outoftown

I take it noone will object if i call the first half a beat down

If you look on 247 sports and the combined rankings UNT is currently 77th, before most transfers and some HS are rated. What is more eyepopping though is that UNT has 41 commits. That is more than any other program. By some margin. Next is TCU with 35. I don't think that is either a good or a bad thing, but its noteable. If they had a ranking of transfering out classes, then I think UNTs transfer out class would also rankg pretty highly among G5, because of both the size but also the quality of the top part of that class. If you lose talent you need to bring in new players with talent, or otherwise you are really cooked. So this is necessary. But it is a looot of turnover. We can probably agree that ought not to make UNT fans worry about the defense as it can really almost only improve. Still, usually time spent together in the same system is usually important on defense. And they sure have the pieces to keep humming on offense. But last season it took 3 games to iron out the kinks there too. That much turnover makes it feel like it might again.

If you ask me the team will not be good as long as it has several players who do not at all contribute offensiveily. I thought Sissoko drawing some very tough assginments, played great defense today at times, Stone was also ok there. However when you have two guys who combine for 39 minutes also combine for 2 points, and zero field goals that is a problem if it repeats. And this sure doesn't feel like a first. If Sissoko gets some offensive mojo back and learns how to handle pressure from good centers when he is on offense, then i think this team contend in the AAC. Without that, I don't see enough folks capable of creating their own space for that to end well without someone up the middle scoring a bit.

UNT was once up 25-14. Since then the score is 15-40 for MSU

40-32, with UNT heading to the line. offensive drought has continued into the second half. So far no points from the field yet. 16:42 to go.

I mean i get why the guys on TV think MSU is deeper than UNT and its not completely moronic. But it does feel a bit off, when MSU has only 7 guys with more than 3 minutes so far.

UNT is shooting 54%, MSU 41%, and UNT also has a better 3 pct. And yet UNT is down, and it speaks to who is the more physical team and who was better at hounding the other team. MSU has a 13-0 lead on points of turnovers. And MSU has given up only 1 turnover. UNT has to force them to make some mistakes if they want a shot at winning this.

36-32 at the half. The last 4 minutes were really bad offensively. Its a big time missed opportunity, as the start was so great, but on the offense just couldn't hold up to MSUs defensive pressure and started consistently making mistakes. On the other end MSU has been heavy going inside, and NT has big trouble stopping that. Also giving up balls on offense of course opened up things for MSU. They aren't actually that great at pushing the pace, but it still helps them a good deal.

There is a little home cooking yes, but mostly it is a consequence of MSU guys consequently trying to impose themselves going inside and UNT having trouble matching the size and power there.

Lead down to 5. Problems primarily on the offensive side, as MSU has managed to really hound UNT and create lots of ball handling errors.

Really bad posession there, where UNT semi lost the ball 3 times and had trouble throwing it into the game each time.

7:29 left in half 1. UNT 25, MSU 14. Shooting fairly unconscious which is awesome. Also aided by actually creating decent looks. Defensively relying quite a bit on fouls once the ball goes inside. That will eventually become a problem

Am a bit worried about the fouls though.

a bit dry there for a moment, but now coming back into it. 22-12 after scotts +1

Can't complain about the start

Honestly, I see only one difference to a typical grant maacCasland at UNT season so far: With Grant teams usually started the season slow but we KNEW they would gel later, with Hodge we have yet to be certain that he can do that. At least i feel like the team is having the heart and work ethic. If it develops the clutch remains to be seen.

Depends extremely. Was it their own idea to jump in the portal or were they "encouraged" to do so and tried to find a spot but could not?

Well, so far UNT hasn't played a Q1 team, and hasn't won a game that would be better than Q4 if the season ended today. Only Q2 and Q3 games got lost. UNT needs its opponents to start performing. UNI for example is terribly unerperforming. LSU sadly looks so far like they aren't actually good enough to be middle of the pack in the SEC. However if UNT could win the next three games, that NET ranking would improve in a tizzy.

On one hand that sucks. He's been a staple here for a while. It sure seemed he was committed. On the other, he didn't exactly contribute any stats on the field. Zero touchdowns.

Yep, very interested to see how much the conference will get from SMU. And what UNTs share will be.

I am glad he didn't stoop so low.

I counted it up for when conference mates that NT had on its schedule played those it did not: The record was 17-4 for those that NT played.

Honestly I am flabbergasted that A&M would bring that kind of a reasonable hire, rather than go for the flashy name. Doesn't necessarily mean its gonna work out tough. Dealing with the donors down there is still its own kind of cluster. Then again, he at least knows that he will have the necessary NIL.

Honestly I doubt Kingsbury or Traylor would be good at Houston. I have my doubts that Patterson is capable to adapt to the NIL era. But Fritz would be an interesting experiment. Just not sure if he really is chasing the bag. If he is, then Houston can certainly outbid Tulane.

It was a disappointing season, no doubt. Wether or not to hang on to Caponi is a tough one from my perspective. On one hand continuity is super important on the defensive side. On the other hand: worst D in FBS in a number of categories, and while he gets his guys in place to tackle quite often actually (i.e. I don't think its the scheme or the inability to teach the scheme), the inability to then actually execute said tackle has me wonder whether Caponi and his coaches are good at teaching those fundamentals. I also wonder whether Morris is allowing for enough practices with actual tackling to take place in order for players to improve. Maybe someone more in the know can instruct me on that last point Overall I think this team missed out on a number of one-score opportunities that might easily go the other way. Moreover, UNT had clearly the toughest schedule in the AAC. The record of teams that UNT played in conference vs the conference mates it did not play is 17-4 (if i counted correctly). I think there is a lot of reason to believe this will be a 7-8 win team next year if the portal season goes halfway decent. However in order to really contend for the conference it will absolutely need to address its tackling issues. The other thing Morris has to figure out is why his teams start continuously slow. If this team only had second halves it actually would have contended for the conference. In that regard the coaches have to look at their organisation and how they look at video, how they game plan, and how they get players psychologically ready for the game. Something is amiss there.