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This is my first time in Miami and I've enjoyed it quite a bit; I'm not at the team hotel and haven't ventured anywhere near South Beach or the clubs. Today has been more golf and then plans to eat some more Cuban food and see the Miami Science Museum. And then eat more Cuban food! Here are my thoughts from the game. I don't think any of us saw this kind of shellacking coming, but it's happened, it's over, and there are some correctable things that I think the coaches and players will take away from it and improve on before next weekend's home opener versus Houston: ...let's talk nuts and bolts about the…game?…last night. I hesitate to call it a game, because it was more of a football massacre than a game. In the run up to the season opener, I had told everyone who would listen that one of the two keys to having a shot at upsetting FIU was keeping T.Y. Hilton from beating us. From the opening kickoff through the end of the first quarter, T.Y. Hilton came out to make a statement, and he made it. He had big plays that directly contributed to all of FIU's 28 first quarter points. His 62 yard return of the opening kickoff set up the first FIU TD, he scored FIU's second TD on a 60 yard pass from Wes Carroll, he converted a 3rd and 2 with an 18 yard reception and drew a 15 yard pass interference penalty on the drive for FIU's third TD, and he ran a 31 yard reverse to the Mean Green 1 yard line to set up the Darrient Perry 1 yard TD run for FIU's fourth and final touchdown of the first quarter. I don't think there could be a more emphatic example of letting a single guy beat you than what T.Y. Hilton did to the Mean Green in the 1st quarter. The short and sweet of the game from the Mean Green side of the ball is this: on offense, we never established a credible passing threat, which allowed FIU to tee off on Lance Dunbar and the running game. Derek Thompson didn't have much of a chance to get comfortable in the pocket as FIU's relentless pressure, although resulting in only three sacks, hurried him and knocked him down all game long. That same pressure resulted in lots of balls thrown too early or too late that were easily defended by the FIU secondary. When passes were there, too many were dropped. The one that really stung was the wide open drop by Breece Johnson Willie Taylor, a pass that would have gone for 30 yards or possibly even a TD instead when through his arms, off his number 17 3 on his chest, and into the puddles on the FIU turf. On the defensive side of the ball, adjustments were made after the first quarter, but the defense was never able to shut down FIU's running game. The Golden Panthers didn't throw for a huge number of yards, but thanks to their ground dominance, they didn't need to. When Wes Carroll did drop back to throw, the Mean Green were unable to get pressure on him. I paid attention to the line play on both sides of the ball for the Mean Green last night. That's what I decided I was going to focus on in the offseason: the lines. So much of what goes on in the rest of the game is determined by how the lines play; success on each side of the ball begins at the line and radiates out from there. Good offensive line play allows you to run the ball on any down and distance and gives your quarterback time to throw from the pocket. Good defensive line play stops the opponent's inside running game and pressures the QB from the outside. Unfortunately, I don't have much positive to say about the line play in last night's game beyond the obvious that we never established the running game, Derek Thompson was hurried and knocked down more times than not when he dropped back to throw, we were unable to stop FIU's running game, and Wes Carroll likely felt like he was wearing the red jersey in practice with the lack of pressure he had on him. I think most of us understood that this was going to be a transition year for both lines; we lost a lot of experience last year due to graduation. Going forward, though, the coaching staff and the guys in the trenches are going to have to find ways to step up and make some plays or else what's likely to be a long season will be that much longer. The injury bug bit the Mean Green in this game in a potentially big way. J.J. Johnson, our senior center, broke his non-snapping hand. If they can set the fracture, he'll miss three or four weeks. If they can't, then he could be done for the year. That would be a tremendous blow to the Mean Green o-line, a unit that after one game doesn't look like it can afford too many big blows. There are three North Texas players that impressed me in the midst of this otherwise unimpressive evening: Brelan Chancellor, Derek Thompson, and Brent Osborn. Had T.Y. Hilton not been on the other side of the ball, Brelan would have been the individual player performance talk of the game. He racked up an astounding 200 yards in returns, caught passes for 55 yards, and even rushed for 7 yards. I think our return game is safe in his hands for the season. Our two QBs also impressed me. About now, you might be asking yourself how the starting QB who went 14/27 for 167 yards and no TDs was impressive. What impressed me was his fire as exhibited in his body language. I doubt that was evident on the ESPN 3 broadcast. It was evident in person at the game. Down 28-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, Thompson was fired up. He was angry. He was in the faces of his receivers and his linemen for getting into the game late as substitutes, for dropping balls, and for blowing blocking assignments. While that's not exactly what you'd like to see from your starting QB (think more Cap Rooney from "Any Given Sunday"), I liked that he was fired up instead of dejected. I liked that he was still after his guys to do better instead of hanging his head and staring at the field as he walked to the sideline. I was also impressed with what I saw of backup QB Brent Osborn. He plays like a pocket passer, but I was most impressed with his delivery; his passes have some authority to them. It's hard to give much more of an assessment than that considering that by this time in the game FIU was subbing in a lot of bench players on the defensive side of the ball. In terms of looking forward, I think it's a good idea to think about the things that are correctable versus things that aren't correctable. Correctable issues are things that can be changed in practice. Things that aren't correctable include hoping our offensive line suddenly plays like two year veterans or that our players go through growth spurts in a month's time. On the correctable side of the ledger, I think the first priority is to get the defenders to wrap up in tackling. FIU likely would have had a third less rushing & return yards last night if the guys had gotten their arms around the FIU runners and brought them down in the first half. To both the players' and coaches' credit, it appeared that they did a much better job of this as the game progressed. Second item on the correctable side is dropped passes. The dropped passes last night were drive killers and, in the case of Johnson's drop, a real momentum killer. I would guess that the wet weather combined with the Golden Panthers' relentless pressure on Derek made for a lot of less-than-desirable balls thrown to receivers. FIU's receivers didn't have issues with drops, but then again their QB is a senior veteran who had plenty of time to throw, which led to many more receivers making grabs in stride. This is going to be one of those seasons where we simply can't afford the dropped balls, no matter the quality of their delivery. At the end of the day, though, a tip of the cap to FIU. They've got a very good squad, better even than I expected in my preview of them. As a side note, FIU's students were really into the game, but their tiny stadium wasn't even halfway full. If the cards fall the right way and given their weak non-conference schedule this season, it would not surprise me to see FIU in the Top 25 at some point. T.Y. Hilton also deserves some love for the Heisman. I think playing in the Belt will likely make him a ghost as far as the Heisman race goes and FIU's weak non-conference schedule is going to hurt their visibility, but perhaps ESPN will fall in love with him and give him that crucial national recognition that he deserves. Good luck, T.Y. I'm sure glad we don't have to play you again! This post has been promoted to an article

