TIgreen01

Comparing us to Tulsa isn't really a fair comparison. They have been in that offense for years (since Kragthorpe, then slightly modified by Graham) and they are starting seniors (who have played their entire careers in that offense) at QB, HB, TE, etc....Dodge chose to put a Freshman in at QB and get him and the rest of the team the experience. We're going through a sophomore slump and I think the offense isn't as bad as most are making it out to be. I think plays are there, we're just not executing well enough right now for various reasons. The defense and special teams on the other hand are another story. I guarantee that the ineptness there is bleeding over into the offensive players minds. Ever played on a team where one phase of the game (that you couldn't control) was getting you beat over and over again? That is a feeling of helplessness that is hard to overcome. If you think you have to be perfect on every play in order to win you are going to press...and when you do that on every play in every game it is going to wear on you eventually. People point to the Navy game, last year, as the point in which our offense started getting "figured out" by opposing coaching staffs. I think that's completely wrong. I think that's the point where every player on our offense realized that they had to play perfect football in every game in order to win....and subsequently that's when their slide began....b/c they know how hard that is to do and they begin to play tight.

Couple of questions and opinions. I, too, see the oline doing a MUCH better job than last year and they seem to get better every game. I also see WR's open all over the field....problem is we'll have read the defense before the play and will seemingly force the play into the coverage many times. Maybe I'm just blind, I really don't know...but I've seen WRs open, maybe not open deep (where a few long plays would to along way to REALLY opening up the coverage) as much as we need, though. The other thing is whether or not the players are quitting in games. Maybe quit is the wrong word, but to me, it seems that we've lost confidence at some point in every single game to the point that the players are slumping their shoulders and playing hesitant. I've heard alot of people say that the team is not quitting and they are trying, but I don't see it....I see a team really not hustling once the game gets out of reach....not everyone, mind you, but enough that plays just break down. Good example is this last game against Troy. The defense came out a little fired up, had a few plays go against them and were down big quick. Instead of quitting early, they seemed to bow up a little bit in that second quarter and finished the half strong. Then the second half started and Troy runs the trick play on their first play....you could see their confidence get shattered and they started playing back on their heels. I guess that's the thing I see....the difference between guys playing back on their heels and waiting for the play to come to them versus attacking the ball once the ball is snapped. Am I seeing it wrong? Maybe that's not quit, but when you can see guys making half hearted attempts to tackle ball carriers and not wrapping up and just flat out getting stood up and pushed back it sure looks like it.

Good post. Anyone questioning DeLoach hasn't been following the team close enough. I'll go ahead and say that if DeLoach isn't still at NT next season, but Dodge is....I'll be starting up the FireToddDodge.com website myself.

In regards to the offensive questions....I saw lots of wide open plays and other obvious calls that could have gouged Troy's D. Problem is, we'd seem to lock in on one read and if it wasn't there we often didn't have enough time to get to the second or third read. Not sure why we don't run a quick inside slant to the outside WR more often...esp. since we seem to set it up so perfectly with our quick throws to the inside WR who then looks to run outside. That and a true screen pass to a HB executed well would have worked last night. Either way, thought the offense had plays there all game....we seemed to be setting up the 15-20 yard post routes over the middle perfectly, only to have an errant throw sink the play. Moral of the story, better reads at the LOS and a little better execution and this offense puts up at least a couple more scoring drives. That said, it's hard to be perfect on offense and that's pretty much what we have to do every game in order to have a chance due to our completely inept defense. Sure, they are showing improvement, but it's not coming fast enough. The one bright spot on defense is that the coaches seem to be doing a lot better job of making adjustments during the game(thank DeLoach). Fast starts by the other team are just killing us, though....not sure if that is due to gameplanning or just being ready to play, but when you're down by 3+ scores so quickly in every single game you're going to see a team that loses heart and then it's just hard to evaluate(offense or defense) from then on out. We badly need to schedule some terrible div-1aa(not one who might actually give us a game) school to start next season....this defense just doesn't believe in itself and we need a confidence builder. As far as what to expect with TD and what the AD will do....look for the season ticket sales to determine how much time he actually gets. If it drops off sharply after this season (which it likely will--half of my group is gone for anything outside of tailgating), Dodge's rope will be much shorter....same record this time next year with empty stands and TD will be gone.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but when I read about staff changes and then hear DeLoach's name even mentioned in the same post, I just can't take it. Please, please, please, tell me that DeLoach is not going anywhere anytime soon....

...and that would be different than any other game this year?

Troy by at least 60....possibly by halftime.

