Second most improved offense (Phil Steele)

BillySee58 · July 19, 2013

In Phil Steele's preseason college football magazine he has our passing offense projected to be the 12th most improved in the country and our offense to be the 2nd most improved in the country in terms of points scored (interestingly behind Tulane). Steele also predicts that Berglund will be our qb.

I want to know, outside of who is under center for us, what are the keys to making this happen for our passing game to improve this much and our overall offense?

Harry · July 19, 2013

In Phil Steele's preseason college football magazine he has our passing offense projected to be the 12th most improved in the country and our offense to be the 2nd most improved in the country in terms of points scored (interestingly behind Tulane). Steele also predicts that Berglund will be our qb.
I want to know, outside of who is under center for us, what are the keys to making this happen for our passing game to improve this much and our overall offense?

DT should be improved just by virtue of tenure and experience in the system.

Berglund brings a running and ball release that is unlike we have had before.

We are three deep at QB where we basically had one last season when McNulty hurt his wrist.

We should have a better receiver corp with Terrell, healthy Chancellor, Loving, Kidsy, etc...

Practically the entire online returns

All of our top RB's return plus Pegram...

Our defense with the improved secondary should help the offense ie in limiting big plays they shouldn't have to score as much to win.....

MeanGreenTexan · July 19, 2013

In Phil Steele's preseason college football magazine he has our passing offense projected to be the 12th most improved in the country and our offense to be the 2nd most improved in the country in terms of points scored (interestingly behind Tulane). Steele also predicts that Berglund will be our qb.
I want to know, outside of who is under center for us, what are the keys to making this happen for our passing game to improve this much and our overall offense?

Year after year I've seen people get excited (myself included) about Phil Steele's predictions for UNT. I don't know if he attended UNT or has kinfolk who are alumni or something... but he REALLY likes UNT more than other football gurus.

His predictions look great on paper. UNT just needs to execute.

BillySee58 · July 19, 2013

Year after year I've seen people get excited (myself included) about Phil Steele's predictions for UNT. I don't know if he attended UNT or has kinfolk who are alumni or something... but he REALLY likes UNT more than other football gurus.

His predictions look great on paper. UNT just needs to execute.

Yeah, I can see that. I was just more curious on how we could see this prediction coming true. You know, with us being homers and all. I'm not saying I expect this to happen, I just want to hear what everyone thinks needs to happen in order for our offense to improve this much.

Great answer Harry!

aztecskin · July 19, 2013

The improvement will come from the passing game. Any time our run game suffered it was largely due to teams stacking the box and daring us to find open guys. We couldn't.* Brandin Byrd, Jimmerson, Brown were okay-to-really good. That is to say they had moments but weren't going to be mistaken for Lance. I figure with the additional year of experience for DT, or the bump in talent from Brock/McNulty will do us some good as will the similar bumps in talent/year of experience in the WR corps. I think the run game benefits from the space created and we see Moar Touchdowns.

*We all have strong opinions on who is to blame for this, but let's leave that aside for now.

PlummMeanGreen · July 19, 2013

Read Phil Steele's magazine credits, it's not just him praising UNT or any other school. Steele has what seems the most comprehensive research staff of writers of any college football magazine. Seems other magazines just throw the rest of us Go5 schools in a big fish bowl and mostly use the previous season's W/L records along with those who helped produce those records (who have since graduated) as their basis to rank our schools for this Fall.

Some CUSA schools are going to only win the summer sexy beauty contests from some C-USA coaches and other college football magazines just out on the news stands. For some of that group it will be a damn shame that they actually have to play the games this Fall with what could be results that hardly fit the summer predictions for their teams.

Again, UNT had 7 on Steele's C-USA all conference teams, ie, more than any single C-USA school. Include all that with:

(1) approx. 10 NCAA FBS transfers now elgible,

(2) the rest of our starters,

(3) a few key RS frosh coming forward and...

(4) maybe 2 or 3 true freshmen stepping up this Fall and then...

....we have the makings of a most interesting football season in MG Country, fellow alums and MG fans.

In fact, a season that I believe will get Coach Mac's tenure at North Texas officially jump-started.

