Recipe to beat North Texas

emmitt01 · October 21, 2018

1) Recruit a decent pass rushing end

2) Line him up against our LT

3) Repeat step 2

Venson · October 21, 2018

29 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

1) Recruit a decent pass rushing end

2) Line him up against our LT

3) Repeat step 2

That pretty much sums it up.

FirefightnRick · October 21, 2018

...and let Nick Smith average over 5 yards a carry in the first half..BINGO!

Rick

TheColonyEagle · October 21, 2018

Wait out the OC.

He’ll give you a chance to get back in it.

NorthTexasWeLove · October 21, 2018

8 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

Wait out the OC.

He’ll give you a chance to get back in it.

100% this. People want to shit all over our 20 something year old player(s) but give hall pass after hall pass to this offensive scheming and play calling.

The play calling lost this game. Not Jordan Murray.

Green P1 · October 21, 2018

1 hour ago, emmitt01 said:

1) Recruit a decent pass rushing end

2) Line him up against our LT

3) Repeat step 2

Now you want to talk about the weakness that you admonished other fans for worrying about after Incarnate Word and Liberty? If you think it’s just Jordan.... who you’re right is garbage... you’re in denial.

eulessismore · October 21, 2018

40 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

100% this. People want to shit all over our 20 something year old player(s) but give hall pass after hall pass to this offensive scheming and play calling.

The play calling lost this game. Not Jordan Murray.

Ok, gotta agree with you this once. Unless our offensive unit kept our punt unit from coming on to the field.

NorthTexasWeLove · October 21, 2018

Good coordinators scheme away from their weakness. Quick passing game, air raid style, hides our OL flaws. We did it in the first half to the tune of 222 passing yards and 21 points. Then we decide to run the ball in the 2nd half and push our WR outside the numbers into long developing routes that exposes our offensive weakness. And for a DL pushing up field as hard as UAB was trying to all game long...a couple well executed screens, wr or rb, would've made them hesitate the remainder of the game. I saw no such play take place. I'm still dumbfounded by the play calling.

NorthTexan95 · October 21, 2018

2 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

1) Recruit a decent pass rushing end

2) Line him up against our LT

3) Repeat step 2

This is incorrect. The real plan is this:

1. La Tech: Recruit a DE who will go in the 1st or 2nd round of the NFL draft and who can single handily carry his team to multiple wins.

or

2. UAB: Recruit four good defensive linemen (some of who don't academically qualify for your school) and let them play till they are in the mid 20's.

Our offensive line isn't great but it's not like La Tech and UAB are running backups. Those are the top two defensive lines in the conference and we still could (should) have won those games.

peanuts104 · October 21, 2018

4 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

1) Recruit a decent pass rushing end

2) Line him up against our LT

3) Repeat step 2

Honestly I can't believe some of the other stalwarts on our line couldn't do a better job at LT, which is probably the most important line position for a righty QB.

Wag Tag · October 21, 2018

Move Kelvin Smith to a blocking back and Keep in a TE to help protect maybe move an o lineman. What was disturbing is we were double teaming LT DE with Nick Smith and he was still beating us! Clock Mgmt and in game adjustments still seem to be a challenge to this staff!

risinggreen · October 21, 2018

8 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

1) Recruit a decent pass rushing end

2) Line him up against our LT

3) Repeat step 2

Yes, sometimes size matters, as in too much size.

emmitt01 · October 21, 2018

7 hours ago, Green P1 said:

Now you want to talk about the weakness that you admonished other fans for worrying about after Incarnate Word and Liberty? If you think it’s just Jordan.... who you’re right is garbage... you’re in denial.

Find me a post where I EVER defended Murray.

Yes, play calling was hot feces covered garbage. I’ve said that before. I will never understand why we find something that works and then say “you know, let’s just prove how clever we can be by going away from it for long stretches.”

But if you have a liability on your O-line that causes a good amount of your playbook to be impossible, that’s a glaring deficiency.

The number of defensive coordinators that won’t adjust to a vanilla offensive game plan is ZERO. The idea that we can run the same plays over and over, with no threat to mix it up a little, is asinine...sure, stick to what works for the most part but you cannot be married to it all game long by necessity.

UNTcrazy727 · October 21, 2018

10 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

1) Recruit a decent pass rushing end

2) Line him up against our LT

3) Repeat step 2

Murray is everyone’s favorite whipping boy and for good reason, but our center and guards got embarrassed by #2 last night. The whole line is a massive problem and it’s going to prevent us from beating anyone good.

It’s hard for Graham to call plays when we can’t consistently run or when our pass protection breaks down after 2 seconds.

tmjerm · October 21, 2018

9 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

100% this. People want to shit all over our 20 something year old player(s) but give hall pass after hall pass to this offensive scheming and play calling.

The play calling lost this game. Not Jordan Murray.

It’s both

7 hours ago, NorthTexan95 said:

This is incorrect. The real plan is this:

1. La Tech: Recruit a DE who will go in the 1st or 2nd round of the NFL draft and who can single handily carry his team to multiple wins.

or

2. UAB: Recruit four good defensive linemen (some of who don't academically qualify for your school) and let them play till they are in the mid 20's.

Our offensive line isn't great but it's not like La Tech and UAB are running backups. Those are the top two defensive lines in the conference and we still could (should) have won those games.

But we didn’t. Those are excuses. We suck up front and we take the foot off the gas coming out of the half consistently. We aren’t equipped to establish the run without there being a pass threat. We aren’t equipped to throw the ball in a pocket. There are only two ways we can successfully throw the ball (and therefor run the ball): quick passes and sprint outs. This offensive line cannot create a pure passing pocket consistently, and they definitely can’t run block consistently. Mason has done SO much on his own this yr. imagine if he had an OL that could take care of him.

