Post Game Thoughts

[NT03]

A few bright spots for once , but in the end I'm left VERY Dissappointed again. I came into the game with great optimism as I dressed my week old newborn in his 1st Mean Green gear for good luck.

I rolled in with my father from out of town, a man who has never played,coached or watched a football game since Warren Moon was QB of the Oilers, his assesment ?? " Why don't they know the fundamentals of tackling"... I couldn't even muster out a response, because frankly he was right. It was yet again , pathetic

I guess my biggest beef of the game was the pass play calling. Yes , the VIzza to Fitz combo was great , but did anyone notice what was happening on the other side of the field. Roberson was man upd all night long with the corner getting NO help what so ever. How can we not exploit that at all? At the very least take a few shots deep on a fly route just to loosen up the Defense. One hitch and move , one fall down one anything would result in a long TD.The kid is big,atheltic and fast and we are not using any of his skills on field. I'm willing to bet he can out jump any corner in the belt that he is matched up against.

I hate the fact that on 4th and less than a yard we go shotgun and do a hand off , thus creating the situation to really a 4th and 4 or 5

For every 3 green shirts I saw there was 1 burnt orange shirt ( oh well I guess I should be glad they came)

My disgust was even greater when I saw SMU almost knocked off Tulsa tonight. You can't tell me that SMU has that much more talent than us. Even more , they are in their 1st year under JJ and he had only a few weeks to sign a class. The EXCUSE that we are " young" is getting OLD.

With all this said , I still support TD and this team and will continue to do so .....as a Longtime Cub's fan : "Here's to Next Year!!"

Edited October 12, 2008 by NT03

[Green Mean]

I guess my biggest question is can a defense really be this bad? I am not sure if I need to vent at this point because the most obvious thing is that we suck and we suck hard hard balls so I am pretty used to the beatings at this point. But again....how can a D1A defense be this freakin bad?

[GoMeanGreen1999]

I guess my biggest question is can a defense really be this bad? I am not sure if I need to vent at this point because the most obvious thing is that we suck and we suck hard hard balls so I am pretty used to the beatings at this point. But again....how can a D1A defense be this freakin bad?

Well it doesn't help your defense when you turn the ball over right after your defense got a big stop. I thought the defense played a little better tonight.

[Green Mean]

Well it doesn't help your defense when you turn the ball over right after your defense got a big stop. I thought the defense played a little better tonight.

Actually that is true...they did play a little better tonight. And at many times in the game atleast the scoring margin looked somewhat respectable compared to in other games.

[CaribbeanGreen]

Look, everyone that's read my posts knows how I feel about things... I'll preface with my usual statements:

1) We're young by choice, and even where we ARE young, it's zero excuse.

2) The cupboard was hardly as "bare" as apologists claim it was, and it was a bounty of riches compared to what Mario Cristobal was saddled with at FIU.

3) The "learning curve" excuse for the staff makes me want to laugh, cry, vomit, or all three - regardless, don't want to hear it.

4) The dissension in the ranks, players leaving the program, lack of a "pipeline", recruiting focus, and total lack of discipline/unity I've seen is my greatest concern, and is inexcusable.

5) I have wavering faith that a career 10 plus games UNDER .500 high school coach pre-SLC can turn a desperately sinking FBS program around.

That being said....

...had fun tonight. I admit that my expectations may be Dead Sea-Low and I saw this through Cousteau-depth goggles tonight, but Aqualung and French accent or otherwise, I didn't sense the "quit" and defeatist attitude as quickly tonight as I have all season long. Had a good time.. the crowd around me was well aware of the meager expectations, but seemed to really enjoy this one... Offense made too many mistakes, but showed some life. Has to learn to finish drives.... Montgomery looked great in the first half. UL made some adjustments on the run in the 2nd, but still felt like we gave that up too quickly. Vizza made some nice throws and some good plays on the run, but for some reason it still seems like his ball tends to "float" quite a bit. Still hate going from the gun inside the 1 yd line, but I get that that's the offense. Fitz was awesome... Johnson played well for the most part, though his early fumble was a KILLER.

