UNT86

Gotta find a way to win when the 3's aren't falling. It will look ugly when we have to do that. But, these are games we would have lost in years past. Just keep winning, ugly or otherwise.

I would suspect that we've seen the end of the 3-3-5. My guess is that he will go back to the 3-4 we ran through the middle of the season. We have run some 4-2-5 in obvious passing situations. If he is a 4-man front guy, he could use that as a base. I don't really think he will do that. We have to do something to fill more gaps and get a pass rush. You can do either with the fronts we currently have, but in the 3-4 you have to be willing to shade the nose. Caponi absolutely would not do that. We NEVER slid the front or moved the nose off of a zero shade. Brown can be a much bigger factor than he has been. So can our DT's. I just hope we put our kids in a situation where they have a chance. Filling gaps on the LOS from the third level is a good way to give up 500 yards a game. Hopefully we never see that again.

This last game started with a whole lot of not being on the same page with each other. Too many passes that became turnovers when somebody zigged instead of zagged. The game changed when Aniyah Johnson went in and we started pressing. She created turnovers that led to easy baskets. Aniyah doesn't play a lot, but when she does there is usually an impact. She has a role and she does it well. It takes a mature player to play 4.5 minutes a game and be ready when called on. It was also interesting that Coach Burton put 5'10" Talley on their tallest girl and not 6'2" Lampkin. But, he was right. She fouled out without scoring a single point. It would be nice to get a win over a "name" opponent.

My favorite is to watch Brackens rebound. Girl can jump out of the gym.

You have to cover the center or they will kill you with the midline. You probably need 3's or 4I's and 9's. You adjust to unbalanced formations with secondary. That is the most sound on a chalkboard. Problem is, this is what we've been doing since Tech. Corners have to run support. Ours are small and get drug around. We have one 9, but the other is light. Maybe Army will take us lightly. It would be hard for them not to.

Army actually does not run the triple option anymore. The closest they will come is the midline. It is harder to run the midline against a nose, but it still can be done. If you remember the old single wing, most of their schemes would more closely resemble that. As far as inside veer and outside veer, you won't see that. I expect a lot of the attack will be in forcing our secondary to support and tackle. We all saw how that worked out vs Tulane. I hope for better, but I don't expect it. And this Army team can throw.

It looks like our strength will be in the number of guards/players that can handle the ball. Deck also looks like an awesome addition. Price is a freshman and looks like she can play at a high level immediately. Brannon and Tac did not play. With Duncan out for the season, that only left 10 players. Johnson got the fewest minutes. It will be interesting to see if she is last off the bench or Coach Burton already knows what she can do and wanted to see the newer players. Either way, she seems to come up biggest when we need her the most. We had lots of turnovers, but we did that early last year too. It mostly was just excitement and getting used to one another. Come see the women's team if you get a chance. They are good and deserving of support.

Sadly, they are the worst possible matchup for our defense. They are a physical running team. We have shown absolutely nothing to indicate that we will stop them. They will look at the Navy tape from last year and be prepared for us. I'm afraid they will score 50 and we will have to be perfect on offense to keep pace. We won't be perfect. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm probably not.

I don't blame them for finishing a last Covid year away, as long as they graduate from NT. He is family now and forever. Go Mean Green !

Nevermind. My fault for posting. I know better than to do that after a loss. Lost my mind for a moment.

Better than losses to crappy opponents. But yes, we will probably get smoked in a bowl against a good team.

We didn't have 3 safeties defending at any point. The announcers are idiots. We actually had 3 corners and 1 safety a lot of the time while playing man. Tulane schemed so that our corners had to play run support, and they got run over. We never made any adjustments and just took our butt whippin. We never move the nose off the center. We are very predictable about where we will line up. We line up EXACTLY where we did on the last film. Nothing to adjust. Just run the plays against us like you did in practice. But we never ran 3 safeties.

Just get Army over with and be healthy. The last 3 are all games we can win.

Not a cool as when we hosted the NCAA in the Super Pit..... but, okay. Whatever.

Fumbles are generated by being physical on defense. That we are not. We drag tackle and try to bump people down. At least we are gap sound for now and I'm happy about that. We can work on physical, but that is the primary reason we don't create turnovers.

We have a 4-18 record against them. We beat them in 1952, 1977, 1978, and 1980. We never beat them in the MVC days. In 1952, we were in the Gulf Coast Conference. In '77, '78, and '80, we were independent. We played them close the last two years, but found a way to lose. Two pick sixes and a last second touchdown have cost us two games. Close, but no win. They get to talk all the crap they want until we prove otherwise.

I noticed two of our suspended back on Saturday. X'Avion Brice #23 recovered the fumbled punt, so he is at least seeing action on special teams. Also noticed #30 B.J. Allen playing safety in the second half. He was very highly thought of coming out of high school. It would not surprise me to see him start taking reps away from our other two safeties. When we had a boundary safety, #21 Jaylen Hill was a good fit. He can actually tackle. When we could match him in man coverage vs a TE in the Tulsa and Wyoming games, he was okay. Florida Atlantic went after him in coverage often on Saturday and it showed. They were able to match him on slot receivers and he had trouble. From what I see, he is a little undisciplined in coverage at times. I think playing Allen more and #49 McFarland may have been part of our halftime adjustments. We played a lot of zone in the first half. In the second half it was a lot more man. I would bet Allen sees the field more these coming weeks. McFarland may have been in because #2 Evan Jackson seems to have a lingering injury. Just food for thought.

We have played almost exclusively man in our secondary the last two weeks. Rarely have we had an actual free safety and have not played two high at any point. Our coverage has been outstanding. And yes, we have started tackling and being physical. Out scheme is very simple, but that allows players to key fast. Sometimes we still don't fit correctly, but that will get better with film.

We had a 99 yard drive, then a 1 yard drive. I would be surprised if we've done that in the same game.

Everybody is run heavy against a 3-3. Too many gaps, not enough dudes to fill. It's a math problem. 3-3-5 was designed to fit those specific 11 players. We've been trying to fit our 11 into that specific scheme. Good coaches do what is best for their kids at that moment. Poor coaches try to fit square pegs into round holes.

We didn't run the 3-3-5 a single play tonight. We were primarily in a 3-4 front. Lots of man in the secondary. We did run some nickel, but it was 4-2-5 with the extra DB being an extra corner. And we finally stopped the run. Coincidence? I think not. Don't know who made the change, but it gives me hope.

Early in my coaching career, I went home upset because we won ugly in week 2. We lost the next 7 games. I learned then to appreciate any win, even the ugly ones. It is hard to win. Those kids on the other side are on scholarship too. Those coaches aren't stupid. Enjoy every win. Ugly wins are still wins.

$50 ? Yikes.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, .....same thing.

I stand corrected. He missed that one too.