OFFICIAL UAB vs UNT GAME THREAD

BTG_Fan1 · September 24, 2017

10 minutes ago, bleedgreen4ever said:

I'm not disappointed like the person who posted but I do agree that this game has alarmingly exposed many worrisome deficiencies in this team and coaching staff. I was mostly surprised by how poorly the secondary played and how UAB out-coached our coaches in the second half. Our halftime adjustments aren't working and we have to keep maturing as a program if we even want to get to a bowl game.

Moreover, UTSA is clearly at a higher level than UAB so far from what they've shown compared to UAB so I don't think anybody would be disappointed in a close W against them. We will be underdogs in that game, whereas we were favored in this game.

yes the secondary has been bad, but Jenkins made 2 plays that Brooks would not have (in his current funk)... Lets hope Brooks sitting for awhile will clear up his head and make him focus...

We have no idea what UAB is... A lot of folks here thought UAB would be a push over.. UAB has the same staff, and has been able to recruit for years now along with allowing those players to practice... To anyone who thought UAB was a pushover, you need to reevaluate how you think... UAB in SLs first class (2016) had 19 3* recruits and a top 2 class in CUSA...

UTSA beat a baylor team that is 0-4 and lost to Liberty... UTSA is a solid team, but playing the likes of Texas State, Southern, and Baylor isn't the same as what UNT has gone up against... The point about UTSA is that both programs have out-recruited UNT... Why discount a W vs UAB but not someone else who has out recruited us like UTSA, SM, LAT??

BeliefBlazer · September 24, 2017

Congrats on the win! Your guys made the plays when you needed it. Go beat the Mustard Buzzards.

DeepGreen · September 24, 2017

3 hours ago, NT91 said:

18K at the game?

20,142

UAB Band Dad · September 24, 2017

2 hours ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

Why was UAB supposed to be so easy?? They have been recruiting better than us, and have had the same coaches since they last played, and been allowed to practice as well during the break???

This is incorrect. When the program was shut down, we lost our coaches, players, and recruits. The players were offered continuing scholarships if they chose to stay at UAB, and several of them did. Most went elsewhere. Several chose to return when the program was revived. The total of guys from the 2014 team is, I believe, 14 total.

Our DC was the DLine coach in 2014. One of the coaches was a graduate assistant on that team, and one was the Director of Football Operations. All the rest were hired after the return.

The team practiced on the same schedule as the rest of the league, although the first year back there was a shortage of linemen. It was difficult to get everyone else reps without killing our shorthanded OL. If you are somehow implying that UAB got some sort of break by being allowed to practice while your players got actual game reps, I'll make you a deal. All you have to do is shut down your program, let your coaches go elsewhere, let your players go elsewhere. You can have the fun of seeing your guys playing for P5 schools that way, as we did. The recruits that your coaches were working on can either go where the guy recruiting them got hired or go somewhere else. Then you can have two years where the guys that you recruit have their eligibility clock stopped without a redshirt until you can get up to 85 players or so. Then you can go play games.

The only "advantage" we had was that when Coach Clark decided that a team full of 18 and 19 years old would produce years of losses, as happened at SMU after the death penalty, so he actively pursued JUCO players and D1 transfers. This produced "upperclassmen" on the team, although they had never played a game together. The advantage to this was twofold... one, Coaches recruiting could honestly offer playing time to the guys who worked the hardest and played the best. There was no depth chart, no starters to have to push aside. The other advantage was that if a player had grade problems that he needed to address or injuries that needed to be rehabbed, he could do so without it counting against his eligibility and without doing it while playing games.

I assure you that this process does not produce an advantage for your program, but feel free to try it if you don't believe me.

bleedgreen4ever · September 24, 2017

50 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

yes the secondary has been bad, but Jenkins made 2 plays that Brooks would not have (in his current funk)... Lets hope Brooks sitting for awhile will clear up his head and make him focus...

We have no idea what UAB is... A lot of folks here thought UAB would be a push over.. UAB has the same staff, and has been able to recruit for years now along with allowing those players to practice... To anyone who thought UAB was a pushover, you need to reevaluate how you think... UAB in SLs first class (2016) had 19 3* recruits and a top 2 class in CUSA...

