TIgreen01

yeah, looks like you posted right before I replied and I didn't see it. I retract my last post....carry on.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but does Dodge NOT do face-face meetings with fans? What was the Pourhouse event and the live radio show every week during the season? It seems like there are lots of opportunities to meet the HC at UNT and our AD. It sounds like you have a problem that he's doing something online instead of nothing but face-face time? Why? It's just one more way to interact with the HC. This was a good thing....why all the bickering over it??

This.

Not to bash Dodge, but before his first season he talked, at length, about how our defense "would carry us" and generally about how good our defense was. He pointed out the obvious areas where we have relative strengths. The comment about it translating to wins is, simply, a comment he has to make. Nothing really surprising here, other than the comment about the new punter improving that position?

Wonder if they are in the middle of updating rosters? He's definitely on the roster now, but wasn't earlier yesterday.

Well, Kelvin Jackson isn't showing up on the roster as of yet....anything to that?

Wow....this could be the best year the Sun Belt has ever had against other mid-majors. Almost all the games we play look to have us favored (outside of UNT, of course). Out of 8 games, only 2 are away! NT @ Ball State - L Ohio - L FAU Wyoming - W @ UAB - W FIU Toledo - W MTSU Memphis - Toss up Troy Bowling Green - W UAB - W

I think it's going to be another tough year mainly b/c our dline isn't going to be gangbusters to start the year. Nelson is going to help, but (like Harry said) it's going to take until mid-way through the season to really get some consistent play out of this group. By that point, in the season, another bad record could be enough to completely derail us. Also, unless Gandy can improve the mindset and aggressiveness of our special teams players, schemes aren't going to be enough to fix the situation. Special teams were terrible last year, and much of that had to do with attitude. I like the comments of several on here that the players are starting to come around, attitude wise....b/c without that, we have no chance to improve. I agree that the offense has a chance to be very special if Riley can get up to speed quickly. Short of that, I think our running game SHOULD carry this offense based on the talent there, but who knows if we'll be able to take advantage of it in this pass-first spread. FFR posted a couple of days back that he just genuinely likes the Dodge family, and I agree. I am rooting for them to turn this around. I think the team should be better by mid-season, but without stealing a few wins in September we may never get to see it on the field. I think the psyche of this team, and this fanbase, is teetering on the edge right now. We need some good luck, early in the season, or this thing is going down.

Good post. What I'd like to know is what, exactly, is keeping the REALLY big boys from finally breaking off from the NCAA to start their own organization? I think that short of Congress forcing some form of laws on college sports (ridiculous and not going to happen), there is nothing that says that all colleges and universities in the USA have to be a part of the NCAA. Or is there?? As it stands now, the bowl "tie-ins", seem to clearly violate the laws that protect fair competition. A move back to the old bowl selection arrangement would get around this...

Have you ever been to Waco to see the Baylor campus? I'm guessing not. They have some of the best facilities in the state. Baylor was the most consistently good program of all the old SWC private schools. I can't say that they've just been lazy and have gotten everything they have just from sheer dumb luck.

I salivate every time I see our 2009 schedule. Seriously....GREAT job by RV. Hopefully the team will be improved enough to take advantage of a much softer schedule in September.

You must have been banned when we hashed out that exact topic a few weeks (maybe a month?) back. ...but seriously, that topic sucks. Why? B/c it makes me think back to last season to evaluate what I saw....and I want to forget the whole thing entirely--and I'm sure that's a sentiment that EVERYONE can agree with!

Wow...didn't mean to stir up the hornets nest. I will say that Steele had last year's recruiting class ranked really highly....so it's not just a case of bias against us. I do tend to lean toward the same point of view as 97and03, on this though---this class was definitely attempting to address immediate needs. Wonder why there is such a discrepancy from Rivals/Scouts to Steele?

I have the mag and can vouch for this. However, he does call for us to be the most improved team in the Sun Belt (with possibly the most improved defense in the country) and said that he'd probably regret picking us as low as he did in the rankings (2nd to last). One interesting (or sad) thing to note is Steele's take on our 2009 recruiting class. He ranks all the players that every school signs each year by position.....by conference, we had the worst recruiting class....then just looking through the rankings by player--this is one of the worst classes I've ever seen (at almost any school) his magazine report. Even our higher touted JUCO's are ranked terribly by him. I don't have the mag in front of me, but most classes (at our level) may have 25% of their players rank above (higher is worse, not better) 500 in their position rankings. We have 50% or more above that mark....with several being over the 1k range. I seriously hope that these guys are all just flying in way under the radar....

Obviously defense and special teams are our biggest need areas....but I'll go with Cam Montgomery and Lance Dunbar. Behind a more experienced line, we need these guys to be steady and not turn the ball over (lots of fumbles last year). Controlling time of possession would go a long way to improving our defensive stats.

