DRC Sunday column: How UNT responds to FAU loss will shape season

[Brett Vito]

DRC:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2017/10/22/brett-vito-unt-responds-dismal-outing-fau-will-shape-season

[Harry]

28 minutes ago, Brett Vito said:

DRC:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2017/10/22/brett-vito-unt-responds-dismal-outing-fau-will-shape-season

Good write-up.

[Side Show Joe]

What Vito didn't write in this article...

We got severely out coached last night

Kiffin came in with a game plan to shut down our "high powered" offense, and did it. Our staff was not able to make the adjustments and get points on the board. The FAU defense took Guyton out of the game and bottled up Wilson, and our coaches couldn't adjust. Mason Fine was left in the game far too long. We had no chance of catching up in the 4th, but again our coaches left him in the game. We are very fortunate he didn't suffer a bad injury.

FAU had more talent

FAU's offensive and defensive lines man-handled us all night. The speed and talent of the FAU secondary took our top receiving targets completely out of the game. Yes, how Kiffin acquires his talent is up for speculation (although Kiffin was acquitted recently), but watching that game last night it was quite apparent that FAU had recruited the better talent. Overall, they were bigger, faster, and stronger.

North Texas got out-worked

Littrell said the team had a good week of preparation, but it certainly didn't show on the field. A bowl team should not get their teeth kicked in by another possible bowl team in their conference. Last night, North Texas lacked focus and effort. People on here can debate the reasons for that lack of focus and effort all they want, but neither side will probably ever be able to convince the other to change their mind. In the end we should at least all agree that we lacked focus and effort.

The Defensive problems are probably not going away

We have already played over half of our games this season, and our defensive issues have not been addressed. This defense gives up too much yardage and too many points. The fact that Littrell has yet to make any serious changes to the defense, tells me meaningful changes probably won't be made. The current level of defensive play is apparently acceptable to Littrell.

 

These issues were all very important to the outcome of last night's game. I wish they would have been part of this article.

Edited October 22, 2017 by Side Show Joe

[VideoEagle]

Good article! After Iowa, there were no teams left we couldn't beat if we worked hard at all levels including coaching.  Likewise there are no teams that can't beat us if we don't!  How the team responds will determine how the season turns out.  None of our goals are out of reach but we must do better if we are going to earn any of them. 

Frankly I'd not spend much time with this game film. Three is blame for every player and coach after this one.  Time to move on are work like they can and have.  We've seen this team can be either great or terrible.  The choice is up to them.  

[Venson]

7 hours ago, VideoEagle said:

Good article! After Iowa, there were no teams left we couldn't beat if we worked hard at all levels including coaching.  Likewise there are no teams that can't beat us if we don't!  How the team responds will determine how the season turns out.  None of our goals are out of reach but we must do better if we are going to earn any of them. 

Frankly I'd not spend much time with this game film. Three is blame for every player and coach after this one.  Time to move on are work like they can and have.  We've seen this team can be either great or terrible.  The choice is up to them.  

Agreed. Spending too much time watching the FAU game is a waste. There were no good points to be made. Maybe one. I think Michael Lawrence #32 was the only player who actually wanted to win the game.

[PlummMeanGreen]

12 hours ago, Side Show Joe said:

The Defensive problems are probably not going away

We have already played over half of our games this season, and our defensive issues have not been addressed. This defense gives up too much yardage and too many points. The fact that Littrell has yet to make any serious changes to the defense, tells me meaningful changes probably won't be made. The current level of defensive play is apparently acceptable to Littrell.

Even with our 2 MIA defensive lineman once both back in the lineup with their playing legs on?

[Cerebus]

7 hours ago, Venson said:

Agreed. Spending too much time watching the FAU game is a waste. There were no good points to be made. Maybe one. I think Michael Lawrence #32 was the only player who actually wanted to win the game.

I think #84 on your roster, Jaelon Darden, had a very good game as well.  Down big late, Fine threw a pass that he had to know was going to get him leveled.  He took the hit and popped back up, ran his routes hard all game.   

[untjim1995]

Folks, we have 5 games. We are better talent-wise then 3 of them, with two of them at home and one on the road--ODU, UTEP, and at Rice. We are probably on par talent-wise with Army, but their style of play can be a tough one to beat. At La Tech, only because they can pass the ball and we will be on the road, is the one team I see us definitely not beating. So, lets say we win 3 of these games. That's 7-5 and a bowl slot. That's two years after being the worst team in FBS. And it would represent the 5th time since 1995 (when we moved up to FBS) that we will reach 7 wins in one season.

