Staying Interested

[Udomann]

I will still watch every UNT game I can get on TV, and the spare few my wife allows me to attend with my "good boy" points.

College football as a whole, on the other hand, I've never watched less. Sure I'll catch the rare rivalry game or upset potentials, but there's no love in watching these "rent-a-team" schools anymore. Transfer portals was bad enough. NIL was the nail in that coffin. 

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

Depth chart for Texas Southern is out. Aune is still starting. Lol

[southsideguy]

SL should be replaced now instead of later.  Perfect opportunity to see some new qbs, he knows what Aune can do by now.    I hear the the kid from LaTech has a strong arm.  Give people a reason to come to the game.  Tried of the same old crap ever week.    I bet all we see is running this game.  If the running gets going SL won't let Aune throw a pass.

I hope they practiced lining up on center this week.  Maybe my thinking wrong but the qb on center turns to handoff to running back that has gained some speed to hit the line or you qb can do a qb sneak.  

When you stand three yards back the running back starts from a dead stop.   WIth SL being a former fullback you would think he would have this play down.

Edited September 6, 2022 by southsideguy

[GMG_Dallas]

8 minutes ago, UNT Texas Hooligan said:

Depth chart for Texas Southern is out. Aune is still starting. Lol

Ridiculous. If Aune is the only qb to get meaningful snaps, I'll be taking a step back for the rest of the season.

[MeanGreen22]

Just looking at the schedule, I know better times are ahead. It doesn’t make anything feel better now or even the long term future of the team, but I still have confidence they’ll end up with 6-7 wins and a bowl game. 
 

plus, I just love tailgating so I probably will still at least be in the lot for another game or 2. They’ll get my $30 for parking and that might be it. 

[Matt]

I'll likely continue to throw up the game on my 2nd monitor while I do something else. I can't be bothered to waste my money driving up to Denton and watching this shitshow in person. Misery generally loves company so maybe I will drag myself to a watch party but that's unlikely as I'd rather not waste such a large portion of my Saturday on this. Once we have a new coaching staff in place, I will pay more attention. 

[MeanGreen22]

9 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Ridiculous. If Aune is the only qb to get meaningful snaps, I'll be taking a step back for the rest of the season.

Aune wasn’t the reason they lost but he was worse than the stats show. Ended with 2 INTs but easily could have had 5. Threw into triple coverage multiple times. 
 

that being said, they were never going to bench him after SMU. Aune will only get benched if a) he plays poorly against conference foes and b) another QB is showing enough in practice where it makes sense. 
 

i guess I should add c) he struggles against Texas Southern. If he can’t get you 250+ and 2+ against TSU, send him to the phantom zone. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by MeanGreen22
Added c)

[southsideguy]

This week would a great to evaluate his qbs.

[GMG_Dallas]

3 minutes ago, MeanGreen22 said:

Aune wasn’t the reason they lost but he was worse than the stats show. Ended with 2 INTs but easily could have had 5. Threw into triple coverage multiple times. 
 

that being said, they were never going to bench him after SMU. Aune will only get benched if a) he plays poorly against conference foes and b) another QB is showing enough in practice where it makes sense. 

Clearly you're right despite all the red flags shown by our QB. SL must be the most stubborn person in North Texas. 

[GrandGreen]

Aune is starting because the coaches think he is the best at the job.

I am not a big Littrell fan, but no coach is going to start a QB that he doesn't think gives him the best chance of winning. 

The problem is that Littrell has not recruited anyone that is better.  Not that he is not trying he recruited 3 transfer QB's last year.  

As an aside, SMU was a much better team; the game would not have been close if NT played their top game. 

[GMG_Dallas]

2 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

The problem is that Littrell has not recruited anyone that is better.  Not that he is not trying he recruited 3 transfer QB's last year.  

We don't know this because nobody else can get significant playing time. Them keeping Aune as the starter doesn't mean he's the best choice, it's just who they believe is the best choice for what they're trying to do. Doesn't mean he's the best quarterback we have.

[southsideguy]

Some qbs are great in practice and no so much in the game, some qbs are gamers.  At least give a chance to play in case Aune gets hurt.

[GrandGreen]

1 minute ago, GMG_Dallas said:

We don't know this because nobody else can get significant playing time. Them keeping Aune as the starter doesn't mean he's the best choice, it's just who they believe is the best choice for what they're trying to do. Doesn't mean he's the best quarterback we have.

Well if the coaching staff is basing starting on something else than who is most likely to play the best game, than NT has an unique coaching group. 

I don't think any coaching staff is going to start a player that is not the best choice for what they are trying to do.   You know that makes no sense at all. 

[UNTLifer]

I will watch every game.  As much as I hate to admit it, I didn't think we would beat smuT, but I thought we would look better.  Stupid penalties and turnovers killed us.  I recorded the game and will watch it later this week, but the things that stood out to me were:

1.  Our second drive of the game, we are moving the ball, Aune hits Burns over the middle and the DB strips the ball from Burns.  That ended a seven play/39 yard drive.

