Can UNT's Derek Thompson get it done?

[BillySee58]

Not to fuel that fire, but you don't randomly ask Derek Thompson to lose weight in order for him to be more mobile...

Too late. Fire has been further fueled.

[GrandGreen]

What I am afraid I am hearing (yes it’s between the lines) from Coach Mac is someone who is going to try and play NOT TO LOSE as compared to someone who is willing to put it on the line and take chances. It’s reminds me a little of the “Dickey Ball” days – however the competition is a lot tougher these days. I hope I turn out to be wrong, but I’m not getting that feeling.

I think the competition is better than the days of Dickey success in the Belt, however not as much as many think. Dickey won in those years because he had a much better team than NT has had since. Just think back to the lineups of those NO Bowl years particularly 2002,2003 and compare with the current team. There are very few current players who would have started on those earlier teams.

I do agree with the comparison of Dickey and McCarney. Dickey won over teams usually because he had superior talent. He didn't take chances and won most of the games he should have, but seldom beat a team with similar or better athletes. McCarney has a similar approach, but frankly there are few teams he can match athletes with. Hopefully, despite lack luster recruiting, he is slowly building his team up to the point that they can match up better with their peers.

[SilverEagle]

No. 2 – Can Derek Thompson get it done?

I’m sitting in a log cabin out in a state park in East Texas on vacation, pondering the future of UNT football. Ok, not really, but I am taking a couple of minutes to jump back on the blog to continue our off-season questions series.

Today, we ponder UNT’s quarterback situation and Derek Thompson.

Thompson put up some pretty impressive numbers last season, throwing for 2,649 yards and 14 touchdowns. He threw for 200 yards in seven straight games.

Was Thompson perfect? No.

No quarterback ever is.

Was he pretty good at times? Yeah.

Thompson threw for 333 yards against Louisiana-Monroe, 316 against Arkansas State and 282 yards against Louisiana-Lafayette, including hitting Antoinne Jimmerson with a short pass he turned into a 78-yard touchdown catch.

The problem was that Thompson also made a few key mistakes, including an interception Jonathan Dowling returned for a touchdown that turned the tide in a season-ending 25-loss to Western Kentucky.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/05/post-spring-questions-series-no-2-can-derek-thompson-get-it-done.html/

This post has been promoted to an article

Well, from the Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde, I'll take a few minutes to say that the answer to Vito's question is "probably not". All his passing numbers have more to do with the YAC abilities of some of the skill players last year, than his ability as a passer. I totally agree with GrayEagle's and BS58's comments on the subject. As I've said many times Mr. Thompson has some pretty-good-to-great games and then follows it up with terrible games. We cannot have a winning season with another bi-polar performance. And (FWIW) I didn't see anything in the spring to change my opinion on how he played last fall. At the end of spring, McNulty looked like a better option.

[meanrob]

Another article from Vito that doesn't really say much. As someone said, winning the quarterback battle doesn't mean anything.

My issue is not with DT playing quarterback. My issue is if he has another mediocre 4-6 games to start the year will Mac pull him and go with someone else the rest of the year? If not, our QB position is doomed for a long time.

For what it's worth, DT threw for only 15 yards less than Collin Klein and had only two less touchdowns.

Klein was a Heisman finalist, DT was a less than average Sun Belt QB.

[UNT90]

What happens when we are playing with a lead? See western Kentucky game after DT's pick six. No confidence to throw the ball.

And keep in mind, WKU was the last game of the season with nothing on the line. If you don't care about trying to build confidence in your QB while winning the game at the same time in that situation, you have zero confidence in your QB.

Terrible coaching decision, as was the bull headed refusal to even out the 1st down run/pass percentage last season. Was Mac just trying to shorten games to keep them close? That was the appearance.

But this is not unusual for Mac. His very first game against FIU, we didn't throw a 1st down pass until we were down by 28. It's a pattern, and one that I bet we see continue. Hope I'm wrong.

