GrandGreen

As a diversion from football, a look at the soccer race were NT is faring much better. There are basically five teams left in the race, NT 7-0-1, WKU 7-1, FIU 6-1-1, MTS 6-2 and DU 6-2 Cobbling up a quick analysis of those 5 teams, shows some interesting items: Scheduling for Soccer is completely unstable. NT has only 4 conference home games this year which they have already played. Denver has 5 home games, MTS 6, and FIU and WKU 7. Yes, I realize that this evens up across years, but I still wonder why it is necessary to so pollute the regular season championship by such unequal scheduling. FIU is actually in the best position to win. They have played all four of the other contenders with a 2-1-1 record. The other teams have only played one game against the other leaders. Denver is 0-1, MTS 1-0, WKU 0-1 and NT 0-0-1. Denver the favorite has lost games to both UALR and FIU. NT is fourth in goals scored only ahead of FIU among the top 5. NT has thus far the best defense leading in goals allowed. NT has by the far the worst remaining schedule playing MTS, WKU, and Denver all on the road. FIU the easiest, with UALR, ASU and FAU; all at home. WKU also has it last three games at home, Denver, NT, and MTSU. Denver plays at WKU and MTSU than gets NT at home. Winning the conference regular season will probably get you nothing other than the top seed in the tournament. It would be nice to win, however it is likely that NT would have to win all three remaining games to be alone at the top of the conference. One loss and they could finish behind WKU if that is who they lose to or in a tie with FIU who will be highly favored to win their last three games.

Did anyone else notice the great play Gilmore made in pass defense on a fourth down play by FAU in the fourth quarter were he defended an over the middle pass about 6 yards from the line of scrimmage? No doubt, the defense looked completely lost for most of the game. Part of that was due to a much better FAU offense than many realize. But I only remember Smith being hurried on a couple of plays the entire game. The overall defense looked like the Mendoza effort against Navy and SMU two years ago. I don't know what the deal is with the coaching staff and Gilmore, but I think it goes deeper than game time performances. NT was devoid of dts last year, so I can kind of see him being played there for part of the year. Gilmore is a defensive end and I can't think of any logic to support the coaches reported contention that his best chance at the next level is at dt. I doubt that Gilmore has any chance at the next level but if he does it would be at de and why would this be factor in where he plays at NT anyway? Gilmore played a lot at dt last night and like the rest of the line was almost totally ineffective. I also don't understand the fascination with Cantly at de, he also played a lot last night. He is a young player and hopefully as a bright future, but he appears to lack the quickness to be a de and certainly doesn't fit with the popular speed close to the ball theory being thrown around by the coaching staff. We won't see it, but it would be interested to see Gilmore at de and Cantly on the interior. The biggest disappointment for me, however was not the defensive line partially because I have continued to think this is a weak unit despite the hype. I did think that the defensive backs were greatly improved and they were obviously taken advantage of last night. True, an invisible pass rush was a major part of the problem. Smith did make some great passes but there were too many plays were there was not a defensive back anywhere close to the play.

Wrong Johnson. Walter (Weasel) Johnson was point guard in the mid-seventies. Lighting fast, but if you think JJ' point guards have a lot of turnovers. He would have a great assist on one play and a ball in the seat on the next. He was a lot of fun to watch and was the base of Bill Blakeley's run and gun offense.

Back to the point guard debate. No matter that Johnson had a very good year and White apparently played most of the year with one hand. NT point guard play will be fine barring injuries.

