GrandGreen

Yes, there is a shortage of coaches willing to take one of the 120 jobs available at the highest level of college football for a mere $300,000 a year.

The second half, I hope is meaningful but I it is hard to determine. A team with a huge lead usually has a tendency to coast. Also, ULM is easily the worst team, NT has played and still they ran all over NT. ULM had four plays all year before they played NT of over 40 yards, they equaled that in the first half against NT.

NT had a baseball team only because the Southland conference mandated it. The coach pay was whatever the limit was at the time to maintain your full social security benefits. The team had a total of 1 1/2 ships. I am sure with NT working hard for a change in the rules, the Southland dropped the baseball requirement after a few years. The baseball team record was very bad, but based on their resources, they were remarkably competitive.

Geez, what do you want put in the ad. There are no guarantees that NT will ever move up in conference affiliation or that donations will immediately flow in. However, the odds of those things happening will be greatly enhanced with a strong commitment from the student body via a positive stadium vote.

I keep seeing people who downplay the 26 straight conference victories because of the oh so weak Belt in the day. However, NT never went undefeated in the Southland much less multiple seasons. There also has never been another team that has won the Belt outright, NT did that three times. The Belt is no doubt stronger now, but not as much as many believe, the sad fact is that NT has just fail so far that it seems that way. 26 straight conference wins is very rare, no matter what conference.

Waters was a good player when at NT, not a great one. Maybe because at NT, he did not play offensive line but tight end and defensive line. IMO there are a number of players who played at NT that were better than Waters in the last four decades. Shankin, Ramsey, Kassel, Kennedy, Hardman, Walter Chapman, are a few that come to mind. Waters like J.T. Thomas, Beesly Reese and others became much better pros than their college careers would have indicated. Pro careers should have little to do with NT athletic honors.

RV hired Dodge, do you really think he is going to admit that he made a bad choice. I do agree that it is too early to give up on Dodge and the team. but early results have to have even the biggest TD fan questioning if he was a good choice. I have also watched games for about 40 years and I wonder how anyone can be so sure that Dodge will turn the program around. In that 40 years, I have never seen football as consistently bad as it has been in the last two seasons. Talent is an issue, the team that TD inherented was not very good. However, many seem to forget that last years team was one of the most experienced in NT history with 8 starters returning on defense among almost 50 returning lettermen. I don't buy, TD recruits beating out upperclassmen as proof of a woeful talent deficit. The truth is the majority of the underclassmen that are playing or not due so much that they are beating out upperclassmen, but rather there are few juniors and seniors to beat out. Also, any team is going to have a number of freshmen and sophomores that start or play big roles including the most talented teams in the nation. Defensive backfield is probably the segment of the team with the biggest number of TD recruits contributing. The facts are after the loss of Green, Roman, Ealey, and Chatman. There were only two DD era players with any experience, Agbottah and Bush, and they are both starting. At running back there is only one DD holdover, Henderson, who is actually a fullback. At linebacker, there is only one TD recruit getting a lot of playing time, Penson. Nwigwe, Robertson, Mahon, Dawson and Warren are all DD recruits. Defensive line's rotation of nine players include DD's players Miller (now injured), Thomas, Owusu-Hemeng, Davenport, Brown, Ross and Sykes. Russo, junior college Cole and apparently soon Franklin are TD players who are in the rotation. The only TD underclassmen offensive lineman to contribute is Johnson. Wide receivers has only three ship athletes from DD era, Stickler, Fitzgerald and Johnson. It is strange that with the departure of Dibrell, despite being TD most recruited position, there are no major contributors from TD's first two classes. I think it is obvious that TD's recruiting of skill players thus far is much better than any NT coach since Fry. However, I don't buy that so many freshmen and sophomores are playing because of a lack of 1a talent among DD recruits. The lack of resources argument can be made for any NT football coach in the last 50 years and frankly doesn't apply well to Belt competition. In fact, with the recent improvements inclusive of the athletic center and practice fields, TD actually has it better than any recent football coach. Most of us are hopeing that TD can quickly turn this thing around. I think he can, but I can't see how anyone can be satisfied with the progress so far.

Based on the embarrassment factor, the tendency of blow out victims to turn it up next week, poor offensive opponent, and home game; NT 28 FIU 24.

I think anyone who thought TD or any other coach in America was going to compete with top tier teams for recruits is naive at best. Non-big 6 conference schools are rarely going to win a recruit away from a power school. Much more successful teams such as Boise State, TCU and Utah don't and neither does NT. What TD did last year was amazing based on where he was starting from, he won most of his recruiting battles against the non-big 6 conference schools in the area such as Rice, SMU, Houston, Tulsa, etc. Unless NT makes a drastic turnaround this year and the stadium vote passes, It is going to be very challenging for TD to approach last year's recruiting success. TD does have good high school connections and a positive approach to recruiting that will continue to serve him well. However, I think if NT fails to announce a successful stadium campaign; NT's football program will face the most serious challenge in history other than the move to 1AA.

