GMG_Dallas

I think we are currently a completely different level than both. The scores should reflect that. Not arguing, just expressing my opinion.

Probably not. Reality is, most most journalists who vote in the polls aren't watching all these games. They can't watch them all so many of the votes are just based off the scores and who they played.

This is the difference between good and great teams. You can lose focus a bit against D2 and lower schools but many D1 schools will claw back in and beat you if you fall asleep with a 20 point lead. Side note, Vermont beat UAB to start the season. Auburn just beat Vermont 94-43 yesterday. That's how bad we need to beat teams like Evansville and Wayland Baptist.

Army will be receiving votes next week, just not enough to be ranked.

Early observation: active on the offensive boards and we have several guys who can finish in the paint through contact. Trying not to get too excited but this team looks like they've been playing together for years.

Obviously our defense got absolutely torched in the first half against FAU. Army does an incredible job at keeping their defense off the field though. In the second half, FAU had only 2 possessions against Army due to Army holding the ball for over 23 minutes of that second half. The first half ended 14-7 so it's not like Army had such a comfortable lead that they didn't need to score. If you don't give the other team the ball, they can't score. We could be up by 20 and we'd still be running uptempo.

Very true. Also worth noting UAB started off rough last year and ended up winning the AAC tournament.

Good question... I wonder if the service academies get extra love for being the service academies.

We need to string together some long drives. Don't need to score every time but we need to win the field battle. We do that by taking care of the football and regularly getting first downs even if the drive ends in a punt so we can pin them deep. I don't know in what world people expect to win games when giving opponents the ball multiple times in our territory but that's not winning football.

Man, losing a playoff game by 3 when you passed on two field goal opportunities is brutal but I understand it's also what got them there. There's a time and place for being aggressive but close games where every point matters just isn't it in my opinion. Reminds me of last year's game vs Navy where we went for it at 4th and goal from the 2 instead of kicking the field goal only to lose by 3. Also brutal.

Tech spiraled out of control so fast it's hard to pinpoint what exactly could have done better lol... against Memphis, there were just poor coaching decisions coupled with poor execution on those poor decisions. It sucks to look back on because not only do we practically give teams the ball in scoring position but we also blatantly leave points on the field. Memphis comes to mind with the 4th down attempt from our 41 (who does that in 2nd quarter) and the 4th down attempt from their 29 in the 3rd. That's a 10 point swing right there off coaching decisions assuming we make the field goal and the defense gets a stop. Those may seem like tall tasks but that 42 yard Memphis TD was their last score until 33 seconds left in the 3rd and our kicker hasn't missed since the Tech game.

Tulane vs UNT... they started on offense and punted after gaining a grand total of 18 yards so you're wrong there. We then gave them the ball pack at our 44 after losing a yard on our first drive. They proceeded to score their first TD on that 44 yard drive. We also gave them the ball at our 28 and our 11, both of which led to short touchdown drives. If we're really supposed to be mad at a defense that can't hold Tulane scoreless when giving them the ball at our 44, 28, and 11, then we're just looking for reasons to be mad at the defense. That, by the way, is why we lost against Tulane. Two turnovers within our 30 and a 39 yard punt from our 5. It's a shame our top ranked offense couldn't give us some breathing room or take care of the ball when they were backed up. That's what top offenses are supposed to do. Again, not saying the offense as a whole is an issue but we've got to put our defense in better situations.

I'm not in any way under the impression that our defense is good. I'm also not going to say the offense has to score every drive. What I will say is we can't throw the defense out there every 2 minutes without scoring any touchdowns and expect the defense to hold up. Memphis had 15 possessions against us. Do we really think we're going to go on the road against a top team in the conference, give them the ball 15 times, and come out of that with a win? Would it really kill the team to slow the pace a bit and chew some clock? Don't know how reliable teamrankings dot com is but per them, we have the 5th fastest offense in terms of seconds per play. We all see it. They also need to be more consistent. We get so drawn in by the stats that we forgot how often we also go 3-and-out. Against Charlotte, Tulane had 8 possessions, scored 6 times, and missed a field goal. Potentially scoring on 7 of 8 possessions is efficient. Scoring on 7 of 16 possessions like we did against Memphis is not efficient nor is it a sign of consistency. Here's a stat for you, we have led in time of possession twice this year: against SFA and Wyoming. Per the NCAA website we're 105th in time of possession. That style of play may work against bad teams but against equal or better competiton, you're defense is never going to hold up.

Had UNT capitalized on the 5 straight 3-and-outs, the ballgame changes at that time. Consider if UNT had scored 20 points in that stretch like UTSA did, Memphis' gameplan would have changed down 13 at the end of the 3rd. That's how you put pressure on a team which leads to mistakes. The flows of the game change when you're up double digits with a quarter to go. It's never as simple as looking at the final score but you know that. Edit to add that in summary, when you score matters.

This may be hard to stomach but Memphis only put up 10 more yards of offense against us compared to versus UTSA. Memphis laid an egg after a hot start vs UTSA. They did the same against us. The difference is UTSA scored 20 straight during Memphis' scoreless stretch. We scored 3. There's your ball game.

If only we had taken advantage of Menphis' 5 straight 3-and-outs, we also could have won.

Sooooo Tulane had 14 offensive possessions and 472 yards of offense against us. Against Charlotte? 431 yards on 8 offensive possessions. They scored on all but 2 possessions against Charlotte, one of which was a missed 34 yard field goal. They did whatever they wanted against Charlotte's defense and took their sweet time while doing it. If needed or if the pace called for it, Tulane could have put up any amount of yards and points necessary against Charlotte. People keep laughing at me for putting some blame on the offense and special teams but the reality is, you can't give the ball back every 2 minutes. Maybe it's great when you score but when you don't it spells disaster. You also can't turnover the ball 3 times on your side of the 50 and twice with 30 yards which is basically the red zone. These up tempo offenses have almost never worked on a consistent basis because it constantly puts stress on your defense. Every 2 minutes they're back on the field. No defense is going to survive through that.

Per @TheReal_jayD, he's Rod Brown's younger brother.

Duncanville DL flipped from La Tech. https://247sports.com/Player/antwon-brown-46145892/

I agree. They won CUSA regular season last year and have 47 wins the past 2 seasons. Hard to know how that translates to this season but they seem to be trending up. I think their NET was good last year too.

He makes about $260k at SFA, $215k less than Caponi. I think the G5 DC spot is more attractive. It would put a bigger spotlight on him. I'd imagine G5 coordinator to G5 HC is more common than D2 HC to G5 HC. It could also get him a spot as a P4 coordinator but he's not making a D2 to P4 jump without first going G5. Just needs to get a foot in the FBS world as a DC to open more doors. Edit to direct the D2 stuff. He's an FCS HC, not D2. I think the point still stands.

He's now unemployed based on his Wikipedia.

Is that who was on our right, their left on every run to the left?

Tulane had TD drives of 44, 28, and 11. In every instance, you can blame the offense and/or special teams for that field positioning. Two of those caused by fumbles where we would have had the ball or had the ball and, with a "top 3 offense," could have gone down to score. We really blaming the defense for that crap?