What to expect in Year 5

Philip Ferguson · August 18, 2020

https://247sports.com/college/north-texas/Article/North-Texas-Mean-Green-football-seth-littrell-entering-year-five-littrell-takes-control-150419778/

As he showed in that final press conference in November -- he expects more. Now, he’s in total control of his offense and, therefore, his future.

MGNation92 · August 18, 2020

I've said this repeatedly. He's preached tempo since day 1 and hasn't actually done it on the field. I'm not sure what Littrell means by tempo, but at this point we have 2 Briles guys on the staff, to me, "tempo" is peak Baylor under Briles. Snap the ball every 15 seconds, make the reads easy, and lean on the run game.

I'm tired of hearing about how fast we're gonna go, then take our sweet ass time getting to the line, checking the sideline for the call, making the adjustment, then snapping.

If you say tempo, then let's actually see it. Until then, I expect more of the same

Hunter Green · August 18, 2020

HA! I thought this thread was going to be about Trump!!

Marty · August 18, 2020

I want to see an improvement on defense.

RiseUNT · August 18, 2020

A bowl win

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · August 18, 2020

1 hour ago, MGNation92 said:

I've said this repeatedly. He's preached tempo since day 1 and hasn't actually done it on the field. I'm not sure what Littrell means by tempo, but at this point we have 2 Briles guys on the staff, to me, "tempo" is peak Baylor under Briles. Snap the ball every 15 seconds, make the reads easy, and lean on the run game.

I'm tired of hearing about how fast we're gonna go, then take our sweet ass time getting to the line, checking the sideline for the call, making the adjustment, then snapping.

If you say tempo, then let's actually see it. Until then, I expect more of the same

tamela mann church GIF by TV One

Aquila_Viridis · August 19, 2020

Are there 38 bowls?

MeanGreen_MBA · August 19, 2020

We will have the best year in our history with nobody in the stands to see it!?!?!

MeanGreen_MBA · August 19, 2020

#KEEPINGTHEMEANGREENDOWN

UNTLifer · August 19, 2020

#smuTstartedthecoronaviruswiththechinese

GrandGreen · August 19, 2020

Why would Littrell believe he is finally in control of the offense? As HC, he has been in control all along.

I can understand NT being his first HC job that he is maturing into the job. He has always been in control of the offense, he just made the decision to let others call the plays. That is what most head coaches do.

Frankly, I don't think it matters that much who calls the plays. The HC decides what is in the playbook and usually develops the game plan.

TheColonyEagle · August 19, 2020

color me skeptical....

We were supposed to have tempo last year too. Say what you want about Bodie Reeder, but the offense he ran before he got to UNT looked nothing like what he ran here...looked really similar to the offense we ran when Graham Harrell was here...who a lot of people complained about. And if memory serves, Littrell took over the play calling the second half of the year. There's a common denominator here. I don't see how Reeder just decided to not run what was successful at Eastern Washington when he got here? And he got fired here and then got a better job as OC at Utah State...interesting.

Maybe in year 5 we WILL finally see this tempo we've heard about...

I'll believe it when I see it

Edited August 19, 2020 by TheColonyEagle

RBP79 · August 19, 2020

I don't think he has ever had the personnel in place on the offensive line to do what he's wanting to do. Hopefully, he's getting there but I don't expect it this year. Hope he proves me wrong.

untjim1995 · August 19, 2020

12 minutes ago, RBP79 said:

I don't think he has ever had the personnel in place on the offensive line to do what he's wanting to do. Hopefully, he's getting there but I don't expect it this year. Hope he proves me wrong.

Agreed.

SL is from the Leach coaching tree. But Leach always has a strong OL for his spread. Briles was the same way. This is where the tree has branched off as SL’s lines have always been average at best, spare at its worst.

I doubt defense will ever have the attention from SL that we want it to, so his offense has to be at peak to see success here. Mason could run it to perfection when he had an OL that wasn’t a sieve, like last year.

If we even have a season, I think you have to look at this season from the lens of what personnel is here and how it’s to be coached. People get mad about his salary, but it is what it is. This is a seriously rebuild and he knows that he won’t get fired if he wins more than 2 games. And all his chips are going to be in on next year, as he either turns a successful season into an extension here or a job higher up the food chain. A subpar year next season will possibly cost him his job, since we bought out McCarney with two plus years left on his contract, which is what SL would have left after 2021.

TheColonyEagle · August 19, 2020

36 minutes ago, RBP79 said:

I don't think he has ever had the personnel in place on the offensive line to do what he's wanting to do. Hopefully, he's getting there but I don't expect it this year. Hope he proves me wrong.

I would agree with this.....

TheColonyEagle · August 19, 2020

As for the O-Line and tempo.....

I wonder...if this is where (as great as Mason Fine was) his height maybe was a hindrance to getting the ball out quick and more importantly..vertical.

A big problem we had last year and it's been an issue the past 4 years is the QB holding the ball too long. Which will expose your OL. Part of going tempo is getting rid of the ball fast. As quick as Fine's release was....he still had to release it.

Maybe someone with coaching experience can debunk me here.

But if you have a QB 5"-6" taller can he see over the line better and be able to cut it loose sooner?

total guess on my part...

Edited August 19, 2020 by TheColonyEagle

GrandGreen · August 19, 2020

I agree that the ol could certainly be improved. However, I wonder about all the criticism of the OL. NT has been one of the top offensive teams in the league and you don't do that with a bad line. NT was third in total offense with 404 yards a game.

Lot of credit and praise for the NT running back group, yet the ol is generally panned. Not a lot of logic in that view.

Wag Tag · August 19, 2020

The recruiting talent has picked up dramatically with the last 2 classes. I want to see it on the field. Bigger and faster!

MeanGreenTexan · August 19, 2020

2 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

I agree that the ol could certainly be improved. However, I wonder about all the criticism of the OL. NT has been one of the top offensive teams in the league and you don't do that with a bad line. NT was third in total offense with 404 yards a game.

Lot of credit and praise for the NT running back group, yet the ol is generally panned. Not a lot of logic in that view.

I don't know where I can find this stat, but I'd be willing to bet Tre Siggers either led, or was top 3 in C-USA as far as yards after contact... and that's with missing the last 2 games with injury. It seemed like he was bouncing off would-be tacklers almost immediately after getting the ball. That is cause for praise on the RB, and panning the OL.

GrandGreen · August 19, 2020

1 minute ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I don't know where I can find this stat, but I'd be willing to bet Tre Siggers either led, or was top 3 in C-USA as far as yards after contact... and that's with missing the last 2 games with injury. It seemed like he was bouncing off would-be tacklers almost immediately after getting the ball. That is cause for praise on the RB, and panning the OL.

Yes, that must be it; NT running backs are just so good that they overcome a poor ol. Baloney