Defense is terrible, but obviously reveled in the few bright spots they had. Knott was much better tonight, return game didn't mess anything up too badly, yet the KO ret TD was disgraceful.... as was letting Cherry get 5 TDs in the first half. Royce Hill isn't ready - I don't know how much "experience" like this will help. We did a decent job on Fenroy, but ANYONE can flat LIGHT US UP through the air.

Basically, I'm still not sold that this staff can turn things around, though i sure as hell hope they do... that being said, tonight I saw a team that WANTS to be better than they are. I saw a team that needs the ball to bounce their way a few times -- that needs to feel what it's like to get some breaks and have some momentum. It was a C- or D+, which is by far our best grade of the year. Take it for what it's worth. Decent crowd, at least....

I'll echo what I heard in a conversation with a player this week... "We've got some really good players individually... you should see one-on-one drills... we just can't put anything together as a team. We don't click." At least tonight, it felt more like a team with a common goal, as short as they may have fallen.

See you all at Troy. I need to try and find some of you guys pre-game next time. XXOO.

[Smitty]

First:

I give a ton of credit to the Mean Green players for playing hard Saturday night and for fighting back into a game after falling well behind, especially on the heels of so many disheartening recent games. Louisiana-Lafayette's big plays and UNT's turnovers were immensely frustrating, but UNT's players showed that they have not quit. They certainly did not quit tonight.

Second:

In 2006, Dickey's bar cupboard beat SMU, 24-7.

Two years later, a coach in his first year on the job takes SMU against an undefeated Tulsa team that lit up UNT like a pinball machine and played that Tulsa team right down to the final seconds before losing, 37-31.

At the same time, North Texas, under a coach in his second year on the job, was losing by a combined 61 points to Florida International and Louisiana Lafayette.

Make of that what you will.

Edited October 12, 2008 by Smitty

[NT80]

0-6 for the first time since 1972. That team started 0-7 and Rod Rust was fired at the end of that 1-10 season. Hayden Fry was hired to turn it around in 1973. Fry is available again!

[chrisfisher]

First:

I give a ton of credit to the Mean Green players for playing hard Saturday night and for fighting back into a game after falling well behind, especially on the heels of so many disheartening recent games. Louisiana-Lafayette's big plays and UNT's turnovers were immensely frustrating, but UNT's players showed that they have not quit. They certainly did not quit tonight.

Second:

In 2006, Dickey's bar cupboard beat SMU, 24-7.

Two years later, a first-year coach takes SMU against an undefeated Tulsa team that lit up UNT like a pinball machine and played that Tulsa team right down to the final seconds before losing, 37-31.

At the same time, North Texas, under a second-year coach, was losing by a combined 61 points to Florida International and Louisiana Lafayette.

Make of that what you will.

It WAS a bare cupboard.....no mistake about it..... Woody underperformed the rest of that sorry ass season... he had his Super Bowl performance that game against SMU.

Edited October 12, 2008 by chrisfisher

[forevereagle]

Two years later, a first-year coach takes SMU against an undefeated Tulsa team that lit up UNT like a pinball machine and played that Tulsa team right down to the final seconds before losing, 37-31.

I don't think we define first-year coach the same way. June Jones has been doing this for a long time, just not at SMU.

[Smitty]

I don't think we define first-year coach the same way. June Jones has been doing this for a long time, just not at SMU.

I phrased that poorly. I mean a coach in his first year in that job.

[adman]

I don't think we define first-year coach the same way. June Jones has been doing this for a long time, just not at SMU.

And SMU still lost. No matter how close the score.

[JesseMartin]

All I got was the box score stuff online, so those who actually saw it can correct me...

It looks like long plays and special teams killed us, and that it would likely have been 31-30 without those problems.

[Huff]

It tells me how low we have sunk when we are encouraged by a game in which our team lost by almost 30 points.

[Smitty]

All I got was the box score stuff online, so those who actually saw it can correct me...

It looks like long plays and special teams killed us, and that it would likely have been 31-30 without those problems.