Strong had a good race. But the men were 4th in a field of 5 and the women last in a meet including a couple of junior colleges, Tarleton State and UTA,

Canly played defensive tackle for only a few games in high school, do you really think he would be a big help? I am a big fan of Meager because I think he was just as good if not better than Vizza last year and got a bum deal when he was replaced. However, it does not make sense to me to play seniors over underclassmen now unless they are definitely better. Frankly, you have to have some faith in the coaches because few fans see enough of the practices to really know who can play and who is injured. I would have expected to see more of Ross, Scoggins, and Desoto at defensive tackles but either they have injury problems or just have not impressed the coaches. I actually think that NT has talent at linebacker and in the defensive backfield, but it is obvious that the experience is lacking. They are playing the young players out of necessity more than anything because outside of Bush and Nwigwe there are few seasoned upperclassmen. I also believe that the offensive line may be the strongest part of the team right now. I like most are very confused about the wide receiver positions. With about a dozen receivers on ship, NT is using at least three walk-ons and a QB at those positions. Lewis, a receiver that was expected to substantially contribute was apparently switched to defensive back. Beece Johnson has been little used and Evan Walker to my knowledge has never played. As far as giving up on the season, I certainly think it is still way to early for that. Therefore, it is not the time to give up on players that have earned the right to play in the coaches opinions or to rush players on the field in the wild hope that they may be better. The coaches are constantly evaluated players and with the play so far, I am sure that there will continue to be personnel changes.

I question the wisdom of removing any redshirts in this disaster of a year. Why would you want to waste a year of eligibility of players that are probably not ready or else they would have already seen the field? I would also redshirt people like Drake and Jenkins that might be help this year but why not save a year of eligibility.

To top off a perfect NT athletic weekend, soccer team loses to ULM 2-3.

What scares me is you may be right, the coaching staff is doing the best they can. Do you really think Rice's talent is so much better than NT, that they had to try hard not to score over a hundred? I would think even the most casual football fan would recognize that no talent gap could account for the beatings, NT has taken over the last two years. No, NT does not have adequate talent at this point, but NT's talent level is not nearly as bad as the disparity in scores would indicate. It is plain to me, that NT has a "not ready for prime time" coaching staff starting at the top. Do you really think a college HC that is surprised at the speed of the game and started with the most inexperienced coaching staff in ages at the 1a level was ready to be a head coach. IMO, what NT has now is a team with overall mediocre level Belt talent that has no confidence in themselves or their coaching staff. TD will most likely get all his contract years to turn this thing around if for no other reason then NT can't afford to eat another contract. My hope is that the coaching staff can ultimately grow into their positions. I think that Dodge does have the fire and intellect to be a great success and hopefully he can reach that level at NT.

Are you guy serious or did you watch the game. The stats were relatively close only because Rice did everything but lie down in the second half to keep from running the score up and you lose possessions and ensuing stats when you score on defensive plays.

Yes, the special team coach is definitely NT's biggest problem. Not the head coach, talent, support, or AD; but probably the lowest paid coach on the staff is holding us back.

Some may not know that the trough was an improvement, it was just a wall before that.

Maury John, very successful coach at Drake University, created the name the "Snake Pit" after getting blown out with a top 10 team in Denton.

My guess is that something else is going on at the SuperPit. The Snake Pit actually seated a little over 4,000, can't remember if all those seats were available for the last game there when they use the gym because the SuperPit had something else scheduled.

I doubt there will be a big uproar, I think most expect a substantial increase in ticket prices with a new stadium. However, ticket prices will ultimately depend on demand and that will be more related to wins and loses and competition than the stadium.

Unlike most, I don't believe Tulsa was significantly physically superior to NT. What I saw was a NT team that did not pick up blitzes and stunts on offense and was out of position on too many defensive plays. These faults point to experience levels more than the talent levels. I didn't see Tulsa consistently manhandle NT on either side of the ball. The only glaring problem was lack of a pass rush. Also, many keep commenting on NT's need for recruiting on the offensive line. IMO, this is going to be one of the strongest parts of the team and not a priority need especially with the current lack of scholarships to offer. The starting 5 include one freshman, 2 juniors, and 2 sophomores. They also have two players that have started Rose and Menard as backups. Soon, players with health issues: Jenkins, Tomlison, and our best lineman Drake should be available. Other than QB, the offensive line positions are the most difficult to master and I think the offensive line will get much better this year.

Has this team improved at all from last year? Some are touting the KSU game as being significantly better than the OU opener last year. But TD has now stated he played to keep the score down. NT never forced the KSU first team to punt. It is true that NT forced KSU to grind it out a bit and not score at will like OU did last year. However, how many really believe that KSU is close to as good as last year's OU. On the offensive side, NT chose to play ultra conservative and won the turnover battle but nothing else. It appears to me that TD may have decided before the game that he was going to grind it out and shorten the game when he opened with a two back set including essentially a fullback. With all off season to prepare for this game; NT apparently, in DD fashion. decided that the game was unwinnable and a 40 point loss was better than 60. One game does not make a season and I hope and expect we will see great improvement, Saturday. However, based not so much on the performance but on NT's resurrection of DD's football strategy, I have definitely given up any plans of attending the LSU game. At least DD had a running based attack that lends itself to the turtle football strategy.

Is TD facing the equivalent defense of what did DD in? Teams started loading the line and challenging NT to win with the passing game and DD never recovered. I didn't see the game but it sounded like KSU played to stop the pass and challenged NT to beat them running the ball and NT couldn't come close. An offense based on the passing game is anything but passe and that is part of the problem. The spread, run and shoot, etc. are so common now that most defenses have gotten good at countering those offenses. There is little new anymore about TD's offense and it's going to take much better execution then NT had against the Belt last year and KSU to be effective.

Well, how many all state players are in that class, not to mention have a state championship in the high jump? Note, I stated the most heralded incoming freshman not most heralded player on the team. Obviously, being the most acclaimed recruit does not necessarily translate into ultimately being the best player or even a good player. I don't think many know at this point why Stephens has had two publicized player issues. Are these instances necessary to hone the team to the high level that she wants or is it something else? These actions may very well turn out to be in the best interest of the team; but I don't see losing a recruit or putting your star player, a fifth year senior, on suspension as particularly positive signs. Hopefully, Stephens will start a women's basketball dynasty at NT beginning with a good team this year.