After calming down

emmitt01 · September 30, 2018

Well, mostly calming down.

Last night sucked, a lot. We should have won and had multiple opportunities to do so. I believe we tried to get (WAY) too cute in the 2nd quarter and abandoned the run. I also believe that, if our offensive line could have done more than act as a speed bump, the play calling is irrelevant. I believe that the coaches have to teach our returners not to field a punt inside the ten...and I believe that, if they are going to field the punt, it is on the player to catch it. We can point fingers every which way...but it won't change the loss.

So, here is my morning after take. We are 4-1. Four wins...one loss. If you had approached me prior to this season and said, "Hey Emmitt, if you'll suffer through a La Tech game where literally every way to lose is explored, I'll let you watch the Mean Green curb stomp SMU, embarrass a pair of 1AA schools, and run Arkansas out of their stadium" I would have taken that offer and never looked back. Barring something drastic (like Mason being hurt for an extended period) we will return home 5-1 in a week and have a chance to win every game left on our schedule. I literally laughed out loud when I read people talking about how a potential 11-1 season was no longer good enough for them. WTF school have you been watching in the past?

Another thing, our attendance is NOT about to drop to 15,000. We drew 15k a game while playing in Fouts and not winning very much. Many of you must have missed the ground breaking for our new indoor practice facility where not one, but two, multi-million dollar donors spoke. You must have forgotten that 29,000+ watched us take apart SMU...BEFORE any of the hype from the punt return, or the 4-0 record, or parent's weekend, etc. I know we want to be pissed, and I am certain some casual fans were there to see the unbeaten team they heard so much about, but let's not become unreasonable whiners. We had a chance to win that game on the final play last night and put an entertaining product out there, mistakes and all. We likely won't see 30k again for some time, but I'll be downright shocked if you don't see 22k in two weeks, 28k for Homecoming, and (if we take care of business between now and then) 25-27k for FAU on a Thursday night.

I believed we had turned a corner prior to yesterday's game. That hasn't changed because of one sloppy night where we did literally everything possible to lose and still almost won. Our athletic department has never been in a better position, we have a coach who will fix what's wrong (and the finances to make taking him less than a foregone conclusion), and our facilities are finally such that we can recruit at a higher level.

I'm not happy about being 4-1 this morning...but I'm happier five games into a season than I have been in my Mean Green life.

James · September 30, 2018

A voice of reason.

Stan R · September 30, 2018

Always appreciate the perspective resets you provide emmit! Right on the mark in my opinion!!

Wag Tag · September 30, 2018

Bingo! GMG

greenminer · September 30, 2018

I like that we are 4-1, but I also know that the two primary goals our program has right now are a CUSA title and a bowl win.

we just gave up the driver seat to one of those. I’m going to appreciate where we are as a program, but won’t ignore that we blew a big opportunity last night.

UNT 90 Grad · September 30, 2018

YES! Well, Liberty is actually an FBS school, not 1AA/FCS, but still... YES!

Venson · September 30, 2018

Thanks for a voice of reason this morning.

GreenTexan13 · September 30, 2018

So.. so.. so this!! I got on this board last night and thought the end of the world was happening.

LaTech is a good team, and we lost by two points. I didn't get a chance to watch the whole game last night, but from what I've read.. the coaching was questionable.

We had one bad game.. coaches had a bad day at work. Let's just look ahead to UTEP and start over.

strikes · September 30, 2018

Chin up every one! First loss stings like hell. We still have this season and a fantastic team. We will learn our lessons and come back even stronger. Go Mean Green!

TheRiojas_AD · September 30, 2018

Absolutely spot on. I felt horrible last night, and I still do. But I’m sure that pales in comparison to how those kids feel, and how I’m positive Mason feels. I hope he’s ok, and I will say that it doesn’t feel good feeling so bad about a loss, but that is a real good indicator that we have come so far from where we once were. Where suddenly we are devastated because our UNT, yes North Texas, had a chance at an undefeated season. We need to digest this loss and yet be extremely thankful and feel blessed by what we are seeing. GMG

Mean Green Matt · September 30, 2018

So long as Mason’s injury isn’t serious this is likely still going to be a great season. It won’t be a dream season. And there’s obviously some disappointment that will be associated with that given what happened to expectations (realistic or not) over the last couple of weeks.

For me it’s not that we lost last night, it’s how it happened. What the team needs to do is make sure things don’t unravel into something like 7-5. Have to keep moving forward.

Mean Green Fan4Life · September 30, 2018

I like the calmer perspective on our current status. Unfortunately, my fears were realized last night. All the media attention and excitement got the best of us. We will reload and move forward this week!

