Grading the 2023 Mean Green

[Tom McKrackin]

I think the staff has learned from it’s mistakes.  They should have never ignored the portal like they did.  They also ignored the defense. They need to focus on transfers and community college players.  Also small school players like Sides who was initially committed to UIW.

[UNT Family Man]

1 hour ago, 3_n_out said:

To be fair, they also just started this year. Let’s see how they do this upcoming season where we can better gauge how effective they are. 
But I’m with you. I saw a lack of strength at the point of attack too many times. 

They were with them for an entire off season already- they get most of the time with the athletes during spring and summer.

[Side.Show.Joe]

18 hours ago, NM Green said:

I didn’t miss anything. I invested, I am concerned about the defense. I will still travel to Denton, to watch parties and away games. Ive been doing that since ‘86. 

I don’t expect everyone to be sunshine and daffodils but there is some negative juju on this site for a team that never quit. We got blown out by smu and cal. The guys played hard and through some disbelief from the fans all year, me included. They finished on a high note. I’m celebrating an end of a season win rather than a disappointing bowl loss. No apoligies 

Fix the deficiencies in 2024 and keep building. 

GMG

The negative juju is not a result of our players effort, it is a result of our DC's poor job performance, and the inability of Morris to fix it.

 Last night Caponi's defense gave up a touchdown on their final defensive stand of the season (a 5 play 75 yard drive resulting in a touchdown that allowed UAB to tie the game with 2:46 left in the game). If not for our outstanding (8th ranked in the FBS) offense, we probably would have lost.

I like Morris and want him to be successful, but the first deficiency that next to be addressed is our defensive coordinator position. We need a guy smart enough to evaluate our talent and get the right players,.... and then teach them how to tackle.

People can downvote or eyeroll this post all they want. I don't care. I'm not going to toe the party line around here and accept the new "rebuilding" narrative, or excuse our defense for being the absolute worst in the entire FBS. We all love this program, but we obviously have different standards about what success means. I have no desire to idly watch our program repeat the last 4 years of the Littrell era, or watch the same posters make the same excuses for the same failures. Too many around here stay quiet when they should call it like it is. Caponi doesn't deserve to keep his job. That's just the truth. 

[97and03]

17 hours ago, NT80 said:

You rated the secondary too high. That B- should have been a D.  They were a major part of the pitiful defense by allowing major chunk pass completions, rampant penalties, and little run support.  

Morris was not an F. 

We were less than 40 total points away from being 10-2.   Think about that...

Yes, he has let the defense fail and the defensive coaches slide.  I would give him a C+ now and C- if he fails to make DC change.

The coaching failures were the reason for that 40 point deficit. Think about that…

[Side.Show.Joe]

15 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

1. The defense was 100% a rebuild this season. I don’t have the exact numbers but we lost 5 or 6 of our top tacklers from last year’s already bad unit. Can’t really argue with the grades though. Hopefully, a lot of guys are told to enter the portal the next couple weeks. 
2. Most people had us wining 5 to 7 games this year. Giving Morris an F grade for finishing on the low end of what was expected is unjustified. No one thought we were going to contend for a conference title, so for you to now say we should have been in the hunt is just an attempt to justify your harsh grade. That said, I agree, we should be a bowl team. The FIU and Navy losses were unacceptable. I’d give Morris a “C+”. The offense exceeded all expectations and we closely competed with the top teams in the conference. I don’t expect that to change next year. With a revamped defense, I expect we’ll take a step forward. 
3. IMO, your WR and OL grades are too generous. OL had massive protection issues all year. Especially, against the blitz. It’s what cost us the Navy game. And our WRs had way too many drops to get an A+. Outside of Maclin, the rest of the room is average. I’d give the OL a “C” and WRs a “B+”. 

1. Show me one post or comment where anyone was calling this defense a rebuild before the season started. You can't. Because no one expected our defense to be this stinking bad.

