Future Games

[UNTexas]

I was looking at the future games for this season and there have been some surprises. UTSA appears to be solid. Any thoughts? Anyone have any insight about UTEP? UTSA as well? These are both must wins in my book. Not to overlook our next games either... The MUTS are always a great opponent for us too. I would like to hear from people that have better coverage of some of our future foes then we get locally in the Metroplex.

[JesseMartin]

I think it's more about availing yourself of the amalgam of information. This early in the season, the best guess is based on performance (in wins AND losses) against opponents as well as how those opponents have fared, since most teams haven't had any common opponents. So look at the offensive and defensive power and then review the strength of the opponents they faced based on the other teams their opponents have faced.

The guys on here who have been following football forever can help more with particular matchups in terms of position talent and such. But in terms of competition gestalt, hey, one of the things that made me more interested in football was the math. So I'd say if we don't play sloppy, UTEP should be a pretty solid game based on what we know so far. UTSA has looked decent but not great thus far and has been more competitive than expected, so I really expect that to be within a TD even though we're at home. With MTSU, you can throw out all of the stats because that's a grudge match on the verge of a rivalry and we always play each other like crazy no matter how good the other team looks that season. Tulane is a tough one to review because of who they have played (odd set of opponents based on expected strengths pre-season), but similar to the UTSA game I would expect it to be pretty close. La Tech, SMiss and Tulsa all seem weaker than expected but it's tough to know if they are just slow at building momentum.

Right now, since hardly anyone has had common opponents, it's harder to gauge the season but just by looking at numbers and opponents' strength, the toughest games appear to be Rice, Tulane, UTSA, and MTSU. After a couple of weeks of conference play, it will be easier to statistically evaluate each game but right now this is how I'd view them. I expected a lot more out of the other teams and figured we'd have a hard transition into CUSA but thus far I haven't seen anywhere near the level of competition I expected out of them.

[meangreanmick]

I was looking at the future games for this season and there have been some surprises. UTSA appears to be solid. Any thoughts? Anyone have any insight about UTEP? UTSA as well? These are both must wins in my book. Not to overlook our next games either... The MUTS are always a great opponent for us too. I would like to hear from people that have better coverage of some of our future foes then we get locally in the Metroplex.

I think UTSA is playing way better than anyone expected, probably our next toughest game behind Rice - possibly Tulsa if they get it together. I am glad that is at home. It doesn't matter how long you have been playing football, it just matters what kind of team you put on the field in the season at hand. I suspect you will see at FAU type dropoff once the newness wears off after a few seasons, but for now UTSA is not a gimmee.

[MeanGreenDadx2]

UTSA is playing better than expected to this point. But given that their football is relatively new (3 years?), their depth is a concern for them. If the injury bug bites them before we play them November 23rd, the lack of depth could really hurt their record whereas we have more depth and can adjust to injuries with qualified replacements.

[Green P1]

Future games = #winsthatjusthaventhappenedyet

[EagleGreen]

I think UTEP and UTSA are playing entirely better than everyone thought but not as good as they would have hoped...just like us. I think we will score a win over both but they could be very interesting games.

[UNT90]

The only future game is Tulane.

[7travis5]

The only future game is Tulane.

For the football team. I think we have the right to project ahead. We aren't the ones suiting up.

[Green Dozer]

For the football team. I think we have the right to project ahead. We aren't the ones suiting up.

True, but they don't need to read some of this stuff here and get caught up in the euphoria. We all need to worry about the next game and enjoy the ride and view. I want to also see something that has not happened since '04 and that is a 2 game winning streak. Anybody remember what happened last time we got caught up in overhyping something: #Ntfansgetdisappointedagain

Edited September 23, 2013 by Green Dozer

[UNT90]

Man, I can just see the verbal wrist slashing that will occur here if we lose to Tulane, which is entirely possible, and history would suggest probable.

It would make me look like the eternal optimist.

You people are talking like this game is in the bag. That is complete BS.

This team has crapped itself on the road for the entirety of Mac's tenure. Offensively, we have a different game plan on the road than at home. It's called the "keep it close by running on as many 1st downs as possible." I'm not geeky enough to go back and look at ever game in Mac's tenure, but I bet if one did, they would see at least a 70% run to pass ratio on 1st downs in away games, with us being much more aggressive at home.

Do this against Tulane, and you guarantee a close game in the 4th qtr. problem is, we should be blowing them out in the 4th qtr.

This team and coaching staff has yet to prove they know how to win on the road.

