue could derail a potentially very good offense. DL- Lose Gilmore and apparently Owusu-Hemeng, but everyone else who played meaningful minutes returns. I think the defensive line was the biggest issue going into last year and still is next year. NT had some success with its small de's Obi and Akpunka, but Gilmore was their best player once the coaches, who apparently couldn't see what even the most causal fan could, decided that he was best at de. I assume Weber was redshirted and he could provide some size at the DE position. I think Cantly who like Gilmore was slotted in the wrong position for a lot of the year should be a dt. DE is thin and numbers as well as size, definitely need help. DT was a game of musical chairs last year with Gilmore, Desoto, White, Atkinson, Jackson, Ross and Cantly all playing. At times they played well, but they were inconsistent. LB- Lose Nwigwe, but return all starters at the end of the season. I believe this position needs a lot of help next year. Look for Penson, Robertson to start with the third linebacker coming from Shorter, Phillips or redshirt Herron. Need numbers and play-makers. Starters may be adequate but little depth. DB- Lose Adams and Bush (did he ever play?), return 3 starters in Royce Hill, Smith, and Cooks. Should be really strong next year if they can find a good corner to replace Adams. Could move Smith back to CB and start Williams. Although the defense returns 10 starters from the last game. I am still concerned particularly with the defensive line. Lots of bodies returning but I haven't seen any dominating talent. Overall, I think it is obvious that NT should have more talent returning next year than in the last 5 years. Unfortunately that is not saying a whole lot. I do think pending the QB situation that should be good enough to be a middle of the pack Belt team, but I don't too many are going to be satisfied with that. The offense could be something special with a strong running game and potentially strong receiving corp and a veteran line. The defense should be Belt average but they also could be much better with just a few key additions and improvement in their defensive line play.

Yes, lets all pick an individual player to blame for this season's debacle. Pick one the QB, kicker, etc. and really ply it on because it is so helpful. Never-mind that whatever player you decide to highlight was playing because he was thought to be the best at his position. This team lost games for all kinds of reasons, bad play, questionable decisions, poor preparation, lack of talent at positions and at times lack of effort. Coaches are fair game in my book, but IMO to continue to deride particular players serves no positive purpose.

If he is not on the first team, it will be a travesty. Most good players on bad teams are ignored, but it will be hard to do that with the leading rusher and scorer in the conference. I doubt NT has any other first team players but Jackson, Santiago, and Robertson may get second team nods.

Did anyone say the players had to like Dodge? The question posed was if Dodge still had creditability enough to lead the team. I don't care if the team likes him, but they do have to have enough confidence in his ability to follow his direction.

I hope the decision to retain Dodge or go another direction has already been made. I fail to see how the last ball game could have tilted the balance in any direction. The question is not whether Dodge was a good hire, I think most of us realize at least in hindsight that he was not ready for the position. However, that is not the question. The question is, does Dodge provide the best chance to move the program forward or is it time to make a change. Everyone has an opinion, but few have the insight to make the call. Pending turnover, NT will have twenty returning starters plus some heralded transfers coming back next year. The talent is almost there to be a serious contender. The puzzle is whether Dodge and staff are the best option to steer this team or does NT have a better chance with a new coaching staff. It is RV's job to know the answer to that question. The same AD that took a big gamble on hiring a high school coach in the first place and then approved the formation of the least experienced coaching staff in decades. It is also only the AD and a few others that know what the true chemistry of this team is. Can Dodge be the leader of the program going forward or has he lost the necessary creditability among the staff and players to be effective? I would hope that RV if he has decided to release Dodge, has already got a replacement; an established coach with a high profitability of success. If that is not the case and it is determined that Dodge still has a good relationship with staff and players, than I would be aboard with giving Dodge another year. Not because Dodge deserves another year, but because he provides the best possibility of turning the program around next year. The worst thing that could happen, is for Dodge to be terminated and a new coach brought in that falters badly in the first year. At least if Dodge failed again next year, you still have the option of bringing in a new staff with the opening of the stadium next year.

I don't necessarily disagree, but I would like to know who these "old nesters" that are often referred to, are. They have apparently been anonymously running NT and Denton for decades.

Play to win like NT vs Alabama or Kansas State or just play to win against bad teams. I guess there would be few redshirts in your world. The coach should do what is best for the overall program. Thompson may never see the field again or he could turn into a championship QB who just lost a year of eligibility for next to nothing. I don't ever want to play to "loose" but using up a year of eligibility for a remote chance at winning a game against a bad ASU team is not good management. Not to mention, the obvious that trying to make it through a full year with only two ship QB's is questionable at best. It was very bad luck to have two QB's injured in a day and have your other at home apparently unable to play. He took a minor risk that turned out bad; but to me, he further excalated the issue by using Thompson. I do feel for coach Dodge and Riley; it was a horrible day for the family. I hope a decision on his job will be made quickly for everyone's benefit.

Would you tell me if scoring one more td made any difference? The likelihood of scoring another was remote at best, and even if that miracle would have happened; would a victory been worth a year lost for a promising QB. Disregarding the possibility that running out of the wildcat was as likely to be as effective as a never used QB performing. Thompson did do great and NT scored a meaningless td to get closer to beating a 3-8 team. I can't think of anyway using a year of eligibility for Thompson was worth a minute chance at ending the season 3-9. It even makes less sense than using Kyle White in the Alabama game, playing him a few series and losing his redshirt year.

