Everything Falls Into Place

[Censored by Laurie]

as a bit of a change of pace from the constant pessimism on here...let's run on the crazy assumption that everything goes right next season...for me, that looks something like this:

QB - DaMarcus Smith comes in and shows he's head and shoulders above the other 2 dozen quarterbacks and is a dynamic play-maker both with feet and arm.

TB - Jeffery Wilson is consistent and healthy enough for 55-60% of the carries...Jimmerson continues to give about what we've come to expect from him...Evans sees a bit more PT as a change of pace back

WR - Thad Thompson can lock down an outside receiver spot and take a significant load off Harris...Kidsey slides to the slot and Tee Goree grows as a reliable option as the season progresses

TE - Marcus Smith shows more consistency...he has the tools to be incredibly dangerous in this offense. Someone...don't care who...proves a steady 2nd TE/blocking option

OL - let's say Banogu - Rice - Kirby - Ochs - Miles...biggest concerns are the 2 guard positions in replacing Lemon and Y'Barbo...seems we've a number of legit options.

DL - Combs, Polk and Ti. Johnson each rack up 5+ sacks...Wallace, Tauaalo and maybe even one of the big frosh DTs can be effective space eaters, allowing our kinda tweener guys like Orr, Dilonga, Roberts and Flusche to be productive in rotation.

LB - Cain eventually ends up here...he along with the other 2 JUCOs bring in some consistency and stability to the LB corp...let's say Cain - Scott - Finney

DB - Buyers has a bounce-back senior year at corner...or is even better either as a safety or in the nickel...both JUCOs come in and aren't DQ Johnson. Davis and McClain up their game, Warner makes a comeback, even if it's just in dime and ST spots and Whitfield sticks around (I'd hate for his lasting legacy to be the UTSA debacle)


personally, I don't think any of these are terribly unrealistic hopes/expectations. what's the ceiling for that team? 9 wins? 10 wins?

[meangreendork]

Improved play at the QB and LB positions would make a difference -- a difference of at least 2-3 games. If every position came in firing at full, we could be looking at another 9 win, maybe 10 win season.

[MeanGreenTexan]

as a bit of a change of pace from the constant pessimism on here...let's run on the crazy assumption that everything goes right next season...for me, that looks something like this:

QB - DaMarcus Smith comes in and shows he's head and shoulders above the other 2 dozen quarterbacks and is a dynamic play-maker both with feet and arm.

TB - Jeffery Wilson is consistent and healthy enough for 55-60% of the carries...Jimmerson continues to give about what we've come to expect from him...Evans sees a bit more PT as a change of pace back

WR - Thad Thompson can lock down an outside receiver spot and take a significant load off Harris...Kidsey slides to the slot and Tee Goree grows as a reliable option as the season progresses

TE - Marcus Smith shows more consistency...he has the tools to be incredibly dangerous in this offense. Someone...don't care who...proves a steady 2nd TE/blocking option

OL - let's say Banogu - Rice - Kirby - Ochs - Miles...biggest concerns are the 2 guard positions in replacing Lemon and Y'Barbo...seems we've a number of legit options.

DL - Combs, Polk and Ti. Johnson each rack up 5+ sacks...Wallace, Tauaalo and maybe even one of the big frosh DTs can be effective space eaters, allowing our kinda tweener guys like Orr, Dilonga, Roberts and Flusche to be productive in rotation.

LB - Cain eventually ends up here...he along with the other 2 JUCOs bring in some consistency and stability to the LB corp...let's say Cain - Scott - Finney

DB - Buyers has a bounce-back senior year at corner...or is even better either as a safety or in the nickel...both JUCOs come in and aren't DQ Johnson. Davis and McClain up their game, Warner makes a comeback, even if it's just in dime and ST spots and Whitfield sticks around (I'd hate for his lasting legacy to be the UTSA debacle)

personally, I don't think any of these are terribly unrealistic hopes/expectations. what's the ceiling for that team? 9 wins? 10 wins?

I'd honestly look for more from Blake Bean at MLB than either Wallace/Scott.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I think any of those individually are viable possibilities. The odds of those all coming together . . . not so good.

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Even if all comes together, curious what about those personnel groupings you think makes us a potentially 9-10 win team?

[MeanGreenTexan]

Even if all comes together, curious what about those personnel groupings you think makes us a potentially 9-10 win team?

Jeff Wilson with a QB who can back safeties out of the box + If the D-Line, with that size, clicks, it's on.

[BillySee58]

Add one more thing to that; us figuring out how to win on the road. Double digit wins if all that truly happens.

[greenit]

#hit6

[greenminer]

Does anyone see Rex Rollins getting into the RB rotation? He came on at the end of his first year and if I recall an injury made him all but forgotten last season.

[UNT90]

#hit6

This.

And that is assuming the title of this thread occurs.

[Green P1]

I'd honestly look for more from Blake Bean at MLB than either Wallace/Scott.

Meh. Get that retread duck outta the mix and watch Judge Fredd flourish in full time duty.

[Got5onIt]

I'm all in!

Nowhere to go but up, right?

[UNTLifer]

What about Rice and Epps on the OL? I figured our OL would be something like Rice, Epps, Kirby, Banogu and Ochs.

[jquincy]

Dumb question: can we still land Cain? If so, how?

Dumb statement: D. Smith not getting to practice until the summer REALLY hurts. It's difficult (though not impossible) to envision him as the day 1 starter at QB.

[GMG24]

If Demarcus is head and shoulders above the rest, you figure out a way that whatever's on the play call sheet that week is what he knows. Hell most schools run the same variation of 7-10 plays out of different personnel, it can't be that hard to dumb down the playbook if need be, and let the kid play.

