Unt Has Reason For Hope

[Brett Vito]

Monday column

[emmitt01]

I think Vito did an excellent job reporting on this game...especially considering he had to stand outside the stadium.

[chrisfisher]

I agree with Vito that this was the best all-around performance I have seen by the Green in many years. We actually looked like a FBS team - and a decent one at that.

[Stix]

I think Vito did an excellent job reporting on this game...especially considering he had to stand outside the stadium.

LOL! +1

[Mean Green 93-98]

I think Vito did an excellent job reporting on this game...especially considering he had to stand outside the stadium.

Ha!

[wardly]

out offense had the ball 42 minutes, and only scored 10 points. our defense was on the field for only 18 minutes, and gave up 35 points. what am i missing that gives some of you so much optimism? just asking.

[Travis]

out offense had the ball 42 minutes, and only scored 10 points. our defense was on the field for only 18 minutes, and gave up 35 points. what am i missing that gives some of you so much optimism? just asking.

I see what you are saying, and that was my initial issue. And to a degree, it still is. But, if we correct our turnovers in the redzone, 24-35 sounds freakin' amazing for UNT considering where Clemson and UNT have been. Keeping the ball in our hands and away from Clemson was greatness. Eventually, we will be awarded for it.

In reality, we have a LOT to work on. Mistakes, busted plays here and there, stupid penatlies, etc. But, on the other hand, there is reason to see this year as a little different.

[Mean Green 93-98]

out offense had the ball 42 minutes, and only scored 10 points. our defense was on the field for only 18 minutes, and gave up 35 points. what am i missing that gives some of you so much optimism? just asking.

In some ways, it might seem like the offense was "more of the same"--dynamite between the 20's, but very little in the red zone. But as has been pointed out repeatedly, this was against Clemson. None of our opponents will have an equal, and probably not comparable, red zone defense. Also, Coach Canales has put in a LOT of new wrinkles into this offense, and everything has not started clicking perfectly yet. Just wait until we hit our conference schedule. If we are able to duplicate that type of ball control against Sun Belt teams, I promise you that we will score far more than 10 points every time.

[NT03]

out offense had the ball 42 minutes, and only scored 10 points. our defense was on the field for only 18 minutes, and gave up 35 points. what am i missing that gives some of you so much optimism? just asking.

There were about 4 or 5 plays that if we were playing anyone else on our schedule , with the exception of K St , we would have scored. Lance Dunbar was so close to breaking a few runs and those same plays will be TDs as the season goes on. I feel the same way about Hamilton as well. He will score a few TDs this year , he's the real deal.Clemson has about 6 guys who are NFL caliber players so it's kind of hard to really judge this game

What worries me is the lack of Defensive pressure we put on the QB. Clemson didn't use their whole playbook and if they wanted to , could have let Parker sit back there all day and pick us apart. We got nothing as far as pressure. Why we continue to have AK line up over a guy who is probably 100pds heavier than him just blows my mind. Half the time he was lined up in a 4 pt stance directly over the guy... I mean really ? AK needs to be in on either passing situations only rushing the QB or move to outside LB. I love the guy , but he was getting pushed back 10 yards on just about every play. Why we have Draylen Ross on the sidelines playing TE every once is awhile is kind of a joke. We need size on the D Line , he may be our best D Lineman we have and he sits on the sidelines while our guys are getting pushed back every play. Hell play him on both sides of the ball if we have too .

The Rice game is probably the most important game of the TD era. Win this & get the casual fans behind this program while giving the players a confidence boost heading into a very winnable game @ Army.

Lose this game and it's time to hit the panic button

Edited September 6, 2010 by NT03

[Mean Green 93-98]

he may be our best D Lineman we have

What makes you say this?

[greenminer]

We are not going to see another team on our schedule have that many explosive plays.

[NT03]

What makes you say this?

Watching every single practice & scrimmage last year

Kid is a beast , the most physical player we have on the team

[KingDL1]

out offense had the ball 42 minutes, and only scored 10 points. our defense was on the field for only 18 minutes, and gave up 35 points. what am i missing that gives some of you so much optimism? just asking.

We did force 6 punts, several 3 and outs, this is something new. Though we did not score more we did move the ball against a premiere Defense. Now remember the first half should have ended 14-7 except for the celebration penalty. I loved how dead the crowd was the first half. In the end this was not an embarrassing game to watch, in years past we would have been killed. Even in our bowl years we did not do well with these kind of non conference games. Yes I saw lots of improvement with some more work to go.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Watching every single practice & scrimmage last year

Kid is a beast , the most physical player we have on the team

I was just curious, I had never heard anyone say anything like that before. Thanks.

[FireFightnJoey]

I remember reading the blog that we had quite a few defensive guys not traveling. Seemed we were thin and I remember saying before the game it might not be pretty. With that said, I give the D a little more credit if they were really that thin. But 35 points in a game that Clemson had 1/3 of the clock is not promising. Take the two BIG plays away and they're down to 21. So, I keep telling myself somewhere in between is our D! lol And that I could live with as being exceptional progress from last year. They have to keep those big plays to a minimum.

I am curious if any of you guys could analyze the guys that didn't travel and how that might change the strength of our D.

At the half I said Tune wasn't mobile and was maybe a little harsh on him. I keep comparing to Rodge, but Tune can get the yards when necessary and proved it. The pocket collapsed fast on him often and I give him big props for being so calm and collected. Give him a few more seconds and I think he will start eating up defenses with the pass. These guys have to execute better in the red zone and FINISH! But, Tune's TD pass to Carey was just awesome. Some of his passes that were for 10 yards plus had some zip on them. He can fling the ball.

I think that TD and Canales were still playing a little conservatively with a game plan to eat clock balanced with some good strikes. They executed it well and just had some bad breaks here and there. Penalties killed us. But again, take those BIG plays away and the 14 points and I think the game plan would have gotten stepped up a little.

I got all giddy last year after Ball State. So, I'm holding my breath and continuing to "wait and see".