UTSA beat a baylor team that is 0-4 and lost to Liberty... UTSA is a solid team, but playing the likes of Texas State, Southern, and Baylor isn't the same as what UNT has gone up against... The point about UTSA is that both programs have out-recruited UNT... Why discount a W vs UAB but not someone else who has out recruited us like UTSA, SM, LAT??

Yeah, UAB is somewhat hard to gauge still but I still at this moment wouldn't put them on the level of LAT and UTSA, clearly. However, I think if they clean up a few things, they'll be up there sooner than later because they have the talent. We are somewhat on the same boat, so it all comes down to how fast can we show more consistency to contend with the top end of the division. Only time will tell. I'm certainly not discounting this win, just pointing out visible areas we need to improve on.

BTG_Fan1 · September 24, 2017

36 minutes ago, UAB Band Dad said:

This is incorrect. When the program was shut down, we lost our coaches, players, and recruits. The players were offered continuing scholarships if they chose to stay at UAB, and several of them did. Most went elsewhere. Several chose to return when the program was revived. The total of guys from the 2014 team is, I believe, 14 total.

Our DC was the DLine coach in 2014. One of the coaches was a graduate assistant on that team, and one was the Director of Football Operations. All the rest were hired after the return.

The team practiced on the same schedule as the rest of the league, although the first year back there was a shortage of linemen. It was difficult to get everyone else reps without killing our shorthanded OL. If you are somehow implying that UAB got some sort of break by being allowed to practice while your players got actual game reps, I'll make you a deal. All you have to do is shut down your program, let your coaches go elsewhere, let your players go elsewhere. You can have the fun of seeing your guys playing for P5 schools that way, as we did. The recruits that your coaches were working on can either go where the guy recruiting them got hired or go somewhere else. Then you can have two years where the guys that you recruit have their eligibility clock stopped without a redshirt until you can get up to 85 players or so. Then you can go play games.

The only "advantage" we had was that when Coach Clark decided that a team full of 18 and 19 years old would produce years of losses, as happened at SMU after the death penalty, so he actively pursued JUCO players and D1 transfers. This produced "upperclassmen" on the team, although they had never played a game together. The advantage to this was twofold... one, Coaches recruiting could honestly offer playing time to the guys who worked the hardest and played the best. There was no depth chart, no starters to have to push aside. The other advantage was that if a player had grade problems that he needed to address or injuries that needed to be rehabbed, he could do so without it counting against his eligibility and without doing it while playing games.

I assure you that this process does not produce an advantage for your program, but feel free to try it if you don't believe me.

How is it not correct outside of a few assist coach changes? You kept the same HC, that allowed for the guys to know how things were done.. Yes you lost guys (more than likely anyone but every school loses guys) and you added and replaced them.. Also you did out recruit both years we have had SL, with us yall being #2 in 2016 and not sure (of the ranking) but y'all were ahead of us in 2017 per 24/7 which is the service most people here use..

Never said it was an advantage to shut down either.. As you stated, y'all were still allowed to practice like any normal team.. Being allowed to recruit and practice is an advantage in terms of getting your systems/playbook installed and just for players to feel comfortable. I think if you asked any HC if they could practice for a year, and not lose any eligibility they would take it... You can make and offer "deals" but again allowing guys to practice in a system for a year or 2 is great.. Again I have no idea, but I'm going to assume that the OC/DC weren't just hired recently (as in this past offseason) but they have been there for awhile and likely some of the first hires the HC made after Football said it would be back...

To the ending, in the post of mine that you quoted, never did I say "advantage".. Yes you guys shut down, yes it sucks.. But you were still able to practice and recruit.. You were able to recruit kids that wouldn't be eligible other places and they didn't lose any eligibility (that's a huge advantage) allowing them to become eligible (as you stated. yes you had some good things like getting risky recruits, but you had to shut down to get that which sucks..