Hopefully, this starts a week from Satirday, but it is FAR from a certainty.

[UNTFan23]

Man, I can just see the verbal wrist slashing that will occur here if we lose to Tulane, which is entirely possible, and history would suggest probable.

It would make me look like the eternal optimist.

You people are talking like this game is in the bag. That is complete BS.

This team has crapped itself on the road for the entirety of Mac's tenure. Offensively, we have a different game plan on the road than at home. It's called the "keep it close by running on as many 1st downs as possible." I'm not geeky enough to go back and look at ever game in Mac's tenure, but I bet if one did, they would see at least a 70% run to pass ratio on 1st downs in away games, with us being much more aggressive at home.

Do this against Tulane, and you guarantee a close game in the 4th qtr. problem is, we should be blowing them out in the 4th qtr.

This team and coaching staff has yet to prove they know how to win on the road.

Hopefully, this starts a week from Satirday, but it is FAR from a certainty.

[UNT90]

You're right.

Please continue the inane celebration of a 24 point loss.

Edited September 23, 2013 by UNT90

[UNTFan23]

You're right.

Please continue the inane celebration of a 24 point loss.

I'm not celebrating the loss. I do see room for hope that we may legitimately actually see a .500 or better season this year. That could change in an instance but it's the best we've seen in almost 9 years now.

[GOMG2013]

True, but they don't need to read some of this stuff here and get caught up in the euphoria. We all need to worry about the next game and enjoy the ride and view. #Ntfansgetdisappointedagain

They also dont need to get on here and read posts that are predicting a possible choke either. If they logged on, im sure they would be looking for posts that would pump them up, like bowl projections and having a special season.

[untjim1995]

You're right.

Please continue the inane celebration of a 24 point loss.

UNT90, I usually agree with your posts, but you really are being negative and argumentative for the sake of being a contrarian. If you don't want to see anything good from competing for almost 4 full quarters with a Top Ten SEC team on road in the 4TH GAME OF THE SEASON (not the first game where you can sneak up on inexperienced teams), so be it. But we gave Georgia fits well into the 4th quarter. Georgia has NFL talent everywhere--as a matter of fact, they are probably a top five team in CFB. If they had won at Clemson, they would probably be #2 right now. Alabama, Oregon, and Clemson are the only teams that are better than Georgia right now. I think they will throttle LSU at home this weekend. Mark Richt wanted to rest his guys after the 1st half and couldn't do it because we stood up and fought with them. The last 10 points they got, especially that last TD, were really needed for them not to lose spots in the polls that have ridiculous voters who only look at scores.

I totally agree with the Tulane premise, though. If we $hit the bed against Tulane, all of the local media and fan buzz that we felt will vaporize. We have seen this happen a few other times before--in 1997 after losing to a top ten A&M team in a closer than expected game, we lost to Idaho and Boise State (before they were good) and Nevada. Simon got fired at the end of the year. In 1999, after we beat Texas Tech--again--in Lubbock, we followed it up with a bad loss at baylor, a Baylor team that won less than 3 games, IIRC. And, of course, the KSU game from last year got followed up by a turd of a game at home against Troy. I still think we beat Tulane in NO, though. We are better than them and if we play like we should, we will take care of business. Its the other two October road games where I can see a stumble or two. But I was greatly encouraged by the effort and the talent we displayed on Saturday in Athens. We look like a college football team at the FBS level--even during our SBC championship run, I always felt that we looked small compared to other non-SBC teams. But I think we look the part now, just without the depth on the lines that we need. But I think the thing that is almost stealth to so many around here is the strength and conditioning of this team, especially on the lines. This is just another reason as to why McCarney was a solid hire to build us back up from the Dodge ashheap.

Edited September 25, 2013 by untjim1995

[UNT90]

They also dont need to get on here and read posts that are predicting a possible choke either. If they logged on, im sure they would be looking for posts that would pump them up, like bowl projections and having a special season.

It's a message board for a team that had not only lost, but lost badly for most of the last 8 years.

If they want sunshine and puppy dogs, may I suggest they log on to Goaggie.com or whatever the hell their site is.

This is a fan message board, not cheer leading practice.

[KRAM1]

Future games = #winsthatjusthaventhappenedyet

What would I have to do to get you to stop this hash tag thing. The words "running something into the ground" come to mind. Just sayin....

Ok, and no fair brining up some of my recurring themes...not fair at all!

