Lets be honest

[UNTJarhead0802]

If any of us are really shocked about our performance thus far, it's out of looking through rose colored lenses. As enthusiastic as we are, we have to understand the reality that we're dealing with a group of kids that have no confidence once things start to go south. We're starting over, after we started over with a huge mistake with Todd Dodge. They're young, our quarterback has 20 or so snaps in his career, and our best offensive weapon is facing a lot of eight man fronts. We will improve, but we have to be prepared for starts like this.

[cdizzle86]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but you need to raise your expectations. No excuses.

[Mean Green 93-98]

This is FIU, not Alabama.

There is no reason why we shouldn't have at least as good of a team as last year, and we shouldn't have to expect a huge step back.

[LakeTravis]

Honestly, take the first quarter out of the situation, the team was barely able to warm up because of the storms having to send them back to the locker rooms.

Dmac has made adjustments, no TD scored in the 2nd quarter

[THOR]

Honestly, take the first quarter out of the situation, the team was barely able to warm up because of the storms having to send them back to the locker rooms.

Dmac has made adjustments, no TD scored in the 2nd quarter

true...but they couldn't warm up either...adjustments were made on defense...still waiting on the offense to do the same

[PerryG2480]

After respectable performances against Clemson, K-State, and Troy last year I guess I expected us not to get worse. Maybe the "you gotta get worse before you get better" cliche will actually hold true for us this time around.

Like I said in the chat, the 2nd half will tell me a lot about Coach Mac. Will the body language and effort put forth show me what I need to see? Let's hope so.

[calvin]

Get real people. No matter the circumstances we should never be down to a SBC team 28-0 after one quarter.

[PerryG2480]

Agreed.

[Keith7]

So how long are we going to be allowed to blame Dodge?

[Censored by Laurie]

So how long are we going to be allowed to blame Dodge?

As long as anybody with a reasonable head on their shoulders blamed Dickey...a year.

[PerryG2480]

After respectable performances against Clemson, K-State, and Troy last year I guess I expected us not to get worse. Maybe the "you gotta get worse before you get better" cliche will actually hold true for us this time around.

Like I said in the chat, the 2nd half will tell me a lot about Coach Mac. Will the body language and effort put forth show me what I need to see? Let's hope so.

Well, this is what I was afraid of.

[untjim1995]

Get real people. No matter the circumstances we should never be down to a SBC team 28-0 after one quarter.

Dude, we gave been getting trucked by SBC schools for 6 straight years--looks like a 7th is well on it's way. We just aren't that good right now. We have no depth on our lines and we can't make FGs. You don't win games against anyone when you are not able to win in the trenches and you can't make kicks.

[YIPYKIA]

It's really too bad for Dunbar. I bet he would have liked to have some blocking. I only remember one play where he actualy had a hole to run through! O-line looks terrible!

[KingDL1]

The current staff needs take full responsibility for this one, we should be competitive at the very least.

[greenminer]

Some of ya'll have this whole season figured out, and all we've seen is one game.

I'm impressed.

[THOR]

olen surprised me by missing both fgs...he only missed 2 all of last year...he is better than this...dunbar is better than this...north texas is better than this...

[UNTJarhead0802]

This is a cyclic sport. For the longest time we were the bullies, and Troy caught up with the same recipe for success- be the little brother eating off the scraps of your major conference big brothers (in their case, it was Alabama and Auburn.) Florida International has done the exact same thing in a talent rich environment. It worked for us in the middle of the decade. No one could touch our talent level because we were getting the 3 star left overs from the Big 12 guys. We had success, enjoyed it, and others took our mold and ran with it. Now, we have to catch up. Its going to be painful, but it will happen. Not this year, this year needs to be about learning how to win, how not to make stupid penalties, how to chew your offensive coordinator's a@# for making stupid calls, question the heart of your offensive line and get them fired up and change the culture. Stupid penalties went away. Do that, continue to sell the program to the students, get them in the seats, generate some schools spirit so people don't wear USC or Texas gear to class. Continue to do that, make progress, win 5, maybe even 6 games this year, and we're set up nicely to have a very similar turn around that SDSU had out in the MWC- primarily because I see alot of similarities between Brady Hoke and Mac.

I'm done ranting.

[UNTJarhead0802]

olen surprised me by missing both fgs...he only missed 2 all of last year...he is better than this...Dunbar is better than this...north texas is better than this...

