DRC: Five thoughts on UNT's win over Northwestern State

[greenminer]

Early on, it looked like Ruder was just lobbing it up and expecting our WRs to make a play.  I wasn't going to say it, because I have only watched the game once, and it was 1AM after working.

Would like to see better placement, working on timing and angles rather than just hoping for our WR talent to save his butt a la Chris Simms-to-Roy Williams

[Snowy]

Some impressions from the game (also re-watched the ESPN 3 broadcast):

• Defense is definitely improved, in every aspect. Tackling, speed, pressure, etc. Yes, we gave up a lot of yards, but ultimately, only gave up 14 points... It's been a LONG time since we've given up that few points to any level of competition. As someone else mentioned, "bend don't break". (As apposed to the "shatter don't break" from several former defensive coordinators.)
• Additionally, the defense seemed to look very comfortable... Not a lot of confusion, no defensive time outs because they didn't have the right personnel, and overall played very disciplined.
• Our run game remains TBD in my opinion. After our pre-season injury, Torrey stepped up and had a great game, however, the trenches is one area that really separates FCS from FBS. If he has a decent game against SMU, we will be fine, and I think he'll have a career year.
• This is stating the obvious, but the receivers have to come down with the ball. One or two drops total per game is to be expected, but this was one or two drops per receiver.
• As far as QB play, Ruder looks to me, like an improved Derek Thompson. I say that for a few reasons... 1) Ruder seemed to "lock on" to his targets... I didn't seem much in the way of looking his receivers open, pump fakes, etc. Perhaps it was the DB coverage, but he seemed to throw to his guy. Additionally, some of the throws were a bit soft. I assume its timing issues that will be worked out, but Derek Thompson never really did a great job of hitting anyone in stride, and I saw the same thing from Ruder. Now note, this isn't a huge criticism, as Derek Thompson was a pretty serviceable CUSA quarterback. But, truth be told, I was expecting a little more. I thought Aune's passes looked better, but he was also hurt by the dropped passes, and we only saw limited action late in the game.

 

For next week, we are really going to have to execute well. We won't be able to get away with any missed tackles, blown coverage, etc. That's not to say there won't be big plays, I'm sure there will be, but we can't allow for big plays and touchdowns. We'll need to find ways to limit the damage. On offense, we will need to methodically control the clock and rely on the play action pass for big gains.

I liked what I saw in the 2nd half a lot more than what I saw in the 1st half against Northwestern State. If we can improve our play, I don't see us getting blown out.

[El Paso Eagle]

19 minutes ago, Snowy said:

Some impressions from the game (also re-watched the ESPN 3 broadcast):

• Defense is definitely improved, in every aspect. Tackling, speed, pressure, etc. Yes, we gave up a lot of yards, but ultimately, only gave up 14 points... It's been a LONG time since we've given up that few points to any level of competition. As someone else mentioned, "bend don't break". (As apposed to the "shatter don't break" from several former defensive coordinators.)
•  

We are going to give up a lot of yards in PB's scheme. The key will be to lock down in the red zone and minimize big plays.

[TheColonyEagle]

I don’t care about yards if they don’t lead to points. Last 2 FCS opponents each scored 31 on us. D adjusted in the 2nd half of this game. 
 

We’ll see how they get better from week 1 to 2. Big test Saturday. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by TheColonyEagle

[MeanMag]

10 hours ago, GOMeanGO said:

If you compare him to Ugiliahili of Clemson, Rattler against Tulane, Sam Howell of UNC, those fans have a reason to be worried, they weren’t suppose to be that bad, our guy hasn’t played in two years and has just practiced with us for 3 weeks, watching Ruder run, I honestly think he’s almost as fast as Bean.  I thin SL is really holding things back for our next game.  I think things were vanilla for a reason. Aune was 2 for 6, I’m not exactly understanding how everyone is saying he was better than Ruder. Aune and Ruder have similar arm talent, but Ruder has wheels and Aune doesn’t. That’s the difference.

Aune was 2 for 5. 2 Burns drops away from 4 for 5 with a TD. The other was called a PI I think, right after the Burns 40+ yard pass. Even that play could have been considered positive. Ruder had some passes dropped, too. Aune passes just looked sharper than Ruder is all. With a small sample size when the game is well in hand, that’s probably easy to do. I wouldn’t look too much into it, right now and I trust Littrell to play the right one.

I’m happy NWS only scored 14. I think they had at least one TD, maybe 2, called back for a penalty if I remember correctly.

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

But are we going to talk about sideline behavior of the backup QB? Seems like this site cares about that a lot 🤣

[UNTLifer]

Was Aune or Ruder moping around and standing by themselves when they weren't in the game.

[meangreen11]

9 hours ago, Snowy said:

Ruder looks to me, like an improved Derek Thompson

Hopefully you mean senior season Derek Thompson 🤔

[Snowy]

30 minutes ago, meangreen11 said:

Hopefully you mean senior season Derek Thompson 🤔

Yes

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Was Aune or Ruder moping around and standing by themselves when they weren't in the game.

Didn't you recently point out how much people are bringing up ex-players that left disgracefully?

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Was Aune or Ruder moping around and standing by themselves when they weren't in the game.

If only someone were watching the actions of the backup QB to fill their narrative, right?

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

But truly folks, i don't care. I just saw this screencap from the telecast and thought that some people may be up in arms about the qb2 being 50 yards away from the team. 😎

I don't. I think Aune is great and would be a good QB to have in there. Happy he's at UNT and chose us and we chose him. Just like prior QBs. 

[MeanGreenDan]

11 hours ago, SteaminWillieBeamin said:

But truly folks, i don't care. I just saw this screencap from the telecast and thought that some people may be up in arms about the qb2 being 50 yards away from the team. 😎

I don't. I think Aune is great and would be a good QB to have in there. Happy he's at UNT and chose us and we chose him. Just like prior QBs. 

We're on defense, and the offense's bench is down on that side of the sidelined (it's off camera to the left). So this is a picture out of context.

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

27 minutes ago, MeanGreenDan said:

We're on defense, and the offense's bench is down on that side of the sidelined (it's off camera to the left). So this is a picture out of context.

I mean, our favorite backup bench qb Kason is right there on the 37 yard line coaching it up with a #4 .. that's the leadership we need from a backup. No, nothing ? Not falling for the double standard? Ok. I tried. 🤣

Edited September 7, 2021 by SteaminWillieBeamin