Honestly, What Were Your Realistic Expectations

[calvin]

I have heard a lot of people say, "well what did you expect this year, or I knew this was going to be a down year." I wasnt expecting that at all. My expectations were for us to be about 7-5 or 6-6. I thought we would lose all 3 OOC road games and at Troy and at Ark. St. but I thought we could win the rest.

My thoughts coming into this year was we had a good defense coming back that would have been a lot better last year if the offense would have been better. But with Dodge coming in, I thought he would fix this horrible offense and we would be in good shape. Maybe I along with some others were naive about where this team was.

Maybe I was too optimistic b/c what had happend at Rice last year and what Briles did at Houston a few years ago.

Also coming into this year I was expecting that we would run JaMario more than we have. He has 5 carries for 94 yards at the half the other night and I was thinking why didnt he have at least 10 carries.

This is not a post to bash Dodge and the coaching staff. B/c I think he is bringing in good recruits and I think he will get this thing going in the right direction. And I think just the turnout in attendance that we have shows how much he means to the University. But I just wasnt expecting this year to go like this.

So my realistic expectations for this year were at best 7-5 but probably around 6-6. Any thoughts?

[UNT Mean Green]

I thought the following:

Oklahoma-loss

SMU-win

FAU-win

Arkansas-loss

Lafayette-win

Monroe-win

Troy-loss

MTSU-loss

Navy-loss

Ark State-loss

WKU-win

FIU-win

6-6.

Are we going to get there...nope. I'll say though, we should have beaten SMU and FAU, and definitely had a chance to beat Lafayette! And I am excited about the fact that we should have beaten those 3 teams. I think that's a good sign in of itself.

[kj86]

No expectations for W/L really. I figured we'd probably go somewhere between 0-12 and 3-9. My biggest expectations were that we would look better losing...cut down on penalties, stupid mistakes, missed assignments, getting blown out, etc. You know, look like we had a clue, but just didn't have the athletes to pull it off. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed in how the season has gone.

[UNTflyer]

I said I would be HAPPY with 6-6.

It's not like we haven't competed in 5 out of 8 of these games. With a bit more experience and skill, we could be standing at 5-3 instead of 1-7.

It's gonna get better. It can't get worse!

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

I thought we'd win three or four.

However, I never saw being blown out by anyone except OU and Arkansas. I thought, like Todd Dodge did, that they defense would be better. We were bad the past two season, but alot of the games in the Sun Belt were close game, low scoring with great defense and special teams helping us at least field position-wise.

That's the other thing I wouldn't have guessed in a million years - the total collapse of the special teams. It's stunning, just stunning to watch it. You think of all the great punter and kickers we've had. A fair to decent return game in most years. This year...well, there's no point in rehashing. From game one where we were trying to run kickoffs out of the end zone at OU to the plethora of Homecoming Game penalties on returns, it's just been a nightmare.

Oh, well. What doesn't kill us makes us 1-7...or something like that.

By the way, I think we can still hit my three or four game prediction. FIU is the worst team on the planet - and that's even with them cheating! I'm stating right here and right now that there's no way in freezing hell we can lose to FIU! No way!

We could spot FIU 20 points and give them the ball at the 25 yard line every possession and we'd still beat them. They've only scored 68 points in 8 games. I don't care how bad our defense plays, FIU moves the ball on no one.

I also think we can get up on WKU. I know they beat Middle Tennessee. But, that was that Dasher QBs first start. He's obviously done better since then. I just think the Hilltoppers don't have enough to put us away.

So, all in all, we're doing about like I thought we would record-wose...just in a more frightening way than I imagined. I thought the losses would be closer.

[greenminer]

We could spot FIU 20 points and give them the ball at the 25 yard line every possession and we'd still beat them. They've only scored 68 points in 8 games. I don't care how bad our defense plays, FIU moves the ball on no one.

I'm still baffled that this offense created 7 points against a Troy team that managed to give us the ball 7 times. I've been watching football for 12 years and could wait another 25 before I see that again.

I.

hope.

Edited October 29, 2007 by greenminer

[Bryan316]

Wins against SMU, WKU, FIU, and 2 bonus wins. One of the bonus wins was against ULM, though we lost to SMU. I guess I could trade those and say that both bonus wins are still on the table. So, we have to win out to match my 5-win hopefulness.

[class84]

I thought 7-5 would be a stretch goal, and thought 5 wins was realistic. I don't know if I'm more disappointed in being so hopelessly overmatched against OU, Ark and Troy, or in failing to close winnable games with SMU, ULaLa, FAU and MUTS. I guess I'm just generally disappointed in the way things have gone so far.

Although I'm not at all pessimistic about the future, I am concerned with the way we play 2nd halves. That speaks to being outmanuevered and outcoached much more than putting talent on the field. I think the talent will come, but I need to see better signs that we'll know what to do with it.

[KingDL1]

I did not know what to truly expect, I was just happy about the positive outlook and tireless promotion of our program that Dodge was giving the school. I figure we already won this season. As far as the season wins & losses, I figured we would at least match DD last year with a 3 - 9 season, on the high side if everything jelled and we took the world by storm 8 - 4. But I would be happy with a winless season because I feel the future holds some real hope.