Dunbar is better than this, but when they're stacking the line against you, and from what I was hearing that is exactly what they were doing, its hard to get a head of steam going. The field goals are inexcusable.

[Got5onIt]

I agree with the OP. This is damn near the same team Teflon Todd had last year. You cant expect it to turn around over night. The kids will get better with the help of this coaching staff as the year progresses. Lets look for that first. With Dodge, every week was a complete ass ramming. Let's let the coaching staff have some time to do their jobs. It will happen....

[shaft]

This is a cyclic sport... It worked for us in the middle of the decade. No one could touch our talent level because we were getting the 3 star left overs from the Big 12 guys. We had success, enjoyed it, and others took our mold and ran with it.

I don't think that is an accurate description of our Dickey era success. We won the early Belt with "stealth" recruits who weren't on other teams radars. We had a steady QB in Scott Hall and a group of undergrad D-players that got to start for 3 years.

Dickey didn't get passed by because the rest of the Belt started recruiting better picks. DD got passed by because he didn't adapt and upgrade his coaching staff and recruiting techniques.

[UNT90]

dunbar is better than this...

Everything Dunbar got, he got on his own.

9 guys keyed on him all night, because it was pretty clear from the first series (4 straight handoffs to Lance) that we were hell bent and determined to run the ball every 1st and 2nd down, even though 9 guys were keying on Dunbar (it might as well have been 11) .

You don't beat a bully by begging him not to hit you, you beat a bully by punching him in the mouth. We didn't throw an offensive punch the whole first half.

A completely uninspired coaching debut for Coach Mac.

[Got5onIt]

Everything Dunbar got, he got on his own.

9 guys keyed on him all night, because it was pretty clear from the first series (4 straight handoffs to Lance) that we were hell bent and determined to run the ball every 1st and 2nd down, even though 9 guys were keying on Dunbar (it might as well have been 11) .

You don't beat a bully by begging him not to hit you, you beat a bully by punching him in the mouth. We didn't throw an offensive punch the whole first half.

A completely uninspired coaching debut for Coach Mac.

Well, Dunbar is your best player, you ride your best player. What's the best way to win a football game? Running game that can control the clock and a good defense. Also, you have an unproven QB starting his first game and a WR corp that lost it's best player.

I don't see a problem in doing what Coach Mac did. This is the gameplan I expect to see the entire year and a gameplan I would be sticking to if I were the HC...

[UNTJarhead0802]

I don't think that is an accurate description of our Dickey era success. We won the early Belt with "stealth" recruits who weren't on other teams radars. We had a steady QB in Scott Hall and a group of undergrad D-players that got to start for 3 years.

Dickey didn't get passed by because the rest of the Belt started recruiting better picks. DD got passed by because he didn't adapt and upgrade his coaching staff and recruiting techniques.

I can agree with the Scott Hall comment, I can agree with stealth recruits, however, we did win because of the fact that the big game hunters in Austin, Norman and College Station weren't interested in anything but blue chip recruits. At that point, we were a viable option to get exposure for their talents before TCU returned to prominence, SMU became serviceable and Houston was throwing the ball all over the place . Once they returned to respectability, we were no longer relevant because we were driven down lower and lower on the food chain based on history, tradition and outright name recognition, while FIU, Troy and FAU can feast on left overs from Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Miami.

But, we can win. I use SDSU as a reference one, because my fiancee went to San Diego State, and two, they have three big name programs in the state (UC, UCLA, USC), a pretty decent alternative that puts a pretty good team together year in and year out (Fresno State) and a school to the north that has become a full blown powerhouse in the other major conference (Oregon). However, they had a miraculous turnaround. Winning is a culture, and it starts with small steps. It will work, just not over an off-season.

[UNT90]

Well, Dunbar is your best player, you ride your best player. What's the best way to win a football game? Running game that can control the clock and a good defense. Also, you have an unproven QB starting his first game and a WR corp that lost it's best player.

I don't see a problem in doing what Coach Mac did. This is the gameplan I expect to see the entire year and a gameplan I would be sticking to if I were the HC...

If you can figure it out, don't you think FIU could, also?

If you don't keep a good defense off-balance, you have zero chance to win.

By your logic, Coach Mac thought we had no chance to win this game, so he just played to keep the score as close as possible. That is UNACCEPTABLE against a conference opponenet.

Edited September 2, 2011 by UNT90

[shaft]

The fact that there is more talent in Texas, Florida, and California doesn't prove the argument being presented.