North Texas Ranked No 125 in ESPN Preseason Rankings

[MGNation92]

http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/129505/ohio-state-is-no-1-in-preseason-fpi-1-0

Perception is everything

I think we're way better than 125 but it goes to show what the national media thinks. Hopefully Littrell uses this as bulletin board material

[MeanGreenTexan]

13 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/129505/ohio-state-is-no-1-in-preseason-fpi-1-0

Perception is everything

I think we're way better than 125 but it goes to show what the national media thinks. Hopefully Littrell uses this as bulletin board material

Interesting that we'd be ranked 125 after going from 1-11 to 5-8.

EDIT:   Our predicted offense rank is 118?   

Edited February 27, 2017 by MeanGreenTexan

[untjim1995]

We were generally ranked between 125-128 last season, too. We have a good coach and a schedule that has a lot of winnable games. I expect us to win at least 5 games again, which alone puts us in the 90s, at least. I actually think we will 6 if we stay healthy and if our QB play is decent.

I see us winning the following games: Lamar, UAB, UTEP, and Army at home. I think we will win at least one of these games, if not more: UTSA @ FAU, ODU, and @ Rice. I don't see us beating SMU, USM, or LT on the road, but tis possible. Iowa is just a bodybag right now, unfortunately...

[Cr1028]

Interesting that the Army team we smoked in NY and took to OT in the HOD bowl is ranked at 75 while we're 50 spots below.

[AustinFromUNT]

You have to remember though that their FPI looks at your past 4 seasons. I would argue we're now in the best position we've been in in 4 years.

[Aldo]

This is a better metric (and puts us 107 overall):

http://www.footballstudyhall.com/pages/2016-college-football-advanced-statistical-profiles

ETA: oh i see, ditto to what @AustinFromUNT said

[MeanGreenTexan]

26 minutes ago, AustinFromUNT said:

You have to remember though that their FPI looks at your past 4 seasons. I would argue we're now in the best position we've been in in 4 years.

We're basing a preseason poll on a 4-year average from the previous 4 seasons?

[drex]

I've said it once and I'll say it again--the media is extremely lazy and must be spoon fed.

[jtm0097]

Fake news, typical bias East Coast media.

 

Now get off my lawn.

[KingDL1]

1 hour ago, untjim1995 said:

We were generally ranked between 125-128 last season, too. We have a good coach and a schedule that has a lot of winnable games. I expect us to win at least 5 games again, which alone puts us in the 90s, at least. I actually think we will 6 if we stay healthy and if our QB play is decent.

I see us winning the following games: Lamar, UAB, UTEP, and Army at home. I think we will win at least one of these games, if not more: UTSA @ FAU, ODU, and @ Rice. I don't see us beating SMU, USM, or LT on the road, but tis possible. Iowa is just a bodybag right now, unfortunately...

5-6 wins is more worrisome to me, this would be a disaster. We need at least 7 wins I would think 

[BTG_Fan1]

2 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

5-6 wins is more worrisome to me, this would be a disaster. We need at least 7 wins I would think 

Have to remember that this team is losing a lot of upper-class players in Scott, Gray, Davis, Buyers, TT, among others, and I think we will see a lot more of SL guys rotated in and out... Not saying we can’t get to 7 wins, but this will be a younger/less inexperience group of guys at some spots.

That’s my worry, but I do think 5-6 is doable.. hopefully we can top that

A lot of the offense will have to do with the QB, and defense with how they respond and new guys out there besides Scott, Combs, Gray.. We could be playing a True Freshman in Pearson, a new RS JR QB, or Fine who was at times solid for a Freshman but wasn’t great either at times either.

 

[KingDL1]

We had a lot of freshman playing last year this fan base will not take another 6 or less season we better have a winning season and we better be 7 or more. 

[HoustonEagle]

After the last two recruiting classes my expectations are pretty low.   Granted this is UNT. My expectations stay low.  

[MeanGreenTexan]

2 hours ago, KingDL1 said:

We had a lot of freshman playing last year this fan base will not take another 6 or less season we better have a winning season and we better be 7 or more. 

Yep.  #NewDenton, Right?

We have "expectations" now.  That word may be foreign to some of you, so here's a link to the definition of that weird word:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expectation

[untjim1995]

I just want to see improvement. 6 wins or more is certainly improvement and the schedule is one that makes this possible.

[correcamino]

Seems about right, imo.