Its kind of nice to keep that in perspective. 

And in 2018,  assuming we play the same CUSA East schools, we will play this schedule. SMU, Incarnate Word, @Arkansas, and at Liberty in OOC play. The play FAU and at ODU in CUSA East games. Then play Rice, La Tech, and USM at home, with games at UTEP, UAB, and UTSA. With Mason Fine and Seth Littrell...that looks like 7+ wins in my book, at least for now. There isn't one poster on here that wouldn't have gladly taken 7 wins here under SL within three years of being hired, much less two seasons--that's a very real possibility. So if you are getting overly pissed about getting pounded by SMU and FAU this year--and probably another blowout loss at some point this season-please take a step back and realize just how much this thing has improved since October of 2015. The biggest improvement any team makes is going from putrid to bad and bad to average. That's what we are seeing here. The harder part is going from average to good...and that is when SL probably gets hired away, unless someone looks at what he has already done here and thinks that is worthy of being hired because of how bad we were when he got here.

[untbowler]

27 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

I think #84 on your roster, Jaelon Darden, had a very good game as well.  Down big late, Fine threw a pass that he had to know was going to get him leveled.  He took the hit and popped back up, ran his routes hard all game.   

I felt for Darden because Fine threw into Quad Coverage and Darden got leveled, lucky he was not injured. 

[Ben Gooding]

2 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Folks, we have 5 games. We are better talent-wise then 3 of them, with two of them at home and one on the road--ODU, UTEP, and at Rice. We are probably on par talent-wise with Army, but their style of play can be a tough one to beat. At La Tech, only because they can pass the ball and we will be on the road, is the one team I see us definitely not beating. So, lets say we win 3 of these games. That's 7-5 and a bowl slot. That's two years after being the worst team in FBS. And it would represent the 5th time since 1995 (when we moved up to FBS) that we will reach 7 wins in one season.

Its kind of nice to keep that in perspective. 

And in 2018,  assuming we play the same CUSA East schools, we will play this schedule. SMU, Incarnate Word, @Arkansas, and at Liberty in OOC play. The play FAU and at ODU in CUSA East games. Then play Rice, La Tech, and USM at home, with games at UTEP, UAB, and UTSA. With Mason Fine and Seth Littrell...that looks like 7+ wins in my book, at least for now. There isn't one poster on here that wouldn't have gladly taken 7 wins here under SL within three years of being hired, much less two seasons--that's a very real possibility. So if you are getting overly pissed about getting pounded by SMU and FAU this year--and probably another blowout loss at some point this season-please take a step back and realize just how much this thing has improved since October of 2015. The biggest improvement any team makes is going from putrid to bad and bad to average. That's what we are seeing here. The harder part is going from average to good...and that is when SL probably gets hired away, unless someone looks at what he has already done here and thinks that is worthy of being hired because of how bad we were when he got here.

FAU...

2016 - 3-9

2015 - 3-9

2014- 4-8

2013 - 6-6

2012 - 3-9

2011 - 1-11

2010 - 4-8

2009 - 5-7 

I get your sentiment, and I agree with it. From October 2015 to October 2017, there has been great progression within the AD. But I don't think that justifies a combing over of 69-31 + 804 yards. And had SL pulled Fine like most level headed coaches would've done, you're probably looking at 69-17-ish...Very Rice like in 2007. 

The 2007 defense is on par to be worse than the 2017 defense by about 30 yards and 7 points. 

[untjim1995]

1 minute ago, Ben Gooding said:

FAU...

2016 - 3-9

2015 - 3-9

2014- 4-8

2013 - 6-6

2012 - 3-9

2011 - 1-11

2010 - 4-8

2009 - 5-7 

I get your sentiment, and I agree with it. From October 2015 to October 2017, there has been great progression within the AD. But I don't think that justifies a combing over of 69-31 + 804 yards. And had SL pulled Fine like most level headed coaches would've done, you're probably looking at 69-17-ish...Very Rice like in 2007. 

The 2007 defense is on par to be worse than the 2017 defense by about 30 yards and 7 points. 

I promise you that SL and his staff will make this week miserable on the team after this last game. They aren't gonna comb over it in film study. And that's all that matters, not what gets posted by fans on a board, those who are homers or those who are ready to jump ship...