[UNT90]

UNT90, I usually agree with your posts, but you really are being negative and argumentative for the sake of being a contrarian. If you don't want to see anything good from competing for almost 4 full quarters with a Top Ten SEC team on road in the 4TH GAME OF THE SEASON (not the first game where you can sneak up on inexperienced teams), so be it. But we gave Georgia fits well into the 4th quarter. Georgia has NFL talent everywhere--as a matter of fact, they are probably a top five team in CFB. If they had won at Clemson, they would probably be #2 right now. Alabama, Oregon, and Clemson are the only teams that are better than Georgia right now. I think they will throttle LSU at home this weekend. Mark Richt wanted to rest his guys after the 1st half and couldn't do it because we stood up and fought with them. The last 10 points they got, especially that last TD, were really needed for them not to lose spots in the polls that have ridiculous voters who only look at scores.

I totally agree with the Tulane premise, though. If we $hit the bed against Tulane, all of the local media and fan buzz that we felt will vaporize. We have seen this happen a few other times before--in 1997 after losing to a top ten A&M team in a closer than expected game, we lost to Idaho and Boise State (before they were good) and Nevada. Simon got fired at the end of the year. In 1999, after we beat Texas Tech--again--in Lubbock, we followed it up with a bad loss at baylor, a Baylor team that won less than 3 games, IIRC. And, of course, the KSU game from last year got followed up by a turd of a game at home against Troy. I still think we beat Tulane in NO, though. We are better than them and if we play like we should, we will take care of business. Its the other two October road games where I can see a stumble or two. But I was greatly encouraged by the effort and the talent we displayed on Saturday in Athens. We look like a college football team at the FBS level--even during our SBC championship run, I always felt that we looked small compared to other non-SBC teams. But I think we look the part now, just without the depth on the lines that we need. But I think the thing that is almost stealth to so many around here is the strength and conditioning of this team, especially on the lines. This is just another reason as to why McCarney was a solid hire to build us back up from the Dodge ashheap.

We were down 14 points going into the 4th quarter and unable to move the ball on offense. If you had said competing for 2 1/2 quarters, I would have agreed with you. We were not competitive for 4 full quarters.

Not being a contrarian. Look at the stats for the game. Stats take the emotion out of it. Those stats do not scream "competitive."

As a matter of fact, they don't even whisper it.

Lose against Tulane and it's "same ole North Texas" from the news media, who are just DYING to give us ANY good publicity. We just need to take advantage.

Beat Tulane, beat MTSU, beat La. Tech,. and I'm officially excited.

[GOMG2013]

It's a message board for a team that had not only lost, but lost badly for most of the last 8 years.

So, this current team is going to, or possibly will choke because of what some players and coaches did 8 years ago?

You make some valid points in some posts, but using reasons from years ago makes no sense.

The proving you can win on the road and playcalling...I am with you on that. Those are issues THIS team has.

[UNT90]

So, this current team is going to, or possibly will choke because of what some players and coaches did 8 years ago?

You make some valid points in some posts, but using reasons from years ago makes no sense.

The proving you can win on the road and playcalling...I am with you on that. Those are issues THIS team has.

If what this program has been through the last 8 years didn't matter, you wouldn't here Mac talk constantly about changing the culture.

Losing begets losing, and that is a very hard culture to change.

[GOMG2013]

If what this program has been through the last 8 years didn't matter, you wouldn't here Mac talk constantly about changing the culture.

Losing begets losing, and that is a very hard culture to change.

I cant argue with that.

But im sure you can see that some issues have been addressed from last year's team and previous years.

Special teams, DL, ability to play nickel, DT, conservative play calling, wrs, and depth were issues coming into the season. We have improvement in all those areas and that is why people are optimistic. (and the fact that cusa teams are not that good)

I also get where you are coming from. We were almost 1-3. You see that we are still leaving plays on the field. You actually see that this team could be doing MORE.

You see the mistakes that could come back and get us, and I agree. After Idaho, we thought the playcalling would be different. Go to Ohio, and here comes the conservative play calling and giving up big plays. It gets fixed in the 2nd half, too little, too late. Good showing though. We learned our lesson. Ball State...open up with big plays given up, and bad playcalling again. What? I thought we learned our lesson? Made adjustments in the second half and pulled this one out.

On to Georgia. Gave up big plays, but they showed some grit and tied it up. Still left sime chances out there on offense, and we are still rolling thise same guys out there that have been giving up big plays. Has anything changed?