Pretty close. Their quarterback made a bunch of big plays at big moments, but the killers were their big plays: a reverse for a TD (seconds after UNT had taken its first lead of the season), two long passes for touchdowns (perfectly thrown, by the way), and a kickoff return that was bobbled inside the five-yard line before being returned for a TD. But UNT also missed on some chances, such as when they stopped ULL on a fourth-down play in the first half, then fumbled the ball right back. That kind of thing.

It was heartening to see the Mean Green play hard but it was frustrating to see the missed chances and the big mistakes.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Pretty close. Their quarterback made a bunch of big plays at big moments, but the killers were their big plays: a reverse for a TD (seconds after UNT had taken its first lead of the season), two long passes for touchdowns (perfectly thrown, by the way), and a kickoff return that was bobbled inside the five-yard line before being returned for a TD. But UNT also missed on some chances, such as when they stopped ULL on a fourth-down play in the first half, then fumbled the ball right back. That kind of thing.

It was heartening to see the Mean Green play hard but it was frustrating to see the missed chances and the big mistakes.

When it is very apparent that we can't stop a team from scoring like tonight (and all of this season) and you run a pass offense, please don't settle for a field goal before the half without at the very LEAST trying to throw a couple of passes in the direction of the endzone.

[greenminer]

We actually took a couple long shots towards Roberson, which is more than I can remember from the games leading into tonight.

[eulessismore]

Pretty close. Their quarterback made a bunch of big plays at big moments, but the killers were their big plays: a reverse for a TD (seconds after UNT had taken its first lead of the season), two long passes for touchdowns (perfectly thrown, by the way), and a kickoff return that was bobbled inside the five-yard line before being returned for a TD. But UNT also missed on some chances, such as when they stopped ULL on a fourth-down play in the first half, then fumbled the ball right back. That kind of thing.

It was heartening to see the Mean Green play hard but it was frustrating to see the missed chances and the big mistakes.

Yes, I don't think we can lay all the ULL scoring on the shoulders of the defense. When they made that stop on 4th and short, then the offense fumbled it right back, you have to kind of wonder what's going through the mind of the defense, like "do we have to score on the turnover to see any North Texas points?"

[eulesseagle]

NT came into the game pretty banged up. There were quite a few regulars that did not play or played sparingly.

Our freshman db got burnt once on a long pass....looked like he had his head turned the wrong way.

Our juco safety db got burnt....but.....in his defense the LaLa player caught the perfect pass in the perfect stride on the perfect route. I really don't think anyone ... anywhere could have defended that play....it was that good.....heck our db was right there and could not knock it down.

The Chery play where he ran 95 yards (or so) on a kick off (or punt return).....for a TD.....bodies were flying all over the place....I have no idea how he got out of that mess.....just an anomoly of a play.....that kid is quick and fast.....all night long.

IMHO the team is getting better on offense and defense. Like Coach Dodge said on his radio show....the players have to stop giving up "big plays" .... those, he defined as 30+ yards.....

IMHO, again, Coach Dodge has recruited some remarkable players to come to NT and everyone should realize that his recruits are only freshmen and sophmores........these are probably the best overall recruits I have seen since Coach Mitchell recruited Joe Green, Hardman, Franklin and Ramsey (and all that bunch)....

All you RATS who are jumping ship and only pay attention to the box score should realize that there is more to the game than numbers. The players are improving. There is no "magic pill" to make 18 and 19 year old Dodge recruits play like they have 42 more games under their belt and play like 21, 22 or 23 year olds. The maturity factor ain't there and speed of the college game is different than that of HS.

be patient.

[NT03]

We actually took a couple long shots towards Roberson, which is more than I can remember from the games leading into tonight.

I got to the game kinda late so I guess I missed that. I think Roberson has to be more involved , everyone knows Casey is going to get thrown the rock like 80% of the time

[BleedGreen64]

IMO the best game we have played this year in all area.

Offense does continue to stub its toe afger moving the ball well.

Special teams - kicking and returns greatly improved.

Defense was improved but ran into two of the fastest running backs around.

Talked to an Oakland Raider scout this week who is high on them and scouting them this week. Should be high draft choice.

