akriesman

This is absolutely true. The message board stuff affects a lot of us. I own a firm that develops gaming/entertainment software. Despite the fact that our products are very highly rated, you will always have naysayers. Because of this, I completely stay away from public forums where negative discussions about our products might possibly take place. There was a short period in the beginning (4 years ago), when I fell into the public forum trap. It is not worth the time and effort to debate potential or current customers. Plus, having to defend yourself looks bad any way you present your case. If you put out a good product, your customers will do any necessary debating for you when needed. This same holds true in this forum. If someone is out of line when it comes to criticizing coaches or players, the majority will usually come to the defense of the player/coach being criticized. The best advice I could give to any players or coaches regarding public forums, is to do the best job you can and let your supportive fans fight your battles for you. Also, don't hold grudges. The criticizing fans will more than likely be humbled anyway, when things start to turnaround. I hate using a non-football example in this case. But, the same holds true for anyone that is in the public eye, regardless of the profession.

That is one of the reasons why I hate the NCAA FB overtime format. There were 48 points scored in OT. If this was the NFL format, there would be a maximum of 6 scored in the OT. The current OT format unrealistically inflates team statistics I would be OK with the format if they would not keep appending each score to the total score. For statistical purposes, they should just throw out the matching scores and only keep the last series added to the final score. The college OT system really messes things up for those of us that like to keep up with statistics.

I don't have photos. But, IMO Fouts has never looked better. They didn't just update the bathrooms, it looks like they totally gutted them. There is only so much you can do with that stadium design. But, the university has done a terrific job keeping our "interrum" stadium updated, while the new one is hopefully moving along.

This news is unfortunate and certainly taints a great evening for everyone last night. Our program cannot afford to lose passionate fans like FFR, who have put so much time and effort into supporting the team through thick and thin. I can only hope that this is all due to a big misunderstanding. If someone associated with the FB program had a beef with Rick, I wish it could have been handled in a more private setting.

I was very surprised by the crowd that came to see an 0-5 team play. I was thinking we might lose about 5,000 fans from the opener. I think this basically shows that a lot of the fans are in it for the long haul this time. It was a great night for families. The new bathrooms, Boomer sounded great, the fireworks and a nice victory to go along with everything. For the first time, my 10 year old son had a blast from start to finish. The two times I took him last season, he was begging to go home by halftime. With the Navy game still on tap, this team should have no problem averaging over 20K this year, unless we get a really bad weather game. Congrats to the entire University for putting on a great show tonight.

I second this Rick. One of my young sons attended the game tonight and just loved the cannon. Boomer sounded better than ever !

We also need to consider that the games are longer and more plays have been run against us. This is going to inflate both the offensive and defensive stats. We are not as good as our offensive stats show. And, we are not as bad as the defensive stats show. I think the difference between this years D and last year is the number of big plays against us. Cut those down and things get considerably better. That being said, our D has not been an asset for several years now.

LMAO Sorry KJ86, but you left yourself open with that one

And I 2nd that.

Saying the team lacks talent overall should not be seen as a direct attack on the players IMO. Most players probably have pretty high egos and probably assume that the comments are directed at someone else. On the other hand, singling out individual players for attack here cannot be a good thing. Most of us here have probably played some level of team sport competition. I think everyone sees themselves on a higher plateau than what they really are. Welcome OA5II. Thanks for taking the time for your comments.

Great to hear about the young guys playing more.....lets do it. The big plays against us (offense and defense) have caused us to be 0-5. I did come checking around and was kind of shocked by some of the numbers this year. North Texas has more first downs than their opponents (111 to 106). But, NT has give up 9 touchdowns of 35 yards or more. When you consider that NT has played Oklahoma and Arkansas in those 5 games, the first down numbers are pretty shocking to me. In games against FAU, SMU and ULL, North Texas wins the first down battle 80 to 49. I cannot find the time of possession for those games. But, I would assume that our offense is doing pretty well in that regard, since they are winning the first down battle. What does this tell me ? TD's system can move the ball and keep the our defense off the field. So, fatigue should not really be a problem for the D. The defense has to minimize the number of huge plays. I have no doubt that the defense could switch to a bend, but not break, formation and minimize the number of big plays. But, my guess is that the team is implementing the defense that they will run in the future, when they will have better athletes to win the 1-on-1 matchups (no disrespect to the current players). To play Mendoza's D schemes, we need better athletes from what I have seen (I am not a coach). If the top notch athletes on D don't come in the next year or two, the scheme will have to change. Two years from now this offense is going to put up some incredible numbers. IMHO, they are already overachieving this season. We need time and a few athletes. When that happens, I think we are going to see a dramatic turnaround. It is going to happen folks. One more thing.....I think both the offensive and defensive numbers are skewed somewhat. With this offense, the games are longer and more plays are executed. As a result, both the offensive and defensive numbers are going to be higher than they normally would. Just my thoughts as an armchair coach

Come on guys. This thread is embarrassing IMHO, a lot of the expectations were way too high coming into the season. Yes the defense is underachieving. But, please give the team some time to work things out. We all agree that the problem right now goes beyond player talent. But, we have a group of coaches that know each other and will work things out together. These guys know far more about what is going on than we do. If coach Mendoza and the other guys feel that they need some outside help, you can bet they will do whatever it takes to improve the situation. Yes, it is bad. But, it will get better. The defensive problems have obviously caught the coaching staff off guard. Lets give them a little time to adjust. Don't say something now that you will regret when all this gets turned around. People do remember those that prematurely jump off the bandwagon.

Funny that you mentioned this Rick. I was thinking about Idaho while watching the game saturday night. That is a pretty scary stat.

"To be exact: North Texas: 40:26......ULL: 19:34 " So much for the defense being tired......

Thanks. Sorry that I missed that earlier.

Is it just me, or have the length of our games increased by about 30-45 minutes ? I assume this is due to the no huddle offense. But, the games definately seem to be longer. I tried to verify this online. But could not get enough info.

Wow. Tough to argue with the facts.

Bingo ! That toughness is the leadership we need. You can't be a top QB without it. When Vizza throws a bad pick, he does not sulk. Instead, he comes out firing again.

Nice post Smitty. The team needs our full support NOW.

The difference is that Vizza got stronger has the game went on. And, he never had that "deer in the headlights" look. It was his very first full college game. If you take out the first 3 or 4 drives, he played a really good game.

"That is what I hear. Though I have been told he probably wouldn't fire him, but move him to another role on the team, and bring in someone else. " I suspect this is true. And, it is probably the right thing to do after this season.

yyz28, I can't argue with anything you are saying. The defense has been completely putrid. But, the guy needs more time than 5 games.

"Vizza exhibited EVERY PROBLEM people on this board beat on Meager about," Not true. Vizza showed more leadership. And, I think he runs the running part of the spread better (those option dives, or whatever they are called). I am not trying to bash Meager. And, I was not one that was calling for his benching. But, I was really happy with what I saw from Vizza tonight. And, he will get better.

Vizza is a TRUE freshman making his first start. That was a pretty damn good performance overall. He gained confidence as the game went on and showed leadership skills that are sorely needed right now. Congrats to Vizza. You should be pretty proud of that performance, which was good enough to win. Vizza will cut down on the turnovers as time goes on, which is why he needs to be playing now. On the other hand, you have to agree with Rick that we won't win until the D shapes up.

I just don't get it either. 3 times in the 4th quarter the defense had a chance to make a big stop and give the offense a chance to win. They failed all 3 times.