[KRAM1]

" I believe those who discount DT's ability to win this battle will be in for more than a few surprises."

You ENTIRELY miss the point. Winning our QB "battle" isn't the issue...it's winning games. If he's our "best" option, and that best option again has a 1:1 TD to INT ratio, we lose. Plain and simple.[/

At least he will win or lose in an open and fair competition. There will be no special considerations in his promotion to starter or not. The job will be won or lost based on ability.

But, since you want to seemingly argue with every post, let me just say...it is not me who is missing the point.

Hey...at least you didn't see anything racist in a post for a change...that's progress at least!

[ntmeangreen11]

Everyone remember the Troy St. game where he missed a wide open TE with no defender within 25 yards of him? Then remember the K-State game where it seemed like he completed 75% of his passes?

I have no idea, I have my doubts though especially with his inconsistency and the lack of improvement from 2011 to 2012.

Edited May 8, 2013 by ntmeangreen11

[emmitt01]

Another article from Vito that doesn't really say much. As someone said, winning the quarterback battle doesn't mean anything.

My issue is not with DT playing quarterback. My issue is if he has another mediocre 4-6 games to start the year will Mac pull him and go with someone else the rest of the year? If not, our QB position is doomed for a long time.

For what it's worth, DT threw for only 15 yards less than Collin Klein and had only two less touchdowns.

Klein was a Heisman finalist, DT was a less than average Sun Belt QB.

And Collin Klein was also a threat to make your defense pay with his legs. If DT ran like Collin Klein we would have no debate.

[meanrob]

And Collin Klein was also a threat to make your defense pay with his legs. If DT ran like Collin Klein we would have no debate.

I only put those stats in there to show that QBs with similar stats don't mean the QBs have similar results.

Believe me, I'm not saying DT is anywhere near Klein.

I'm skeptical but I hope DT proves me wrong this year.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Another article from Vito that doesn't really say much. As someone said, winning the quarterback battle doesn't mean anything.

My issue is not with DT playing quarterback. My issue is if he has another mediocre 4-6 games to start the year will Mac pull him and go with someone else the rest of the year? If not, our QB position is doomed for a long time.

For what it's worth, DT threw for only 15 yards less than Collin Klein and had only two less touchdowns.

Klein was a Heisman finalist, DT was a less than average Sun Belt QB.

Klein could run. And, football is a team game. K-State's defense was Top 20 agains the rush and Top 25 in point conceded. If your defense is doing its job, the offense is under much less pressure.

Derek is great. You love him.

[BillySee58]

Klein could run. And, football is a team game. K-State's defense was Top 20 agains the rush and Top 25 in point conceded. If your defense is doing its job, the offense is under much less pressure.

Derek is great. You love him.

Our defense was 61st in the nation in scoring defense, offense was 105th in the nation in scoring.

Defense gave up 27.8 points a game, which isn't that bad (middle of the pack for FBS teams). Our offense only scored more than 27.8 points in 2 games, and one of them was against FCS Texas Southern. The other was our 30 point "outbreak" against LaLa.

Make all the excuses you want, but that's terrible. Lord forbid we can't be involved in a shootout every now and then. Or at least a game where we can keep up with a team in the 30s.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Our defense was 61st in the nation in scoring defense, offense was 105th in the nation in scoring.

Defense gave up 27.8 points a game, which isn't that bad (middle of the pack for FBS teams). Our offense only scored more than 27.8 points in 2 games, and one of them was against FCS Texas Southern. The other was our 30 point "outbreak" against LaLa.

Make all the excuses you want, but that's terrible. Lord forbid we can't be involved in a shootout every now and then. Or at least a game where we can keep up with a team in the 30s.

True. I seem to have forgotten all that success we had in the shootouts during the Dodge Era. Age must be getting to me.

