USAToday College Football Countdown: #65 North Texas

[Christopher Walker]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/06/30/north-texas-mean-green-2014-countdown-preview-roster-depth-chart-schedule-football-four/11633619/

For those keeping score at home, that puts us on the cusp of the greater 64 teams in the sport; ranked ahead of 3 PAC-12, 5 B1G, 4 SEC, 8 MWC, 5 ACC, 10 9 MAC, 8 9 SunBelt, 7 AAC, 3 Big-12, 1 Independent and 9 of CUSA.

Oh and ranked ahead of 9 of our opponents for the season.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Christopher Walker

[MeanGreenD]

"No game is a clear-cut loss; yes, that even includes Texas, which will still be in the grind of a learning curve under Charlie Strong and the Longhorns' first-year staff. That's still a likely loss, obviously"

[Christopher Walker]

And to think, we jumped solidly from #113 last year to #65...

[TheTastyGreek]

And to think, we jumped solidly from #113 last year to #65...

Another 9 win season, and we're preseason top 20!

[UNTFan23]

What's up with the Texas Rangers batters starting with the letter 'M' in the middle of the article?

[elig57]

I think there are seven, and probably eight winnable games on the schedule. The only games I'm worried about are Texas, Indiana (they have some pretty good offense), Rice, and UTSA. That's going from what those teams did last year. If we can get 8-4 and pull off some of those other games (maybe Texas) I'll consider that a good season.

[Ben Gooding]

8-4 or bust. We very well could lose to Texas, Rice, Indiana, utsa/SMU. 4/5 of those are very winnable though. If we pull 2 W's out of those 5 and drop a game elsewhere (FAU), we are still 8-4. Schedule is too easy and momentum is too strong to accept anything less. If our staff can't go .400 against the competitive teams on the schedule then that's a problem. If we go .000 against the better teams then that's disastrous. 8-4 or bust. GMG

[greenminer]

I wonder how wacky Skladany is willing to get with the secondary to try and hide any potential weaknesses along the line.

Edited June 30, 2014 by greenminer

[Rudy]

I wonder how wacky Skladany is willing to get with the secondary to try and hide any potential weaknesses along the line.

Maybe we have a Samurai linebacker?

[wizade]

What did we rank in this poll during the 2001->2004 time frame?

[ColoradoEagle]

I love the 2013 recap.

[MeanGreenGlory]

#Hit8

[Harry]

Great write up! Guy clearly did his homework.

[GMG24]

Skladany will NOT get whacky. He wants his guys to understand simple assignments and play as fast as possible. That is how you take lesser athletes and equalize the talent disparity. Take thinking out and let them react and play. I would rather get torched because their athletes are just better, than have some crazy jacked up scheme not even our guys understand (see how well that worked for the Dallas Cowboys) and watch guys not get lined up right and get toasted time and time again. I am young but love old school line up and get after it football.

[JesseMartin]

If Indiana is like they were last year, they'll score 40 on us...and give up 50. (That is who I was thinking of, right? Scored a ton of points and still lost a lot?)

I was getting nervous about this ranking, I was afraid maybe they forgot us. Turns out we're just good

Edited June 30, 2014 by JesseMartin

[GOMG2013]

I wonder how wacky Skladany is willing to get with the secondary to try and hide any potential weaknesses along the line.

I'm going to assume you mean bringing safeties up in the box to help out the run. That is something we already do, so by getting wacky, we would be more blatant and man up on the wrs and have the safety come up and be more obvious that we are going to key on the run and make the QB beat us. The way we played against rice was daring the QB to beat us. I would also assume you mean more corner and safety bilitzes.

I expect to see some changes, but not many. We replaced 3 defensive coaches with guys who have more impressive resumes than the previous coach. I hope they will have more input. These new coaches have had pro experienced and worked with top athletes. I am hoping they will have an impact and there is more trust with our athleticism instead of just relying on scheme.

[Texas Stranger]

What's up with the Texas Rangers batters starting with the letter 'M' in the middle of the article?

The absence of Mickey Rivers sorta invalidates it. And I would take Mike Stanley over Marky Mac

[untjim1995]

I still see us at either 7-5 or 8-4...Potential losses at UT, Indiana, Rice, and UTSA, with the game against SMU as a 50/50 game (although I think we will beat them at home).

[pastorgrant]

At this point I think we will lose one we shouldn't but will beat SMU and pick up two among the UT, IU, Rice, UTSA games. Probably IU and UTSA.

I don't think we have an unwinnable game, so I don't agree with the ceilings some are suggesting for a dream season.

9-4 is probably going to be my get your rear on the record guess, but I want to see some fall workouts before I say officially.

[Harry]

Beating SMU trumps all else.

[JesseMartin]

Beating SMU trumps all else.

Even more than possibly finally getting one on UT? I would think that would be the most exciting start to a season since like...ever.

[Harry]

Even more than possibly finally getting one on UT? I would think that would be the most exciting start to a season since like...ever.

Yes but that is going to be a really tall order to pull that off on the road. Impossible no. Improbable. If that happened it would sort of be like a Mean Green Nirvana moment unlike anything we have EVER experienced. I really couldn't put into words a win like that and the subsequent impact would be. It's a road game and a paycheck game so losing it is not as painful.

Watching SMU win in Apogee is something I don't want to witness.

[JesseMartin]

I think we all agree with you, though if I had to pick one or the other, I think I'd trade another win over SMU, even as much as it would suck to lose at home, for one on the road against UT. Getting both and having our first-ever undefeated season would really be my absolute wish for the season, but I'm just saying if I had to pick one game to win for sure, and was going to get just that one...UT over SMU would be it.

[UNTeagle88]

What did we rank in this poll during the 2001->2004 time frame?

According to MasseyRatings we ranked #65 in 2004..

#64 Penn State

#66 UNLV

http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/arch/compare2004-0.htm

[Dr. Seuss]

"that task grew even harder with senior Quenton Brown's offseason ACL injury. Without Brown in the fold"

Brown tore is ACL again?

Edited July 2, 2014 by Dr. Seuss