2.  The next drive we get down to the one, switch to the Wildcat with Aune split out and cause smuT to call a timeout.  We come out in the same formation and a bad snap ruins the play and we end up having to attempt a FG.  Mooney hits a low ball and the kick gets blocked ending an 11 play/64 yard drive.

I also recall penalties coming out of timeouts which are inexcusable in my book and the tipped int after a 13 play drive.  It was at the other end of the field from my seats so I don't know if this was a bad pass or what.  

DB's giving up plays when we would get them in third and long were extremely frustrating.

Honestly, I don't think they were more physical than us, but we made stupid mistakes and they didn't.  Looking at the remainder of the schedule, the only team that really has me worried is UAB.  We have the talent to play with and beat any team on our schedule.

[southsideguy]

Maybe they choose the the guy to fit their game plan.  Aune stares down his receivers all the time  We may have better passers but they don't fit what SL thinks he wants to do.  If Aune is the best we are in deep trouble. SL just wants to run the ball and throw short passes and throw as little as possible.  SL won't make adjustments in the game so why change qbs.  

[Pellom]

Gunnell didn’t look good in his snaps either, though. 
 

I wasn’t watching closely enough to know if he was getting time with the 1’s though. 
 

Should be a fun game on Saturday because a ton of young guys get to play. 
 

And as for the theme of the thread in general, I will watch every second of UNT football I can. We’re only guaranteed 12 of these games a year - and the off-season is loooooong. Win, lose or draw, I’ll be interested. 

[NT80]

1 hour ago, MrAlien said:

I thought this was a 4-8 team going into the season, still planned to watch every game

Same.   The only thing to look forward to this season is "The Announcement"....

Edited September 6, 2022 by NT80

[GMG_Dallas]

17 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Well if the coaching staff is basing starting on something else than who is most likely to play the best game, than NT has an unique coaching group. 

I don't think any coaching staff is going to start a player that is not the best choice for what they are trying to do.   You know that makes no sense at all. 

I didn't say that. I said it's a matter of their opinion of who's the best choice but that doesn't mean it's who the best choice actually is. Clearly they're wrong in continuing to roll with Aune but to believe every other quarterback on our roster just isn't good enough without seeing them play significant snaps is irresponsible. 3 of our backups had a combined 73 scholarship offers out of high school pet 247. I understand evaluators miss but that's a lot of schools missing on these 3 guys. And don't say "they transfered for a reason." People transfer for all sorts of reasons and then find success at their new school. I'm more inclined to believe this a failure of our staff than it is that we don't have the talent at the QB position.

[GMG_Dallas]

11 minutes ago, Pellom said:

Gunnell didn’t look good in his snaps either, though. 
 

I wasn’t watching closely enough to know if he was getting time with the 1’s though. 
 

Should be a fun game on Saturday because a ton of young guys get to play. 
 

And as for the theme of the thread in general, I will watch every second of UNT football I can. We’re only guaranteed 12 of these games a year - and the off-season is loooooong. Win, lose or draw, I’ll be interested. 

Gunnell didn't look good in 5 passing plays in garbage time with backups? That's not how you evaluate QBs.

Throw him out there for a couple games and I think you get better results. Closer to what he showed at Arizona.

 

[TIgreen01]

Honestly I don't expect Littrell back next year after Saturday night.  I do think we still get to 8+ wins this year, mostly by virtue of a weak schedule.  He's just not shown that he can compete with winning teams.  If he beats UAB and UTSA this year, maybe that changes.

For those calling for Aune's head, I'd love to be there with you.  He clearly doesn't have it.  However, there is no conspiracy here by the coaches.  They are going to play the best players.  They want to win more than you do.  They are not sitting Gunnel or Earle/Head for any other reason than they have not demonstrated that they are better at running our offense than Aune.  After seeing Gunnel for a whole 4th quarter, against backups, it was pretty clear that Aune was pretty far ahead of him.  Maybe he gets better with more practice, but the coaches want and need to win now.

[Pseudo Nym]

13 minutes ago, TIgreen01 said:

Honestly I don't expect Littrell back next year after Saturday night.  I do think we still get to 8+ wins this year, mostly by virtue of a weak schedule.  He's just not shown that he can compete with winning teams.  If he beats UAB and UTSA this year, maybe that changes.

I don't know about 8 but we will win games for the reason you mentioned - if we're in those two games in the second half, I'll tune back in, but there's too much other good football being played..... I'll be checking the scores and getting the updates from the UNT game through the ESPN App.... Once the change is officially announced, I'll be more interested then.... I'd have been more inclined had the reports of the game day experience not been so bleak, it's like how others have been saying, "heard this song before and know how it ends" - it's an embarrassment at this point and if we've reverted back to poor customer service/game day on top of poor play, forget it.... such a shame!!