Ok, then what would you have me reference then?! UNT's 1992-1993 offense?!! All we have to go on (recently) is his HS experience....and he's mostly running the same offense in D1 and having pretty decent success, considering all the roster turnover and playing underclassmen at QB and center (and most of the oline, for that matter). Dodge's problem, thus far, has been the complete no-show of our defense and special teams...not a totally anemic offense. So, the entire point of this thread is whether or not Riley's running ability will make opposing defenses play us any differently. You appear to answer the question entirely independently of what Riley's effect on the actual running game will be. By saying that he'll not have the help of a running game behind him, you take him out of the equation for helping to establish the running game himself. That's missing the point, imho. In the offense that Dodge is trying to install, the QB is an integral part of the running game. He's not just a drop back passer. So, either he helps us establish the run, or he doesn't. If we can't establish the run, then you'll see more of what you've been seeing for the last 2 years. No argument on that point.

Good points. I'd still be inclined to think that he'd beat most LBers one-on-one, but probably not most DBs. So, if we ran the ball 42% and were behind in all but 2 games after the 1st quarter, I wonder what our running percentages would go to if we could actually play some defense and stop teams from outscoring us early? Though some of those numbers could be due to us trying to run the clock (at least in KSU, Rice games) out....

Alright...I'll bite, again. What those of us that see Riley's running ability (and ability to execute the zone read) as being an asset are saying is that your 1st and 2nd points are hopefully thrown out this coming year. If you've ever watched Dodge's offense from his days at Southlake you know that he runs the ball MUCH more than what we've seen the first 2 years here. That may be b/c defenses in high school were more worried about the pass so they dropped back and opened up for the run. I really don't know on that point. But looking at teams that run offenses that are VERY similar to Dodge's (Missouri & Texas), you know that they also run a significant amount of designed QB runs, zone read, and draw plays to the RBs. For one reason or another we have never really established any of that in Dodge's 2 years. I think the question is whether or not that was due to our QB's not being dangerous enough as a running threat or simply b/c we never forced the D to drop deep enough that it ever really opened up those plays for us. Our strengths going into next season will be the experience of our oline and the depth at RB. One would think that we'll be looking to take advantage of those relative strengths by trying to establish the running game. If we do that, that means that our QBs will have to get into the act as well....and that's where you'd expect Riley's running ability to help this team. To the point about UNT not existing in a vacuum. I know this. I know that coaches have seen running QBs before and that they KNOW how to stop them. The simple answer is that knowing how to do it and actually doing it are not the same. Riley's ability to run the ball will hopefully develop into a weapon for this offense. However, very few teams are successful if they can only do one thing. Offenses have to be able to develop a balance so that defenses can't just focus on stopping any one thing. During the past 2 seasons we have not been able to reach a balance...and it has made it easier to defend us--as you have pointed out again and again.

I really was responding to the Sun Belt side of the coin, but sure, we'll go ahead and throw Riley Dodge into the list of players you name as players these coaches have all seen. Pick out one of them that wasn't very difficult to defend. Who cares if all these coaches have seen it before? What we care about is whether or not we are MORE difficult to defend with Riley at QB than without him. I do agree that this year hinges more on our defense and special teams showing signs of life, but an improved offense can't hurt. Can it?

I will add, this. Did a quick search on all the schools listed in Stebo's dream scenario in Wiki.....and it's pretty obvious why this will never happen. Endowments. The academic reputation and giving levels are not even close on the schools you plucked from CUSA vs. the WAC and SBelt. Unfortunately, athletic conferences are based on more than levelness of athletic programs. In terms of academics (The school Presidents undoubtedly all lean toward academics when defining their own peers), and dollars earned for academic programs, we are not even close.

Thoughts?...

If that holds true to last season, then you've got no argument from me. I don't think you'll see the same gameplan as last year, though....at least regarding the running game. I think we'll be more successful this year in that regard due to a couple of factors---more experienced/physical oline and better execution of the zone read. Also, I wonder if we'll see TD and TFord opening things up a bit more (not necessarily being more aggressive, but not being so predictable) now that they presumably have a QB that they trust a bit more than the last 2 years? That last part is pure speculation, though.

Like who? Corey Leonard at ASU and Desormeax (sp?) at ULL are both bigger.....doubt either is faster. What were Riley's 40 and short shuttle times? Just seeing him in person, he appears to be at least as quick/agile as almost any QB I've ever seen in the Belt. Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but Leonard is about the only QB I can really remember who was both a very good runner and passer. Riley has a chance to be both. That is what will set him apart.

I know most are worried about Riley's health....but I'm going to be more than a little disappointed if we don't see a very effective zone-read play develop this season---and one that we see more than 3-4 times a game. It's got to be THE base running play in this offense and we haven't been able to run it with any consistency the last 2 years b/c the QB wasn't a real good run threat. Or at least that's what it appeared like to me.

Nope....way too early. I refuse! Last year at this time we hadn't even lost Gilmore and Horton.....or a couple other Jucos. That said, I think it'll be another tough season after what I saw at the spring game. This team just lacks a certain intensity that you'd like to see out of a D1 football team. If they can somehow find it over the summer and during fall camp, then we might have a chance at turning it around.