All Activity

There is no magical change Morris can do that will make this defense solid. Firing Caponi isn’t going to help the defense start playing better. Morris brought Caponi here to run the 3-3-5. He’s not going to fire him until he has the personal to properly run the defense. They’re obviously trying different looks to switch things up. We’ve run way more 4 man fronts the last 2 games, but still getting gashed. We just don’t have enough FBS caliber players on defense. No defensive scheme is going to change that. Ranting that heads should already be rolling after a few games is just typical illogical fan behavior.

Good points. I feel pretty good about the offense, but the defense has some concerns. Inconsistency is the biggest concern for me.

So I know that we scored two touchdowns but I am starting to wonder if Ward has questionable hands. Both TD passes were bobbled and he was lucky to pull them in. Credit for maintaining his concentration and completing them but a tighter coverage and those are incomplete. I seem to recall some other similar moments with him. Does that track with others’ observations?

We replaced an Air Raid coach who went 24-18 in his first 42 games at HC with an Air Raid coach who went 24-18 in his first 42 games at HC in the FCS. And I'm not saying that everyone who has the same philosophy or comes from the same coaching tree is the same. I think mostly UNT has been TOO reactionary with their hires, trying to always spin a 180, until this most recent hire. I'm just seeing a lot of the same things I've been seeing. I think he's set us up for better recruiting, so there's that. And I don't feel like we're getting as many penalties, which would be a combination of the players' makeups and position coaches' teaching of technique. I LIKE Coach Morris. He seems candid and realistic. But I'm not impressed with our level of Xs and Os or with the roster we've started the season with. And that's the job. As far as him being able to elevate our program, I don't see it. I don't know what he's bringing to the table that's different than what we've had before.

Morris seems like a down to earth guy, and I like him personally. But, as a coach, I think he's in over his head a little. Until he steps up and actually figures out how to address the defensive failings, UNT will continue to struggle for wins. And he will be no better than an average coach, at best. Most of these Leach coaches struggle to field real defenses. That's why most get fired and end up back as OC's. I was really hoping Morris would be different. It's not too late yet. But it is his choice to make.

My observation last night was that neither of our lines were doing a very good job. Our DL got handled and just generally pushed around (lots of running yards up the middle). And our OL did not push their DL around too much. When it came to going purely up the middle. We didn't do very well.

I'm not a fan of Dilfer's behavior yesterday. Sure they made a bad mistake, but making a spectacle of himself in the middle of the game is a bad look for their program. If I'm a recruit or the parent of a recruit, that wouldn't sit well with me. I'd never want to see Morris berate coaches or players on the sideline like that. In my opinion, Morris should have dealt with Caponi during the bye week. But as we can see from the defensive performance last night, he did not.

His job. As head coach, it's his responsibility to insure we don't have the worst of anything in all of the FBS. For 5 straight weeks we have endured the worst overall defense in the FBS, No FBS defense is giving up more points, or rushing yards. We are entering the 6th week of the season. Practicing tackling and running a few other defensive looks on the field isn't working (ACU should never be able to score 31 on UNT's defense). It is obvious to everyone paying attention that the 3-3-5 shouldn't be our base defense. Can UNT use it in situations? Sure. But, it isn't working as our standard scheme. This season doesn't have to be a loss. Caponi doesn't have to continue as our defensive coordinator. He has failed at the job. Morris needs to reassign him for the rest of the season, and promote or bring in a coach with successful experience as a DC. Our offense is among the best in college football, and can probably post big numbers on most of the other AAC teams. Unfortunately, our offense is currently preforming double duty as our best defense too, and Morris needs to acknowledge that fact and make the adjustments so that the defense will pull their own weight on this team. Rogers is good at keeping our defense off the field by managing the short passing game and sustaining drives with his feet and our running game. Imagine what this offense could do if they were free to push the tempo and stretch the defenses more. Unfortunately, our lack of defense prevents our offense from being as good as they could be. As long as Morris allows this gameplan to mask the failing of our defense, then he is choosing to shortchange half of his team and the Mean Green fans. I hope I've answered you question.

Good UNT teams will bring the fans out. Think about the Mason Fine days. Fun times. So long ago.

How do I feel about Morris? I feel like we had the starters in on offense until the final whistle against an FCS team because we didn’t put them away until the very end. Generally I agree with your points above. For me, #4 is the key: fix the problem or lose your job. Either force Craponi to adjust his approach or bring in someone else.

Well they do have a better chance elsewhere, unfortunately. But really I would bet most of them that go to P5s realize the league is a long shot here or there but much better to finish with 50k+ (of 150k if the rumors are true) than with the peanuts they would get here (if anything). Much easier to start out working life with a little nest egg. I hate it but it’s reality.

