Very disappointing loss

[NorthTexan95]

We did not give ourselves a chance in the second half. 

* Harrell / Fine continually killing drives by throwing short of the sticks on 3rd down.

* Ashton Preston committing three really, really stupid penalties.  Strangely, it was probably the 5 yard off sides call that was the biggest.

* Special teams.   Again.  Broken record. 

Props to the defense for playing tough and getting a bit lucky with Iowa missing open receivers.

Props to the offense for looking good until getting to the Iowa side of the field.

Special teams ... well ... maybe next week. 

[tmjerm]

32 minutes ago, NorthTexan95 said:

We did not give ourselves a chance in the second half. 

* Harrell / Fine continually killing drives by throwing short of the sticks on 3rd down.

* Ashton Preston committing three really, really stupid penalties.  Strangely, it was probably the 5 yard off sides call that was the biggest.

* Special teams.   Again.  Broken record. 

Props to the defense for playing tough and getting a bit lucky with Iowa missing open receivers.

Props to the offense for looking good until getting to the Iowa side of the field.

Special teams ... well ... maybe next week. 

Completely agree with your post...thread title, mostly.  It's VERY diassapointing that so much of what contributed to the L was within our control...yet at the same time encouraging.  We learned we have enough talent to go toe to toe with p5s...mental errors are correctable, talent is not.   That said we have to get that shit fixed ASAP.  Preston made me break things in my living room and we look like we need to make an immediate change at the special teams helm.  

[NorthTexan95]

2 minutes ago, tmjerm said:

Completely agree with your post...thread title, mostly.  It's VERY diassapointing that so much of what contributed to the L was within our control...yet at the same time encouraging.  We learned we have enough talent to go toe to toe with p5s...mental errors are correctable, talent is not.   That said we have to get that shit fixed ASAP.  Preston made me break things in my living room and we look like we need to make an immediate change at the special teams helm.  

Good post

[jsd3743]

Lol all the people on here were saying we were gonna get whooped? Now it's a disappointment? I don't get it I'm proud of the mean green we played well and gave Iowa all they wanted.. this is still a very young team! Were there mistakes? Yes but this team is young and talented I still believe we win 7 games this year 

Edited September 16, 2017 by jsd3743

[cdizzle86]

Just now, jsd3743 said:

Lol all the people on here were saying we were gonna get whooped? Now it's a disappointment? I don't get it I'm proud of the mean green we played well and gave Iowa all they wanted.. this is still a very young team! Were there mistakes? Yes but this team is young and talented I still believe we win 7 games this year 

Iowa is a young team too. We played well, but maturity is not an excuse here.

[jsd3743]

We were expected to be down 50 in this game could we have won maybe..? I think we will be a force in cusa! I respect the high expectations though I think we need that for our program. 

[BTG_Fan1]

7 minutes ago, jsd3743 said:

We were expected to be down 50 in this game could we have won maybe..? I think we will be a force in cusa! I respect the high expectations though I think we need that for our program. 

I agree disappointing is the wrong word but it's a game that we Were in it a lot longer than we should have... Penalties, Punting and 3rd down.. if we even convert 3 or 4 3rd downs on offense and stop them 2 or 3 times more (which we had if it wasn't for Penalties) it's a different game.. 

[Side Show Joe]

I'm not disappointed in the loss. We played much better then many expected.

I am disappointed in our inability to stop Iowa from running to the outside in the second half. Our D just spent too much time on the field in the second half. Iowa made halftime adjustments and our offense struggled in the second half.

 

The Good

Fine played well most of the game, and was not hurt.

Shanbour looked very capable when he got in the game during quality minutes.

The D-line can stop the run up the middle (imagine how good they could be once English returns).

Receivers made plays on catchable balls.

 

The Bad

Special Teams... Can we please find a punter?

The secondary.... They should be a strength. They need to play like it.

Our front seven struggled with the outside run.

Iowa exposed our lack of depth.

 

Questions After This Game

Did we suffer serious injuries?

Will our coaches do something to address our Special Team issues? (punting, punt blocks,...)

Can any of our linemen challenge Barr or Murray for their starting jobs?

Is our team playing at a level high enough to compete for C-USA's Western Division?

[Got5onIt]

Special Teams looked awful again.

3rd down playcalling was disappointing. Offense was disappointing being shutdown in the 2nd half again. 

Defense was just completely worn down by the early 4th.

Typical P5 vs G5 where quality depth allows them to pull away.

 

Not sure how to take this loss as I'm not really upset.  I'm thinking the defense is capable of carrying this team. Maybe the offense doesn't lay a goose egg in 2nd halves come conference play?  

Edited September 17, 2017 by Got5onIt

[GangGreen]

Remember in 2002 when we only lost to Texas 27-0?

[Censored by Laurie]

1 minute ago, GangGreen said:

Remember in 2002 when we only lost to Texas 27-0?

almost certainly my favorite year as a fan

[Ben Gooding]

3 hours ago, jsd3743 said:

Lol all the people on here were saying we were gonna get whooped? Now it's a disappointment? I don't get it I'm proud of the mean green we played well and gave Iowa all they wanted.. this is still a very young team! Were there mistakes? Yes but this team is young and talented I still believe we win 7 games this year 

So we go 6-3 from here?!?!?!?!?!? From what I have seen, which is every snap, dare to wager?

[jsd3743]

I've watched every snap as well! I'd be willing to place a wager. 

[Ben Gooding]

Just now, jsd3743 said:

I've watched every snap as well! I'd be willing to place a wager. 

PM me! I'm in the making money mood tonight...

[GrandGreen]

3 hours ago, GangGreen said:

Remember in 2002 when we only lost to Texas 27-0?

