Honesty check...

BadKarma · October 7, 2012

It's year two with a new coach. We saw improvement against (now) two top ten teams, but still lost. We got crushed by a team that lost to Texas State that put up video game stats against a defense we thought was improving, beat a struggling FCS team, and beat a team that has the look of an FCS team (FAU). We can still win 4-6 games, but have to play better than we thought. However, it appears that there was some ridiculous shortfalls in fan expectation management. I submit the following points for consideration.

1. We have absolutely no depth.

2. We are still seeking an answer to the question of who replaces Dunbar.

3. We have really one offensive weapon who gives a particular anal pucker factor.

4. (Building off point 3) We have limited speed.

5. We have no consistency.

6. We lack solid quarterback play. Now, I will give him this- Thompson has balls, but he lacks that "This is my team" swagger which Scott Hall had ( I know a thing or two about swagger.)

If you think this can be fixed in a year and change, you are sorely mistaken. While I admire the passion some of you have in here, it's time to stop jerking your knees. I myself am giving him until the end of next year, when he has an allegedly talented quarterback and another off-season to build size, speed and talent pools.

I will say this- give the ball to Osborn. What do we have to lose? Don't want to pile on the dude, but Thompson may not be the guy. We've already seen McNulty isn't the dude.

Fire away, but stand by for counter battery fire. Bad Karma out.

stryker · October 7, 2012

I think you make some very good points, particularly the last one about the quarterback play. Since Hall, we've had Meager, Tune, Dodge, and Thompson. At one point or another, I remember reading about how each one of them would be the answer to our quarterback woes and to to this day, our woes at the position have continued. Thompson is not the guy and it is past time to give Osborn a look.

McCarney I think essentially has until the end of the next year to show signficant progress or he will be shown the door. Given our remaining schedule, I find it very difficult to see us matching our win total from last year. As of now, this looks like a 3-9 team with our only remaining win coming against South Alabama.

Dr. Seuss · October 7, 2012

Running backs is the least of our worries... You dont have to have 1 stud back, Byrd, Jimmerson, Brown tandem is isnt our problem

Edited October 7, 2012 by Dr. Seuss

HoustonEagle · October 7, 2012

The UH receivers looked like men lining up across from our boys. So I don't buy into the crap about bad coaching. What I do worry about is recruiting. And, unfortunately you don't know if your coaches are poor recruiters until it is too late. The class they are putting together right now could not be more important. So far I am unimpressed, but I have nothing to base that on other than Rivals.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · October 7, 2012

WKU turned it around in two years, and are stellar in the third year.

The problem is the defensive line:

(1) You can't stop the run, you've got problems.

(2) You can't pressure the quarterback, you've got problems.

My hope in the McCarney hiring is that because he was a DL coach our DL recruiting and play would pick up. It hasn't. Our depth at DT is non-existent. The play of those unable to rotate because of the lack of depth is incosistent.

UNTexas · October 7, 2012

Whatever the problem is even I am tired of this nonsense. Our team has a losing tradition and its quite frankly embarrassing. I don't think I have the stomach to watch anymore this season. Every year without fail everyone says it looks like a bright future. Every year we start the season with serious ass beatings at the hands of teams we have no business playing followed by embarrassing losses to crap teams like Troy. Now everyone is going to wonder why there is no one in the stands for the next game. This is far too frustrating. This program is a punchline. Other schools have gone from no program to winning seasons in the time that we are still talking about the good ole days of appearing in a bowl game.

I wish I knew what the answer was because this situation is really sad. At least we have basketball season soon and a good soccer team. The 2012 football season is a wash as usual.

Cooley · October 7, 2012

The legend of Scott Hall continues to grow with every bad QB we have had. Quite frankly Hall does not beat Houston because this was an an out of conference game.

We continue to have horrible recruiting classes. 2013 is shaping up to rank up there with the best. So much for Mac easily blaming past problems on Todd Dodge. With his 5- yr plan, there is no sense of urgency to win. We continue to go after undersized projects with the hope of putting 30-40 pounds on them and reduce their speed.