La=Monroe is beatable this week.

GMG!!!!

[Smitty]

IMHO, again, Coach Dodge has recruited some remarkable players to come to NT and everyone should realize that his recruits are only freshmen and sophmores........these are probably the best overall recruits I have seen since Coach Mitchell recruited Joe Green, Hardman, Franklin and Ramsey (and all that bunch)....

All you RATS who are jumping ship and only pay attention to the box score should realize that there is more to the game than numbers. The players are improving. There is no "magic pill" to make 18 and 19 year old Dodge recruits play like they have 42 more games under their belt and play like 21, 22 or 23 year olds. The maturity factor ain't there and speed of the college game is different than that of HS.

be patient.

I agree that the freshmen and sophomores have a lot of learning to do. That's why it might have been more prudent to mix them in with the juniors and seniors. Regardless of the cupboard-being-bare argument, I just wonder if it would have helped the newcomers get acclimated to the game.

You call for patience, which I agree with. But where was the patience of Coach Dodge when he benched so many seniors and inserted so many of the kids into the lineup? Why not work the kids in and let them learn next to the seniors? Why throw so many freshmen into the deep end? Could the results possibly have been worse if a few more of the juniors and seniors have seen more playing time?

Patience from the fans? How about patience from the coach?

Finally, if you have complete faith in Dodge, that's fine. But there is room here for discussion and disagreement. Your personal insults toward those who disagree with you are tiresome. I don't care who they are directed towards. Enough.

Edited October 12, 2008 by Smitty

[JesseMartin]

All you RATS who are jumping ship and only pay attention to the box score should realize that there is more to the game than numbers. The players are improving. There is no "magic pill" to make 18 and 19 year old Dodge recruits play like they have 42 more games under their belt and play like 21, 22 or 23 year olds. The maturity factor ain't there and speed of the college game is different than that of HS.

be patient.

I hope this wasn't directed at me, since I'm the one saying give Dodge 2-3 more years..

[CaribbeanGreen]

I hope this wasn't directed at me, since I'm the one saying give Dodge 2-3 more years..

Just let him go. If you were JesseGoldberg, i'd worry... but JesseMartin, you're cool.

The blanket insults will get him run outta here soon enough... we hope.

[Rudy]

I saw some improvements, and was ok. Until, that is, I was sitting at Hooters and in walks one of the female cheerleaders with a black sweatshirt with the letters T-E-X-A-S across the front written in orange font. Asked one of the male cheerleaders about it and was told they can wear what they want when they arent in uniform and at a school function. Thats true, but what about when it is still obvious who you are and who you allegedly cheer for?

PATHETIC!

[mad dog]

NT came into the game pretty banged up. There were quite a few regulars that did not play or played sparingly.

Our freshman db got burnt once on a long pass....looked like he had his head turned the wrong way.

Our juco safety db got burnt....but.....in his defense the LaLa player caught the perfect pass in the perfect stride on the perfect route. I really don't think anyone ... anywhere could have defended that play....it was that good.....heck our db was right there and could not knock it down.

The Chery play where he ran 95 yards (or so) on a kick off (or punt return).....for a TD.....bodies were flying all over the place....I have no idea how he got out of that mess.....just an anomoly of a play.....that kid is quick and fast.....all night long.

IMHO the team is getting better on offense and defense. Like Coach Dodge said on his radio show....the players have to stop giving up "big plays" .... those, he defined as 30+ yards.....

IMHO, again, Coach Dodge has recruited some remarkable players to come to NT and everyone should realize that his recruits are only freshmen and sophmores........these are probably the best overall recruits I have seen since Coach Mitchell recruited Joe Green, Hardman, Franklin and Ramsey (and all that bunch)....

All you RATS who are jumping ship and only pay attention to the box score should realize that there is more to the game than numbers. The players are improving. There is no "magic pill" to make 18 and 19 year old Dodge recruits play like they have 42 more games under their belt and play like 21, 22 or 23 year olds. The maturity factor ain't there and speed of the college game is different than that of HS.

be patient.

You have the right to your opinion, but cool it with the "Rats" line.