Edited September 24, 2017 by BTG_Fan1

UNTLifer · September 24, 2017

7 hours ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

I have like a thousand channels on comcast and recently they jumbled all the numbers in a way that makes no sense, so I didn't even know I had Bein or this game on til after half. I was so encouraged by the halftime score, then I started to watch. No pressure on UAB QB was frustrating to see. But at least some guys made plays at the very end. It was a good ending but there was some really bad football mixed in with the good. Sure hope to see improvement next time.

So, it is your fault!

southsideguy · September 24, 2017

our program was kinda of shut down under or former coach.

7 hours ago, UAB Band Dad said:

This is incorrect. When the program was shut down, we lost our coaches, players, and recruits. The players were offered continuing scholarships if they chose to stay at UAB, and several of them did. Most went elsewhere. Several chose to return when the program was revived. The total of guys from the 2014 team is, I believe, 14 total.

Our DC was the DLine coach in 2014. One of the coaches was a graduate assistant on that team, and one was the Director of Football Operations. All the rest were hired after the return.

The team practiced on the same schedule as the rest of the league, although the first year back there was a shortage of linemen. It was difficult to get everyone else reps without killing our shorthanded OL. If you are somehow implying that UAB got some sort of break by being allowed to practice while your players got actual game reps, I'll make you a deal. All you have to do is shut down your program, let your coaches go elsewhere, let your players go elsewhere. You can have the fun of seeing your guys playing for P5 schools that way, as we did. The recruits that your coaches were working on can either go where the guy recruiting them got hired or go somewhere else. Then you can have two years where the guys that you recruit have their eligibility clock stopped without a redshirt until you can get up to 85 players or so. Then you can go play games.

The only "advantage" we had was that when Coach Clark decided that a team full of 18 and 19 years old would produce years of losses, as happened at SMU after the death penalty, so he actively pursued JUCO players and D1 transfers. This produced "upperclassmen" on the team, although they had never played a game together. The advantage to this was twofold... one, Coaches recruiting could honestly offer playing time to the guys who worked the hardest and played the best. There was no depth chart, no starters to have to push aside. The other advantage was that if a player had grade problems that he needed to address or injuries that needed to be rehabbed, he could do so without it counting against his eligibility and without doing it while playing games.

I assure you that this process does not produce an advantage for your program, but feel free to try it if you don't believe me.

Mean Green 93-98 · September 24, 2017

7 hours ago, UAB Band Dad said:

This is incorrect. When the program was shut down, we lost our coaches, players, and recruits. The players were offered continuing scholarships if they chose to stay at UAB, and several of them did. Most went elsewhere. Several chose to return when the program was revived. The total of guys from the 2014 team is, I believe, 14 total.

Our DC was the DLine coach in 2014. One of the coaches was a graduate assistant on that team, and one was the Director of Football Operations. All the rest were hired after the return.

The team practiced on the same schedule as the rest of the league, although the first year back there was a shortage of linemen. It was difficult to get everyone else reps without killing our shorthanded OL. If you are somehow implying that UAB got some sort of break by being allowed to practice while your players got actual game reps, I'll make you a deal. All you have to do is shut down your program, let your coaches go elsewhere, let your players go elsewhere. You can have the fun of seeing your guys playing for P5 schools that way, as we did. The recruits that your coaches were working on can either go where the guy recruiting them got hired or go somewhere else. Then you can have two years where the guys that you recruit have their eligibility clock stopped without a redshirt until you can get up to 85 players or so. Then you can go play games.

The only "advantage" we had was that when Coach Clark decided that a team full of 18 and 19 years old would produce years of losses, as happened at SMU after the death penalty, so he actively pursued JUCO players and D1 transfers. This produced "upperclassmen" on the team, although they had never played a game together. The advantage to this was twofold... one, Coaches recruiting could honestly offer playing time to the guys who worked the hardest and played the best. There was no depth chart, no starters to have to push aside. The other advantage was that if a player had grade problems that he needed to address or injuries that needed to be rehabbed, he could do so without it counting against his eligibility and without doing it while playing games.

I assure you that this process does not produce an advantage for your program, but feel free to try it if you don't believe me.

