How can a team be so different from one year to the next?

[BillySee58]

Has the staff even tried to move Lemon back to guard?

One of the more concerning comments I've heard this year is when Mac said these are by far our best 5 linemen after the Texas game. Very concerning for next year. We need those guys to step up next year if we're to have any chance at a bounce back year. Edited October 26, 2014 by BillySee58

[GOMG2013]

One of the more concerning comments I've heard this year is when Mac said these are by far our best 5 linemen after the Texas game. Very concerning for next year. We need those guys to step up next year if we're to have any chance at a bounce back year.

we have some hope because I am sure he didnt include the transfers and condsidering they had all those starts and are seniors, they should have been better than the backups after the first game of the year.

[FirefightnRick]

Has the staff even tried to move Lemon back to guard?

Not that I've seen.

Rick

[Green Otaku]

Not too hard to figure out the answer to the question right?

When you are not one of the teams spending 60-100 million a season, you are going to have inconsistent results. Every non P5 team will struggle with this, and even if we do string good seasons together a big team will come for our coach. Basically do they want to make 600k a year at UNT or 2 million at a P5 school. All you have to do is look at the Hayden Fry era, our success on the field was too short to elevate us. The same thing will happen if we go on a successful run today.

Texas, or Alabama can have a bad season but they can live off of their reputation and pull in recruits. We don't have that luxury.

[NTXCoog]

Teams change, but they don't change from 9-4 to 2-10. Of course there are exceptions, but it isn't the norm. Bad recruiting and coaching are the 2 themes of our 2014 season. The most discouraging part of all of this is that there is no reason to really believe we'll be any better next season, in year 5.

Houston has historically bounced up and down. Just in the last 5 years: 2009 - 10-4. 2010 5-7. 2011 - 13-1 and ranked. 2012 - 5-7. And it's not just a recent phenomenon. 1990 - 10-1 and top 10 ranked. 1991 - 4-7.

If you're not a traditional power, one player not playing or one coach (even an assistant) leaving, there's often not the depth to handle that. The good news is that unless you're like an SMU who is missing coaching, talent, and depth, finding that one coach or player that's missing can often bounce you back up.

[UNT90]

UTSA fans are having the same conversation.

And they also haven't been able to replace a 3 year starting QB. Not a coincidence.

Shocked to see UTEP blow them out in San Antonio. At least we will have a shot at a win over Thanksgiving weekend.

[GreenMachine]

The thread title is good but I always ask myself why UNT can't get its act together as a program in general. The last few years infrastructure and student support is much much better but this product is unacceptable.

Because there is absolutely no accountability in the athletic dept. A lot of people dont like to admit it but from President on down, we dont hold anyone accountable. Jackson is a lame excuse for a chancellor, our BOR is lame, RV can't get hired away, and Mac is a has been. Change needs to made from top down but it's not going to happen.

[wardly]

Its not the same players, hence not the same team. A few years ago So. Miss. won 10 or 11 games, and went 0&12 the next year.

[gradumacated]

Not too hard to figure out the answer to the question right?

When you are not one of the teams spending 60-100 million a season, you are going to have inconsistent results. Every non P5 team will struggle with this, and even if we do string good seasons together a big team will come for our coach. Basically do they want to make 600k a year at UNT or 2 million at a P5 school. All you have to do is look at the Hayden Fry era, our success on the field was too short to elevate us. The same thing will happen if we go on a successful run today.

Texas, or Alabama can have a bad season but they can live off of their reputation and pull in recruits. We don't have that luxury.

Conversely, one good season isn't going to change perceptions all the much unless or until the squad proves it can have success consistently. It's human nature: most players want to go to places that historically have success, especially when most college players entertain dreams of playing in the NFL. You're more likely to be drafted out of somewhere like a Texas or an Alabama than out of UNT-- and then stick on the NFL squad who drafts you.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Scratching my head. I didn't expect to be world killers this season but 0-4 in CUSA? And I think it's more than just DT and the other seniors who graduated. Somehow this program lost their mojo in less than a years time. We need to figure out why and get it fixed real fast.

