Week 4 Observations

[jtm0097]

It was nice to see our Mean Green win at home. Yes, it was against an FCS opponent. Yes, the defense gave up a lot of points. However, some of us are still scarred from the Portland State loss in 2015. So with that being said, at least the team did what they were supposed to against Abilene Christian WIN.  It seems we were able to get more pressure on the QB this week.  We had 6 QB hurries, 2 sacks, 5 pass breakups, and 1 INT. We gave up 387 yards this week, which is a big improvement from the first 2 weeks (679 vs Cal and 514 vs FIU). On offense, we had 40 rushes for 209 yards and 36 (23 completions) passes for 321 yards. We produced a total of 530 yards. Chandler continues to be turnover free throwing the ball. We had 1 fumble on offense, but luckily it went out of bounds. The team had 6 penalties for 65 yards tonight. This is better than the 9 we had last week against La Tech. One interesting thing to note is we stayed pretty balanced on offense. 36 pass plays versus 40 run plays (47% vs 53%), the same percentages as the week before.

One last thing to note before jumping into the individual observations, we had a decent crowd for parents weekend. The announced attendance was  21,494.

Observations:

Chandler Rogers continued to be efficient and made numerous plays last night. He had a great command of the offense and did a fantastic job throwing the ball. He completed around 64% of his passes (23-36) for 321 yards and 3 TDs. Additionally, he ran for 29 yards and 1 TD. I am impressed with his poise in the pocket and ability to make plays with his legs when needed. It's also great that he doesn't turn the ball over. I love competent QB play.

Ja'Mori Maclin (80 yard TD) and Damon Ward (18 and 17 yard TDs) caught the 3 touchdown passes. Freshman Landon Sides had a big night as well. He got his first start and made the most of it with 5 catches for 61 yards

Ayo Adeyi had another great game. He had several big runs for us last night. He ended up rushing for 110 yards. Isaiah Johnson had a good game this week, as he rushed for 39 yards and 2 TDs.

Nick Nakwaasah was our leading tackler with 6 total (3 solo). He had a big hit in the 2nd half that the social media team tweeted out. There was one PI against him that if he just turned his head around, he probably would have made the INT. Regardless, I am glad to see him healthy and playing. Jordan Brown and Kevin Wood each had 5 tackles tonight. Bryce Linder also had 5 tackles. Shoutout to Mazin "Amazing" Richards who had 2 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack, and 2 QBH. Freshman Evan Jackson recorded his first INT tonight. It's great to see these young kids make plays. It's also worth noting that freshman Jayven Anderson, Taylor Starling, and Brian Nelson II played some tonight. It will be interesting to see if they keep playing or take a redshirt. Next week will be an interesting test for the defense. I expect to see our DL and LBs make a lot of plays against Navy. Let's hope they are up for the challenge of stopping the Navy triple option attack. 

I enjoy writing these summaries more after victories. GMG!

Edited October 1, 2023 by jtm0097

[SilverEagle]

Let me just add to the comment about Landon Sides. I believe that there was a post about his signing with North Texas a few months ago. After listing all of the things that he did on the field, UNTLIFER beat me to the punch by saying that he sounds like a certain former player Michael Lawrence....something that  I immediately agreed with. After observing him last night, I think Mr. Sides is at a slightly higher level. 

I remember going to a fall practice with FFR back in 2010. One of the new players out there was a receiver that I had never heard of but by the end of practice I was very impressed. It was Breland Chancellor. FFR struck up a conversation with the young coach in charge of WR's and special teams, and toward the end of the conversation I asked about Chancellor. The coach acknowledged that he was a talented player, but they would probably redshirt him. I just smiled at the coach and said "Coach, I don't see how you are going to keep him off the field this year....he's too talented".  I am going to repeat that assessment for this young man.  They used him to great advantage last night. If I were in charge, the next thing I would do is put him out there returning punts. 

[97and03]

So I know that we scored two touchdowns but I am starting to wonder if Ward has questionable hands. Both TD passes were bobbled and he was lucky to pull them in. Credit for maintaining his concentration and completing them but a tighter coverage and those are incomplete. I seem to recall some other similar moments with him. Does that track with others’ observations?

[NT93]

The 1st quarter is the way an FBS team is supposed to dominate an FCS team.  After the 1st quarter the offense wasn’t great and the defense is what we’ve come to expect after 4 weeks.  We were outscored after the 1st quarter and that’s pretty sad.  
 

I know the drive to start the 2nd half was 15 plays and 75 yards in about 5:00, but I thought it was pretty underwhelming considering the opponent.  

[TreeFiddy]

5 hours ago, 97and03 said:

So I know that we scored two touchdowns but I am starting to wonder if Ward has questionable hands. Both TD passes were bobbled and he was lucky to pull them in. Credit for maintaining his concentration and completing them but a tighter coverage and those are incomplete. I seem to recall some other similar moments with him. Does that track with others’ observations?

It seems like at least one of those passes was a wounded duck from Rogers.  Can't recall if the bubble screen for a score was a clean throw or not, but the duck was not the easiest of catches.