He never said y'all had an advantage, he cited reasons why he didn't think y'all should be complete pushovers. Not sure why you'd want to disagree with that.

Got5onIt · September 24, 2017

Offense only scored 1 TD in the 2nd half. UAB made adjustments and stifled the O. Sound familiar? Defense is surely going to be an issue this year. Special teams improved...

tmjerm · September 24, 2017

1 hour ago, Got5onIt said:

Offense only scored 1 TD in the 2nd half. UAB made adjustments and stifled the O. Sound familiar? Defense is surely going to be an issue this year. Special teams improved...

I felt like that was much more execution than play calling (not saying that’s what you’re implying)...we were in positions to score but the fumble and stalling out inside the 30 and settling for field goals was more on the players. We have to turn those opportunities into touchdowns as the season goes on. That said, the story of the second half let down is all secondary...why we are pressing when they HAVE to air it out to get back into the game with little to know safety help I’ll never understand. We were out of position on every play...Jenkins did a great job coming in. Really worried about both players and coaches in the backend...why were we not letting everything happen in front of us? If we had to play man to get the pass rush we want that’s fine, but at least leave a safety or play soft coverage. Not every DB is Deion Sanders.

UAB Band Dad · September 24, 2017

"How is it not correct outside of a few assist coach changes? You kept the same HC, that allowed for the guys to know how things were done.. Yes you lost guys (more than likely anyone but every school loses guys) and you added and replaced them.. Also you did out recruit both years we have had SL, with us yall being #2 in 2016 and not sure (of the ranking) but y'all were ahead of us in 2017 per 24/7 which is the service most people here use.. "

The one consistency that we retained was Bill Clark, and he is literally the difference between our having a football program today and seeing it permanently buried on 12/2/14. When the University of Alabama Trustees finally were able to put a toady willing to kill football in as President of UAB, they thought that Football (and likely serious athletics at UAB) was over. The propaganda paints President Watts as facing down athletic cost overruns in the name of academic budgets. This is complete bullshit. There are three schools in the system, UA in Tuscaloosa, UAH in Huntsville, and UAB. UAB brings in roughly 70% of the system's income. Yes, 'Bama Football brings in huge, self sustaining money, as UT or aTm do, but it was never about money. There was plenty of evidence once we got to some of the documents and part of the truth came out, it was obvious that he had been hired in bad faith. Things came to light that had not been known, for instance that the most recent contract to use Legion Field was not a three or five year deal as in the past but a one year deal. The one which became obvious was that contracts for OOC games in the future were not getting signed. Even Clark's contract was a three year deal, not the standard five or at least four. As a result when he was let go, his contract was paid in full including all incentive clauses. The only reason that he did not sue the snot out of them was that he signed that away in negotiating exit pay for his assistants, who otherwise simply would have been sacked, boom, no more pay after next payday.

He had the luxury of a couple of years paychecks in the bank, so when UAB, followed by much of Birmingham, threw a collective fit and refused to sit still for killing the program, he sat out the storm and waited to see what would happen. As the #FreeUAB movement gathered momentum, as the business community and others who had taken the program for granted decided that it was insane for a school the size of UAB in a city the size of Birmingham *not* to have football in a place every bit as football crazy as Texas, he saw the potential, and he and Jennifer decided to stay and fight for it. The Free UAB movement eventually raised better than $40 million and built a $22.5m football complex, but it is telling that it is the first dedicated building for football that UAB has after 25 years in D1, and the fans had to pay for it. The UA Board of Trustees has abundantly proven that they know how to build a program... but you can't tell it by us. Even today, university support for the program is severely limited. We can have whatever we want, if we pay for it and if we can get the BoT to approve of it. For instance, we are *not allowed* to issue bonds to build an on campus stadium. In fact, although we own the land for one, we are not allowed to build or consider building and fundraising for an OCS. We *are* approved to sign a contract if the City of B'ham builds a replacement for Legion Field elsewhere.