Hopefully, NT will learn how to schedule. This game should have not been played. I hope the guarantee was generous to fly half way across the nation to lose to a mediocre BSU. I don't know if JJ was trying to conserve his players but it looked like NT was playing a slow down for much of the game. A weird strategy with NT having a big edge in depth and quickness against a bigger team. I assume Johnson is injured, NT sure needs his speed. Another great offensive game by White. Good minutes by Spencer and I thought Knox looked good for his few minutes. Tremial, again came on strong in the second half, but NT needs him the whole game.

I have never understood the over the top criticism of Riley. He has certainly played as hard as anyone could. He has made more than his share of mistakes, but has also been very effective at times. If everyone on the team played as hard as Riley, NT would have had a winning team. I hope he has a speedy recovery and I also hope we see much more of him in a NT uniform.

I don't see any comparison between Dodge action and the black jerseys. DD's action was a not so veiled fu to NT and the fans. Dodge just made another dumb game time decision. I can't believe that there is anybody defending putting Thompson in the game. Even if Dodge was guaranteed a victory with putting Thompson in, it was not worth it. I also wonder why with Riley's injuries, Dodge would not have another QB on the travel squad or at least a back up plan that didn't result in losing a year of eligibility for a promising player.

Crowd was maybe disappointing but it appear close to the actual number of fans without the usual over count. The team is exactly were most would have projected at 3-1, still I have been disappointed with the early play. I was hoping this team would be something special and break out of the mode of the last few years, were they mostly beat the powder puffs scheduled and lose to the name schools and play .500 ball in conference until the last third of the schedule when they have been able to bring it together. First, the team struggled some with Cameron, a team that is usually no competition. Then they have to go to double overtime against a very mediocre UTA team. Although any kind of victory over UTA is good; their guards got to the basket at will and if they had any kind of interior game it probably would have not even been close. NT did not get completely blown out by OSU, but I did not feel that NT played particular well. In the last game against Jackson State they did only what was necessary to win and despite several double digit leads, they could not salt the game away. I think JJ is struggling a little with the lineup. This team is ultra deep, and trying to sort out the various player combinations is going to take time. I think White is trying to settle into the pg role, but anyone that saw the UTA game would not question his ability or heart. I disagree with several who have posted about his poor shot selection. For someone that can put up the numbers that White can, he takes very few shots. I didn't see bad shot selection in ether the OSU or Jackson State Game, those are the type of shots he routinely makes when he is on top of his game. Odufuwu has as noted improved his game more than any of the return starters. He is not taking and missing most of the outside shots that he threw up last year. Tremial has had somewhat of a slow start but it looks like he is getting back to par. Thompson looks like he is trying harder on the defensive end but has not found his shoot yet. He may be feeling the pressure of so many other good shooting guards, but it seems that he is always challenged before solidifying his position on the team. Holman is the first big off the bench and appears to have greater potential. I would like to see Knox play, I believe based on what little I have seen of him that he may have a lot more potential than Spencer. Shorter, Mangrum and Thomas have all had flashes at shooting guard. I think any one of them could develop into a real asset but it is going to be difficult with the three plus Johnson sharing minutes. I think JJ may be better off playing 7 or 8 the majority of minutes and developing a better game rhythm, however rolling out 10 or 11 players should tire out a lot of NT's competition.

Dodge had one great recruiting class, his second. Anyone that thinks that Dodge still has sway with Texas High School only has to look at last year's recruiting class. NT recruited more out of the New Orleans area than they did the Metroplex. I give TD and staff credit, they did dig and scrape and came up with a few good recruits, but they certainly didn't out recruit any other fb division team in Texas. If Dodge remains, expect about the same this year. Dodge, frankly has little creditability in college coaching at this time, and it is obvious that NT will again be primarily recruiting against the lowest level fb division schools for players that have been mainly ignored by most teams. One good thing about Dodge and staff is that I think they will continue to battle for recruits unlike DD who was largely content to pick from the most available.

Peters commits to WKU, per Scout.

1. On paper, NT's best chance for another win. 2. For Dodge dissenters, a loss would be giant motivation for a coaching change. 3. For Dodge supporters, a victory would double last year's win(s) and curtail coach change talk until the next loss. 4. Get to see one of the most exciting players in the country, Lance Dunbar. 5. Great tailgating for those so inclined. 6. Fouts can be as scary as any haunted house. 7. Potential offensive bonanza as the two worst defenses in the Belt collide. 8. Game is to early to have post-game fireworks. 9. Get first hand fodder for the QB debate, no matter who plays and how well; it can provide the basis for endless debate. 10. Beating WKU is NT's only chance for having a winning streak over one against any team. 11. Just enjoy a good Saturday afternoon of college football. 12. Show support for your University

To the factors of city size, student number, alumni numbers, you might want to add that TCU ticket prices are roughly double what NT's are. I think the TCU attendance situation just demonstrates how difficult it is to prosper in the collegian football arena. TCU is a school with a great location, tradition and enourmous resources relative to NT and most of the non-AQ teams. Yet, they struggle for coverage and attention against the pro and Big Twelve dominated media and the ever present UT influence over the entire state.

Hey, you got two for a dollar. Great memories.

NT basically is out of the title race after a very disappointing weekend. NT would have to beat Denver at Denver. Denver just beat WKU 2-0 at Bowling Green. FIU would have to lose at home to the next to last place FAU and MTSU would have to beat WKU. Possible I guess but highly unlikely. Hopefully NT can regroup and gear up for the tournament.