Is your LoveQuoner@gmg.net account still active? You used to e-mail me some pretty pointed criticisms of Rawlings from that account.

It was a legitimate question I genuinely wanted to know the answer to.

How is it bad for Dallas if SMU gets into big 12? It kinda seems like he may be doing his job.

I agree! Too bad you burned your season tickets.

Click Here for Entire DRC Article This post has been promoted to an article

For everyone on here talking about how we almost (which means nothing) beat K-State and Troy while comparing that to this year is retarded. This team is no where close to last years team, if we would of had the same coaches last year it would of been a different story but we dont and move on. This team isnt as good as everyone thinks, we're undersized and less than average talent on the field. When ever your starting DT is only 260 lbs, you know winning more than 4 games is going to be hard. You cant expect miracles overnight, this is going to take time just like everything in life. Mac got left with a mediocre team and hell make the best out of it, just dont expect much right now.

There are at least three or four of us from the "old days" (I'm in my 40th year of being a fan) that are active on this board. As much as I dislike the comparison of an abusive relationship, there is some truth to what he says. Not to start telling 'old fart" stories, but I remember when I was a lieutenant stationed with a handful of other Americans on a Turkish Air Force base in Balikesir. I've have to shoot you if I told you what we did. Anyway, in those days, there was no Internet, TV, etc etc and the only link we had with the outside world was the weekly delivery of "The Stars and Stripes", a newspaper for GIs stationed overseas. I could not wait to get those papers and the first thing I did was to go to the sports section to see how North Texas had done even though the game had taken place over two weeks prior. We've seen the program when Florida State would come to Fouts, regular whoopings of Corso's Louisville teams, national ranking, etc. And while we never set the world on fire, there was a national measure of respect for North Texas State and no one laughed at us, even in the lean years. But since then, I am not sure there is another D1A program in the country that has suffered like North Texas. And that is why the blow-out to FIU was so disappointing. Maybe I didn't expect a win but after the new well-paid coach,bravado, etc, I was hoping for a close game. After it was all over, I said to myself, "why do I bother? This is just more of the same." But like an abused spouse, I will be back for more; win or lose.

And it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of sumbitches!

We won from 01 - 04 and nobody picked us up. Winning is part, but not all of it.

Some of you people need to use your head. SMU is in Dallas, TCU is in Ft Worth, UNT is in ....DENTON. Put your jealousy and hatred of SMU aside for a moment and THINK! If by some chance the Big12 does survive, and SMU gets in, guess what? There will be an opening in CUSA. You better start praying to the football gods that SMU gets in, because if they dont,UNT is stuck.