Back to the subject at hand... Clark was a winner of multiple championships as a high school coach in Alabama, and did well at South Alabama and Jax State. He is well respected here. He replaced Garrick McGee, who won five games in two years, presided over our lowest ebb ever, (which is really saying something), and nearly buried the program singlehandedly. However bad you were, we were right there with you. Three out of ten coaches isn't much of a carryover, especially when one of them was a graduate assistant. Our OC came on board in early 2016. The team worked very hard to be where they are. C-USA and the NCAA looked at events and were very fair with the process of bringing the team back.

We knew the process and trusted Clark. We knew how hard he worked to identify and recruit the guys we'd need to come back with a chance to win a few games. We know that we're a lot better than the handicappers and columnists give us credit for. Vegas had our over under at 2 1/2 wins. We have two and damn near had three after four games. There were many who picked UAB at #130 of 130 teams. You know we're better than that now. If not for a phantom lineman downfield call that got a TD called back things might have been different, but either way we are making solid progress. The UAB fans still hope to make six wins, even though they know in their hearts that three or four is a more reasonable expectation for our first season back.

This wall of text is probably more than you care about, but you pushed my button. It was a good game, and y'all were a good addition to the league. If anyone comes to Birmingham next season, give me a holler and we'll give you a beer and feed you up at the tailgate. The Blazer fans are pretty welcoming of other fan bases if they are not complete jackwagons. >grin<

Edited September 24, 2017 by UAB Band Dad

GangGreen · September 24, 2017

9 minutes ago, UAB Band Dad said:

"How is it not correct outside of a few assist coach changes? You kept the same HC, that allowed for the guys to know how things were done.. Yes you lost guys (more than likely anyone but every school loses guys) and you added and replaced them.. Also you did out recruit both years we have had SL, with us yall being #2 in 2016 and not sure (of the ranking) but y'all were ahead of us in 2017 per 24/7 which is the service most people here use.. "

The one consistency that we retained was Bill Clark, and he is literally the difference between our having a football program today and seeing it permanently buried on 12/2/14. When the University of Alabama Trustees finally were able to put a toady willing to kill football in as President of UAB, they thought that Football (and likely serious athletics at UAB) was over. The propaganda paints President Watts as facing down athletic cost overruns in the name of academic budgets. This is complete bullshit. There are three schools in the system, UA in Tuscaloosa, UAH in Huntsville, and UAB. UAB brings in roughly 70% of the system's income. Yes, 'Bama Football brings in huge, self sustaining money, as UT or aTm do, but it was never about money. There was plenty of evidence once we got to some of the documents and part of the truth came out, it was obvious that he had been hired in bad faith. Things came to light that had not been known, for instance that the most recent contract to use Legion Field was not a three or five year deal as in the past but a one year deal. The one which became obvious was that contracts for OOC games in the future were not getting signed. Even Clark's contract was a three year deal, not the standard five or at least four. As a result when he was let go, his contract was paid in full including all incentive clauses. The only reason that he did not sue the snot out of them was that he signed that away in negotiating exit pay for his assistants, who otherwise simply would have been sacked, boom, no more pay after next payday.

He had the luxury of a couple of years paychecks in the bank, so when UAB, followed by much of Birmingham, threw a collective fit and refused to sit still for killing the program, he sat out the storm and waited to see what would happen. As the #FreeUAB movement gathered momentum, as the business community and others who had taken the program for granted decided that it was insane for a school the size of UAB in a city the size of Birmingham *not* to have football in a place every bit as football crazy as Texas, he saw the potential, and he and Jennifer decided to stay and fight for it. The Free UAB movement eventually raised better than $40 million and built a $22.5m football complex, but it is telling that it is the first dedicated building for football that UAB has after 25 years in D1, and the fans had to pay for it. The UA Board of Trustees has abundantly proven that they know how to build a program... but you can't tell it by us. Even today, university support for the program is severely limited. We can have whatever we want, if we pay for it and if we can get the BoT to approve of it. For instance, we are *not allowed* to issue bonds to build an on campus stadium. We are approved to sign a contract if the City of B'ham builds a replacement for Legion Field.

