FirefightnRick

LongJim, What exactly is Mack's philosophy? This is a common sense approach to what he feels they should do offensively. He understands as most do, that your going to lose talent every year. So of course your going to adjust to your talent. But what is his philosophy? I would wager that it's not: "Play for field position, put it in the hands of the defense to hold and even gain that field position, and keep the score managable into the 4th quarter so that they will be in position to make plays to win the game" Rick

Good points by all. I want most to keep in mind that the original thread was to direct your attention to the hurdles other programs at or below North Texas' level has had to over come. Not to denegrate their programs by pointing it all out. By all means, I salute each and every one of them for taking on such a struggle in spite of it all. I'm not close to any of their programs, nor do I personally know anyone from there and do not keep up with them on the internet. But I can read typed printed press releases on what is being said about them, and from what is being stated by their leadership. Even though the facts speak for themselves in how all of them have built their programs, you have to be very excited if your an FAU fan from merely reading what Howard Shnellenberger states as his goals and intentions. Who in the Boca Raton area would not be excited to jump on his bandwagon and buy season tickets? Rick

For those who were already worn out from reading my research, here's the relevance of Plumm's 9 paragraph sentence. Well said, Jim. Rick

Thanks, I'll make the changes about FAU and Troy's old original upper deck in '01. I couldn't tell after several searches. Troy has it going on now, but prior to their win against us in '01 they had much less than NT then, yet still came out on top. They are currently 2-1 vs the Mean Green since the '01 season. Your information about FAU even more supports the original thread in that the Owls have to drive 30 minutes away to play, making it that much more difficult for them to have gotten to the point they are now. Rick