It will be interesting to see an overall comparison between him and the other new HC hire in Texas, GJ Kinne over the next few years. clearly Kinne started off with a bang- 4-1 with a win over baylor im a little concerned with only a 14 pt win over a mediocre fcs team. I’m also willing to give it a year. Just cause you start off with a bang doesn’t mean you can sustain it. Good program builders take time

I think we will see a different defense this week. The triple option will force more guys in the box. If we decide to not tackle, it's going to be a long game. Right now, we run a mix of 3 and 4 man fronts. The triple option will force the defense to hold their gaps and key on certain players. The DTs/LBs will need to wrap up the FB every play. The DEs and OLBs will need to be responsible for the pitchman. Our Safety will need to come down and hit the RBs as soon as they receive the pitch. Here is a good article about defending the triple option. https://www.bloggersodear.com/2017/10/20/16508088/georgia-tech-wake-forest-paul-johnson-spread-offense-understanding-and-defending-the-triple-option

I think SL did the very smart thing by hiring PB. He was a proven commodity, very experienced. It was just too little too late at the time

For the first time in over 20 years, the university does not have an office dedicated to diversity equity and inclusion. The university’s Division of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and AccessView Full Article

There are some improvements. Rogers is a real bright spot. Offense as a whole looks like it has the potential to develop into a consistently dangerous unit. My issue is that I haven’t been particularly worried about the offensive side of the ball going back to the Morris hire. It’s the defense that will end up breaking this season for us. Simply put, we don’t have the personnel for this 3-3-5. Richards - our best defensive player - is almost completely neutralized in this alignment. When we’ve gone to 4 man, we look more competent. Not amazing, but better. Then we inexplicably switch back to 3 man in obvious running situations and get gashed. Even by FCS ACU. We’re simply being hard headed in philosophy on that side of the ball. To the team’s detriment. Either we adjust base alignment or expect AAC play to be a brutal slog for us.

Let me just add to the comment about Landon Sides. I believe that there was a post about his signing with North Texas a few months ago. After listing all of the things that he did on the field, UNTLIFER beat me to the punch by saying that he sounds like a certain former player Michael Lawrence....something that I immediately agreed with. After observing him last night, I think Mr. Sides is at a slightly higher level. I remember going to a fall practice with FFR back in 2010. One of the new players out there was a receiver that I had never heard of but by the end of practice I was very impressed. It was Breland Chancellor. FFR struck up a conversation with the young coach in charge of WR's and special teams, and toward the end of the conversation I asked about Chancellor. The coach acknowledged that he was a talented player, but they would probably redshirt him. I just smiled at the coach and said "Coach, I don't see how you are going to keep him off the field this year....he's too talented". I am going to repeat that assessment for this young man. They used him to great advantage last night. If I were in charge, the next thing I would do is put him out there returning punts.

While we are on the subject of past glory days, why does TAMU come up as one of the unquestioned powerhouse football stories in Texas? All 3 of TX A&M's national titles (1919, 1927, 1939) are contested. Yet these years all appear at Kyle Field. The 1919 Title is also claimed by tiny Centre College among a few other schools. Yeah, TA&M is competitive some years and there are some nice folks in College Station. But their nothing special in college football history.

I definitely don’t think SL was “apathetic”. I think he wanted to win. The guys were obviously playing hard for him. And I don’t know what else he could’ve done defensively. He basically pulled one of the better DCs we’ve seen in a while, and gave him the keys. I think we’re 3-1 with a much better fan-feel if PB we’re still running the defense.

Ah. Yeah, that's stupid.

Morris gets good marks for communication with fans and media. He is adjusting as things need it, but Defense is still the weak-link and needs more attention. 2-2 at this point in the season = B Navy (1-3) on the road will be a good test of our improvement, or not. A win will move the season to a B+, a loss drops us to a B-.

So, is 6 pages the shortest Game Thread ever? Edit - As my post bumps it to 7

I don't remember that, but I think playing an FCS team was considered a tune-up game in reaction to the old days when our out-of-conference games were dominated by playing top 10 teams, and we would all be hoping we had enough healthy players left for conference games.

Our offense will keep us in games. Our defense will make games closer than they need to be. I like how direct and down to earth he is. The DFW recruiting approach is nice as well. If we can continue to add guys from the area, this should set us up for success. Things I don't like, the 3-3-5 defense, and the lack of additions from the transfer portal. We better hit the portal hard this off season. I want more players rotating on the front 6/7.

Just say “No” to scheduling FCS!