DRC Sunday column: Guiding UNT to bowl shows why Seth Littrell is great fit with Mean Green

[UNT 90 Grad]

3 hours ago, meangreenbob said:

Phil Bennett. Enough said. 

Phil didn’t transition us to a top 5rushing offense, but I agree the defense was a huge improvement this year.  Kudos to Littrell for bringing Bennett on board.  

[UNTcrazy727]

9 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Look at the competition at the end of the season.  The best win (if we’re being honest) was the UTEP game.  It was quite obvious UTSA couldn’t play in elements & quit trying at the half.  I was there for 3+quarters of it.  And for those of you who were there, you saw it too.

Is this what y’all are basing your hope for next year on??

What if the FIU game & Marshall games were flip-flopped & we still ended up 6-6, but with our rear ends handed to us the 2nd-to-last game of the year?  The upper-echelon CUSA schools whipped us hard with the exception of a lost UTSA.  And we still wound up with yet another ugly loss to what turned out to be an awful LATech.

Brett’s article headline banshee-screams “Old Denton”.   “Seth Littrell, the 6-6 coach, is perfect for little ‘ol UNT!!  Why expect more?”

Are you really trying to discount the UTSA win because it was raining? Holy S...are you serious?

[Wag Tag]

1 minute ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

It's pathetic to justify mediocrity. If Littrell is back next season, it will be a very divided fan base and board.

No it is pathetic, because it is what you attempt to use to justify your point. You up play the losses and downplay the victories. How any fan can downplay wins over 2 bowl teams and one in the top 25 is bull _ _ _ ! As far as fan base ,"Just win baby"!

[GrayEagle]

I agree that momentum has earned Seth another year of contract but he must keep it up.  If he wins the bowl and wins eight or more games next year then he may have turned the corner.  If he lapses back into .500 land it's not what we need for the AAC.  I'd expect that Wren has him on a short leash for next year.  If he can't win in the final season of CUSA, he surely won't win moving up.

[UNTcrazy727]

10 hours ago, NT80 said:

We are playing a 6-6 MAC team.  A loss or last minute close win would be awful. 

This needs to be a 20+ point win to show some real upward separation from the .500 level.  

[MeanGreenTexan]

11 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Are you really trying to discount the UTSA win because it was raining? Holy S...are you serious?

Yes.   We’re you there?   Were you paying attention to the game?

[MeanGreenTexan]

3 minutes ago, GrayEagle said:

I agree that momentum has earned Seth another year of contract but he must keep it up.  If he wins the bowl and wins eight or more games next year then he may have turned the corner.  If he lapses back into .500 land it's not what we need for the AAC.  I'd expect that Wren has him on a short leash for next year.  If he can't win in the final season of CUSA, he surely won't win moving up.

Wasn’t everyone saying this same exact thing in December of 2020?

So is 6-6 the bar for that leash extension?   If so, I believe that bar is too low now.  (It wasn’t 6 years ago, but it is now)

[MeanGreenHoops]

Impressive that a troll post got 3 pages of responses.

[MeanGreenTexan]

1 minute ago, MeanGreenHoops said:

Impressive that a troll post got 3 pages of responses.

I’m not so sure Vito is trolling?  I think he means it.   And there are several people that are right there with him… some probably would be fine with an extension.

[Wag Tag]

9 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I’m not so sure Vito is trolling?  I think he means it.   And there are several people that are right there with him… some probably would be fine with an extension.

I have not seen one mention of an extension. Keep looking.

[Side.Show.Joe]

33 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

No it is pathetic, because it is what you attempt to use to justify your point. You up play the losses and downplay the victories. How any fan can downplay wins over 2 bowl teams and one in the top 25 is bull _ _ _ ! As far as fan base ,"Just win baby"!

We beat 5 FBS teams this season. Only one of those teams was good. That's just the facts.

UTEP was not a good win. UTEP got into a bowl but did it by only beating the bums on their schedule (New Mexico State 2-10, New Mexico 3-9, ODU 6-6, Southern Miss 3-9, LA Tech 3-9, & Rice 4-8). UTEP didn't beat a single team with a winning record this season. I look at the quality of the wins and losses. I can't help it if that isn't favorable to us. The facts justify my point. Had we beaten UAB by 30, we'd be a much better team with a much better record. I'd be off Littrell's back, and we wouldn't need to have this discussion. Unfortunately, Seth hasn't done his job and the data proves it.

[Side.Show.Joe]

44 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Yes.   We’re you there?   Were you paying attention to the game?

Couldn't agree more. It was a perfect storm for UNT to pick up that win (no pun intended). We played FIU the week before in a rainstorm at Miami. UTSA is a dome team and wasn't prepared for the conditions. The pressure of being undefeated was getting to them, and our players and crowd were pumped.  Everything snowballed against UTSA that day, and they quit by halftime. In my opinion, it was the only quality win we had this season.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Side.Show.Joe

[Side.Show.Joe]

49 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Wasn’t everyone saying this same exact thing in December of 2020?

So is 6-6 the bar for that leash extension?   If so, I believe that bar is too low now.  (It wasn’t 6 years ago, but it is now)

Yup. Old Denton isn't interested in holding Littrell to a standard. They just want to keep moving the goal posts.