[Ben Gooding]

Just now, untjim1995 said:

I promise you that SL and his staff will make this week miserable on the team after this last game. They aren't gonna comb over it in film study. And that's all that matters, not what gets posted by fans on a board, those who are homers or those who are ready to jump ship...

I really don't know this to be true. This staff very well may throw the film out. 

Had we played a juggernaut and lost like this, it'd still be inexcusable. But losing to a 3-3 conference opponent that has even MORE apathy than we do and even LESS success than we do is concerning. It's not as if we were playing the '95 Cornhuskers, though FAU looked like it. 

FAU has better players than we do. They are stronger, bigger, and faster. And that is a direct correlation to being able to recruit somehow halfway decent through their years of despair. 

[PlummMeanGreen]

1 minute ago, Ben Gooding said:

FAU has better players than we do. They are stronger, bigger, and faster. And that is a direct correlation to being able to recruit somehow halfway decent through their years of despair. 

And I suppose that Florida HS football is as heavily recruited by just about "everyone" as is the case here in the state of Texas.  

GMG!

[untjim1995]

6 minutes ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

And I suppose that Florida HS football is as heavily recruited by just about "everyone" as is the case here in the state of Texas.  

GMG!

But Florida HS teams still coach and play defense. Here in Texas, that 7-on-7 mentality that has caught on and is practiced as the offense du jour here in Texas really hurts our college programs. Look at the results since 2010--the teams in this state don't play effective defense anymore, except for TCU and occasionally, UT, who can't seem to get decent offense in a game that their defense plays well in or vice versa. 

I blame this all on Mike Leach...

[UNTcrazy727]

34 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Folks, we have 5 games. We are better talent-wise then 3 of them, with two of them at home and one on the road--ODU, UTEP, and at Rice. We are probably on par talent-wise with Army, but their style of play can be a tough one to beat. At La Tech, only because they can pass the ball and we will be on the road, is the one team I see us definitely not beating. So, lets say we win 3 of these games. That's 7-5 and a bowl slot. That's two years after being the worst team in FBS. And it would represent the 5th time since 1995 (when we moved up to FBS) that we will reach 7 wins in one season.

Its kind of nice to keep that in perspective. 

And in 2018,  assuming we play the same CUSA East schools, we will play this schedule. SMU, Incarnate Word, @Arkansas, and at Liberty in OOC play. The play FAU and at ODU in CUSA East games. Then play Rice, La Tech, and USM at home, with games at UTEP, UAB, and UTSA. With Mason Fine and Seth Littrell...that looks like 7+ wins in my book, at least for now. There isn't one poster on here that wouldn't have gladly taken 7 wins here under SL within three years of being hired, much less two seasons--that's a very real possibility. So if you are getting overly pissed about getting pounded by SMU and FAU this year--and probably another blowout loss at some point this season-please take a step back and realize just how much this thing has improved since October of 2015. The biggest improvement any team makes is going from putrid to bad and bad to average. That's what we are seeing here. The harder part is going from average to good...and that is when SL probably gets hired away, unless someone looks at what he has already done here and thinks that is worthy of being hired because of how bad we were when he got here.

I agree with most of this, except what I underlined. It's just pure pessimism. If I recall correctly, you said some very similar things about the USM and UTSA games after we beat UAB (that win doesn't look so bad now, huh?). 

We might not beat La Tech, but this team won't be blown out again.  Mark it down, as long as we beat ODU, UTEP, and Rice we'll be in the C-USA championship game. 

[untjim1995]

12 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

I agree with most of this, except what I underlined. It's just pure pessimism. If I recall correctly, you said some very similar things about the USM and UTSA games after we beat UAB (that win doesn't look so bad now, huh?). 

We might not beat La Tech, but this team won't be blown out again.  Mark it down, as long as we beat ODU, UTEP, and Rice we'll be in the C-USA championship game. 

I wouldn't count out getting blown out again at La Tech, at home to Army (just in a different manner than the SMU and FAU games), as well as in a bowl game against the wrong type of opponent...

[Ben Gooding]

16 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

I wouldn't count out getting blown out again at La Tech, at home to Army (just in a different manner than the SMU and FAU games), as well as in a bowl game against the wrong type of opponent...

When @untjim1995 says 'wrong type of opponent', he means one with any kind of offensive pulse for 4 quarters.