That tends to happen when you lose the best QB in the program's history...plus, one of the best tacklers...plus, one of the best receivers/returners...plus, six of the seven front seven...plus, a pretty solid safety...plus, one of the Top 10 running backs in school history.

We do have a good kicker, though! That's an upgrade from last year!

Anyway, I'll just say that the only real head scratcher for me is the offensive line. They have fallen completely off the map. So, much for experience.

[MeanGreenTeeth]

We're watching a perfect example as to why you don't jump the gun and extend contracts two years before they expire. Does that mean I think DMac doesn't care as much as last year? No. But there's Hungry and there's Pulling Up To The Table To Eat.

Rick

Agreed. That was so dumb. The only reason to extend a contract early is if you're afraid the coach might jump ship. DMac wasn't going anywhere regardless. It didn't make any sense.

[untjim1995]

We're watching a perfect example as to why you don't jump the gun and extend contracts two years before they expire. Does that mean I think DMac doesn't care as much as last year? No. But there's Hungry and there's Pulling Up To The Table To Eat.

Rick

I still think the extension was warranted and necessary for a few reasons. One, as bad as we have been here, and as horrible as recruiting has been, imagine what it would look like around here if we had just wont he HoD Bowl after his thrid year of a 5 year contract, and still didn't extend him. Every other coach we recruit against would be saying that they don't care about winning up there, that they wouldn't even reward the current coach with even one year extra for winning a bowl game. Two, he would be going into his make or break season of the contract, the 4th year of 5, where he would either have to get extended or get fired, since no one is going to say yes to coming here with a coach going into his last year of his contract, full well knowing that he is probably looking to go somewhere else or he is gonna get fired.

What we have to hope for here is that Coach Mac finds his positivity again and that he can again get people to llok differently at North Texas Football. He has a few years to accomplish this. I don't think he is a guy who will accept this situation lightly. I expect big changes at OC and within the other positions on the staff. I do think he knows recruiting has to pick up--even if it means hitting the jucos hard, which isn't great, but it beats getting HS players that literally are not offered by any other FBS schools or by other SBCUSA schools only. It sucks right now for sure, but I am beginning to come to the realization that this is the only thing we can hope for--that Coach Mac gets back into full development mode again, gets rid of the OC who obviously cannot judge QB talent at all, and finds his positivity again to sell to the recruits and their families and HS coaches. If this doesn't happen, we are about to go back to 2005 and 2006 around here all over again, just for a few more years than DIckey got at the end of his tenure.

[TIgreen01]

Houston has historically bounced up and down. Just in the last 5 years: 2009 - 10-4. 2010 5-7. 2011 - 13-1 and ranked. 2012 - 5-7. And it's not just a recent phenomenon. 1990 - 10-1 and top 10 ranked. 1991 - 4-7.

If you're not a traditional power, one player not playing or one coach (even an assistant) leaving, there's often not the depth to handle that. The good news is that unless you're like an SMU who is missing coaching, talent, and depth, finding that one coach or player that's missing can often bounce you back up.

This guy gets it.

For everyone else who continues to freak out, I don't know why anyone with any history with the program would have expected another great year this year. You knew the roster we had last year. You knew the players that we would be losing. Also, if you watched every game last year, then you would know, as FFR and others have pointed out, that we didn't play a lot of our younger guys for much more than a series or two very late in blowouts. Pretty simply, we lost all but one or two players out of our 8-9 man Dline rotation from a year ago. THAT is what is killing us this year more than anything else. It makes our entire defense look bad when you can't hold the line of scrimmage or get pressure on QBs. Our Oline is a bit of a head scratcher, but anytime your QB isn't up to snuff your Oline can get exposed.

Either way, looking at the current roster, next year is going to be tough. We won't be really turning the corner until 2016 unless our staff goes out and brings in some JUCOs who can contribute or some of our current redshirts just explode unexpectedly out of the gate.

