New Starting QB at ATM..

Ben Gooding · August 29, 2014

Kenny Hill threw for a school record 511 yards last night versus SC. He had 22 career pass attempts going into this game, tonight he had 60. 44/60 to be exact. My point is that a practical brand new QB stepped in and outperformed his predecessor. Could we see the same thing for us this season (not 511 yards, but an improvement at QB).

On a side note..just goes to show that ATM (Sumlin) has an offensive system in place that allows whatever QB they plug in to have success. I wish that Mac would wipe the cobwebs away from his brow and take notice of what a system such as this can do.

oldguystudent · August 29, 2014

Mac's strategy isn't an airshow. It never has been, and it never will be. Mac's game is one of wearing down the opponent on both sides of the line. I didn't really get this until about halfway through the season last year. Unless we're playing FCS, we're just not going to see any early game free for alls. Sorry it's not entertaining to the @twitter generation, but it's proving to win games.

We've had the airshow in Denton. If I never see such a thing ever again so long as I shall live, it'll be too soon.

UNT90 · August 29, 2014

Kenny Hill threw for a school record 511 yards last night versus SC. He had 22 career pass attempts going into this game, tonight he had 60. 44/60 to be exact. My point is that a practical brand new QB stepped in and outperformed his predecessor. Could we see the same thing for us this season (not 511 yards, but an improvement at QB).
On a side note..just goes to show that ATM (Sumlin) has an offensive system in place that allows whatever QB they plug in to have success. I wish that Mac would wipe the cobwebs away from his brow and take notice of what a system such as this can do.

It might help just a bit that they are plugging in 4 and 5 star recruits at the QB position.

Maybe?

C Vo · August 29, 2014

Yep, his performance last night didn't surprise me at all. I've seen him compete as an athlete since he was about 6 or 7, mainly playing on select baseball teams.

He's the main reason why SLC won a State Championship his junior year in football. To me he's a better fit in Sumlin's Offensive system than Johnny was the last several years. I loved the stunned look on the S/ Carolina fans faces early in the game last night. I have the SEC channel on my cable and now I'm going to watch as many games as I can this season. I'm glad College Football season has arrived.

Ben Gooding · August 29, 2014

I'm aware of what Mac likes to do. Managed correctly a system like atm's is deadly. Macs style is never, ever going to put away a power, ever. The powers have the bigs to keep our O at bay. I'm not referring to the air raid, I'm referring to making dink and dunk passing as an extension of your running game. Put your guys in space and see if the D can tackle in open space. Apparently SC can't.,

golfingomez · August 29, 2014

I'm aware of what Mac likes to do. Managed correctly a system like atm's is deadly. Macs style is never, ever going to put away a power, ever. The powers have the bigs to keep our O at bay. I'm not referring to the air raid, I'm referring to making dink and dunk passing as an extension of your running game. Put your guys in space and see if the D can tackle in open space. Apparently SC can't.,

I'm just going to assume that you weren't here for the Dodge years correct?

LongJim · August 29, 2014

ATM looked pretty salty last night. Keep in mind that SC started two freshman CBs last night and lost 3 of their starting DLs to graduation--including Clowney.

Secondly, Sumlin is running a type of offense that the SEC isn't used to seeing that often. They will catch up with it eventually. He is wearing defenses out with it right now though.

Regardless--the ags destroyed the ball coach on his home field last night.

Eagle1855 · August 29, 2014

It works well until you face a defense that knows how to tackle, play fundamentally sound football. Then they start shutting down options, hurrying the decision making process for the QB and it falls apart (see LSU, last season).

Sumlin has a ton of talent on that team. If they can figure out the secondary, they're probably a 10-win team.

UNTFan23 · August 29, 2014

Replay of the game starts at 11:30 on the SEC Network according to the ESPN3 website.

BillySee58 · August 29, 2014

It might help just a bit that they are plugging in 4 and 5 star recruits at the QB position.
Maybe?

But it's still comparable. They're replacing a Heisman Trophy Winner with a 4-star. We're replacing a middle of the pack CUSA qb (statistically), so we don't need a 4-star qb to upgrade our qb position. We just need more success passing the ball.

Cerebus · August 29, 2014

Hill had a redshirt year to sit and learn the offense. That is a huge difference.

buff64 · August 29, 2014

The Aggie running game was outstanding also.

Ben Gooding · August 29, 2014

I am just pointing out that ATM looked sharp and SC's secondary looked putrid. Also, we will not run through the big boys with our style of offense. And, no, I wasn't hear for the Dodge era, thank God. I am here for now and until I'm 6 feet under.

BillySee58 · August 29, 2014

I'm just going to assume that you weren't here for the Dodge years correct?

I think the Dodge era scared many UNT fans away from an opened up offense. A lot of you guys synonomize opened-up offenses with giving up 60+ points and turning the ball over 5 times a game. We can run a little more uptempo, spread things out more, open up the passing game, and score more points and it wouldn't automatically mean our defense would get worse as a result or that we'd throw more interceptions.