Edited February 8, 2015 by GMG24

[untjim1995]

If all of that occurs, I'd say we are about a 6 to 7 win team. Still don't see us winning, no matter what, at Iowa or Tennessee. Plus, I don't see us beating Marshall or La Tech on the road. Add in Rice, WKU, UTEP, and UTSA, even with everything above going perfectly, I don't see us winning all of those. That would get us 6-6 or 7-5, which would just be outstanding. I'd even venture that would be Mac's best year of coaching here if we pulled that off. For me personally, and yes I know we had NFL players on the roster, but his first year in 2011 was a very good coaching job by Mac, going 5-7 with a bunch that had combined to go 8-40 in the previous 4 seasons and 13-53 over the previous 6 seasons, covering Dickey's last two and Dodge's epic fail 4 years. Just by winning 5 games that year, he had tied or eclipsed every season 1990, with the excpetion of the three SBC champs from 2002-2004. His 9-4 team from 2013, to me, was the best team I've personally seen UNT field since 1990 when I started watching UNT football. So I know he can do it--but what I worry about is if the line play is soft and the QB play is just nothing, we could very easily just win 3 games next year--at best...

[TIgreen01]

If all of that occurs, I'd say we are about a 6 to 7 win team. Still don't see us winning, no matter what, at Iowa or Tennessee. Plus, I don't see us beating Marshall or La Tech on the road. Add in Rice, WKU, UTEP, and UTSA, even with everything above going perfectly, I don't see us winning all of those. That would get us 6-6 or 7-5, which would just be outstanding. I'd even venture that would be Mac's best year of coaching here if we pulled that off. For me personally, and yes I know we had NFL players on the roster, but his first year in 2011 was a very good coaching job by Mac, going 5-7 with a bunch that had combined to go 8-40 in the previous 4 seasons and 13-53 over the previous 6 seasons, covering Dickey's last two and Dodge's epic fail 4 years. Just by winning 5 games that year, he had tied or eclipsed every season 1990, with the excpetion of the three SBC champs from 2002-2004. His 9-4 team from 2013, to me, was the best team I've personally seen UNT field since 1990 when I started watching UNT football. So I know he can do it--but what I worry about is if the line play is soft and the QB play is just nothing, we could very easily just win 3 games next year--at best...

I agree with dang-near every word.

I think a lot of what Billy posted may actually happen---outside of the QB spot. I am personally not holding out an ounce of hope that D. Smith makes it here. We're looking at needing a bus-driver type steady hand at QB by either McNulty or Means (is Greer still here?)....or JW starts putting it together. I don't care how talented Smith is, if JW were to get his head right (may never happen), he'd be the most talented QB we've had at UNT since I've been watching (late 90s). He's the X-factor that we probably shouldn't get our hopes up for...

So the question is, how good can this team be in spite of the QB? We can't possibly get worse, at the position, than we were last year. So, assuming a slight uptick to merely average play...what is the ceiling then?

[greenit]

I actually like the idea of JW at QB. I wonder if anyone has asked him.

He would be awesome at the jump pass.

[Aldo]

So the question is, how good can this team be in spite of the QB? We can't possibly get worse, at the position, than we were last year.

It will all depend on that o-line. Just give us a qb that won't hold on to the ball and a receiver that will get open. McNulty had his moments.

If we can just get someone that can release the ball quickly and over the line of scrimmage in a dink and dunk offense, I think someone can get some momentum going before D Smith has a chance to get playing time.

For the WR, I'd ideally like to see Thad on one side, and Goree/Smiley rotating on the other, with Harris inside. I suspect it'll be Harris, Kidsy, and Smiley as X, Y, and Z to start the year off, with Goree and Smiley rotating? Heck they might even rotate Goree inside.

[untjim1995]

It will all depend on that o-line. Just give us a qb that won't hold on to the ball and a receiver that will get open. McNulty had his moments.

If we can just get someone that can release the ball quickly and over the line of scrimmage in a dink and dunk offense, I think someone can get some momentum going before D Smith has a chance to get playing time.

For the WR, I'd ideally like to see Thad on one side, and Goree/Smiley rotating on the other, with Harris inside. I suspect it'll be Harris, Kidsy, and Smiley as X, Y, and Z to start the year off, with Goree and Smiley rotating? Heck they might even rotate Goree inside.

On the other end of this spectrum, if things go south on the lines or we have a 2010 type of season where the QBs cannot stay healthy, its not hard to see us winning just a game or two. To me, Portland State has to be win, even if theyve beaten other FBS schools before. You cannot lose that one. Beyond that, @ SMU really does look like our best shot at another win on the schedule. They are going to still be really bad--June left them with nothing, so even if Morris gets those kids going like Jones did at SMU, it won't be until next season at the earliest. To me, Morris is a mix between Mike Cavan and Phil Bennett, a coach whose name was fairly well-known in football circles and Texas ties, but the reality of the situation there is that winning big in football is gonna be a challenge, especially for an assistant who has never been a college head coach (ala Phil Bennett). After those tow games, I am not sure where we get another win, even if we stay healthy, but I think we will get one or two of our conference home games. I'm prepared for 3-9 or 4-8, with anything better than that being a minor to major miracle, considering the schedule, the lack of developed talent, and the QB play just being meh...

[Aldo]

I think the defensive strides (JUCOs) we've made this offseason is going to mitigate some of the offensive mishaps we are afraid of.

We used the JUCOs to fill a need this year that we already had last year, and I think we are coming out on top. Because of the lack of that 2012 class being here, we saw the floor. In other words, I don't think we get worse.

Like in 2013, the defense is what will win us more games than lose us. Now, I don't mean we are going to have a 2013 defense, I am saying that we bottomed out 2014 defensively, and we are stop-gapping now. This helps out a sputtering offense.