Back to the subject at hand... Clark was a winner of multiple championships as a high school coach in Alabama, and did well at South Alabama and Jax State. He is well respected here. He replaced Garrick McGee, who won five games in two years, presided over our lowest ebb ever, (which is really saying something), and nearly buried the program singlehandedly. However bad you were, we were right there with you. Three out of ten coaches isn't much of a carryover, especially when one of them was a graduate assistant. Our OC came on board in early 2016. The team worked very hard to be where they are. C-USA and the NCAA looked at events and were very fair with the process of bringing the team back.

We knew the process and trusted Clark. We knew how hard he worked to identify and recruit the guys we'd need to come back with a chance to win a few games. We know that we're a lot better than the handicappers and columnists give us credit for. Vegas had our over under at 2 1/2 wins. We have two and damn near had three after four games. There were many who picked UAB at #130 of 130 teams. You know we're better than that now. If not for a phantom lineman downfield call that got a TD called back things might have been different, but either way we are making solid progress. The UAB fans still hope to make six wins, even though they know in their hearts that three or four is a more reasonable estimate.

This wall of text is probably more than you care about, but you pushed my button. It was a good game, and y'all were a good addition to the league. If anyone comes to Birmingham next season, give me a holler and we'll feed you up at the tailgate. The Blazer fans are pretty welcoming of other fan bases if they are not complete jackwagons. >grin<

Can we get a shorter version of this?

BTG_Fan1 · September 24, 2017

Both teams had calls go against them.. you had a the TD called back and they gave y'all a fumble when our RB was clearly down.. it's almost always like this in CUSA

If "pushing your button" is saying UAB isn't a push over as people had thought then, my bad but that should be a complement (I thought)...

But pointing facts of better recruiting, taking more risks with time for the players to get right, and practicing while shut down are the very reasons why people shouldn't have overlooked you guys.

UAB Band Dad · September 24, 2017

Shrug, just a conversation. C-USA refs have been horrible for years, there's nothing new about that, and unfortunately I doubt it will change.

It was a good game and could have gone either way. Best of luck to you from here out.

oldguystudent · September 24, 2017

Did anybody else notice that sometimes the clock kept running when a player stepped out of bounds or there was a first down while other times it stopped when a player stepped out of bounds or there was a first down? I found myself questioning my knowledge of the rules of college football until I saw them directly contradicting themselves throughout the game. Maybe there's still something I don't understand, but it looked arbitrary.

BTG_Fan1 · September 24, 2017

50 minutes ago, oldguystudent said:

Did anybody else notice that sometimes the clock kept running when a player stepped out of bounds or there was a first down while other times it stopped when a player stepped out of bounds or there was a first down? I found myself questioning my knowledge of the rules of college football until I saw them directly contradicting themselves throughout the game. Maybe there's still something I don't understand, but it looked arbitrary.

Them missing a fumble, without the refs going to a monitor to look was dumb..

They had a TV screen on the sideline, and whoever reviewed the play missed it..

UNTLifer · September 24, 2017

5 hours ago, GangGreen said:

Can we get a shorter version of this?

Speaking of this, what has happened to @PlummMeanGreen?

UNT 90 Grad · September 25, 2017

2 hours ago, oldguystudent said:

Did anybody else notice that sometimes the clock kept running when a player stepped out of bounds or there was a first down while other times it stopped when a player stepped out of bounds or there was a first down? I found myself questioning my knowledge of the rules of college football until I saw them directly contradicting themselves throughout the game. Maybe there's still something I don't understand, but it looked arbitrary.

We did happen to get into a conversation about this during the game. I think the clock rules change inside of 2 minutes, but I'm not positive.

Edited September 25, 2017 by UNT 90 Grad

letsgiveacheer · September 25, 2017

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Speaking of this, what has happened to @PlummMeanGreen?

He comes and goes.

oldguystudent · September 25, 2017

35 minutes ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

We did happen to get into a conversation about this during the game. I think the clock rules change inside of 2 minutes, but I'm not positive.

I'm having a hard time nailing it down, but it looks like the stoppage rules change in the last two minutes of the first half, and last five minutes of the second half. Clock restarts upon spotting the ball after going out of bounds.