UNTexas · September 30, 2018

57 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

Well, mostly calming down.

Last night sucked, a lot. We should have won and had multiple opportunities to do so. I believe we tried to get (WAY) too cute in the 2nd quarter and abandoned the run. I also believe that, if our offensive line could have done more than act as a speed bump, the play calling is irrelevant. I believe that the coaches have to teach our returners not to field a punt inside the ten...and I believe that, if they are going to field the punt, it is on the player to catch it. We can point fingers every which way...but it won't change the loss.

So, here is my morning after take. We are 4-1. Four wins...one loss. If you had approached me prior to this season and said, "Hey Emmitt, if you'll suffer through a La Tech game where literally every way to lose is explored, I'll let you watch the Mean Green curb stomp SMU, embarrass a pair of 1AA schools, and run Arkansas out of their stadium" I would have taken that offer and never looked back. Barring something drastic (like Mason being hurt for an extended period) we will return home 5-1 in a week and have a chance to win every game left on our schedule. I literally laughed out loud when I read people talking about how a potential 11-1 season was no longer good enough for them. WTF school have you been watching in the past?

Another thing, our attendance is NOT about to drop to 15,000. We drew 15k a game while playing in Fouts and not winning very much. Many of you must have missed the ground breaking for our new indoor practice facility where not one, but two, multi-million dollar donors spoke. You must have forgotten that 29,000+ watched us take apart SMU...BEFORE any of the hype from the punt return, or the 4-0 record, or parent's weekend, etc. I know we want to be pissed, and I am certain some casual fans were there to see the unbeaten team they heard so much about, but let's not become unreasonable whiners. We had a chance to win that game on the final play last night and put an entertaining product out there, mistakes and all. We likely won't see 30k again for some time, but I'll be downright shocked if you don't see 22k in two weeks, 28k for Homecoming, and (if we take care of business between now and then) 25-27k for FAU on a Thursday night.

I believed we had turned a corner prior to yesterday's game. That hasn't changed because of one sloppy night where we did literally everything possible to lose and still almost won. Our athletic department has never been in a better position, we have a coach who will fix what's wrong (and the finances to make taking him less than a foregone conclusion), and our facilities are finally such that we can recruit at a higher level.

I'm not happy about being 4-1 this morning...but I'm happier five games into a season than I have been in my Mean Green life.

We have a great school, people, and facilities but if we win every game or lose every game, it's all meaningless. We could have been undefeated and still would be playing at a run down crappy HOD bowl. College football is starting to lose me because our games are exciting but meaningless.

Oh well, at least I cancelled my trip to El Paso next week.

Edited September 30, 2018 by UNTexas

kingwoodgreen · September 30, 2018

This loss stings me still a bit this morning. But I will day last night was the best college atmosphere I have ever seen as a fan. We had groundbreaking for ipf, one of the all time greats honored, tailgating looked good and most importantly and fantasic crowd. Wing does not look so bad when full of fans. That last north - texas chant was the real deal. The first down thing is catching on. Even my dad was doing it last night. Band came by tailgating twice, that gets all keyed up. Maybe they should stop and play a cool song outside the stadium. Regardless, last night was something we have been waiting for a long time.

GrandGreen · September 30, 2018

One thing to consider is that La Tech prior to the current class has been much better in recruiting rankings. I did not see that big disparity in talent. NT had no answer for Ferguson, but otherwise I would give the talent edge to NT.

La Tech put maximum pressure on Fine, while the La Tech QB could have diagramed his own plays before getting rid of the ball. Luckily, their QB was not that good, but any QB is going to make some plays with the time he had.

It was a close game and any number of plays going another way could have won the game for NT. La Tech make enough plays and certainly deserved the win. NT on the other hand played hard, but made too many errors to beat a good team.

I have always admired La Tech, no team gets more bang for the buck out of their budget than they do. Looking forward though, NT with better recruiting and added facilities is going to be tough for other CUSA teams to match.

Edited September 30, 2018 by GrandGreen

FirefightnRick · September 30, 2018

Good post E

Rick

NorthTexasWeLove · September 30, 2018

1 hour ago, UNTexas said:

We have a great school, people, and facilities but if we win every game or lose every game, it's all meaningless. We could have been undefeated and still would be playing at a run down crappy HOD bowl. College football is starting to lose me because our games are exciting but meaningless.

Oh well, at least I cancelled my trip to El Paso next week.

This is kind of where I am at. We have 1 championship to compete for, just 1. It's the conference championship that is rated by sargain the number 10th FBS conference...of 10. We definitely hurt our odds of winning arguably the 10th best conference championship (8th in my eyes).