I believe that talking about T. Dodge future at this point is silly, he ain't going nowhere unless the team really crumbles in the next 7 games. My comment on your lists of factors: 1. Much of the legitimate Division 1A talent had disappeared by the time Dodge got here. A very valid point, DD's recruiting had gotten about as bad as a FB program could get. However, Dodge did inherit a veteran team especially on the defensive side that should have performed much better than they did in Dodge's first year. 2. The drug problem that was unknown to most of us. I really disagree with this. I don't think NT had any more of a drug problem than most teams. I certainly was not surprised by the percentage of failures and I would wager that it is not far from the norm if any other coaching staff in the nation was foolish enough to do mass testing. 3. The loss of scholarships due to deficiency in the APR. I think DD did take more risks than necessary with his questionable effort in recruiting and it ultimately hurt the program. However, I think the turnover in coaches also contributed to this as players left the program. 4. The racism accusation was a distraction. Not a major distraction but a distraction nonetheless. Not a major distraction? I am not sure there are many things that end a career faster than even a hint of racism in a program. This was truly unfortunate and put Dodge and the whole school on the defensive. To his credit, Dodge handled it as well as possible. 5. Dodge's system was the antithesis to the players on hand. True, however the offensive team actually performed better than expected with the change in the first year. 6. The team concept had to be instilled. Not sure about this point. I not sure that loyalty to the team or team concepts were a problem with Dickey's team. What was a problem is the bunker mentality fostered by DD in the team. 7. Dodge had a learning curve on being a college head coach. That is putting it mildly, Dodge was not close to being ready to be a fb division coach. IMO most of the problems stem from TD and many of his coaching staff not having the experience or skill necessary to coach at this level. This translated not only to lopsided loses but also quickly losing the confidence of the team. Hopefully, after a painful two seasons, the coaching staff is getting to be where it should have been in year one. 8. He did not have enough time to assemble a college coaching staff. In retrospect he should have retained the more competent from Dickey's staff. I don't think time or as other have suggested, money were big factors in his selection of coaches. I think he greatly overestimated the ability of high school coaches to successful at the next level. It takes time to learn the college game, and Dodge basically started his head coaching career with probably the most inexperienced staff in the recent history of division 1 football. Dodge has made a bunch of major mistakes in my opinion, but he also has demonstrated that he is willing to work and to change. I too, think he has significantly raised the talent level of the team, improved the coaching staff, and has got the program headed in the right direction. I have little doubt that he will be back next year and I also believe that the team will continue to improve this year.

The offensive line got manhandled in my opinion against Alabama and for the first half of the Muts game. They also only had 115 yards rushing against Ohio. However, Ohio only had 63 yards rushing against NT; so obviously by your logic their offensive line also is devoid of talent. That is going to happen occasionally to almost any team. Overall the numbers just don't support your contention. NT is 59 in the country in total offense, 41 in rushing offense, 39 in passing offense, tied for 4 in sacks allowed and 67 in tackle for losses allowed. Those numbers indicate that the offensive line is doing a pretty good job. Glad to know that Vizza left because of poor offensive line play. I have been wondering why he make that decision. As for as me playing QB, I assure you that would be apocalyptic, no matter who played offensive line.

Enjoyed your comments as always. One correction, Kyle White had his redshirt burned inexplicably against Alabama. I say that because I don't think he played in the next two games. I wonder why they would have played our only underclassmen dt if they were not going to give him significant playing time. Agree this team does have a lot more talent than any team since the championship years. Unfortunately few of them are going to be recognized beyond the loyal fans unless NT starts to get some wins. I think Royce Hill, Cook, and Dunbar are already playing at an all conference level. Add Akpunka and Dodge to the list and it is easy to see that the 2008 class is something special.

I see members of most of the teams at the football games. Unfortunately, I havn't noticed a lot of support from fellow athletes at the BB games. At last year's bb game with a half time presentation for the student athletes, I noticed and posted my disappointment that most of the athletes left after the half. Obviously, you can't mandate attendance and you should not even if you could. I do hope that NT has a much better student attendance as well as total attendance at this years, basketball games. This could be a very special year for the men's team. Unfortunately, a horrible home oc schedule will not help in this quest. I still find it increable that only a few hundred students usually make it to the basketball games.

Obvious, all five offensive linemen are starting on a FB level and have done so for at least two years. I wonder how you would know what the weight totals and 40 times are? I also see you disagree with Dodge who has on several times this year cited Santiago as having the best performance among the ol. There are multiple facets of NT's game to complain about, I just don't see the offensive line play very high on that list.

I watched the first half of the Texas Tech and New Mexico game, which was actually very close. I could not believe that it was a DD game plan, lots of different sets with most plays out of the spread. It sure didn't look like anything DD ran here.

