Diagnosing the bad taste that won't go away after the Houston loss

[Harry]

 

Just a thought, but as bad and disappointing as the Houston loss was to swallow, there is an on-going bad taste hangover that I sense which will not go away like a normal bad loss would.  It continues to linger.

I think part of the problem is we are all facing the realization that this ever so memorable Mason Fine era is coming to an end.

Like sand passing through an hourglass, every remaining game brings us closer to the curtain closing on a player who was larger than life and one that you will  probably only see once in a lifetime.

[MeanGreenTexan]

[meanrob]

Tennessee never won an SEC championship when they had Peyton Manning. 

Then Tee Martin came in and won a National Championship.

Who knows what happens in the coming years but we need to get better at a lot of positions not just replace one. 

[RBP79]

This season is slowly turning. I feel bad for Mason Fine and don't blame him for the disappointing start. For me...this is all on the coaches....

Lose to USM, start the bilge pumps....

[MGNation92]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

Like sand passing through an hourglass,

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

 

Just a thought, but as bad and disappointing as the Houston loss was to swallow, there is an on-going bad taste hangover that I sense which will not go away like a normal bad loss would.  It continues to linger.

I think part of the problem is we are all facing the realization that this ever so memorable Mason Fine era is coming to an end.

Like sand passing through an hourglass, every remaining game brings us closer to the curtain closing on a player who was larger than life and one that you will  probably only see once in a lifetime.

Don’t remind me😭

[NorthTexasWeLove]

Well, it was sort of a reality check of how poor SL recruited his first 3 years + the fact that we just aren't very good. Losing at SMU...The excuse is made there...We haven't won there since the 30's, maybe we were flat, the coaches didn't know what to really prepare for because all of their transfers. Then, we come out and put up a decent (at best) performance on the road at a decent Cal team. So it was sort of trending upward to some degree after Cal. So a little hope starts to shine through. Word comes out that UH's best player is quitting. So we assume we will at least be ultra competitive and break away in the 2nd half with a dub.Then we get lambasted at home for a nice crowd to witness. Compile all of that with the fact that we know MF only has 3 more home games in his career then we will have a team full of unknowns going into Seth Littrell's 5th season. Breaking through that glass ceiling that is always and forever present for G5 programs seems kind of a hopeless achievement at this point. 9-4 might actually be the ceiling of UNT and it's difficult to fathom. Our year, under this grouping of kids, was last year and that year could have and should have easily been a 12-0 regular season. And now I feel like I'm ranting, so I'll stop. 

[DeepGreen]

1 hour ago, meanrob said:

Tennessee never won an SEC championship when they had Peyton Manning. 

Then Tee Martin came in and won a National Championship.

Who knows what happens in the coming years but we need to get better at a lot of positions not just replace one. 

Agree completely, but how many Mason Fine-like quarterbacks come around to North Texas to play football?

[Wag Tag]

Mason deserves to go out on top! Let’s win the C USA championship at the Ap!

[Salsa_Verde]

I didn’t expect them to have already peaked. It seemed last year was the year. This year was suppose to be a culmination for Mason Fine. It is what is, Rome wasn’t built in a day or some crap like that. 
 

GMG 

[untjim1995]

27 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Well, it was sort of a reality check of how poor SL recruited his first 3 years + the fact that we just aren't very good. Losing at SMU...The excuse is made there...We haven't won there since the 30's, maybe we were flat, the coaches didn't know what to really prepare for because all of their transfers. Then, we come out and put up a decent (at best) performance on the road at a decent Cal team. So it was sort of trending upward to some degree after Cal. So a little hope starts to shine through. Word comes out that UH's best player is quitting. So we assume we will at least be ultra competitive and break away in the 2nd half with a dub.Then we get lambasted at home for a nice crowd to witness. Compile all of that with the fact that we know MF only has 3 more home games in his career then we will have a team full of unknowns going into Seth Littrell's 5th season. Breaking through that glass ceiling that is always and forever present for G5 programs seems kind of a hopeless achievement at this point. 9-4 might actually be the ceiling of UNT and it's difficult to fathom. Our year, under this grouping of kids, was last year and that year could have and should have easily been a 12-0 regular season. And now I feel like I'm ranting, so I'll stop. 

Until we see differently, 9 is our ceiling for wins. We have won 9 games in a season all of 3 times since 1978. FBS or I-AA, getting to 9 wins is the best we can do.

[greenminer]

@Harry With the bye week, what are your plans for the Barbershop? No weeks off? One week off? Which one?

[El Paso Eagle]

I believe Mason can lead us to a conference championship. CUSA is winnable. I hope they take some time over the break to remember we have Tight Ends (thought they were going to be used more).

I think this also stings since it seemed to have come so easy the last two years. To go from were we had been to back-to-back 9 win seasons - we had arrived!!! Well the truth is it's not as easy as it seemed, but now we have set the bar so high a seven win season will seem like we have failed.

[untjim1995]

The really good news is that we wont face another team with the talent of SMU, Cal, or UH. They won't be as easy as ACU and UTSA, except for maybe UTEP, but we SHOULD win 5 more games at least. 