Not the ideal way to sustain a program, but Mac needs to hit the juco's hard in December for major college talent. Otherwise, we will miss another generation of potential fans who knows nothing other than losing at UNT.

island eagle · October 7, 2012

I agree with all of the above. Now is the time for the coaches to get cracking on finding new talent and developing what we do have.

agw0038 · October 7, 2012

We just don't have the athletes. Plain and Simple. Yes, we could sit here and find reasons to say why coach Mac should have done this or that, but I dont believe he's the problem. Were still not deep enough yet to where a team cant just out athlete us, which is essentially what Houston did (and the crazy thing is they use to better than that!). Now it gets tricky because we played so well against LSU and K-State. I argue that our team has improved, and that when we play teams who run most of their offense between the tackles we will always have a fighting chance. Yes K-State and LSU are high ranking teams but if their offenses had been pass-happy like UH, we would have lost both of those games by a lot more.

My question to all of you is this:

When Dickey was bringing in the classes that would later take us to 4 SBC championships, were any of them 3-star or 4-star recruits? or Did DD recognize the potential in his classes and transform them into good college football players despite whatever Rivals said?

Is this not the plight of most mid-major college football coaches?

I've only seen one team successfully build up their program to the point where they were no longer considered a mid-major program, and that would be TCU.

All of the other really good mid-major programs (Boise, UH, whoever else you want to name ) still have the same problems we do. Our problems are amplified because we are about 45 minutes North of arguably the most recruited area in the Nation and 45 minutes north of SMU and TCU. We have to share. Everybody has to share with the Big 12 schools but Houston is the 3rd biggest city in the USA and UH is the biggest University in the city. Houston does a good job of getting kids to stay at home.

The DFW kids do not want to go Denton. The Denton kids don't want to stay at home.

This will not change until we win. I just don't think our recruiting classes are going to get better all of a sudden because Coach Mac is some great orator. His presence will help, for sure, but we have got to figure out a way to win with what we have. We have to luck out and get some players in here that we normally wouldn't get and we have to bring out the potential in the underrated players that we get.

If we can find a way to win with the 2-star recruits, the 3-star and 4 star recruits will start to take notice.

Definitely easier said than done.

GMG!!!

wardly · October 7, 2012

I just really don't know if our fans live in the real world. Once again,there is a reason we were picked 7th in the belt. We don't have many good players. It's going to take more than 1 or 2 recruiting classes to right the ship.We lost to 3 better teams, 2 in the top 10, and lost a game to Troy that we should have won.Hopefully we will win a game that we should have lost. I can't emphasize enough what a deep hole Dodge left coach Mac to dig out of. I have followed the Eagles since my freshman year on 61', and twice we have hired high school coaches, and twice they have nearly destroyed the program.

meangreener · October 7, 2012

I just don't understand how we expect to get better with a bunch of 1-star and 2-stars.

FirefightnRick · October 7, 2012

I'll never buy into the excuse that it's all on the players.

Is it our players fault we kill drives by having to wait for the play, then blow a time out to get a play in?

After we open the second half running the stretch around the corners in a 4 reciever set and easily drove to score, was it our players fault that we then abandoned that scheme and went back to handing off between the tackles at 8 men in the box?

Houston had nearly 600 yards by the end of the third quarter yet our corners were still in a deep cover two giving them 10 yard cushions. So it's up to the players to make that adjustment?

Tell me, does Houston's players decide all game long to run a no huddle that prevented us from subbing our D linemen?

Did Houston's players decide to keep doing what was working, like the 8 yard out, instead of going back to plays that didn't?

Rick

Edited October 7, 2012 by FirefightnRick

Greenhorn · October 7, 2012

I completely disagree on Macs recruiting. He getting size and speed and has a good quarterback committed. A program like UNT isnt going to start landing 4 star recruits out of no where.

meangreener · October 7, 2012

This was coaching. Plain and simple. BTW, Rick, loved that you led the chants. Was cool. How'd you get your jersey customized like that?

shaft · October 7, 2012

With his 5- yr plan, there is no sense of urgency to win. We continue to go after undersized projects with the hope of putting 30-40 pounds on them and reduce their speed.

Not the ideal way to sustain a program, but Mac needs to hit the juco's hard in December for major college talent. Otherwise, we will miss another generation of potential fans who knows nothing other than losing at UNT.

What are you talking about? Mac is the first coach to come out and saying losing isn't acceptable and they guys are undersized. And TD's last attempt at recruiting JUCOs is part of our problem.