And Ben has a point. Passing game is the great equalizer when it comes to non power programs playing the big boys. You're not going to line up and run for 300 yards on them. We can have a steady, solid rushing attack. But ultimately we're going to have to throw the ball to score touchdowns and beat those teams. That's how it's been done in the past by smaller programs.

golfingomez · August 29, 2014

I am just pointing out that ATM looked sharp and SC's secondary looked putrid. Also, we will not run through the big boys with our style of offense. And, no, I wasn't hear for the Dodge era, thank God. I am here for now and until I'm 6 feet under.

here's the offense you want to run then

http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/249/year/2008/north-texas-mean-green

looking at those stats, we managed 8.9 yards per completion... we ran more bubble screens under Dodge than I have seen any team do... ever... combined...

we also won one game that year... against Western Kentucky... a team that had just moved to FBS football

BillySee58 · August 29, 2014

So in the last three years we've played three perennial national power programs (Alabama, LSU, Georgia). In those games we have scored 3 offensive touchdowns. All 3 have been passing touchdowns, with 0 rushing touchdowns.

But over the past 3 seasons, excluding those 3 games, we've rushed for 67 touchdowns against just 41 passing touchdowns. We clearly score most of our tds on the ground, but we haven't scored any on the ground against those teams. Hard to imagine us rushing for 3 or more touchdowns against Texas, as their front 7 (especially d-line) is pretty stout.

We're going to need at least 3 touchdowns to win. We have a great line and backs to help us move the ball into scoring range, but history says throwing the ball is our best bet at getting in the endzone. Can't wait for this game!

Edited August 29, 2014 by BillySee58

forevereagle · August 29, 2014

I am not a fan of spread offenses.

What spread teams have won it all?

These air raid, spread teams are contenders for National titles or even just BCS titles every year, but always fall because they run into a team built to stop them. Then they end up beating someone like Duke in some mid-tier bowl like the Chick-Fil-A Bowl and everyone thinks that they are.

See: 2013 Baylor Bears, 2012 Oregon Ducks, all the Texas Tech Mike Leach teams, the (2011? 2010?) Houston Cougar football team...

Malzahn is really the only one who has had success with no-huddle up tempo, and that's because his offense is incredibly complex based off of trickery and power football.

I much prefer Mac and Canales's grind-it-out, play-action, trick play run-first offense. It works.

The problem many of those teams had/have is not the offense, but rather the complete lack of a defense. If the coaches of those teams spent a little time recruiting and game planning defense, results would likely be different.

Army of Dad · August 29, 2014

I am not a fan of spread offenses.

What spread teams have won it all?

These air raid, spread teams are contenders for National titles or even just BCS titles every year, but always fall because they run into a team built to stop them. Then they end up beating someone like Duke in some mid-tier bowl like the Chick-Fil-A Bowl and everyone thinks that they are.

See: 2013 Baylor Bears, 2012 Oregon Ducks, all the Texas Tech Mike Leach teams, the (2011? 2010?) Houston Cougar football team...

Malzahn is really the only one who has had success with no-huddle up tempo, and that's because his offense is incredibly complex based off of trickery and power football.

I much prefer Mac and Canales's grind-it-out, play-action, trick play run-first offense. It works.

The Gators were running a spread (read option driven, but still a spread) when they won it all last time. Muschamp shows up and goes to a pro style and goes from SEC defense to Big 12 and the Gators begin to suck.

You can throw the ball and win. You almost always have to when you are trying to punch above your weight class.

Winning > Losing, but there is more than one way to go about doing it.

emmitt01 · August 29, 2014

It works well until you face a defense that knows how to tackle, play fundamentally sound football. Then they start shutting down options, hurrying the decision making process for the QB and it falls apart (see LSU, last season).

Sumlin has a ton of talent on that team. If they can figure out the secondary, they're probably a 10-win team.

The way Bama shut down Oklahoma last year?

Eagle1855 · August 29, 2014

The way Bama shut down Oklahoma last year?

More like the way Texas shut down Oklahoma last year.

Mean_Green09 · August 29, 2014

The way Bama shut down Oklahoma last year?

When you defend a spread team you have to win a lot with your front four. Alabama is not a great team at rushing the passer. They ranked like 78th and sacks per game. Thats why they struggled against OU. Couldnt get pressure on big bad Trevor Knight

BillySee58 · August 29, 2014

Air Raid rarely wins consistently.

Yeah, I'm definitely not a fan of the air raid. But offenses who can spread the field and get their backs, receivers, and even qbs consistently in the open field on run and pass plays are my favorite.

Travis · August 29, 2014

I was under the impression that our ratio of run-to-pass was fairly even... no?

LongJim · August 29, 2014

LOL...we go through this every year. A team scores a lot of points with the run and shoot against a team that doesn't face it every week, and suddenly "why aren't we doing that".