Brett Vito Part I: Can UNT football maintain momentum

[MGNation92]

  On 6/3/2014 at 5:23 PM, GrayEagle said:

I certainly don't disagree that the UTSA game was the bitterest pill to swallow but I disagree that DT and Chico lost the game. They may have contributed but it was a meltdown for the defense as well.

Agreed. Having the DB's sit back 10 yards the entire game and letting them thow screens and other short passes. Drove down the field way to much and took way too much time. I honestly blame the loss more on the defense in the UTSA game

[BillySee58]

  On 6/3/2014 at 6:11 PM, MGNation92 said:

Agreed. Having the DB's sit back 10 yards the entire game and letting them thow screens and other short passes. Drove down the field way to much and took way too much time. I honestly blame the loss more on the defense in the UTSA game

They gave up 21 points. I know it was a team loss, I know they gave up a lot of 3rd down conversions, but if you can't score 21 points at home you have to be kicking yourself as the offense. Not to mention we blocked a punt and returned an int inside the 30 and got just 3 points at of that, combined. Also, our cbs played off all year. Allowed for our to stop getting beat deep as much as early in the year and allow our safeties to help out a lot in run support.

Wasn't the best game for the defense, and it was a team loss. But to give most of the blame to the defense on that one was and is still ridiculous.

Edited June 3, 2014 by BillySee58

[MeanGreenTexan]

  On 6/3/2014 at 6:30 PM, BillySee58 said:

They gave up 21 points. I know it was a team loss, I know they gave up a lot of 3rd down conversions, but if you can't score 21 points at home you have to be kicking yourself as the offense. Not to mention we blocked a punt and returned an int inside the 30 and got just 3 points at of that, combined. Also, our cbs played off all year. Allowed for our to stop getting beat deep as much as early in the year and allow our safeties to help out a lot in run support.

Wasn't the best game for the defense, and it was a team loss. But to give most of the blame to the defense on that one was and is still ridiculous.

Adding onto this, It helps when the CB's are quick enough to read a screen and blow by blocks for the tackle. Buyers was doing this all year.

It also helps when you have quick sideline-to-sideline LBs to assist and keep the play outside, & Lairamie Lee & Marcus Trice to come up and bust some heads.

I'm with Billy on this one.

[HoustonEagle]

  On 6/3/2014 at 6:30 PM, BillySee58 said:

They gave up 21 points. I know it was a team loss, I know they gave up a lot of 3rd down conversions, but if you can't score 21 points at home you have to be kicking yourself as the offense. Not to mention we blocked a punt and returned an int inside the 30 and got just 3 points at of that, combined. Also, our cbs played off all year. Allowed for our to stop getting beat deep as much as early in the year and allow our safeties to help out a lot in run support.

Wasn't the best game for the defense, and it was a team loss. But to give most of the blame to the defense on that one was and is still ridiculous.

Yep

[TIgreen01]

For me, I expected last year to be a good year going in---for basically all of the reasons that Vito mentions. I've never heard him come out and say this, but I'd bet Vito is a Phil Steele disciple, as well. Steele picks senior laden teams to win games. Whether or not they've shown the ability to do so in the past. He even picked our 2010 team (Dodge's last year) to be bowl eligible simply because it was so loaded with seniors. That team had a shot if it hadn't been bitten with the injury bug so badly.

Either way, I can't see this year's team winning games simply because they won them last year and now have the "no-how" or experience of winning to spur them on. I remember thinking that would be the case going into 2005, and got punched squarely in the face. The reality is that there are some players that you cannot easily replace. That year it was Brewster, Hall, Jones, Buckles, and Spencer. This year it is going to be DT, Brelan, Abbe, Orr, and Trice.

From the looks of things I expect DT and Abbe to be the toughest to replace this season. Orr's spot looks to be ok in Scott's hands and hopefully the combo of Warner and Evans can fill in for Trice capably enough. Brelan was electric, and will be hard to replace, but I think we do that with numbers. But who anchors the DL is a huge question mark. And then there's DT. I'm in the camp that he was a hot and cold QB with a ton of heart. Normally I'd think most teams would be able to replace him without expecting a huge drop-off, but in our case we come out of the spring with McNulty as our #1. I don't mean to slight the kid, but he scares the living crap out of me as a #1 due to all the bad turnovers we've seen from him when he's gotten into games.

I think the key to this season will be finding that replacement for DT. We don't need the QB to win games single-handedly for us. He just can't beat us with bad turnovers. Depending on how this question is answered, this year's team could finish 4-8, or 8-4. The schedule is easier than last year, so that should help.

Edited June 4, 2014 by TIgreen01

[Mean Green 93-98]

  On 6/4/2014 at 3:08 PM, TIgreen01 said:

I've never heard him come out and say this, but I'd bet Vito is a Phil Steele disciple, as well. Steele picks senior laden teams to win games. Whether or not they've shown the ability to do so in the past.

I think that's where Vito and Steele would differ. Vito always emphasizes that he'll believe in players who have shown they can do it. So if most of our starters had been sophomores last season, I think he'd be very high on our chances this next season, even if none of them were seniors.

Of course, Brett reads this board almost as religiously as the rest of us, so he's more than welcome to post for himself what his prediction philosophy is.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Mean Green 93-98