Sorry. I couldn't find a gif where the posts are being moved closer so the ball will cross.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Side.Show.Joe

[Jonnyeagle]

39 minutes ago, MeanGreenHoops said:

Impressive that a troll post got 3 pages of responses.

Are you calling @Brett Vito a liar?  Cause I don’t think he can do that as the beta writer for the school and whatnot.

[Cr1028]

50 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Yes.   We’re you there?   Were you paying attention to the game?

I was there, in the cold, wind, and rain the entire game. We dominated them in “all three phases”. Maybe they gave up towards the end but we pounced on them early and never let them come up for air. Maybe we watched different games. There was a time where a win like that would’ve excited this fanbase. I guess that, like me, is just OldDenton.

[GrandGreen]

1 hour ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

None of the Old Denton crowd want to talk about the first half of the season when we were facing real competition. They don't believe Littrell should be judged based on what he did against good teams.

You love to talk about old Denton vs new Denton, which could mean a lot of different things.

What is your definitions?

[Cr1028]

1 hour ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

It's pathetic to justify mediocrity. If Littrell is back next season, it will be a very divided fan base and board.

It will only be divided because you and your faction want it that way. You talk about ignoring the first half of the season when you ignore the first half of Littrell’s tenure.

[Wag Tag]

15 minutes ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

We beat 5 FBS teams this season. Only one of those teams was good. That's just the facts.

UTEP was not a good win. UTEP got into a bowl but did it by only beating the bums on their schedule (New Mexico State 2-10, New Mexico 3-9, ODU 6-6, Southern Miss 3-9, LA Tech 3-9, & Rice 4-8). UTEP didn't beat a single team with a winning record this season. I look at the quality of the wins and losses. I can't help it if that isn't favorable to us. The facts justify my point. Had we beaten UAB by 30, we'd be a much better team with a much better record. I'd be off Littrell's back, and we wouldn't need to have this discussion. Unfortunately, Seth hasn't done his job and the data proves it.

You prove my point you downplay the wins couldn’t you also do it for the loses? We lost to 4 bowl teams with SMU being ranked at one time and UAB beating a top 13 ranked team and Rice beat UAB! Y’all keep going 6-6, what is important is the 5 straight and going to a bowl game! Momentum is keeping his job.

[Side.Show.Joe]

16 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

You love to talk about old Denton vs new Denton, which could mean a lot of different things.

What is your definitions?

Basically, if you think .500 after 6 seasons is good enough to coach at UNT, you are Old Denton.

If you believe zero conference championship, zero bowl wins, and a .500 record after 6 seasons isn't good enough to keep you happy, and you want change... you are New Denton.

It's not about age or even how many years you've been a fan. It is about standards. McCasland is New Denton.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Side.Show.Joe

[UNTcrazy727]

16 minutes ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

Yup. Old Denton isn't interested in holding Littrell to a standard. They just want to keep moving the goal posts.

Sorry. I couldn't find a gif where the posts are being moved closer so the ball will cross.

Pot meet kettle. 

"Littrell can't beat winning programs."

*UNT beats undefeated, ranked UTSA*

"Well it was raining so that win doesn't count."

[NT80]

5 hours ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

if you think Seth did the same thing over and over again this season and didn’t change game plans, you weren’t paying attention.  The point so many are making is that Seth seemed to learn something and this program may benefit from Seth’s growth as a coach.    The premise is that he is not the same coach that started the season.  He’s gotten better and showed potential to keep getting better.  

Coaches get paid to make in-game and in-season adjustments.  The yearly record RESULTS however are the same = .500.

If that's all we want from a coach and the program is to be average and .500, then as Vito says we have found our man!

[Side.Show.Joe]

5 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

It will only be divided because you and your faction want it that way. You talk about ignoring the first half of the season when you ignore the first half of Littrell’s tenure.

The way I see it, your faction wants it divided. I'm not ignoring the first half of Littrell's tenure. I count all of those bowl losses, and the zero conference titles he won at that time too.

We have a different standard of success. Nothing is going to change that.

[Side.Show.Joe]

6 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

You prove my point you downplay the wins couldn’t you also do it for the loses? We lost to 4 bowl teams with SMU being ranked at one time and UAB beating a top 13 ranked team and Rice beat UAB! Y’all keep going 6-6, what is important is the 5 straight and going to a bowl game! Momentum is keeping his job.

It's all important. And the overall total of Littrell's body of work (the wins and the losses) just isn't good enough.

[GrandGreen]

Just now, Side.Show.Joe said:

Basically, if you think .500 after 6 seasons is good enough to coach at UNT, you are Old Denton.

If you believe zero conference championship, bowl wins, and a .500 record after 6 seasons isn't good enough to keep you happy, you are New Denton.

It's not about age or even how many years you've been a fan. It is about standards. McCasland is New Denton.

Well I guess I am old-new Denton.

Because I accept and agree Littrell should coach NT next year, but I am not happy about the last three year record.

Your definition than is essentially old Denton is what you disagree with and new Denton is how you think it should be. 

 

[Side.Show.Joe]

3 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Pot meet kettle. 

"Littrell can't beat winning programs."

*UNT beats undefeated, ranked UTSA*

"Well it was raining so that win doesn't count."

I clearly stated that the UTSA win was our only quality win. Just because I pointed out that we had advantages in that game doesn't discount the fact that it was a quality win.