Biggest Area For Improvement?

[AustinFromUNT]

What one thing do you think we most need to improve this year? Before everyone just says “defense” specifically what on defense do you want to see improve? For me personally, I think we HAVE to improve our TO margin. We went from +1 in 2016 to -11 in 2017. We were one of the worst teams in the country about turning over the ball and not getting it back. I think that partially has to do with the scheme of the defense in regards to the CBs, but also Mason threw a lot of INTs & Jeff had a lot of fumbles.

[edcollopy]

Have to improve the push up the middle to keep linemen from getting to our linebackers so easily...and of course our tackling!!!

[Side Show Joe]

Our DE's have to do a better job of getting a push up field at the LOS. Last season our DE's were getting pushed 3 to 5 yards off the line and giving RB's easy yardage on the outside. That really put our LB's and secondary in really tough situations.

[emmitt01]

Giving up the deep ball

[Charlie NT 73]

I think the OT's need some thing- but what?

Our opponents would run right by our OT's in passing downs.

I am not throwing our OT's under the bus. They were doing the best they could against

some very good DE's.  Looks like some more screen plays would work against aggressive DE's?

 

 

[greenjoe]

Not an area to improve on but to keep up with.  Replacing Treavor Moore.  He was an automatic on PAT and almost as reliable with field goals.  Big shoes to fill.  Well, NIKE on one side.  Adidas on the other.

GO MEAN GREEN.  

[Harry]

I say defensive front 7 improvement.  Why reinvent the wheel -- look at what FAU and Troy were able to do.  There is no reason we cannot implement something similar in terms of scheme and personnel. 

The specific issue in my mind is how badly we struggled giving opponents long 3rd down conversions.  We had a really tough time getting to the passer in those situations or just making a damn play.

[Ben Gooding]

I know you said not to just say defense, but defense. I'll refine by saying scoring defense specifically. I don't care if we give up 500 yards of offense as long as  we can manage 25ish points per game allowed. We are legitimate contenders for a new years 6 bowl if we can have a D that allows 25ish ppg. 

[GrayEagle]

Austin is right.  To me, the greatest area of concern is turnover margin.  We were -12 with the FBS teams that we played. 

Another area of concern was our inability to stop our opponents on third and fourth downs.  We had a decent conversion pct. but not as good as our opponents.  I cringed every time our stadium announcer would say, "Mean Green, it thirrrd down" only to watch the other team convert what seemed to be every time.  Worse than that, our opponents converted 91% of their fourth down plays.

[greenminer]

3 hours ago, AustinFromUNT said:

For me personally, I think we HAVE to improve our TO margin. We went from +1 in 2016 to -11 in 2017. We were one of the worst teams in the country about turning over the ball and not getting it back. I think that partially has to do with the scheme of the defense in regards to the CBs, but also Mason threw a lot of INTs & Jeff had a lot of fumbles.

I read a Phil Steele article years ago about TO margin and returning experience on the OL being one of their strongest metrics for predicting a team's success.  I also think, obviously, they go hand in hand.  A QB that is well protected is less likely to feel pressured into high-risk/bad throws, and a RB that has room to run isn't going to fumble it away as much.

[UNTLifer]

Third down defense and defense when we have the offense in long yardage situations.

Edited July 3, 2018 by UNTLifer

[untjim1995]

Last year, it seemed like we blitzed a lot on 3rd downs, which is why we got beat on that down often. 

To me, each side of the ball has its own issues. The OL has to be better or Fine may not be able to take another year of abuse. The DL has to get pressure, period...and ST, we gotta find a kicker.

 

[NT93]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Third down defense and defense when we have tne offense in long yardage situations.

This!

[GMG24]

13 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

Last year, it seemed like we blitzed a lot on 3rd downs, which is why we got beat on that down often. 

To me, each side of the ball has its own issues. The OL has to be better or Fine may not be able to take another year of abuse. The DL has to get pressure, period...and ST, we gotta find a kicker.

 

Fine is now up to 195 pounds, but I would like to see him hit way less than he was hit last year.  I know he's tough he showed that, now let him work in a nice clean pocket 85% of the game and see what happens.  

[97and03]

Not to go all Ben Gooding on this thread, but damn we have a lot of areas for improvement for a 9 win team that is a division favorite! Not being sarcastic at all here. D-line needs a better push and not let mobile qbs go loose up the middle, need much stronger linebacker play, DBs need to stop the deep ball better, OL has to give more time to Fine and be much improve on obvious short yardage run plays, and god help us we need a kicker. 

Despite all that, I think 7 wins is our floor and 10 our ceiling. Can’t wait to get this season started!

#BeatThePhonies

[untjim1995]

1 hour ago, 97and03 said:

Not to go all Ben Gooding on this thread, but damn we have a lot of areas for improvement for a 9 win team that is a division favorite! Not being sarcastic at all here. D-line needs a better push and not let mobile qbs go loose up the middle, need much stronger linebacker play, DBs need to stop the deep ball better, OL has to give more time to Fine and be much improve on obvious short yardage run plays, and god help us we need a kicker. 

Despite all that, I think 7 wins is our floor and 10 our ceiling. Can’t wait to get this season started!

#BeatThePhonies

I agree--I see 7 wins as the minimum. I think we win games against SMU, Incarnate Word, Liberty, Rice, UTEP, USM, and ODU. I see losses against FAU and Arkansas. Its the games at UAB, @ UTSA (their Super Bowl), and here against La Tech that make the difference between 7 and 10 wins, as well as being CUSA West Champs again. I think UAB will win the West this season, as I think we will lose 3 CUSA games (UAB, UT-KFC, and FAU). I could see the UAB game being the tiebreaker. I have said all along that 8 wins in the regular season seems right to me, especially since we won so many close games last year, but also because we are just better than most of our schedule by a little to a lot--we shouldn't have any trouble with Incarnate Word, Liberty, Rice, or UTEP at all, the last two teams amongst the worst in FBS by a long ways...

[wardly]

We may have a better team but end up with a worse record than last year. We won every close game, which is just about impossible to do.

[MeanGreenTexan]

25 minutes ago, wardly said:

We may have a better team but end up with a worse record than last year. We won every close game, which is just about impossible to do.

If it comes down to losing those close games instead of winning them, I have a feeling Young Hedlund will be goated (not the good kind) around here.   2 of those close wins were directly due to the foot of Trevor Moore.