[CMJ]

I was thinking 4-8.

[untbowler]

expected at least 5-7.

Did not expect the defense to be in shambles or special teams being so poor.

Can live somewhat with being outcoached, but the defensive side has been borderline embarassing particularly if the DC does not even hang near his players after a TD or miscue.

[RETSO]

3-9

wins over .......

Monroe

FLorida Int

West Kentucky

I fear the WKU game.....

I was hoping for 6-6, but not expecting 2-10!

[ADLER]

3-9

wins over .......

Monroe

FLorida Int

West Kentucky

I fear the WKU game.....

I was hoping for 6-6, but not expecting 2-10!

I figured the same, FIU, WKU, and one of the 2 Louisiana schools were probable wins. Anything past 4 wins was a bonus.

[eulesseagle]

ok......

my prediction was 8-4 with NT looooooosing to OU, Ark, Troy & Navy. However, I truely believed that the MTSU game would be a shootout along with the Navy game.

Am I disapointed? yes

Am I over it? yes

Do I see a vast change in coaching philosophy that will be benifical for NT in the future? yes

I am excited about the future? YES.

I am particularly impressed with the new recruits.....these guys are good and am waiting for NT to put it all together in one game. We are all seeing bits and pieces of something great unfolding before our eyes each week. It is kinda like one of old PMG's 1960 something all "steel" car hitting on 6 of 8 cylinders and a clogged fuel filter. Once PMG puts his tender lips to the fuel filter and blows to clean it out and goes over to the Weatherford airport and midnight rescues some aviation gas to juice up that jalopy then we are going to see some exciting football, TD style.

My prediction for the last four games:

Navy..........this will be a shootout kinda like Navy's game against Delaware. Whoever scores last will win.

Arky State..we win only because we are improving.

WKU...........we win because I just believe we have better talent at this point.

FIU.............we win and this game will not have to go to 7 overtimes.

I say we go 3-1 that last four games with the probable loss to NAVY.

[StealthEagle84]

I expected not to have the worse defense in the county........................

[UNT Mean Green]

Actually, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have the worst defense in the country.

[UNTFan23]

I certainly didn't expect our defense to be where it is now when it was billed as the strength of the team.

I was comfortable with a losing record ... something along the lines of 3 or 4 wins. I thought 6 wins was a tough yet attainable goal though.

[MGW]

I have heard a lot of people say, "well what did you expect this year, or I knew this was going to be a down year." I wasnt expecting that at all. My expectations were for us to be about 7-5 or 6-6. I thought we would lose all 3 OOC road games and at Troy and at Ark. St. but I thought we could win the rest.... So my realistic expectations for this year were at best 7-5 but probably around 6-6. Any thoughts?

Expect? A season comparable in terms of wins-losses to last year. Same personnel, totally different system.

Hope? .500, or perhaps a winning season.

Pollyanna Prediction? Undefeated with an OT win over LSU in the championship game.

[NTEdgex2]

After putting on my green glasses and drinking my green koolaid, I thought 6-6. Realistically, though, 3 or 4 wins. See you at the Navy game, making as much noise as I can on the alumni side.

GMG!

[StealthEagle84]

Actually, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have the worst defense in the country.

My bad, one of the top three worst defenses in the country.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I really didn't know what to expect. All I can say is that I am disappointed in how this season has gone, but it doesn't diminish my hope for the future.

[Guest Aquila_Viridis]

I expected this coaching staff to do better than the previous one, which was doing as bad as I thought was possible. I remember seeing one sportswriter's predictions which had the team getting the grasp of the new system after the first four games. The 'it's a new system' excuse is fully played out by now.

I'll stop my complaining as soon as the Mean Green inflict a THUNDEROUS whipping on another team. The sooner the better.

[chrisfisher]

OK. I'll man up. On the vote we did for the predicted record, I chose 8-4. Man, was I off. I figure if DD could win 3 games or so with this crew, that Dodge could certainly at least double that and even pull out a few upsets.

[forevereagle]

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect in the win-loss column. Did I WANT to win a lot of games, yes. But I didn't really EXPECT to win many. We struggled last year and the year before. To expect a huge turn in the record is not what I expected.

Things I did expect:

Trying in OOC games, which I believe we did, even if the score doesn't reflect that.

Change in attitude. I think this is in progress. It takes time for the team to see winning as an achievable goal after so many tough seasons.

Cut down on stupid penalties. Not false starts (not saying these are not stupid, just not what I expected to change), but the personal fouls and the like. We have made improvements in that regard.

Improvement throughout the season. This has occurred at times, but not like I would like to see.

In a coach's first year, win-loss doesn't necessarily mean as much as we would like to think. If we continue to get better and are more prepared for next season, then I think we are going to be fine. Patience is key in this process.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Well I for one, predicted 5 wins. I thought with the new attitude the coaching staff would bring, along with a new belief in discipline, that 5 wins would be obtainable. I also thought that Dodge would win at least one game he was not supposed to win. With that being said, I guess Navy is the one team left that no one really gives him a shot to win, so I will say that this Navy game in two weeks will give us energy into the offseason and excitement for next year with a win.