:bling: And to our 2 or 3 non-UNT affiliated critics who have nothing else but to be our official GMG.com squatters; that is, those who seem to live and die on 3 star recruits reporting, (especially when they think it puts our school in a bad light..........anyhow........... just what about UNT's, Coach Mac & staff's successful & burgeoning HS Junior and Senior Days at Apogee Stadium along with their NCAA FBS level transfers pipeline that (quite frankly) have as much (or even more) promise as a 3 star recruit? I also have to wonder how many of our numerous NCAA FBS transfers we regularly seem to get at UNT were at least 3 star recruits at one time, too?

GMG!

Edited July 19, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

TIgreen01 · July 19, 2013

Well, part of the improvement is based on the speculation that we're not going to setup in a 2TE formation on every down this year. We'll have more receivers on the field and our OC and HC have claimed that we're going to run the QB more (to help open up the passing game).

For breaking down Phil Steele's prediction, though...it really comes down a lot to his individual power rankings (by team and unit on each team within a conference) and how CUSA has traditionally not defended the pass very well. Then you throw in that he's got Berglund starting and was a PS #12 QB coming out of high school. He's got Nick Montana as a PS #15 QB starting for Tulane---hence the jump in expected production for them, as well. I think he's giving us too much credit for Berglund, though. Unless that guy shows up in the fall with his hair on fire, we're looking at DT or McNulty and not the 12th best QB (coming out of HS).

Steele's mag is heaven for stats geeks as he provides TONS of them---so, most of hist predictions are based on statistical analysis and projecting trends. It's not perfect because in the end the game is played by human beings capable of out/under performing and injuries are nearly impossible to predict/account for--esp if they happen to an irreplaceable player.

PlummMeanGreen · July 19, 2013

Well, part of the improvement is based on the speculation that we're not going to setup in a 2TE formation on every down this year. We'll have more receivers on the field and our OC and HC have claimed that we're going to run the QB more (to help open up the passing game).

For breaking down Phil Steele's prediction, though...it really comes down a lot to his individual power rankings (by team and unit on each team within a conference) and how CUSA has traditionally not defended the pass very well. Then you throw in that he's got Berglund starting and was a PS #12 QB coming out of high school. He's got Nick Montana as a PS #15 QB starting for Tulane---hence the jump in expected production for them, as well. I think he's giving us too much credit for Berglund, though. Unless that guy shows up in the fall with his hair on fire, we're looking at DT or McNulty and not the 12th best QB (coming out of HS).

Steele's mag is heaven for stats geeks as he provides TONS of them---so, most of hist predictions are based on statistical analysis and projecting trends. It's not perfect because in the end the game is played by human beings capable of out/under performing and injuries are nearly impossible to predict/account for--esp if they happen to an irreplaceable player.

Mostly agree...

I've communicated with a couple on this board who know college talent when they see it who say Brock Bergland has the intangible "it" working for him. It does remain for him to keep "it" working on a consistent basis but he brings a dimension to our offense we've not seen in awhile. We are over-due a HS players with great HS credentials and multi-recruiting services stars to bring them all to Denton, Texas, and to bring them to full fruition at a college level....we are way over-due matter of fact.

Best case scenario is if our #7 Derek Thompson in his senior year puts together a "career year" for himself and the team. Haven't we all seen in past decades what would be an average or just above average QB his first 3 or so years simply turn it up a knotch and put it all together his final year?

DT is not chopped liver by any means and with the right offensive game plan that utilizes his passing strengths, his offensive line of which 2 of those made Phil Steele's CUSA all conference teams, his running backs by committee and what many think could be a more than adequate receiving corps; anyway, all this could be something special for all concerned this Fall. I like the fact that we will have 3 QBs coming to Fall camp in a few weeks because that will never be considered a negative.

GMG!

Edited July 19, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

akriesman · July 19, 2013

I remember a DD conversation with the media before the 2001 season (pretty sure it was that year). DD mentioned that he had been redshirting players his first few years to stack his roster to make a run in his 4th season, which is when they turned things around.

I wonder if Mac is basically doing the same thing. The HS recruiting classes themselves have not been strong. But, our team has a chance to come together this year by the sheer numbers of returning starters, transfers, redshirts, etc.

I am not saying this is the case. But, I very clearly remember DD making those statements, just before NT went on its 3 year run. And, things seem to be aligning pretty well for this season, intentional or not.