Yes, and that was by far the worst loss that NT had against UT at the time.  

[Matt from A700]

I was only able to watch the first quarter but Iowa looked like they came out thinking they already deserved to win this game. Proud of the defensive effort. Again, the offense needs to play 60 minutes. But this should provide some confidence and extra motivation for the team, who probably thinks they should have won this one.

[GMG_Dallas]

Am I the only one thinking we need to be going for it on some 4th downs in these types of games? You're playing a team predicted to beat you by 20+ so why not go for it a bit more and see if you can put some pressure on their defense? Our punting is garbage and around the middle of the 3rd, their offense started to take over. In the third quarter they had a 14 play 76 yard touchdown drive that took nearly 7 minutes. Our next drive, we punted at their 41 yard line on 4th and 8 and they scored on their next drive which went for 81 yards. I know 4th and 8 is a lot to convert but say you get 4 yards on 3rd and 8 because you don't go for it all and now you have a chance to convert the 4th down. They scored on 4th down plays twice and were 4/5 on 4th down. Why are they playing with more urgency than we are when they have more to lose?

In these types of games, I would like to see us game plan a bit more aggressively and plan on going for it on 4th down at certain areas of the field. You're not "supposed" to win anyways, why not go for it all?

[eagle73]

14 hours ago, NorthTexan95 said:

We did not give ourselves a chance in the second half. 

* Harrell / Fine continually killing drives by throwing short of the sticks on 3rd down.

* Ashton Preston committing three really, really stupid penalties.  Strangely, it was probably the 5 yard off sides call that was the biggest.

* Special teams.   Again.  Broken record. 

Props to the defense for playing tough and getting a bit lucky with Iowa missing open receivers.

Props to the offense for looking good until getting to the Iowa side of the field.

Special teams ... well ... maybe next week. 

Harrell doesn't throw the pass and Fine can only throw the passes as deep as the receiver runs the pattern. On quick passes the receiver is responsible for getting past the sticks. 

[MeanGreen_MBA]

For those who chose not to make the trip....you cannot grasp how effective our team was for taking the crowd out of the game early and often. It was silent I. The stadium that normally rocks. It was a good effort against a team that was/is deeper on talent. Our first vs their first was pretty even. We will eventually get depth. 

For those who stayed home and did not put the effort to travel, and then criticize....well, I understand you just can't help yourself. You miss a lot when not watching it live. 

 

The Mean Green showed pretty good. We should finish with 7-8 wins if we play like this the rest of the year. 

[NorthTexan95]

21 minutes ago, eagle73 said:

Harrell doesn't throw the pass and Fine can only throw the passes as deep as the receiver runs the pattern. On quick passes the receiver is responsible for getting past the sticks. 

Harrell does control the play call, the routes receivers run, and how they are trained.  

[drex]

Check Iowa football budget vs. North Texas football budget and get back to me.

[Ryan Munthe]

I really think that our special teams is what killed us versus Iowa. The twenty yard punts, the kick returns...

How can we not get an elite punter, I mean, isn't the joke "can't spell punt without UNT?" Please.

[Ben Gooding]

1 hour ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

For those who chose not to make the trip....you cannot grasp how effective our team was for taking the crowd out of the game early and often. It was silent I. The stadium that normally rocks. It was a good effort against a team that was/is deeper on talent. Our first vs their first was pretty even. We will eventually get depth. 

For those who stayed home and did not put the effort to travel, and then criticize....well, I understand you just can't help yourself. You miss a lot when not watching it live. 

 

The Mean Green showed pretty good. We should finish with 7-8 wins if we play like this the rest of the year. 

I disagree, completely. You are much more aware of exactly what is going on when watching it on TV. UNT may have helped take the crowd out of the game, but Iowa took the air out of the ball and UNT couldn't do a single thing about it. 

 

1 hour ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Am I the only one thinking we need to be going for it on some 4th downs in these types of games? You're playing a team predicted to beat you by 20+ so why not go for it a bit more and see if you can put some pressure on their defense? Our punting is garbage and around the middle of the 3rd, their offense started to take over. In the third quarter they had a 14 play 76 yard touchdown drive that took nearly 7 minutes. Our next drive, we punted at their 41 yard line on 4th and 8 and they scored on their next drive which went for 81 yards. I know 4th and 8 is a lot to convert but say you get 4 yards on 3rd and 8 because you don't go for it all and now you have a chance to convert the 4th down. They scored on 4th down plays twice and were 4/5 on 4th down. Why are they playing with more urgency than we are when they have more to lose?

In these types of games, I would like to see us game plan a bit more aggressively and plan on going for it on 4th down at certain areas of the field. You're not "supposed" to win anyways, why not go for it all?

No, you are not the only one that thinks that. I was saying just this at the very time of the scenario you described. 

The defense proved that we could not really get their O off the field. We were losing by 3 and Iowa's O had started to impose themselves on UNT's D. Punting the ball there on the opponents 40 yd line in that scenario was conceding the game to the opponent given the situation. 

They kept going for it on 4th down because they didn't respect us. We couldn't stop them on 4th, so they had no reason to not do it. 

[97and03]

I don't understand not running Wilson more. Seems he was effective but only had 12 carries. Should had given him at least 8 more carries. 

Edited September 17, 2017 by 97and03

[FirefightnRick]

17 hours ago, NorthTexan95 said:

Fine continually killing drives by throwing short of the sticks on 3rd down.

Really?  Think there might be something that's in the back of his mind every time he drops back?

It's a wonder Fine has the mental capacity to concentrate and hit any moving target at all with this behind him.

STFU with the Mason Fine criticism.  He's earned our respect.

 

Rick