Yes, the MWC or CUSA would offer a membership to Baylor 2 weeks ago if they could. Baylor is SMU times 1000

"...the idea that we will become a smarter, richer and more fun city should be your motivation." Douche Quote of the Year

At last! Someone in this thread who at least knows where Dallas is not.

Wallace was on the sideline last night in a flexible boot - left ankle. He was hurt in a scrimmage three weeks ago tonight. I was told by one of the coaches that he would be out 2 - 3 weeks - so it is possible he will be back this next week. I was also told by someone in a position to know that in their opinion Sir Calvin needs Dan McCarney's "influence" in order to toughen up. Andrew Tucker averaged almost 8 yards per carry - caught four passes averaging 24 yards a catch - and played on defense (which is supposedly where UNT is projecting him to play). CH plays at Carthage next Friday - Carthage won (I think for the 3rd time in a row) the 3-A Division 2 State Championship last year. CH beat them last year by about 25 - 30 points. As an aside - Whitehouse has a receiver named Jonathan Aldridge that is relatively tall, fast and can break tackles - he ate CH up last night. I would love to see the UNT coaches take a look at him.

I want to have good fans.

North Texas wins 2-1 over SMU!

Patterson left himself with a bare cupboard, but he should be able to make the team more competitive regardless. But let's let the Patterson era be done with and get on board with Patterson.

I have four email addresses and am on it starting now.

One game and we are already looking to next season? If you thought that we were going to come out and set the world on fire, you don't know college football... At all. Did I want us to come out and punch fiu in the mouth, hell to the yayuh, did I think we could, maybe, am I surprised we didn't, not so much, did I just ask myself to many questions, probably. We just need to cool out. It was our first game with a new coaching staff and a young team. We had some first game jitters that buried us early. We are going to be fine, this season will be rough, but not as bad as the last 4 or 5. These guys will get better as the season goes along, but we have to have reasonable expectations which is maybe a 5 win season, but playing schools close. Schools with new coaches will struggle, it happens, just watch how much a big time program like Texas will probably struggle with a new oc and dc, it happens. I know that game was terrible, and it WAS depressing, make no mistake about it, but it's a little early to be writing the season, this team, and McCarney off. We have a lot to be excited about with this new era in mean green football, McCarney will make this program a contender again, it might just take a season or two. So keep the faith, besides, things can only go up from this point. Also Chanellor is a total beast.

How about that locker room? It looks almost identical to most of the ones in the Denton ISD Middle Schools. Glad to see FIU did not cut corners on the facilities. What's next? The Mean Green Radio crew doing play by play under a tarp. Oh wait....

I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on 1:30 worth of video. We could probably take that same 1:30 out of my day and conclude that all I do is read the newspaper on the throne.

I was hoping for a win, but not expecting it. I wasn't expecting the loss to be this staggering, though.

**SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD** Okay, first let me say that I know there is a Ticket Board on the Forum, but I wanted this to reach not only the largest amount of people, but also the right ones... So, here goes... I am a seaosn ticket holder... I have seats in Section 204 Row 25 Seats 15-16... And, as fate would have it, I am unable to attend the home opener against Houston... Therefore, I have 2 tickets that I want to sell... Why not sell them on Craigslist or StubHub or somewhere else...?? Well, frankly, I don't want to sell them to UH fans... I want to sell them to a Mean Green fan that either wants two more tickets or couldn't get good ones... I waited until today because I wanted to have the tickets in hand before I offered them for sale... My season ticket packet arrived in the mail this afternoon... I am positive I could get more for them (I was offered more twice today), but I am selling the pair for $80... The face price is $35 each and I am putting the extra $10 towards my parking for the Indiana game... I DO NOT have a parking pass... I want to see these tickets used by someone wearing green and going crazy for UNT... If you are interested please call me at 214-870-3364... I live in McKinney, work in Plano and I will be at the game watching party at Rudy's in Allen tomorrow night if any of those places work for delivery purposes... I am sick that I can't go, but I am VERY excited about the season and I can't wait for the Indiana game... GO MEAN GREEN...!!

I don't understand why you are so disappointed. I would be more disappointed if they tried to mail them and the post office didn't get them to you in time.

(NOTE: the following is unrelated ... but fun.) Let's look at two coaches in their first HC gigs over 9 seasons... Coach 1: 3-8 2-9 1-10 3-8 4-7 9-3 7-5 7-7 2-10 Overall: 38 - 67 Coach 2: 3-8 2-9 3-8 5-7 8-5 9-4 7-5 2-9 3-9 Overall: 42 - 64 Coach A? Dan McCarney's first 9 years at Iowa State. Coach B? Darrell Dickey's 9 year run at North Texas. I KNOW THERE A MILLION VARIABLES. It's just a list of records. Note: Coming from me this isn't a slam at McCarney at all. I'm an admitted Dickey apologist. I like the hire, think he'll do good things here. I just thought this was an interesting comparison as to different eras, different standards, and different expectations.