[3_n_out]

8 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

Let me just add to the comment about Landon Sides. I believe that there was a post about his signing with North Texas a few months ago. After listing all of the things that he did on the field, UNTLIFER beat me to the punch by saying that he sounds like a certain former player Michael Lawrence....something that  I immediately agreed with. After observing him last night, I think Mr. Sides is at a slightly higher level. 

I remember going to a fall practice with FFR back in 2010. One of the new players out there was a receiver that I had never heard of but by the end of practice I was very impressed. It was Breland Chancellor. FFR struck up a conversation with the young coach in charge of WR's and special teams, and toward the end of the conversation I asked about Chancellor. The coach acknowledged that he was a talented player, but they would probably redshirt him. I just smiled at the coach and said "Coach, I don't see how you are going to keep him off the field this year....he's too talented".  I am going to repeat that assessment for this young man.  They used him to great advantage last night. If I were in charge, the next thing I would do is put him out there returning punts. 

Sides returning punts? From what I saw, he doesn’t have enough wiggle to be a punt returner. 

[Wag Tag]

19 hours ago, jtm0097 said:

It was nice to see our Mean Green win at home. Yes, it was against an FCS opponent. Yes, the defense gave up a lot of points. However, some of us are still scarred from the Portland State loss in 2015. So with that being said, at least the team did what they were supposed to against Abilene Christian WIN.  It seems we were able to get more pressure on the QB this week.  We had 6 QB hurries, 2 sacks, 5 pass breakups, and 1 INT. We gave up 387 yards this week, which is a big improvement from the first 2 weeks (679 vs Cal and 514 vs FIU). On offense, we had 40 rushes for 209 yards and 36 (23 completions) passes for 321 yards. We produced a total of 530 yards. Chandler continues to be turnover free throwing the ball. We had 1 fumble on offense, but luckily it went out of bounds. The team had 6 penalties for 65 yards tonight. This is better than the 9 we had last week against La Tech. One interesting thing to note is we stayed pretty balanced on offense. 36 pass plays versus 40 run plays (47% vs 53%), the same percentages as the week before.

One last thing to note before jumping into the individual observations, we had a decent crowd for parents weekend. The announced attendance was  21,494.

Observations:

Chandler Rogers continued to be efficient and made numerous plays last night. He had a great command of the offense and did a fantastic job throwing the ball. He completed around 64% of his passes (23-36) for 321 yards and 3 TDs. Additionally, he ran for 29 yards and 1 TD. I am impressed with his poise in the pocket and ability to make plays with his legs when needed. It's also great that he doesn't turn the ball over. I love competent QB play.

Ja'Mori Maclin (80 yard TD) and Damon Ward (18 and 17 yard TDs) caught the 3 touchdown passes. Freshman Landon Sides had a big night as well. He got his first start and made the most of it with 5 catches for 61 yards

Ayo Adeyi had another great game. He had several big runs for us last night. He ended up rushing for 110 yards. Isaiah Johnson had a good game this week, as he rushed for 39 yards and 2 TDs.

Nick Nakwaasah was our leading tackler with 6 total (3 solo). He had a big hit in the 2nd half that the social media team tweeted out. There was one PI against him that if he just turned his head around, he probably would have made the INT. Regardless, I am glad to see him healthy and playing. Jordan Brown and Kevin Wood each had 5 tackles tonight. Bryce Linder also had 5 tackles. Shoutout to Mazin "Amazing" Richards who had 2 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack, and 2 QBH. Freshman Evan Jackson recorded his first INT tonight. It's great to see these young kids make plays. It's also worth noting that freshman Jayven Anderson, Taylor Starling, and Brian Nelson II played some tonight. It will be interesting to see if they keep playing or take a redshirt. Next week will be an interesting test for the defense. I expect to see our DL and LBs make a lot of plays against Navy. Let's hope they are up for the challenge of stopping the Navy triple option attack. 

I enjoy writing these summaries more after victories. GMG!

Your analysis is great for those not being able to attend the game! Thanks

[SilverEagle]

12 hours ago, 3_n_out said:

Sides returning punts? From what I saw, he doesn’t have enough wiggle to be a punt returner. 

that 39 yard catch and run he made while breaking at least three tackles looked like it could have been a punt return to me.

[Matt from A700]

FCS games are supposed to be opportunities to put up stats and make you feel good about yourself, even if it's false hope (Staring at you, 2014 win over Nicholls State, 77-3). Maybe I should thank the team for not getting my hopes up to avoid the pain of the last half of the season?

I know the game wasn't really in much danger after the first quarter, and the team just kind of seemed to be going through the motions in the second half, but 45-31 is not a pretty score for an FCS opponent. It's going to be a battle to finish any better than 4-8 in my opinion, after my high hopes to start the year.

I will compliment the attendance, which filled into a bigger crowd than Cal to me. Unfortunately, the crowd seemed pretty dead, unless I'm still just used to standing on the student side.

[wardly]

Other than Temple I don't see another win opportunity on our schedule.

[golfingomez]

17 minutes ago, wardly said:

Other than Temple I don't see another win opportunity on our schedule.

this is an interesting statement, because the AAC is not as tough as we thought going in... 

