Venson

Not saying the team is bad, just that the defense is. I know it's a team sport, but damn that defense is a huge liability. You can't replace the players. You have to play with what you have. You can only recruit better, bring in better JUCO talent and coach up what you have. The problem is we haven't coached up what we have. The offense has made great strides, but the defense is regressing.

I agree accept for a defense that is giving up over 37 points a game, that's not bending anymore, you are broken. The only reason it is not over 40 points a game is because Iowa took a knee inside the 5 and they high stepped into the end zone. They are beyond bending.

I would tend to agree with you except that the defense is allowing more points per game than last year. So, the defense has regressed. We are winning games based on offensive performance. The UTSA win was bad play calling by UTSA. Had they thrown the ball, I am convinced they would have picked up the first down because our defense has not proven they can stop any type of passing. We got lucky that they chose to run 3 straight times. As far as USM, they dropped a lot of open passes. Wasn't really anything we did. This defense has been skating by because the offense has been saving them. I certainly wouldn't want Mac back, just his DC John Skladany.

Maybe I am wrong about that, but every time I saw Fine and Shanbour play during the spring, I was convinced Shanbour played better. I was only saying give him a shot in garbage time and see what he can do in a game situation. I mean Tom Brady is probably the best QB to ever play the game, but he may not have ever gotten a chance to prove it if Bledsoe had not gone down with an injury. If Tony Romo wasn't hurt last year, he may not be retired this year after Dak proved he could play. I can see your point. I wasn't thinking that the backup is always the fan favorite. If that was the case, I would have been calling for Landry Jones of the Steelers 3 weeks ago after Ben's 5 INTs. However, I know Jones sucks and the Steelers should rid themselves of him. I just wanted to see Shanbour because he played really well in the spring and SL said himself that it was diificult decision to decide. Maybe he went with Fine to get him more experience since he will be here long term. Of course anything we say on this board is just pure speculation unless we are mind readers.

That's just it. Our defense is not even serviceable. They flat out suck. With the exception of a couple of players, they are not good. I don't think it is necessarily the players, I think it is Reffett. We don't quite have the capabilities to get to the QB so we should stop blitzing so much. We need to play straight up defense on opponents and blitz them when we have them in 3rd and 20 or more. Our normal pass rush is getting there just as fast as the blitz is getting there. Or maybe I should say that the blitzing is no faster getting to the QB than the straight up normal pass rush. Plus, I see a lot of arm tackling and grabbing. It's like they need to go back to middle school and learn how to tackle all over again. I see so many missed tackles in each game that it is easier to count tackles made than missed tackles.

I will be there as well. I am not a fair weather fan. Either you support your team or you don't. I will support UNT for better or worse. Unfortunately, it has mostly been worse, but I support them none the less.

The defense is pretty bad. In order for Littrell to raise his stock, he has to learn that HCs have to have not only great offenses, but a halfway decent defense. Everyone was talking about SL leaving, but I don't see him leaving unless he gets fired or he takes an OC job somewhere for more money. Because right now, he hasn't proven he can get some defensive play going.

They won't beat them like they beat us and that's if they win at all. They couldn't beat Denton High School like they beat us.

You could be right. Quinn should have played. That's how Fine got his start last season. He came in during clean-up duty for Morris against SMU and started the rest of the season until he was hurt against WKU. For some reason, I think Shanbour is a better player and that SL really doesn't want to play him because he didn't recruit him.

Agreed. Spending too much time watching the FAU game is a waste. There were no good points to be made. Maybe one. I think Michael Lawrence #32 was the only player who actually wanted to win the game.

I agree. I bet they can't concentrate on school right now because they probably want to play a football game so badly. I bet they would play FAU in the Walmart parking lot just to get a chance to get that taste out of their mouth.

DC yes. As far as ST, I think you give him another year since this is his first year.

I remember this game. It was the most painful up until that Portland State debacle. But, Bill Snyder went on the build a winning tradition at KSU. He didn't have many resources and bigger schools with more resources could have hired him away. Hopefully we can do the same here.

I had them going 8-5 with the bowl game win, but I thought the 5 losses would be SMU, Iowa, USM, UTSA, and LaTech. I didn't see FAU coming at all.

I think the FAU game was a wake up call. I believe the team will perform better. After the beat down they took at UTEP last season, they actually did respond better against Army in the bowl game and that was and still is a team learning to win. They didn't beat Army, but they came really close and Army is much better than ODU. I, for one, believe they will respond.

Like Kurt Angle from WWE says "Oh it's true. It's damn true."

Okay. The sky is not falling. They had a bad game. Okay a really bad game. It happens in this game of football. Hell, I am a Steelers fan and and Big Ben threw 5 INTs and that's the most he has ever had in his career, but they bounced back the next week and beat undefeated KC in Arrowhead. The point is that if you play this game long enough you have a really bad game. Whether it was lack of emotion or energy or both it happens sometimes. All of us are armchair coaches and players right now. I am sure in our playing days whether it was elementary, middle school, high school or even college, there were a couple of days where you didn't feel it and it showed in the game. The question is if they can bounce back. I will continue to support the team because its where I went to school. Everywhere I have been when I tell people I am from Texas, they always ask who is my team? Texas or A&M? I always say neither. I tell them UNT. They ask why and I say simple. I didn't go to school at Texas or A&M. I only support my school and always will. Win or lose I will stay with them. We all sound like the Cowboys fans did in 1989 when Jimmy Johnson came in. Everyone was claiming how they were no longer Cowboys fans. As soon as Johnson righted the ship everyone jumped on board claiming that they had always been fans. My point after all this rambling is they will get this right and we need to stop being fair weather fans. We can criticize, but for God's sake the sky is not falling.

They shouldn't even have called this highlights because it was anything but.

Maybe it was the pool party they had that took all their energy. Their focus should have been football not a pool party.

I think this team will be okay. You play this game long enough and you will have a game like this. I just didn't expect it to be this bad of a game.

They have no choice but to bounce back. I don't think they can play a worse football game the rest of the season.

He is being paid 250k a year to run a decent defense in a less than P5 school. He is overpaid. For that kind of money, I expect results. There is a reason why defensive coaches in the NFL have more success as head coaches than offensive ones. It is usually easier to find a good OC, but hard to find a good DC. Graet Defensive HCs in the NFL: Landry, Noll, Belechick, Parcells, Shula, and Madden. The only OC coaches with multiple Superbowls is Walsh and Lombardi. Just saying, picking a great DC is key if you are an offensive minded coach and Reffet aint it.

You are spot on in your assessment.

That was my thoughts. They should have brought Shanbour in.

Thanks for the update. I still think they don't give him enough touches. At the end of the day, we are still playing with a lot of McCarney's players and they were built to run the football. All of Littrell's recruits are sophomores, freshmen, or redshirt freshmen. The ones who are not are JC players.