2. I never read where Morris put our cap at 5 to 7. In fact the preseason media poll ranked UNT 7th, predicting a 7-7- record, that means UNT was expected to play in a bowl. 

 https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2023/7/25/23806619/tulane-ranks-atop-2023-aac-preseason-media-poll-newcomer-utsa-places-second

3. The line had issues, but some of those pass protection issues were due to the RB's not picking up their blocks, or even at time Rogers holding the ball too long. But they did allow far too many sacks. I could see why some might grade them lower than I did. I thought the WR's were solid, especially considering how Sides developed this season, once defense took Maclin away.  When the WR's are averages over 300 yards receiving a game, the WR's are doing a great job. 

[Aquila_Viridis]

The finish Saturday made a big difference. Had that been a loss, it would have been a C-.  Instead overall I will give them a B-.  Had they won 2 more games and had one less blowout I'd have given them an A.  Expectation for next year should be no less than that type result, but that will not earn an A next year.  

[GrandGreen]

Although I disagree with a lot of Side Show Joe's points, it was a well thought out analysis of the season.

My grading of the last NT football season:

QB, A-  Agree that Rogers should be the league all-AC pick

             Tulane's QB will probably be the selection, because he had a substantially better  supporting cast  

RB's, A-  Can't remember NT ever having this deep of a rb rotation

         Adeyi obviously had the best year, but a healthy Adaway maybe his equal

TE, C-  Almost never used as receivers, Blocking was satisfactory 

         The assumption has to be that they were not up to standard, as NT is recruiting a bunch of               TE's

WR's,  A  Maclin was a star and as such has already been hired away  

           Sides was surprisingly good as a freshman

           Great depth with Burns, Ward, Cleveland, others

OL  B-  Too many sacks given up, partially caused by QB decisions

              With most starters returning, just thought they underperformed relative to expectations

Offence  A-  Borderline great performance

                     Need to improve short yardage critical plays 

 

DL  C-  3 man line was frequently overpowered

             Brown and Rickards are  plus defense players

LB   D    Definite problem position 

DB  D    Lots of game losing errors       

             Played soft conservative defense

             Still gave up many long plays

 Defense  D 

                Overall defence rated somewhere between bad and awful  

              The national rating was earned

              The defense did steadily improve particularly in the late conference games

              This switch to a 3-5-3 was a definite problem for the defense

              We can only hope this defense works with more familiarity and players recruited for it 

 

Coach Morris B-  

              I was not a particular fan of this hire, wanted and expected someone other than another                  assistant coach without D1 hc experience

              Started off terribly but made steady improvement through the year

              Like the way he presents himself and the program

              Great offensive production

              Defense must substantially improve

              Recruiting must continue to improve

              

 

 

 

 

   

Edited November 29, 2023 by GrandGreen

[Monkeypox]

Overall - C - I actually expected 5-7, and that's what I got.... though not how I'd seen it happening

Offense - A - I was pleasantly surprised in our offense. As some have mentioned, the Offensive Line though seems to struggle with pass-blocking technique and sustain. We gave up WAY too many sacks this season, including what?8 vs Navy. 

Defense - F - I don't have a problem with the scheme, but we failed to recruit to it and coach it up. Upside is we have had some young players coming on to get experience late this season. 

[NT80]

On 11/26/2023 at 2:51 PM, Side.Show.Joe said:

The negative juju is not a result of our players effort, it is a result of our DC's poor job performance, and the inability of Morris to fix it.

 

I saw plenty of lack of effort.  Some may have been the players were just frustrated, or maybe not shown how to properly tackle lol) but I can see a whiff on a tackle using just an arm swing vs a body and wrapping up...or lack of trying...it stands out.

[keith]

We went from 7-5 to 5-7.  Our defense was the laughing stock of FBS football.  We did not beat a team with a winning record.  While we played the top 4 teams in the conference, the AAC, overall, was a very weak conference this year.  What was our signature win...over a 4-8 Tulsa or a 4-8 UAB?  🤮  Getting really tired of being the home of on-the-job training for college football coaching staffs. We wasted a season, but hey, there's next year to look forward to.  I didn't take the time to grade the different aspects of the team, but gave coach Morris a D in another thread based on the the results he delivered.

Edited December 4, 2023 by keith