UTSA is struggling, Tulane is not as strong as they were last year, UAB is having coaches meltdown on the sidelines... 

I would think the expectation for North Texas is that this team should improve throughout the year (new coaches, still implementing what they want to do). i think there's opportunity to win most games left on the schedule, which i wasn't sure of in July(I thought we would only win games over the first half of the season).

All that to say, Morris has a lost of room to impress with the remaining schedule and i hope he does.

[keith]

14 hours ago, 3_n_out said:

Sides returning punts? From what I saw, he doesn’t have enough wiggle to be a punt returner. 

Not sure what percentage of punts are actually returned, but it seems more often than not you need someone who makes the right decision about receiving/returning the punt or letting it go.  Besides that you need someone with sure hands that can focus making that fair catch (often in traffic).  We just got the ball after a defensive stop.  The number one priority of the punt returner is making sure we don't give it right back.

[3_n_out]

6 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

that 39 yard catch and run he made while breaking at least three tackles looked like it could have been a punt return to me.

While it was a nice looking run after catch, the tackle he broke appeared to be a miss tackle. I didn’t see much juking on his part. Anyways, he showed well. And, if the coaches believe he can do the job, I’m all for it. 

[3_n_out]

4 hours ago, golfingomez said:

this is an interesting statement, because the AAC is not as tough as we thought going in... 

UTSA is struggling, Tulane is not as strong as they were last year, UAB is having coaches meltdown on the sidelines... 

I would think the expectation for North Texas is that this team should improve throughout the year (new coaches, still implementing what they want to do). i think there's opportunity to win most games left on the schedule, which i wasn't sure of in July(I thought we would only win games over the first half of the season).

All that to say, Morris has a lost of room to impress with the remaining schedule and i hope he does.

While this may be true, it’s hard to show extreme optimism after the first 4 games. I’ve been pleased by the offense, but it’s hard to overcome a lot of what the defense cannot do. I hope they prove me wrong, but I would compare this team to the Texas Rangers - good offense, then the bullpen (defense) blows it. 

[NT80]

22 hours ago, NT93 said:

The 1st quarter is the way an FBS team is supposed to dominate an FCS team.  After the 1st quarter the offense wasn’t great and the defense is what we’ve come to expect after 4 weeks.  We were outscored after the 1st quarter and that’s pretty sad.  
 

I know the drive to start the 2nd half was 15 plays and 75 yards in about 5:00, but I thought it was pretty underwhelming considering the opponent.  

Sounds like maybe the coaches called off the dogs after the 1st quarter?   Did we just coast the rest of the game?  Seriously, it seems like it.

[meaniegreenie]

So we gave up
  Game1: 600+ yds
  Game2: 500+ yds
  Game3: 400+ yds
  Game4: 300+ yds

I doubt we can continue this trend, but if we do, I'll be pretty impressed around game6 and game7!
 

[jtm0097]

32 minutes ago, meaniegreenie said:

So we gave up
  Game1: 600+ yds
  Game2: 500+ yds
  Game3: 400+ yds
  Game4: 300+ yds

I doubt we can continue this trend, but if we do, I'll be pretty impressed around game6 and game7!
 

[NT93]

4 hours ago, NT80 said:

Sounds like maybe the coaches called off the dogs after the 1st quarter?   Did we just coast the rest of the game?  Seriously, it seems like it.

I don’t know which would be worse, calling off the dogs after one quarter or only being able to beat an average FCS team by 14.

[RBP79]

21494 attendance...not bad for a NT team with a losing record playing a FCS team.

[SilverEagle]

23 hours ago, keith said:

Not sure what percentage of punts are actually returned, but it seems more often than not you need someone who makes the right decision about receiving/returning the punt or letting it go.  Besides that you need someone with sure hands that can focus making that fair catch (often in traffic).  We just got the ball after a defensive stop.  The number one priority of the punt returner is making sure we don't give it right back.

Well, it's all academic since punt returns only happen after a defensive stop....usually pretty deep in their own territory. How often has that happened so far?

[SilverEagle]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:23 AM, Matt from A700 said:

FCS games are supposed to be opportunities to put up stats and make you feel good about yourself, even if it's false hope (Staring at you, 2014 win over Nicholls State, 77-3). Maybe I should thank the team for not getting my hopes up to avoid the pain of the last half of the season?

I know the game wasn't really in much danger after the first quarter, and the team just kind of seemed to be going through the motions in the second half, but 45-31 is not a pretty score for an FCS opponent. It's going to be a battle to finish any better than 4-8 in my opinion, after my high hopes to start the year.

I will compliment the attendance, which filled into a bigger crowd than Cal to me. Unfortunately, the crowd seemed pretty dead, unless I'm still just used to standing on the student side.

An FCS game is also an opportunity to put some new players out there to see how they perform in a game situation rather than a practice situation. 

The attendance was due to it being "family day". The deadness of the crowd is probably due to the new family members in attendance not knowing any of the North Texas spirit traditions........Oh wait! maybe they do.,,🥺