The Todd Dodge to Vic Trilli resemblance is starting to get really, really scary. Vic Trilli was probably the single greatest recruiter (in any sport) that this school has seen since the 60's, at least. His teams, though, were some of the most non-competitive teams that I've ever watched. The talent on the team that mostly left and transferred to Big 12 schools after Trilli was fired was truly ridiculous....and proof of how good those guys really were was obvious when they quickly became studs on good teams in that conference. We had a PG go to Tech and lead the Big 12 in points per game the NEXT SEASON, a forward leave for Texas (during their Final 4 run) and in 1 season became their 6th man and a key player, another F/C go to OSU (also when they were VERY good) that started and was a stud for them too....seems like there were at least a couple others. Either way, the point is that when Trilli first got here he brought a buzz with him too and then brought in top 20 recruiting classes....people got fired up, supposedly did things the right way, crowds improved some initially, but 3-4 years later we couldn't draw 500 people to the games b/c we were SO NON-COMPETITIVE on the court. It wasn't so much the losses that cost Trilli his job, but HOW we lost and how we looked as a team, and most importantly---the complete lack of attendance at home games. The point is, regardless of how good the players are or how well a coach sells the school and presents himself in public (Trilli was a flat out unbelievable speaker), the coaching staff is going to have to get the team to play together. UNT is not a school that can sustain multiple winless (or worse, complete seasons of getting BLOWN OUT of every game) seasons and retain that fanbase increase. I really think that the AD is going to have to be watching the season ticket numbers for next year and if they drop significantly, Dodge will be evaluated at least by mid-season next year. He'll remain our coach, no matter the record, as long as the ticket sales are still good.

I'd have the opposite reaction. Tell me I suck and it's your ass. Tell me I have no chance and I guarantee that you're going to be in for a long day. Guess I'm just wired that way, but I know that that's the exact reaction that DD was going for....and I'd bet that most competitive, type-A personalities are going to say the same thing. That said...absolutely agree that we need to be supporting this team. No question. Really, just giving an dissenting opinion on the reaction to negative talk.

Yep, me too....and I can pretty much guarantee that I can now talk a couple others from the office into giving as well.

God Bless you, UNTFlyer!...and all the students who voted to make this happen! You guys are all heroes in my book! Gotta also give a big thanks to RV and whoever else was working behind the scenes to pull this off! To the oldtimers: Is this the greatest day in the history of the program??

Wouldn't dragging this out longer most likely not be a good idea? If this ends up being a near split (within a 50-100 votes), and an appeal is filed, would it have to go to another student body revote or could the SGA cast the deciding vote?

If it's close to a split vote, would it necessarily have to be revoted on by the entire student body if either side claims the vote should be invalidated? Could it not just go to the SGA at that point?

Dr. B is going to have some explaining to do if the vote fails. Where did all her "support" go once it came down to nut-cutting time?! RV was the only voice that spoke publicly in favor of this vote...unless I missed something. Why could the President not get involved? ...Or is she involved behind the scenes somehow??

Is this a Dodge thing or a position coach thing??

If this is true, why not make some moves now?

This thread is ridiculous. When you have the level of success, on the football field, that we've had recently you're going to have a bunch of negative feelings from the students on campus towards the program. When I was first starting out at UNT ('96), OU was mired in mediocrity and the Big 12 was only in it's first year. They were having losing seasons and seasons where they barely broke .500. I took a couple of trips up there to visit friends and some of the same apathetic statements you hear right now from our students were being said there...at a school with arguably one of the top 5 reputations in the country! OU was never going to stay at the bottom for long b/c the quality of the program they had built was just going to keep throwing money at the problem until it got resolved....but if you had talked to the students (who had seen nothing but losing seasons for 4-5 years) who had a much shorter vision of the program you'd have thought they wouldn't care if the program just went away. The point is, this kind of stuff happens no matter where you go. String together 4+ losing years (so that the students who are seniors have never seen winning teams) and you're going to have students who don't want to be associated with a losing program and just want to get their degree and move on. The key is having leadership that will stay the course and is not as easily swayed as the typical college student.

Fixed.

Agreed. We seem to have shifted our recruiting to mostly Dallas ISD, East Texas and Southeast Texas. We're getting some good players, but you bring in a ton of schools to compete against once you get closer to the SEC/Louisiana border. Not that West Texas isn't hotly recruited, but you have fewer schools that are within driving distance the further west you recruit.

Adler, you(or someone in your name) should submit this as an editorial to the NT Daily. Seriously....this speaks to what many on campus have to be feeling as they watch our football team disintegrate on field. I think this would help the student vote have a better chance of passing. Of all the editorials submitted and other stuff that has been printed, none have presented the facts as straight forward as this.

Agree 1000%.

I agree with Gray on this one. If this continues on the same plane we're currently on (blown out of every game by early second quarter), you have to look at making a change at THIS season's end. Dodge and staff could have earned themselves a lot of lee-way by not COMPLETELY burgaling last year's senior laden defense. The meltdown that ensued has cost him. I was prepared for this year ('08) to be bad before we even fired DD, but then I expected that DD could have gone 6-6 in '07 if everyone returned. Yes, I realize I just lost credibility there and I'm definitely not a DD apologist. You knew we were going to be very young in '08, so this year was setup to be THE rebuilding year no matter the coach. That said, the performance this year has been nothing short of (to borrow UNTFlyer's statement) apocalyptic....especially if the stadium vote fails.

This thread has brightened my day.

It was hard to not see this going on during the game Saturday, but this is the first post I've seen mentioning it. Any ideas as to what's going on there? That did not look like a good working situation.

Sadly, I agree with this. You don't want to Baylor yourself (and fire your coach ever 2-3 seasons), but this team is completely unresponsive to this coaching staff. At this point, barring a miracle, it appears that we're going to have to go out and get almost an entirely new crew of assistant coaches if we're going to turn this around anyways...