aztecskin

Yeah it holds true that good teams beat bad teams. Speaking of that 2018 team, they just absolutely destroyed SMU and then the same with Incarnate Word. 58-13 was the final. Just no doubt. So beating a bad Arkansas team was in the cards. TTU is not good, but I don't know that NT is good overall. The offense has the potential to be *very* good, but showed how vulnerable they are along that front line. The defense is getting better and I was very encouraged to see them shutdown SFA in pretty much all aspects. Just 10 points of offensive scoring and 250 total yards. SFA were aggressive also! went for it on 4th a couple of times.

the yt version:

Yes it was great. 30K there. Raucous. Loud as hell. Press box was shaking.

Agree. but as I said on the show I think the idea was to give the fans a little show.

https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/224-ugly-wins-are-beautiful?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true @Aldo was rustled from his slumber among the tall pacific northwest forestry to record

I couldn’t find the pre-game on Varsity. The Eagle doesn’t stream the game, just music. I tried Sirius 386 but I had an issue where the app doesn’t know I have 386. I went to the car and it was playing there. So some weirdness was definitely happening. I skipped the whole deal and went with the broadcast.

yeah on the broadcast it was brief but Price held up his leg immediately and the SFA training staff came over and covered the leg with a towel as soon as they saw it.

they swapped their QB and the backup threw a pick. it’s 42-3. Love this.

https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/2024-week-two-the-morning-after-south?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true I mention some reasons even thought I think you are joking?

Yeah sure but I mentioned Rogers, Adeyi, Maclin as they were our 3K, 1K, 1K guys. Cleveland got hurt and Johnson got lost in the shuffle. I wouldn't have hated them coming back.

Interesting that Adeyi, Maclin, Rogers all had quiet days vs seemingly soft competition. Helps strengthen the idea that we aren’t missing them to hard. To be clear, I would still love having Maclin and Adeyi back. I think we upgraded at QB though.

No aldo on account of him using disposable income to take trips with his family. https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/223-north-beats-south-52-38?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true BUT I soldiered on, kind of like the o-line after losing jett duncan. gmg

I mean I think the defense was solid relative to expectations. 582 is a lot of yards and USA moved it easily in the first. But in the context of the game they got stops, and forced the punt that allowed the block/TD. I simply have accepted the reality that this isn’t going to be a shut-down kind of defense and we’ll need to score to win. The defense did their job in that context and I am satisfied. Of course I do want improvement etc, but that’s a long-term recruiting, scheme evolution thing.

It's not good to ignore the 582 yards allowed but a good chunk of that came late when the score / deficit didn't change. The 150 yards rushing allowed is the most important stat to me. They are a good rushing team, and regularly put up 200+ yard games. Last year's USA would have run for 400+ against NT. The squad was down a couple of big contributors, came out and got some huge stops in the second half that helped set up the punt block, and the NT scores. That's what we asked for. We don't expect top-10 defense. We just want mid-table American defense and I think this squad can compete for a league title. Quick Reaction on MGN: https://www.meangreennation.com/p/quick-reaction-north-texas-52-south

Podcast form of this https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/222-south-alabama-preview?r=du4qo&utm_medium=ios

yeah I understood. I think we understand the idea behind it the scheme is more of a bend-but-don't-break thing with some calculated pressures. They just absolutely need to tackle better in those spots where they didn't last year, and make plays when they have them in the backfield (so many near misses from Mazin Richards, et al)

BIlly hit on the thing I've been thinking about re: the defense -- generating negative plays and getting turnovers. I will disagree a little in that this defensive scheme does have some plans for generating negative plays -- mostly with stunts and pressures. There was a lot of good defensively in every game. Even the Cal one. Lot of near-negative plays, but a QB/RB would slip a tackle, or a guy would be in slow to close a gap, or this or that. I hope -- and believe -- those will be fewer and more far between. I also liked the coverage. Logan Wilson, Phil Hill, were good. We got big stops when needed them vs Tulane, Memphis (before we didn't) and others. You have to squint and look beyond the glaring, blinding statistics. I think we die-hards are the only ones wiling to do that, though haha.

https://www.meangreennation.com/p/2024-football-at-south-alabama-preview The first game preview of the season. I won't spam the board with them throughout the season but the first one is here. gmg

I want it on the record that I had 8-4 also, and published it in the e-book first! haha

I found @Aldo walking in the pacific northwest and had him clean himself up and get ready to do the show. https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/mgn-221-2024-season-preview?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

And now more of the offense https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/2024-season-preview-morris-air-raid?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=du4qo&utm_medium=ios

Follow up: a deeper dive into the defense - https://www.meangreennation.com/p/2024-season-preview-lets-talk-about $

thx I appreciate it. If you read the post you saw I wrote that I would be going a little deeper with more media (video, photos) on some things. I am putting it to the reader on what to go with first: https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/previewing-2024-you-choose?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true I have re-watched a lot of 2023 and am (currently) two margaritas deep. Yes on a Monday. My quick take is that the defense suffered from a lack of Jimmys and Joes and not so much the scheme, although I think there is a responsibility on the DC to choose a scheme that will make his players better. Heacock (the Iowa State DC) actually scrapped his 4-2-5 scheme midseason to go to the 3-3-3 (as it is known) to fix some problems. I have hot sports opinions on the offense, as well, but that is relatively solid.

I wonder what USA will look like. I think Kane Wommack probably moderated some of Major Applewhite's tendencies a bit. When Applewhite was at Houston he went tempo a lot. Wommack was a defensive head coach. I think he brought more balance. Still they were 7-6 or whatever last year. We will see a ton of QB runs and we'll need this new look defense to be great at tackling.

I think it was the raw athleticism that mainly was it. High motor, big upside.