Holy Crap! Their players don't go down (especially #29) with JUST ARM TACKLES.......

I'm happy for USU. But you can't convince us seniority on the line is moot. We're in a mess. Stop comparing us to every other program out there. The expectation is to get better every snap, every practice. Fly to the ball. Get angry when things don't go your way. Just. Get. Better. Stop looking at others and our past. There are just too many dynamics. Coaching trends, staff turnover, talent gaps, position switches, emotional highs and lows. Kudos to USU and their game 1 heroics. But screw them. My own expectation is to get in a position where we can win every game. Not scare a game 1 opponent then lose conference games and top off at 4 wins for a decade. That is there coach's trend. The FIU game sucks. Being shut out sucks. We get it. It's one game. Move on. **edit Just noticed we are now comparing our coverage to other local media coverage. ugh.

Patterson was too busy trying to coach up better husbands & fathers and recruiting WR's. No wonder he was let go. Patterson is so infectious that I expect the team to respond right away. A 4-8 record would be an improvement from last year and I would be thrilled. Why not TCU indeed!?

I think it may say more about the level of play going from UNT to SMU, than it says about the ability of Collin. He was a nice role player while he was here, but he might have been one of the nicest players at SMU. Really wish him the best.

I like this analogy - and dare I even say this (because I may get slammed), but Dickey basically did the same thing too: came into a situation where he didn't have the horses to compete, simplified things, recruited, improved schemes over time as he brought in more talent, and we became a competitive team. It really sucks that we're in Year 7 of a big downturn and wasted 4 years of this program's life. It will get better under Mac and Staff - just don't expect miracles in Year 1. I love our guys and our team - but if you watched the game against FIU, the discrepancy in speed and strength was just so obvious. That doesn't mean that we can't win games this year - there will be some good times this year for sure - but we need to realize where we are as a program right now. If it helps (if you saw the game)... look at FIU's stadium and attendance. Granted, the weather likely played a factor in attendance, but that is just truly sad to see a really good defending conference champion team with one of the best players in college football (Hilton) draw such a pathetic crowd. That doesn't really show a very strong foundation for their program. Finally, I believe our program has a strong foundation.

Good article. Everyone who's irate about FIU should give it a read.

They went through replays because it was an awful spot, not because he was close to a first down. Hell after they respotted the ball they didn't even bother to remeasure. Dunbars was measured and ended a half yard short. Not dropped for a loss, just picked up a half yard instead of a full yard. Bottom line is no matter the formation or the playcall, if it works it was a good call and if it doesn't it is second guessed and picked apart

I don't care what sport it is... I love beating SMU.

I want to have fun games in Denton like the one in Waco tonight.

I have no problem with this. Paging Mark Burroughs...?

Here's hoping for them to leave. We need chaos

At least our defense didn't look this horrible...

If Coach Patterson would let Coordinator Patterson call the plays he wanted, then TCU would be winning.

Your answer is: It really isn't bad for Dallas, though no one said it was. But, SMU joining the Big 12 probably wouldn't make much difference for Dallas depending on who leaves or is left in that conference.

Bad news. Rawlings just told me I can only contact him from one email account. He said there are apparently rules in City Hall about that. Don't worry, I quickly found 5 early voting polls for the next election and voted for the other guy in all of them. That'll teach him.

It felt like our gameplan was to not let the score get out of hand. Just sad.

Don't see anything wrong with it. Good grief!

Seriously, guys? Getting worked up over this video or trying to draw conclusions from it is insane.

It doesn't make me wonder. There's a lot of time before a game, and most of the serious prep would've been closer to kickoff than that video.

People are not mad that we lost. We were not expected to win. People are mad about how we lost. There is no moral victory in giving up 14 points on 5 plays. It took the entire 1st quarter for Murray State to give up 14 points to Louisville. I don't think the angry fans are being too unreasonable.

So how long are we going to be allowed to blame Dodge?

Just keeping up with him on Facebook. Our once fan favorite has moved on and is full-blooded pony boy now. For example: Once after bragging about the postseason tournament his new school bought its way into, he said it was the most fun he's ever had playing basketball and was the best team he's ever been a part of. Someone asked him about his conference championship teams and NCAA tourney appearances at UNT and he simply laughed at them. Sorry Collin, but good riddance.