[meangreendork]

Which blows my mind since they returned practically everyone.

Kinda figured it'd be UTSA and Marshall this year. At least I was half-right. Marshall has whatever it takes to be consistently successful, clearly.

[FirefightnRick]

Marshall has whatever it takes to be consistently successful, clearly.

And doing it by having to recruit 84% of their team from out of state in the heart of SEC and ACC country.

Rick

[meangreendork]

And doing it by having to recruit 84% of their team from out of state in the heart of SEC and ACC country.

Rick

To Marshall's credit, they're one of the more nationally-recognized football programs that isn't a P5 program. I'm pretty sure their brand presence has a HUGE part in their success. That, and being halfway stable for a number of years, too.

But to clarify, here's Marshall over the last 5 years:

2009: 7-6

2010: 5-7

2011: 7-6

2012: 5-7

2013: 10-4

2014: 8-0 (thus far)

About Southern Miss: yeah, they were wildly successful for a bit and then just fell off a cliff and they're trying to right that ship. Then again, we could look at any halfway successful school in the G5 and see the same patterns. They're either wildly successful and they drop, or they're middling for a really long time. I guess that's the thing about being a G5 school. It's gotta be hard to be consistently successful for a long span of time since coaches and assistants (assistants especially) move around a lot, and it's harder to lock down recruiting every year.

Edited October 27, 2014 by meangreendork

[wardly]

Marshall recruits well in Florida, which is akin to selling ice boxes to Eskimos .

[class84]

Marshall recruits well in Florida, which is akin to selling ice boxes to Eskimos .

Yup. You think Denton, Texas is a hard place to recruit, try Huntington, West Virginia...

[UNT90]

Kinda figured it'd be UTSA and Marshall this year. At least I was half-right. Marshall has whatever it takes to be consistently successful, clearly.

UTSA shows you how important QB play is to a G5

[Got5onIt]

Easy answer to the OP....

NT failed to backfill the spots vacated by players lost to graduation this year. QB is such a visible position, it's easy to see the coaches failed to groom an AVERAGE replacement. However, it's far from the only position. Who's to blame? Coaches, recruiting, etc., it's easy to point to a number of things. I'm definitely not giving anyone a pass, but these dips aren't uncommon amongst most mid major programs. Check out UTSA & our Bowl mate UNLV this year. Both programs are about as bad as we are.

[wardly]

This year we are playing like a "mid minor", not major. I have written 14' off, and would like to see kids play that are important to our future.My question is, will we be any better next year?

[meangreendork]

This year we are playing like a "mid minor", not major. I have written 14' off, and would like to see kids play that are important to our future.My question is, will we be any better next year?

I'd like to hope so. Fewer lost starters/seniors this year and more juniors and below with playing experience come back. Ideally, a rhythm will be in place with the new assistant coaches, too. Hoping for a better season to the line of 7-5. There's not really an excuse for a losing season next year short of serious, prolific injury.

[untjim1995]

Yup. You think Denton, Texas is a hard place to recruit, try Huntington, West Virginia...

Marshall has a solid reputation as a winning program at this G5 level. They love football in the small, college town known as Huntington, West Virginia. They send kids to the NFL, as well. And the G5 programs they are competing against for area-wide recruits are mainly MAC schools, whom they left behind years ago.

To me, that is apples to oranges between us and them.

[Ben Gooding]

Huntington fits the bill that college students and athletes alike look for. Small rural college town that exists bc of the given college. Most colleges like that thrive. It's isolated, not too far, close enough and there is a true sense of school pride bc the pride permeates through the existence of that town. That is something Denton hasn't had in a long time and will never have again. So we have to push what we DO have and push it hard to these JUCOS and HS recruits. I still think even if we have a 2-10 year that The University of North Texas has most of the right checks in the box to become a G5 monster. To me, it's only a matter of time.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

West Virginia also has some credible football history. That helps.