Don't let SMU's or UH's talent full you into believing we aren't CUSA good. Because we are still one of the best teams in CUSA. This league sucks something fierce, just as the SBC did back in the early 00's, but our non-conference losses never kept us from completely dominating some FBS dregs. I don't see why anything has changed on this front, except that we are now in CUSA instead of The Belt.

[Cerebus]

4 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

 

[ntmeangreen11]

I don't understand comparing the early SBC days to now. We won like 27 straight conference games and 4 titles. I may have been 14 but I remember those games there was never a thought we were going to lose. Nowadays when we're up 14 @ ODU it's a lot of "Hold on to your fucking hat". We have gotten our asses handed to us by CUSA teams in big games, lost many we shouldn't have, and been nowhere near as consistent as those teams. Those teams were destroying bad football teams with terrible resources. We are just barely remaining competitive with a bunch of underperforming schools. 

I'm just tired of playing comparable schools and seeing a huge discrepancy in talen. We all know how far we have come since Portland State but the big losses in important games (Troy, FAU x 2, Utah State, SMU & UH) remind how far away we are from being a good team. We're just an average to above average CUSA team with a pretty good QB who is being stymied by a new OC. What the hell are we going to be next year while we wait for the last two classes plus the current one to develop? Who's ready to hear about how Reeder is so much more comfortable heading in to year two as OC? Who's ready to fake excitement for the 3 JUCO DL players we sign (1 of which will fail to qualify) who were also offered by Idaho? Why am I ending this post with multiple questions?

[greensleeves]

Lots of things went wrong in this game, but I just stopped in to say I really missed Rico B. last Saturday. Not sure if he would have 

made a difference, but his absence sure did not help. 

[Got5onIt]

I love Mason and all he’s done for NT but I’m actually looking forward to Bean taking over and bringing another dynamic to the offense here: Height + Dual Threat speed. 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Got5onIt

[MRH]

I think what stings for me is we were favored. With the QB story if the week we had expectations going in. Then we played a team that was bigger and faster than us and it took me by surprise when I thought we would compete. We lost in front of the biggest crowd I have seen at Apogee.

However the 2 things I really wanted out of this season was a CUSA championship and a bowl win. Both of those things are possible. This season could be the reverse of last season.

[SilverEagle]

5 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

Agree completely, but how many Mason Fine-like quarterbacks come around to North Texas to play football?

Well, you can start with Steve Ramsey and then add Mitch Maher.  Mr. Fine finally passed Ramsey's TD total this year. But as I've said before, Ramsey's records were done in 29 games.  Maher set his records in 44 games. If both of them had started the same time as Mason Fine, and went through drills in the same system, they would both have done just as well. And in the case of former Plano Wildcat, Mitch Maher, maybe better because of his running ability.

[greenminer]

3 hours ago, ntmeangreen11 said:

I don't understand comparing the early SBC days to now. We won like 27 straight conference games and 4 titles. I may have been 14 but I remember those games there was never a thought we were going to lose.

Really? I think the thing that made that run so remarkable is how we pulled out so many close wins.  Dickey was of the mindset that, you hand in there and give yourself a chance to win it in the end.

Your point still stands though: very different mindset from today’s teams.  Those SBC teams would grind you down physically and had a mental edge.

[DeepGreen]

24 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Well, you can start with Steve Ramsey and then add Mitch Maher.  Mr. Fine finally passed Ramsey's TD total this year. But as I've said before, Ramsey's records were done in 29 games.  Maher set his records in 44 games. If both of them had started the same time as Mason Fine, and went through drills in the same system, they would both have done just as well. And in the case of former Plano Wildcat, Mitch Maher, maybe better because of his running ability.

Ramsey, Maher, and Fine.  Great QB’s for sure.  All three of them.  Over a 50+ year period.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Mason Fine:

  #6 would make several P5’s schools with genuine QB problems a literal godsend & you can start with a certain Big 12 school in our area.  

Yes, we’re still all gut-kicked because of UH, but Mason Fine has given this “ancient” alum memories for a lifetime however long that will be.  At the top of my list are those 2 wins he commandeered over Army & “the Drive” against UTSA when all was lost. Glad my old college roommate & I stuck around for the finale. 

[Mean Green Matt]

7 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

Agree completely, but how many Mason Fine-like quarterbacks come around to North Texas to play football?

Mason is a fantastic quarterback. The fact he started so early, is talented, and the offense he plays in has allowed him to hold basically all of our passing records and he likely will for a long time. 

With that said, I think Mason is a once in a generation story. I don’t believe we will go a generation without having a QB that will match his talent/on field impact. 

[DeepGreen]

57 minutes ago, Mean Green Matt said:

Mason is a fantastic quarterback. The fact he started so early, is talented, and the offense he plays in has allowed him to hold basically all of our passing records and he likely will for a long time. 

With that said, I think Mason is a once in a generation story. I don’t believe we will go a generation without having a QB that will match his talent/on field impact. 

I hope you’re right. But history says otherwise.