You must have watched a different telecast. The only replay I saw was the players going up for the ball with minor contact. The penalty was for holding which had to take place before the ball was thrown, otherwise I think it would had to have been pass interference. I did go back and replay the action several times and it appears there was contact before the ball was thrown, however the referee threw his flag after the attempted catch and made no motion for the flag earlier. In any case, I didn't find it clear at all based on the television view.

Typical; fire the coach, bench the quarterback. It was a hard loss and Riley definitely had a horrible first half, but lets add just a touch of prospective. NT played well enough and in fact should have won this game as well as the Ohio game. There was not a game last year including NT's one win that I thought that about. Any speculative why no one attended that game. From a tv view it appears that 12,000 was a very generous attendance count. I suppose ULL just can't compete against a LSU tv game. Like any close games there are a number of plays that could have turned around the outcome. In this game: Riley's turnovers, awful punting game, and untimely penalties. The official really either blew the call or threw the game with that blatantly bad call on Hill at the end of the game. I don't think there was any foul but it was obvious that there was not enough contact to call a penalty at that point in the game. If it was hold at the line of scrimmage than the flag should have been thrown then not seconds after the play was over. Great play by the Defense for most of the game, but they still continue to falter late with the game on the line. For the most part, NT completely dominated a touted ULL offensive line. The offense played well other than the turnovers but also couldn't mount that late drive that could and should have won the game. Obviously, a great game by Dunbar. Back to the coach and the QB, Riley is the quarterback and Dodge is not going anywhere. Riley has had a couple of bad games in a row, but is the future of the program. Those that think that NT has better options at this point are mistaken. Riley has got to learn not to throw in heavy coverage. Someone opined that he is much better than ULL's young QB and I agree, but ULL's QB did not make the mistakes Riley did. I think most would agree that Todd Dodge was not ready to be a FB division head coach when hired. However, he has demonstrated enough of a turn around now that he is probably the best option going forward. I guess it is great to let of steam and demand a coaching change but he is not going to be fired during the season. As far as changing the offensive coordinator, do you think that Dodge doesn't really fill that position? NT has lost two games this year that were all but won. While this is tremously dissappointing, it does demonstrate progress. I don't think anybody is happy with the record, but it is still way to early to give up on this team. This team has talent and probably as much depth as any NT team. What it does not have, is a winning attitude. I saw a team Saturday night, that looks superior to ULL in almost all facets but when the game was on the line, folded; good teams don't do that.

Tyler was fired for off the field issues after one year so he may be the worst coach in history but his one year record was great compared to Dodge's first two years. I am not sure why an one year coach is brought up as a comparison to Dodge. 1981 (2-9) 9/5 ........L .....Kentucky ............................. 6-28 9/12 ......L ..... SMU # .................................. 7-34 9/19 ......L .....Texas .................................. 10-23 9/26 ......L ..... UL Lafayette ...................... 11-34 10/3 ......L .....OKLAHOMA STATE % ..... 0-9 10/10 ...W ...NEW MEXICO STATE .. 38-16 10/24 ...L .....UT-ARLINGTON % ........... 6-7 10/31 ...L ..... S. MISSISSIPPI .................. 0-22 11/7 ......L .....Auburn ................................ 0-20 11/14 ....W ... UL Monroe ....................... 17-14 11/28 ....L ..... San Jose State .................... 16-28

You may want to go back and check the results from the 2001 to 2004 years. I think there has been some improvement in the league mainly due to more teams, but this substantial improvement everyone keeps referring to is more wishful thinking than real. There have been more home games against more respected programs than in the earlier years and that has let to a few impressive victories. However, to tout a few victories and close games with highly favored teams and ignore the usual routs that happen when the Belt plays the Auto 6 conference teams and a woeful 1-3 record against the mighty MAC this year; does not make a strong case for the Belt being better. The fact is that the Belt is generally rated the worst conference in the NCAA this year as it has been through most of it's existence.

What conference would that be? Sorry, I don't think there is a big demand for teams in minuscule markets with questionable academics.

Massey Composite Ratings 67 MUTS 76 Troy 84 ULM 87 ULL 98 ASU 107 FIU 109 FAU 110 UNT 118 WKU Others: 96 SMU 115 Ball State 77 Ohio 2 Alabama

I predict Troy will win easily.