FirefightnRick · October 7, 2012

This was coaching. Plain and simple. BTW, Rick, loved that you led the chants. Was cool. How'd you get your jersey customized like that?

Thank you. The Jersey was a special "In" connection I had with the team's manufacturer rep during the Dickey era. Before they would turn in the team's order I would take orders from GMG.com members and money...$125 each, and have him turn ours in with his.

Rick

meangreener · October 7, 2012

Thank you. The Jersey was a special "In" connection I had with the team's manufacturer rep during the Dickey era. Before they would turn in the team's order I would take orders from GMG.com members and money...$125 each, and have him turn ours in with his.

Rick

No problem! The people who showed up for us were great. It was a lot of fun. Too bad we lost. That sucks, haha, I want a custom jersey and not those ugly DT knock-offs from the bookstore.

Edited October 7, 2012 by meangreener

UNTLifer · October 7, 2012

This was coaching. Plain and simple. BTW, Rick, loved that you led the chants. Was cool. How'd you get your jersey customized like that?

Earlier you said it was our recruiting of "one and two stars," which isn't true, and now you say it is all coaching. Make up your mind. How will anyone believe your posts when you constantly change your mind?

Got5onIt · October 7, 2012

You guys don't give Dodge enough credit on how far he single handedly sunk this program. RV deserves some blame for that crap as well.

Mac came in saying how he was bigger than most of the kids here, so he understands the level of physical talent we lack. Dodge came in after DD posted consecutive losing seasons. How do you expect the recruiting classes to fare from nearly a decade of futility? Look at what we have playing at QB now and how hard it's been to recruit a decent player there? That alone tells you all you need to know. Mac will need time. This team is still a 5 win team, which is what 90% of this board predicted.

SilverEagle · October 7, 2012

I kept seeing this guy

http://www.uhcougars.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/mbu_joey00.html

not getting blocked all night and just generally whipping anyone who was in front of him. I believe his profile says that he was three star recruit coming out of HS.

This is the kind of D-lineman North Texas needs to find and get up to Denton....both in size and in temperament.

houstonmeangreen · October 7, 2012

I just really don't know if our fans live in the real world. Once again,there is a reason we were picked 7th in the belt. We don't have many good players. It's going to take more than 1 or 2 recruiting classes to right the ship.We lost to 3 better teams, 2 in the top 10, and lost a game to Troy that we should have won.Hopefully we will win a game that we should have lost. I can't emphasize enough what a deep hole Dodge left coach Mac to dig out of. I have followed the Eagles since my freshman year on 61', and twice we have hired high school coaches, and twice they have nearly destroyed the program.

We may have been left in a big hole because of Dodge (who is responsible for that....RV...and I still struggle to get over that..he was at UNT for a 1 and 1/2 too long for me...in fact I was against hiring him)..but I think we could be doing better with what we have if we ask ourselves the right questions...many of which have been brought up on this board.

glick1980 · October 7, 2012

I will give Mac one more year, he is still working with a team that is only using 72-73 scholarships. Next year we should be at a full 85. I do, however, hate lining up in a base 4-3 when the other team has 4-5 WR's out there. Doing that signals to the QB that it is zone coverage right off the bat. Our defensive alignments look the same as under DeLoach or the dude that was here last year. We never get into WR's faces and give them free run off the line. We slide an OLB to cover slot WR's, which will never work.

houstonmeangreen · October 7, 2012

I agree with all of the above. Now is the time for the coaches to get cracking on finding new talent and developing what we do have.

No...the time was a year and half ago.

houstonmeangreen · October 7, 2012

No problem! The people who showed up for us were great. It was a lot of fun. Too bad we lost. That sucks, haha, I want a custom jersey and not those ugly DT knock-offs from the bookstore.

I did have a great time at the game and pre game...post game..not so much. The band was great..the food and beer...great...great UNT crowd...very disappointed in game...esp the play calling and coaching..their QB was so much better than DT (I do think DT is a very quality guy...so don't take that wrong) and they were much faster...and way better coached...thats right...better coached.

I was disappointed in the Friday night turnout at the hotel..should have been 3 x the turnout...it was good..had fun. UNT has lots of questions to ask themselves...we need to adjust at all levels to win and to increase support....but having been around for a long time..everything except winning has drastically changed for the best since the old days. GMG