I also forget about all the shootouts the SEC schools have won during the last six or seven national title affairs. No one spreads it around on offense and puts defense on the backburner like the SEC schools.

[Stan R]

True. I seem to have forgotten all that success we had in the shootouts during the Dodge Era. Age must be getting to me.

I also forget about all the shootouts the SEC schools have won during the last six or seven national title affairs. No one spreads it around on offense and puts defense on the backburner like the SEC schools.

Let me ask you a Randy Galloway question regarding Derek T. Do you watch the damn games? All of those rainbow passes 5 yards over receivers heads with no discernable rushing pressure - that's just fine with you? All those times where DT is shuffling around for like 25 seconds looking completely lost with receivers running around all over the place - that's just fine as well? That's just receivers that can't get open, etc?

[greenminer]

THis is not an either/or argument. We need both DT (really, QB play in general) and the defense to improve.

[BillySee58]

True. I seem to have forgotten all that success we had in the shootouts during the Dodge Era. Age must be getting to me.

I also forget about all the shootouts the SEC schools have won during the last six or seven national title affairs. No one spreads it around on offense and puts defense on the backburner like the SEC schools.

I'm not asking for 2007 UNT vs Navy scores. All I'm saying is that we should be able to at least hang with teams and keep the ball games close when they score in the 30s and low 40s. Maybe not win, but at least feel like we have a chance.

Because our offense started so slow often last year, if our defense gave up points early we were done and we all knew it. Other than the LaLa game we had no come from behind wins, or games in which we were able to make interesting after falling behind for that matter. That has to change if we want to be competitive.

[MeanGreenTexan]

THis is not an either/or argument. We need both DT (really, QB play in general) and the defense to improve.

This guy gets it.

[BillySee58]

THis is not an either/or argument. We need both DT (really, QB play in general) and the defense to improve.

For sure! I just think 105th in the nation in scoring is inexcusable.

[Green P1]

True. I seem to have forgotten all that success we had in the shootouts during the Dodge Era. Age must be getting to me.

I also forget about all the shootouts the SEC schools have won during the last six or seven national title affairs. No one spreads it around on offense and puts defense on the backburner like the SEC schools.

So if our offense starts to not suck our defense will automatically revert to Dodge era mode?

[forevereagle]

True. I seem to have forgotten all that success we had in the shootouts during the Dodge Era. Age must be getting to me.

I also forget about all the shootouts the SEC schools have won during the last six or seven national title affairs. No one spreads it around on offense and puts defense on the backburner like the SEC schools.

Yeah, but those SEC schools are not allowing more points than they are scoring and at the differential that we are. If our defense stays at the same level, but our offense averages 10 more points per game, we are likely to have a winning record. We averaged 20.9 points per game this season. Only two SEC teams were below us in points per game (Auburn and Kentucky) and they both had a worse record than we did. In fact, only one team below us in PPG had a winning record (Michigan State) and they had to have the 9th best points allowed per game in order to get to 7-6. Seems to me that we need to do significantly better on offense and at least not get worse on defense.

Also of note, only Southern Miss and FAU, from our new conference, scored less than we did each game. Add to that Louisiana Tech had the highest PPG in FBS. Could be a problem in our new league.

Edited May 8, 2013 by forevereagle

[meangreendork]

Can DT get it done? Yes. If he's playing like he did against Kansas State.

Will he? I don't know. Consistency is an issue. 14TDs/14INTs isn't a good stat.

[Side Show Joe]

I watched DT under throw too many long passes at the spring game. I'm sure he is a good guy, but that doesn't improve his arm. If he wins the starting job, I don't think he will get it done.

[northtexassigep]

Great guy. not a great or even good QB. Once brocks hamstring heals up I hope he gets the nod

[Harry]

Who knows how Derek will respond to the internal competition he will face this year (MiniMac and Brock). He really hasn't had much since he's been the starter here. Competition can make you better. And let us not forget about young Dajon Williams who could surprise us.