Last season kind of put into perspective with FAU what our ceiling is. Though FAU had some ugly early losses last season, they were the hottest G5 team by season's end playing the best football in the country. Their reward? A home bowl game vs the Arkon Zips I believe. We could rattle off 7 straight end up not having even a division crown to our name and probably play in the Toasted Bread Bowl sponsored by Nutella vs the University of who gives a shit in desolate X poor state.

Salsa_Verde · September 30, 2018

The game was punch to the gut, it’s going to happen, but if North Texas consistently keeps winning, then these games won’t hurt as much long term. What I took away most from last night, is what this university and athletic program are capable of. Hoping for many more games at Apogee like last night (except for the losing of course)

aprice · September 30, 2018

My thoughts exactly, well said. It wasn't too long ago that we were elated to hit 6. Now we're 4-1 and it feels like the sky is falling. Keep it in perspective. The strides this program has made in 3 years is astounding. Be proud.

LongJim · September 30, 2018

Good post. Everything is still on the table.

bstnsportsfan3 · September 30, 2018

Agreed 100%. It was nice being the media darling but we still have a lot to play for!

UNTcrazy727 · September 30, 2018

2 hours ago, UNTexas said:

We have a great school, people, and facilities but if we win every game or lose every game, it's all meaningless. We could have been undefeated and still would be playing at a run down crappy HOD bowl. College football is starting to lose me because our games are exciting but meaningless.

Oh well, at least I cancelled my trip to El Paso next week.

I hate to break it to you, but our games have always been meaningless if that’s your mindset.

Its sad that a two point loss to a really good team has killed your desire to support this team. I think a lot of people on this board have forgotten we were 1-11 three years ago.

drycreek · September 30, 2018

good job Emmitt---well said

Philip Ferguson · September 30, 2018

I was at the game and felt really down on things when I woke up this morning. After reading your perspective, I feel much better. This is a game we should have won - a lucky break here or there would have made the difference. La Tech is the toughest team we'll play all season IMO and it came down to a field goal. If we produce 7+ wins every season, I'm a happy camper. Maybe this lose will be a blessing in disguise and bring everyone back into focus. I look forward to the next home game vs. Southern Miss and expect we'll be 6-1 after that one. #IStillBelieve

Edited October 1, 2018 by Philip Ferguson

risinggreen · September 30, 2018

3 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

Well, mostly calming down.

Last night sucked, a lot. We should have won and had multiple opportunities to do so. I believe we tried to get (WAY) too cute in the 2nd quarter and abandoned the run. I also believe that, if our offensive line could have done more than act as a speed bump, the play calling is irrelevant. I believe that the coaches have to teach our returners not to field a punt inside the ten...and I believe that, if they are going to field the punt, it is on the player to catch it. We can point fingers every which way...but it won't change the loss.

So, here is my morning after take. We are 4-1. Four wins...one loss. If you had approached me prior to this season and said, "Hey Emmitt, if you'll suffer through a La Tech game where literally every way to lose is explored, I'll let you watch the Mean Green curb stomp SMU, embarrass a pair of 1AA schools, and run Arkansas out of their stadium" I would have taken that offer and never looked back. Barring something drastic (like Mason being hurt for an extended period) we will return home 5-1 in a week and have a chance to win every game left on our schedule. I literally laughed out loud when I read people talking about how a potential 11-1 season was no longer good enough for them. WTF school have you been watching in the past?

Another thing, our attendance is NOT about to drop to 15,000. We drew 15k a game while playing in Fouts and not winning very much. Many of you must have missed the ground breaking for our new indoor practice facility where not one, but two, multi-million dollar donors spoke. You must have forgotten that 29,000+ watched us take apart SMU...BEFORE any of the hype from the punt return, or the 4-0 record, or parent's weekend, etc. I know we want to be pissed, and I am certain some casual fans were there to see the unbeaten team they heard so much about, but let's not become unreasonable whiners. We had a chance to win that game on the final play last night and put an entertaining product out there, mistakes and all. We likely won't see 30k again for some time, but I'll be downright shocked if you don't see 22k in two weeks, 28k for Homecoming, and (if we take care of business between now and then) 25-27k for FAU on a Thursday night.

I believed we had turned a corner prior to yesterday's game. That hasn't changed because of one sloppy night where we did literally everything possible to lose and still almost won. Our athletic department has never been in a better position, we have a coach who will fix what's wrong (and the finances to make taking him less than a foregone conclusion), and our facilities are finally such that we can recruit at a higher level.

I'm not happy about being 4-1 this morning...but I'm happier five games into a season than I have been in my Mean Green life.

Good post. This stuff just happens in football. Not many times do you have a goal post bumper and a block in that short time frame. Shouldn't have ever gotten to that point, but...