I guess I love to nitpick, but only six seniors going to Lafayette? Which of Montgomery, Seidle, Dickerson, Hollovay, Bailey, Gilmore, Nwigwe, Adams, Hill, Knott, Bush and Christian are not going?

See interview with Jones on official site. Alzee Williams is mentioned and is obviously part of team.

Well, I am glad we are looking at one of the most favorable polls for NT. Massey which is a composite of most of the polls has NT in the usual three digits rating at 111 and next to the bottom of the Belt. The sad fact is thus far NT has only moved up nine spots from last in the nation based on a consensus of the polls. I think NT has a possibility to substantially improve but having a discussion based on improvement in one poll that is clearly favorable to what the vast majority of polls indicates comes across as desperate.

Well, it seems that Riley is the goat in many opinions. 4 turnovers, I guess gets you that moniker. However, I think few are considering that he was running for his life most of the game. To go with his four turnovers, he had 313 yards passing and 57 running for a mere 370 yards. Outside of the great run by Dunbar that was about all the offense. I wonder what all those calling for Riley's head, think about NT veteran line who got manhandled most of the game. The offensive line looked totally intimidated in the first half. A lot of this criticism reminds me of the last game with SMU, with Meager passing for nearly 600 yards and getting blamed for the defeat by many of our fan base. Riley was not why NT lost, the total domination of the offensive and defensive lines by the MUTS for most of the game is the reason that NT faltered. Dunbar had a breakout game and where did those kick off returns come from. Atterberry's punting is almost unbelievable. Knotts kickoffs were deep. The special teams took an overall step up but a blocked kick and several stupid penalties on kickoff returns negated a lot of the improvement. It happens on every team, but why even block someone behind the play if there is any chance of a penalty. The defense played well at times, but where totally shredded in the first half. Tackling was improved but still not good. The Green actually did a good job stopping a lot of the MUTS passing offense but still gave up too many easy first downs by the corners giving up way too much cushion on the sideline coverage. The defensive line looked totally gassed at times despite having a large rotation of players. The offense had the same problems, lots of offense but too many missed scoring opportunities. A lot of receivers got into the mix, but IMO NT is still lacking the development of a go to receiver or receivers. Way too many first down penalties. It appears that the MUTS defense's constant movement really confused the offense. Overall, MTSU came out an dominated NT in the first half. NT rallied to outplay them in the second half but couldn't over come an awful first half. I hate to alarm many, but I don't think MTSU is as good as many believe. They are a very one dimensional offensive team who relies on their QB's running ability. The MUTS will definitely be in the conference race but I don't see them in the top couple of positions. NT has two weeks to regroup and hopefully improve. The team that played last night will be fortunate to get a couple of conference wins. A more focused confident team that works on their mistakes could still finished in the upper part of the league.

Yes, Riley made some mistakes he also kept UNT from getting completely blown out. What a knee jerk reaction, so I am firing away. Do you really think that NT has another QB that can come close to making the plays that Riley did? I do agree that there was an Alabama game hangover, you cannot instill confidence by giving up. However, I am not sure how you blame the game plan on Riley, wrong Dodge. Also you may want to note that there was a lot of positive offensive yardage to go along with the turnovers. Riley is still learning and to suggest that a change needs to be made after three games is plain crazy. I actually thought Dodge had an overall good game. His first throw for an interception was a bad decision and he made several others, but the MUTS defense and I thought a very bad performance by the NT offensive line had a lot to do with the play selection. Based on three games, I think Riley is doing as well as most could expect and I think he will continue to progress.

Yes, and don't throw ether.

There are problems especially if you have a slower computer. However, $10 a month is not a whole lot to risk. My biggest complaint last year was that they had many events mostly girls basketball on their schedule which they did not show. This is a big problem because you never know whether it is actually on or that you have a computer problem with the connection. It is very infuriating to spend time trying to figure out a problem only to find out the event is not broadcasted.

I wonder why they just didn't leave the center score board in place. Maybe it would not work with the new system, but it sure is easier to look at than the side score boards. It did not have video or other improvements, but it provided the basics and it is not nearly the distraction looking up as to the sides.