What happens if we come out conservative against Tulane? Deep down it seems like Mac still wants this to be a smash mouth running team. If we come out slow and give up big plays on the road, we could be down 14-0 easily. Has Mac truly learned his lesson with that conservative crap? Will the new corners prevent the big plays?

Uh oh...UNT90 is slowly turning me

Edited September 26, 2013 by GOMG2013

[UNT90]

Nothing to be excited about yet. We are in the sane position we were in last year when we played Troy St. at home after the K St. game. We lost to Troy at home and pissed away the season.

Things haven't changed until they change. They haven't changed.

Yet.

EDIT: keep your eye on what we do against Tulane on 1st down in the 1st qtr. If we continually beat our head against a 9 man front, expect a long afternoon and disappointment for the Mean Green nation.

Edited September 26, 2013 by UNT90

[MeanGreenTexan]

Nothing to be excited about yet. We are in the sane position we were in last year when we played Troy St. at home after the K St. game. We lost to Troy at home and pissed away the season.

Things haven't changed until they change. They haven't changed.

Yet.

EDIT: keep your eye on what we do against Tulane on 1st down in the 1st qtr. If we continually beat our head against a 9 man front, expect a long afternoon and disappointment for the Mean Green nation.

We didn't do this against Georgia. And if there were ever a game on this year's schedule where it would be ideal to play conservative and establish a run-game-clock-chewing offense, that was the game (like last year's K-State game). I'm hoping the days of ineffectively running the ball into a 8-9 man front are long gone.

I'm not saying we never ran the ball on first down into a stacked box VS Georgia. That happened. It was not effective. But I think that is going to be part of the 'balanced' attack we're seeing. We're going to run the ball and establish the run. That's just old-school football, and that's the way Mac coaches. So, I would not be surprised to see us run the ball on 1st down 1/2 of the time (maybe even more) in the 1st quarter. Hopefully, it's effective... I'm 99% sure it will be against a 4-2-5, because if you're stacking the box with that defensive format, you're stacking with undersized safeties and stuff. Not big linebackers.

[untjim1995]

We were down 14 points going into the 4th quarter and unable to move the ball on offense. If you had said competing for 2 1/2 quarters, I would have agreed with you. We were not competitive for 4 full quarters.

Not being a contrarian. Look at the stats for the game. Stats take the emotion out of it. Those stats do not scream "competitive."

As a matter of fact, they don't even whisper it.

Lose against Tulane and it's "same ole North Texas" from the news media, who are just DYING to give us ANY good publicity. We just need to take advantage.

Beat Tulane, beat MTSU, beat La. Tech,. and I'm officially excited.

Stats don't show heart or effort, which were both on display in Athens against a behemoth of a team, in NFL-lite Georgia. We won't play another team that good for a long time, thank God--Texas next year will be so much softer than Georgia or LSU or Alabama or any other SEC power. Iowa in 2015 will be waaayyyy slower than any of those teams, too. Who knows about Tennessee, but they will probably find their way back by the time we play them. BUt the point is that we won't have to face a program with that combo of size, depth, talent, and atmosphere for a while. To see us fight Georgia for 4 quarters at their place, enough to garner much interest from many points was something I haven't seen from a UNT team since we lost at Texas in 2002 or at Oklahoma in 2003.

You act like we should have been able to beat Georgia. By reading your posts, I would have thought that this game was 45-0 in the 3rd quarter and we scored three scrub TDs on their walk-ons to make it 45-21 in the 4th quarter. That is the exact opposite of what happened. I totally agree with you about Tulane and all the other CUSA teams we play, but to not look at this Georgia game and see major progress is just trying to nitpick, IMO. I realize the parallels are there from last year after we played K-State well, but that team, even though they were ranked #1 at one point, wasn't as good as this Georgia team. This UGA team would have mauled that KSU team from last year, just from a size and speed standpoint. I'm hoping that DT and the rest of the team will show us how much they have matured by not letting up against the Tulanes and La Techs of the world. So, in that regard, we are in total agreement.

[GOMG2013]

Trying to establish the run first is a mistake. We have come out slow by doing this. We thought we could manhandle ball state because they were undersized and had young linebackers. Even a weak team can stop the run with extra men in the box.

We dont have team that can line up and punch somebody in the mouth, even when they know its coming. Only a few teams in college football can pull that off.

The 4-2-5 sounds good from our standpoint, but if our runs are not disguised, those safeties are going to come up and still stop the run. We better have brelan out wide and take advantage of the one on one matchup like teams have been doing to us.