Lack Of Preparation, Lack Of Poise.

Stan R · September 8, 2008

In thinking back on the one thing that stood out the most to me from the TU game it would be total confusion by both the NT coaching staff and the NT players. I can't count the number of times I would look up and see one player or the other with his hands up in the air looking at the sidelines totally clueless about where to be on the field. I can think of 2 times where Rodge was running around not sure where to line up with his hands up in the air. At one point I turned to my dad (whom I convinced to buy season tickets, poor guy) and asking him rhetorically - "did we not have a fall practice?".

The other thing - that my Dad mentioned to me was that even from the very start of the game the players just did not look excited to be out there. Now that one I agreed with and I have no explanation for. I saw players slow to get to the line, lackadaisical shuffling around before the plays. Just an utter sense of "hey I'm just here to get a free ride". I know that sounds harsh but that's how it looked to me.

In defense of Todge, the one comment I had to my parents was - This is just not what I expected from a Todge coached team. All the playoff games I watched - all the players knew where to be, were crisp, displayed poise and won games because they were extremely well coached.

What the hell is going on here? I don't think I've heard a good explanation yet outside of Lonnie's belief that Todge is just unwilling to learn or hasn't figured out the college game yet. My mom had a good comment - "I think Todd Dodge is being served a heaping helping of humble pie".

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 8, 2008

Stan,

This is what was strange to me as well: home opener, bigger crowd than normal, game regionally televised...and, the team had no more fire than they showed in the first half? If they're not fired up for the home opener, about showing a big crowd what they can do, or about being on TV, what will they get fired up about?

Travis · September 8, 2008

Tulsa picked apart our zone coverage.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 8, 2008

Travis,

What is this coverage of which you speak? I saw none of it Saturday night.

Travis · September 8, 2008

Travis,
What is this coverage of which you speak? I saw none of it Saturday night.

ha, true.

GoMeanGreen1999 · September 8, 2008

Why does there seem to be a lack of preparation though? This is a lack coming from a guy that had his other teams prepared. When you give up 42 points to a team in the first half, of your first home game, versus an unranked team, you are not prepared.

But you know, neither was our athletic department prepared either. I sat there in amazement that the North scoreboard graphics did not work. It is the FIRST game. Seriously?

mad dog · September 8, 2008

When you get guys that wide open with that regularity, you either have a very slow, very untalented secondary or you're running a zone with zero pressure on the opposing QB. I think the latter is the case. I suspect one of the adjustments we'll see Deloach make is hedge his bets with inexperienced corners and additional blitz pressure. Because ANY D-1 QB can pick apart a defense if you're going to give him 7 or 8 seconds to throw the ball.

Which brings me to my point that we MUST recruit pass rushers this year. Ends, tackles, heck, even another situational linebacker with a nose for the QB. We just need someone to consistently bring pressure. Otherwise, expect to see a lot of 50 point games from here on out.

UNT Mean Green · September 8, 2008

When you get guys that wide open with that regularity, you either have a very slow, very untalented secondary or you're running a zone with zero pressure on the opposing QB. I think the latter is the case. I suspect one of the adjustments we'll see Deloach make is hedge his bets with inexperienced corners and additional blitz pressure. Because ANY D-1 QB can pick apart a defense if you're going to give him 7 or 8 seconds to throw the ball.
Which brings me to my point that we MUST recruit pass rushers this year. Ends, tackles, heck, even another situational linebacker with a nose for the QB. We just need someone to consistently bring pressure. Otherwise, expect to see a lot of 50 point games from here on out.

Good points illuvius. It seems that we have a lack of talent and depth on both lines, and that is the main difference when you watch an elite program play, or a program that is significantly better than us, i.e. Tulsa. We have to put a premium on lineman. Dodge is proven to be an outstanding recruiter, and we have gotten skill guys to put people in place for this system. Now that we have accumulated skill people in the Receiver, RB, QB, DB positions, we need to put a large emphasis on lineman and some LB's. The other thing we must recruit this year is a punter...

Travis Scott · September 8, 2008

As the first half was ending I was standing under the stands waiting to escort my kid on the field for the Jr. Mean Green Club stuff. It was obvious from the players faces that they had no life. They were completely defeated and it's easy to understand why after the results of the first half. I do remember one of the only players to acknowledge the parents and the kids cheering them on was Riley. That was nice to see.

When Coach Dodge walked by I commented to my friend that I had never seen a man look so mad. That too was actually encouraging and the 2nd half was played better. I'm not sure if we were going against Tulsa's 2nd or 3rd string players, but our production was much better. He must have said something to the players to fire them up.

October 4th will be here before you know it and another chance to tailgate and cheer on the Mean Green at home. We've gotta stick with our team through the good and the bad.

TIgreen01 · September 8, 2008

When you get guys that wide open with that regularity, you either have a very slow, very untalented secondary or you're running a zone with zero pressure on the opposing QB. I think the latter is the case. I suspect one of the adjustments we'll see Deloach make is hedge his bets with inexperienced corners and additional blitz pressure. Because ANY D-1 QB can pick apart a defense if you're going to give him 7 or 8 seconds to throw the ball.
Which brings me to my point that we MUST recruit pass rushers this year. Ends, tackles, heck, even another situational linebacker with a nose for the QB. We just need someone to consistently bring pressure. Otherwise, expect to see a lot of 50 point games from here on out.

My problem here is that I THOUGHT we were going to see this happen THIS GAME after we supposedly didn't show "everything we had" at KSU. I thought our front 7 looked pretty good against the run, but when Tulsa passed, we didn't get good pressure consistently enough. A great pass rush would no doubt help any secondary, but our secondary looks pretty bad right now. Too many mistakes in coverage and even finding which zone to cover....looked like a unit that was just utterly and completely confused.

I question how much DeLoach can actually blitz if he can't trust that his secondary will be able to execute his coverages. It seemed like most of the second half that we were playing 4 true freshman back there....have we given up on our upper classmen and JUCOs already? If so, I don't think we'll be able to send a ton of extra pressure until these guys prove they can handle DeLoach's schemes.

eulesseagle · September 8, 2008

The sky ain't fallin'

Do some you have a short memory?

Go back and re-read the post of FWST that was posted today.

The article pointed out that NT has 43 freshmen and 19 sophmores.....60% of the team.

You gotta remember that Coach Dodge took over a team that was not talented except for a few players.

Are you expecting miricles the first two years???.....I'm not......and possibly the third year. Believe me when I say this: Coach Dodge has a winning drive and the ability to recruit and NT will see winning results next year, IMHO......not this year......maybe 4-5 games......but even that is a success.

I hope nobody really felt NT could actually beat KSU with our talent. Heck, Tulsa is picked to win CUSA and may end up going undefeated.

All you "The Sky is Falling" crowd are so redundant in your outlook, during NT's OOC schedule, that you might as well "cut and paste" your comments from one year to the next. Some of you should pick your cojones and reattach them and act like real men with realistic expectations based upon what Coach Dodge had when he arrived and what he has already done.

Coach Dodge is the real deal and brings the same enthusiasm as Coach Fry had when he arrived. I see similarites in recruiting, enthusiasm and the will to win. I also see similarities in the type of program each had when Coache's Fry and Dodge arrived.

Be patient.....Coach Dodge is a keeper.