Harry · October 21, 2018

I think Jeff Wilson singlehandedly hid some of the major oline deficiencies we had in the oline last season. If there is a silver lining this season has revealed to us the issues we need to address to move the program to another level.

That said, these issues are not unique to Littrell or this team. UNT and many other g5’s struggle to lure and develop top flight o-line and impact pass rushers.

I am willing to give Uab credit for the win however, it is fair to state that they were given a SWEET deal in so far as how many juco and 4-year school transfers they could accumulate after shutting their program down and that needs to be looked at by the NCAA. How is it possible that a school can drop football and be this competitive so quickly in such a short time is problematic.

NorthTexasWeLove · October 21, 2018

7 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

Move Kelvin Smith to a blocking back and Keep in a TE to help protect maybe move an o lineman. What was disturbing is we were double teaming LT DE with Nick Smith and he was still beating us! Clock Mgmt and in game adjustments still seem to be a challenge to this staff!

This. Or just keep him home at halfback/TE and max protect. We need it if we're going to have long developing routes. For heaven sake, 3 or 4 drop backs we had a 5'7 rb having to take on 6'5 DE in passpro. That is called NOT putting your players in the best position on the field to be successful.

SilverEagle · October 21, 2018

Let's see. Many posts about two major deficiencies, the O-line and an effective running game.....mainly a short yardage running game.

This is why every year when national signing day comes around I always ask the same Clara Pellar question "where's the beef?". And this year I added a BIG fast running back to my list of "things we need". Which is why I started a thread right before spring practice about Conner Means and giving him a shot at playing running back.....mainly because he was/is BIG and FAST and showed me on one occasion ( a couple of springs ago) that he was good at running with the ball.

Although I didn't know it at the time, Mr. Easley seemed to make my suggestion of giving Conner Means a shot at RB a moot point. But then (unknown to me...and many others) Mr. Easley's history of blowing out his knee came back to visit him......and by extension...us. I was back to starting a new thread (point of contact running backs) basically asking "who else have we got that can get us the tough yards?"

This is a long way of getting to the issue that would have made a huge difference in this season. And that is trench football. In terms of warfare, we have all the high tech toys we need. But it's the soldiers carrying the rifle that ultimately wins battles.

*Addendum.

Running back stats for UAB.

Rushing Att Yds Avg Lng TD

Spencer Brown 25 100 4 13 3 (6' X 220)

A.J. Erdely 14 23 1.6 22 0 (6'4" X 220)…..QB

Lucious Stanley 31 96. 3 12 0 (6' X 215)

Jarrion Street 4 59 14.8 32 0 (6'1" X 210)

Tyler Johnston III 1 3 3 3 (6'2" X 215)…..QB

Not one RB under 210.

Edited October 21, 2018 by SilverEagle

Wag Tag · October 21, 2018

51 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Let's see. Many posts about two major deficiencies, the O-line and an effective running game.....mainly a short yardage running game.

This is why every year when national signing day comes around I always ask the same Clara Pellar question "where's the beef?". And this year I added a BIG fast running back to my list of "things we need". Which is why I started a thread right before spring practice about Conner Means and giving him a shot at playing running back.....mainly because he was/is BIG and FAST and showed me on one occasion ( a couple of springs ago) that he was good at running with the ball.

Although I didn't know it at the time, Mr. Easley seemed to make my suggestion of giving Conner Means a shot at RB a moot point. But then (unknown to me...and many others) Mr. Easley's history of blowing out his knee came back to visit him......and by extension...us. I was back to starting a new thread (point of contact running backs) basically asking "who else have we got that can get us the tough yards?"

This is a long way of getting to the issue that would have made a huge difference in this season. And that is trench football. In terms of warfare, we have all the high tech toys we need. But it's the soldiers carrying the rifle that ultimately wins battles.

*Addendum.

Running back stats for UAB.

Rushing Att    Yds    Avg    Lng TD

Spencer Brown    25 100    4 13 3    (6' X 220)

A.J. Erdely    14    23 1.6    22    0    (6'4" X 220)…..QB

Lucious Stanley    31 96.    3 12 0 (6' X 215)

Jarrion Street 4    59    14.8 32 0 (6'1" X 210)

Tyler Johnston III    1    3    3 3    (6'2" X 215)…..QB

Not one RB under 210.

Agree about Conner he has wheels to play the position. This next class has 2 rbs that are over 200lbs at 5’11 and 6’ both kids can put on the lbs to 220lbs! As mentioned before GH has trouble adjusting, especially during a game!

southsideguy · October 21, 2018

I have to agree with Harry that Jeffery Wilson was a bit part of the success on the team last year. He was really special and we dont have that good of running back this year. We have problems but heck we are still 6-2 and two or three years ago we would be doing back flips to have this record. The team has raised the bar for the good. So where is Clark going to coach next year? Kansas, Tech, etc, etc.....

greenminer · October 21, 2018

How does UAB look going into 2019, is it a huge drop off?

outoftown · October 21, 2018

46 minutes ago, greenminer said:

How does UAB look going into 2019, is it a huge drop off?

Yep, it really is. There's like 35 Seniors on that roster. And that kind of brand of football really suffers when you take the big boy depth out of it.

I wonder if coach Clark is looking to move on, knowing that he is in for a big drop-off next season. Then again, since he stuck with them through the dissolution, he may really be a Birmingham lifer.

GrandGreen · October 21, 2018

47 minutes ago, greenminer said:

How does UAB look going into 2019, is it a huge drop off?

They have 37 for the most part redshirt seniors. They will probably lose as many starters as any program for next year, but they still will have a good number of redshirt juniors who benefitted from that extra year.