TIgreen01

You panic if we struggle all the way through to the conference opener, showing no signs of improvement, then lose that game against nutsak (Dec 22). This team has a long way to go to get to where they will be competing for the conference title. As others have said, previous Mac teams have stumbled out of the gate, but kept improving all year. If he can get this current squad in the competition for a conference title it looks, right now anyways, that it will be his best coaching job yet.

We have to move on

That game was exhibit A in the case against Littrell.

Defense is just totally gassed.

Maybe send a blitz on third downs Phil?! It’s a completion otherwise

I still have nightmares from last year’s uab game. This one is starting just like it

Props to the Toppers. That is a hilarious, but awesome logo.

I probably shouldn't...but here goes. Mcghie stands out, clearly. None of the others do. Maybe this team legit plays a 9-10 man rotation? Their starters, outside of Mcghie contributed 14 points while their bench contributed 16. Have you gone back to last year and compared minutes to see if this is an outlier or how they actually play? 'Why was Mcghie on the bench' is a reasonable question. Maybe something was going on with him that the coach was limiting his minutes? It's not out of the question that that could be a reasonable explanation.

Left off here are attempts...which makes a huge difference: Fine: Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A AY/A TD Int Rate 1039 1655 62.8 12505 7.6 7.8 93 34 140.7 Aune: 401 740 54.2 6116 8.3 8.2 46 22 138.2 I'm no Aune apologist...but your stats basically show double the yards and TDs. The full stats show that Fine accomplished those numbers while attempting more than double the number of passes. So you would reasonably expect his yards and TDs to be more than double as well. In actuality, Aune's rating is 2.5 points off of Fine's, with more yards per attempt---which means that Aune is likely throwing the ball further downfield. That could help account for the lower completion percentage as it is reasonable to assume that longer throws are harder to complete. Fine's interception total is a standout, though. He was more accurate and threw fewer interceptions (relative to attempts)

He's done an above average (if not excellent) job at hiring head coaches, across all sports. Gotta give him that, at least. Hard to hold him accountable for the traditions part, but I certainly think it's an area he can influence (see the new Maniacs for basketball). The other points you make I can't refute.

You're only helping to hammer the point home. We have to SUPPORT these traditions with our time, money and energy or participation will fall and they will go away. We have to decide if we want these things, and if we do, do the things that are required to keep them going. Nothing happens without action. All that said, when you pair this lack of lighting the tower with actual student butts-in-seats at football games this year....it doesn't paint a very good picture. We have a lack of interest and engagement problem. Good news is that that can be addressed with some targeted action to drive up attendance, incentivize participation in homecoming activities (like EVERY Big12/SEC school does), maintain old traditions or create new ones, etc....

Pretty darn interesting point you’re making. I hadn’t thought of it this way, but you are exactly right about the opportunity the playoff is about to create.

The floats created by our Greeks were extremely subpar the last few years. I’m someone who attended the parade every year for over 20 years and it was going downhill. I am all for organizing a return, but would want to do something to incentivize our Greeks and other organizations to spend real time and money to create something special. I’d be willing to donate to that cause because I agree that the parade can be a great source of pride and a way to unite students, alumni and the city of Denton.

A lot of credit being handed out to a 5-4 team…

Easily the best game I’ve seen him play. Big time cajones to bring that performance after last week.

Ok, you model the uniforms, you better show up.

Serious question...when did Dickey stop being the OC?

Click bait trolling....

Is Gumms really a TE, though? Certainly not in the traditional sense. We tend to use him more like a hybrid FB. He's doing most of his run blocking while lined up behind the line, not on the end. Don't get me wrong, he's been great. Better than our actual TEs in the pass catching department. As far as the question, my favorite has to be Andy Blount. Between him and Johnny Quinn, they were the perfect counter to our run game. They didn't get many opportunities, but they almost never dropped a pass when targeted. We have to get better consistency from our TEs and WRs if we're going to be a run heavy team.

Get an Andy Blount in here and we win that game, too. Too many dropped passes over the middle. Were they covered? Yes...but you have to be able to come down with a ball that hits you in the hands.

I agree. I’d have killed for this defense to be paired with our 2017 & 2018 teams, though. Dickey never fielded an offense of that caliber.

There absolutely was offensive PI on the last TD. Classic Michael Irvin move. Still wouldn’t have mattered if our offense didn’t crap the bed for 3/4ths of this game.

I totally agree with this take…but Frank Harris didn’t finish the first half against us last year. That toughness has a limit with him. So he doesn’t measure up to either Hall or Fine, but certainly was the better QB yesterday.

This. A championship team puts the game away on that 4th quarter drive with 6 to go. Either way, The game should have been a repeat of last year. We are up 14 or more with a competent passing game in that first half. The game should not have been close…but we have a QB who delivers late and receivers who have critical drops. I think you start Aune next week, mixing in Earle again. If we win, keep rolling, but if we lose we are out of the conference race and should look at the backups more. Maybe you have to keep him starting in order to not lose the team, but give some series to others?

Every once in a while Aune throws an absolutely great ball. Both the sideline wheel routes yesterday are examples…one to Burns and the other to Gummes. The rest of the time he’s either late, under throwing or forcing into coverage. Need someone smarter than me to break it down, but it seems like this offense designs in one place to go with the ball. If we get off schedule, in the slightest, we have a hard time making up for it.