[TheWestie]

To the buttmunch who made the list:

 

 

[NorthTexan95]

On 2/27/2017 at 6:12 PM, BTG_Fan1 said:

Have to remember that this team is losing a lot of upper-class players in Scott, Gray, Davis, Buyers, TT, among others, and I think we will see a lot more of SL guys rotated in and out... Not saying we can’t get to 7 wins, but this will be a younger/less inexperience group of guys at some spots.

 

That’s my worry, but I do think 5-6 is doable.. hopefully we can top that

 

A lot of the offense will have to do with the QB, and defense with how they respond and new guys out there besides Scott, Combs, Gray.. We could be playing a True Freshman in Pearson, a new RS JR QB, or Fine who was at times solid for a Freshman but wasn’t great either at times either.

 

 

If the offensive line can figure things out it will make a huge difference for our entire offense. I really expect the entire offense to play better in their second season in this system but it all starts up front. 

On 2/27/2017 at 4:06 PM, untjim1995 said:

We were generally ranked between 125-128 last season, too. We have a good coach and a schedule that has a lot of winnable games. I expect us to win at least 5 games again, which alone puts us in the 90s, at least. I actually think we will 6 if we stay healthy and if our QB play is decent.

I see us winning the following games: Lamar, UAB, UTEP, and Army at home. I think we will win at least one of these games, if not more: UTSA @ FAU, ODU, and @ Rice. I don't see us beating SMU, USM, or LT on the road, but tis possible. Iowa is just a bodybag right now, unfortunately...

I can see us beating SMU.  I think if we had played SMU in the second game of the season instead of the first we would have won.  We had soooo many defensive breakdowns in that game (many that SMU didn't take advantage of).

[oldguystudent]

We should definitely be higher than 125, but since when do I care what ESPN has to say about anything?  If ESPN had their way, every college football game in existence would be Alabama vs Ohio St. several times a week.  They've no interest whatsoever in either covering or positively commenting on anybody in the G5. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by oldguystudent

[AustinFromUNT]

Here is my perspective (preseason rankings) based on observation and analysis of us as well as a few other teams we regularly compete with.

LA Tech: 71

Southern Miss: 79

North Texas: 83

UTSA: 86

SMU: 92

Rice: 109

UTEP: 117

UAB: 121

[cdizzle86]

2 minutes ago, AustinFromUNT said:

Here is my perspective (preseason rankings) based on observation and analysis of us as well as a few other teams we regularly compete with.

LA Tech: 71

Southern Miss: 79

North Texas: 83

UTSA: 86

SMU: 92

Rice: 109

UTEP: 117

UAB: 121

Interesting, but I'd love to hear why you think we will be above UTSA and SMU.

[MDH]

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 3:58 PM, jtm0097 said:

Fake news, typical bias East Coast media.

 

Now get off my lawn.

Sad!

[BTG_Fan1]

9 hours ago, NorthTexan95 said:

If the offensive line can figure things out it will make a huge difference for our entire offense. I really expect the entire offense to play better in their second season in this system but it all starts up front. 

 

The OL is very worrisome, and I do wonder about the QB situation as well. The OL lost 2 experienced guys, with us having a 5 true freshman coming. Everyone has talked highly about the Newman kid as a Center, and Moses as a G, but we are in need of OTs. Murray seems to slow at times to be an OT in the offense, and we already have a solid # of Gs on the roster. If this OL can gel, that would be a major improvement for this offense leading to the QB having more time. I do think we brought in a some good OTs in this class, but I’m not sure if they are ready to start or play a major role starting Day 1(talking about Parish and Brammer.) Also, we saw when this team was able to give the QB time(at times) this past season we were able to pass the ball.

The QB situation is fluid because Fine didn’t lock it up, and with us bringing in 2 guys in Pearson and Izzy with no D1 experience. I do think it is good to have Lamar first, and I think Izzy has the ability to be a good QB in this system (he just has to show it). We still have questions about Fine as a passer, with things like is he willing to throw it away instead of taken a sack and if he can stay healthy the entire season. I'm hoping Izzy wins the job, with Fine pushing him and getting some reps in games as well with Pearson RS. I'd love to see them use Fine at times as a runner, but also let him pass a few times to keep defenses off-balanced(yes I know he isn't the biggest but playing a side-kick role he would take less of a beating)

[wardly]

It doesn't matter if we are 125th or 105th,we are still in the bottom 20% of 1A programs.No way we are 83rd, but I like the way you are thinking.However, I don't see us beating UTSA or SMU this season.

[Matt from A700]

On 2/27/2017 at 5:16 PM, KingDL1 said:

We had a lot of freshman playing last year this fan base will not take another 6 or less season we better have a winning season and we better be 7 or more. 

I too am expecting at least 7. Would be disappointed with anything less.