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

34 minutes ago, Pseudo Nym said:

I don't know about 8 but we will win games for the reason you mentioned - if we're in those two games in the second half, I'll tune back in, but there's too much other good football being played..... I'll be checking the scores and getting the updates from the UNT game through the ESPN App.... Once the change is officially announced, I'll be more interested then.... I'd have been more inclined had the reports of the game day experience not been so bleak, it's like how others have been saying, "heard this song before and know how it ends" - it's an embarrassment at this point and if we've reverted back to poor customer service/game day on top of poor play, forget it.... such a shame!!

[emmitt01]

6 hours ago, zenhuddy said:

My terminal optimism button broke off this weekend. Do I honestly think we had the horses to win this game - nope, but expected some semblance of a respectable challenge. We did have some soldiers that stood strong but we didn’t put the players in places to succeed with any regularity (coaches job function). Seth was a hot commodity when we nabbed him from NC as he has boosted their offensive numbers big time (if I remember they avg 42.5 points a game with his concepts) and he’d done the same at Indiana before NC. But none of these successes came with his players as these were players the recruiters and HC from those programs had brought in.  OC’s moving into to HC jobs is very common but just because you’re a good OC does not make you a good HC and we see this here - I like SL and think he is doing everything he can to make us whole but he just doesn’t seem to be the HC guy for us  He is a classic introvert and this is bad for where we are at - look at the engagement with the SA bunch in the south - he gets it and they are riding high because of it - we need the same and now - time is ticking and we are going nowhere fast - so we beat the bad teams by 14-21pts who cares, as we are supposed to beat them. When do we beat teams we shouldn’t like the UTSA game last year? I bought into the big team chemistry jump we supposedly had this year - I saw zero of that Saturday- I saw a team that as soon as the hammer dropped we retracted into a ball offensively and we were seemingly running out the clock too afraid to air the ball out and try to get back into the game. Coaching builds confidence and attitude- did we look disciplined, selfless, or tough ? Empty Words = No Results   
North Texas Football is in trouble and it’s not just in one place is the scariest part but leadership has to be changed - this is not the 1st, or 2nd time we have been embarrassed. JMO 

 

 

 

Regarding the bolded part above, I honestly think the coaches know the same thing we all do...our current quarterback is incapable for making defenses pay for stacking the box against the run.   Against bad teams our offensive line can open up some semblance of a hole regardless and our backs are talented enough to make something from nothing.   Against teams like SMU (or UTSA, likely UNVL, or whomever we face in the Taco Bell Bowl) there will be no running lanes and we will stall out...again, because there is zero threat of us beating you deep.   

[UNTLifer]

11 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

Regarding the bolded part above, I honestly think the coaches know the same thing we all do...our current quarterback is incapable for making defenses pay for stacking the box against the run.   Against bad teams our offensive line can open up some semblance of a hole regardless and our backs are talented enough to make something from nothing.   Against teams like SMU (or UTSA, likely UNVL, or whomever we face in the Taco Bell Bowl) there will be no running lanes and we will stall out...again, because there is zero threat of us beating you deep.   

Except our OL played pretty well against smu allowing Adaway to go over 100.

[emmitt01]

1 hour ago, TIgreen01 said:

Honestly I don't expect Littrell back next year after Saturday night.  I do think we still get to 8+ wins this year, mostly by virtue of a weak schedule.  He's just not shown that he can compete with winning teams.  If he beats UAB and UTSA this year, maybe that changes.

For those calling for Aune's head, I'd love to be there with you.  He clearly doesn't have it.  However, there is no conspiracy here by the coaches.  They are going to play the best players.  They want to win more than you do.  They are not sitting Gunnel or Earle/Head for any other reason than they have not demonstrated that they are better at running our offense than Aune.  After seeing Gunnel for a whole 4th quarter, against backups, it was pretty clear that Aune was pretty far ahead of him.  Maybe he gets better with more practice, but the coaches want and need to win now.

Go look at the number of quarterbacks Seth Littrell has brought in during Aune's tenure here.   IF (and that's a big IF because I've seen no other quarterback get real in game playing time) Aune is the best option then one of several things is categorically true.  

1) SL can't evaluate quarterback talent.   You don't offer scholarships to that many quarterbacks and have none of them more capable than Aune

2) SL can't coach quarterback talent.   Jason Bean started the first nine games for Kansas (a team that beat Texas).   Kason Martin just threw for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns with no INT's for Eastern New Mexico (you can argue the competition level, you can't argue the results).   Grant Gunnell was the starter for Arizona in 2020 (including a 286 yard, 3 touchdown game against USC).  So that's at least THREE quarterbacks that somebody thought had something to offer as a starter.  That tells me that we are not getting the most out of QB talent.  

3) SL knows he is on his way out and this is a big "F you" to the fans.   I doubt this explanation, but nothing else explains to me watching your starter throw the ball into the dirt...unless we are so innovative that we're the only team to work on the shoestring catch in practice.