.......Central Florida, South Florida, Tulsa, Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Troy. Many of us have bought into the fallacy that because we didn't have top facilities(prior to the new AC Center, or with our current Fouts Field) that we can’t be competitive on the football field because it hampers our ability to recruit top athletes. I too have bought into this excuse in the past, after all, we are frequently reminded about it in print and hearing about it on the radio that “Our kids know their backs are against the wall when they sign here”. But I realize how idiotic that notion is considering all of our current NFL representatives came here without facilities to recruit to, a fan base to speak of or a 1-A conference championship to look at, at least not in the past 27 years prior to '01. Take a look here at 6 programs that in one form or another have had much less than North Texas to work with but have managed to catch up very quickly in bulding their program, and in some cases, even surpassed us. University of Central Florida: UCF started playing in 1979. They played 23 seasons as an independent. Like us, they have recently opened a new athletic facility but they have never had a stadium to play in, opting to travel 10 miles across downtown Orlando to play in the Citrus Bowl. They moved up to 1-A in 1996, a year after we did. They entered the MAC conference in 2002 and now are in C-USA. Here’s a link off their official site on their front page update concerning a future stadium they plan to build on campus. http://www.stadium.ucf.edu/ Since 1995, UCF has fully understood the importance of producing an entertaining, wide open football team on the field. Prior to them moving up to 1-A they recruited a star QB in Daunte Culpepper who came to UCF because he knew in their system he would have a shot at the next level, and it paid off for him and his university. Here’s some of the highlights after his senior year. Culpepper breaks Steve Young's 1983 single-season completion percentage record of 71.3 by completing 73.6 percent of his passes and becomes only the third player in NCAA history to pass for more than 10,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000 yards in a career. He ends the season with more than 30 school records to his credit and becomes the first UCF football player to have his jersey retired. Culpepper finishes third in the nation in passing efficiency and third in total offense, while receiver Siaha Burley ranks fifth in receptions per game, seventh in punt return average and 14th in receiving yards per game. Culpepper finishes sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting and is named national Co-Player of the Year by the Sports Network, along with Texas running back Ricky Williams. He is also named Dream Team Player of the Year by the NFL Draft Report. Football News names Culpepper it's Independent Player of the Year Culpepper becomes UCF's first NFL first- round draft pick as the Minnesota Vikings select him 11th overall..” Here is a link to their entire history, but I suggest you drop down and read from 1996 on. http://ucfathletics.collegesports.com/spor.../110204aag.html Interestingly, in 2000 UCF went into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama, but 3 short years later after a losing season in '03, and after several problems within the program they quickly fired their coach, opting to go with George O’ Leary for the 2004 season. They are currently 3-2 overall and 2-0 in C-USA including a win over Memphis, with DeAngelo Williams last week. University of South Florida Bulls. USF has only been playing football since 1996. They moved up to 1-A in 2001 and are currently in the Big East. They too have no stadium to play in and opt to travel about 10 miles across Tampa to play in Raymond James stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Bucs. Also like us, they too have opened a new athletic facility recently, and they needed it worst than anyone. Here’s a clip from a 2002 article concerning their on-campus facility issues. “The 103,000-square-foot facility will house 12 USF athletic programs and athletics administration offices, which are currently divided up among older buildings and trailers on the Tampa campus. “ USF has also understood the importance of producing an entertaining product on the field. All while recruiting and coaching from TRAILERS, and without the luxury of a stadium of their own, they managed to build a team in only their second year in 1-A in 2002 that gained wins over Houston, East Carolina, Memphis and Southern Miss, and more importantly beat us in ’01 and ‘02. They finished in the top 35 in all polls in 2002. They are currently 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the Big East conference including an all out ass kicking of #9 Louisville a few weeks ago. On a more personal subject due to Silver and mines recent venture to help bring you, the Mean Green fan, more available options for NT gear, and considering the fact that even though we shut down Greenstock, we are still bombarded with questions from fans and alumni every day through email and at the games about ” why in hell can’t anyone get North Texas gear anywhere other than the Denton bookstores?”, I thought you would like to see how USF set out to address this exact problem of merchandising back in 2002. It's a very big problem here that North Texas has yet to grasp the concept of while in our 90th season. http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/storie.../14/story7.html. Notice the similarities? University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes: Tulsa has played ball since 1917. For the majority of their history they played in the Missouri Valley conference along with such teams as Oklahoma State, Houston and North Texas. They remained 1-A but changed to an independent status in 1986. They joined the WAC in 1996. Their 2003 season (8-5) was their first winning season since 1991. The 2005 season is their first year in C-USA. They have a new 11,300 sq ft strength training and sports medicine center, not sure when it opened but they are claiming it is state-of-the-art. It does look new. They play in an on campus stadium built in 1930 named Skelly Stadium. http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictu...sa_skelly.shtml. And even though Skelly is considered one of the more poor facilities to play in around the region, they still managed to host Minnesota of the Big 10 conference this season and played them very well. Prior to their entrance into C-USA, Tulsa has had nothing football wise, to offer recruits other than many losing seasons and what the WAC conference had to offer. Yet here they are, in their new conference, currently at 3-3 overall, 2-1 in C-USA with wins over Memphis and Southern Miss, and one complete dismantling of a four time bowl team in North Texas to open the second week of this season. Many claim that it was due to the success of their basketball program as to why they got the C-USA invite. Possibly, because it certainly wasn’t anything to do with their football program after posting two back-to-back one win seasons in ’01 and ’02. You can speculate all you want about how or why they recieved the C-USA conference bid, but that had nothing to do with recruiting football players one, two or three years ago that produced our 54-2 loss to them at Fouts this season. Florida Atlantic University Owls: FAU has only been playing football for 4 years and started completely from scratch. Knowing what they would be up against, they went out and hired a visionary coach in Howard Shnellenberger who stated that one of their top goals at FAU was to win a national championship. Don’t laugh, he quickly raised $15 Million to help get an athletic center started and their major contributor finalized payments this year to complete the Tom Oxley Center. Coach Shnellenberger reminds me of another visionary, the great Hayden Fry, who spoke on behalf of the Mean Green at a press conference in '75 stating, "Someone has to be ranked #1 in this country, why not us?". FAU played their first game on Sept 1, 2001 and it only took two games for them to knock off a ranked opponent and a year later nearly won the 1-AA national championship. Last year they beat Hawaii, MTSU and North Texas all on the road in only their 3rd year of existence. FAU does not have an on-campus football stadium. They must travel 30 minutes away to Fort Lauderdale to play in 20,000 seat Lockhart Stadium, a once former major league soccer facility. Here’s some photos of Lockhart Stadium in a game against Colgate in 2003. http://fausports.collegesports.com/sports/.../121503aaa.html. I can think of 20 metroplex high schools that play in a nicer stadium, but the way they have quickly started their program they won’t be in Lockhart for long. Another interesting part about Shnellenberger is his understanding of the importance to win over a fanbase, to raise awareness about the positives of his program and what it currently has to offer, and more importantly how to raise money. He never focuses on what they DON’T have. Click HERE and read some of their releases during off season. Shnellenberger always has his teams making appearances all over the region trying to bring as much positive attention to his program as possible. Here’s one of his more unique ideas that he came up with to sell FAU Football: “THE DREAM GIRLS FAU Football is seeking 40 young ladies to be FAU Football's first singing group. If you are a young lady at least 18 years of age, who can sing, and who loves to be in the center of the action, volunteering to be a Dream Girl will be a great opportunity for you. You will showcase yourself as part of a talented musical group and as a goodwill ambassador for FAU Football. The Dream Girls main focus is to represent the FAU Owls' Football Team. The Dream Girls will be featured at numerous functions throughout South Florida and at all FAU Owls' home games. In addition, the Dream Girls will have a significant presence within many of the local communities by appearing and performing at various local service clubs and city functions with the FAU Football players. At all times, the Dream Girls will attempt to win new fans for FAU Football with their singing talents and their charming personalities. Also, the group may assist with local golf tournaments, take part in Shopping Center Promotions, and help present FAU baby t-shirts to mothers of newborn babies in various maternity wards. Here’s another of his programs: FAU FOOTBALL AMBASSADOR OPPORTUNITY FAU Football Coach, Howard Schnellenberger, is currently selecting a team of 11 Ambassadors in each of 40 South Florida Communities. FAU Football Ambassadors will be the Official Team Representatives in each Community. Ambassadors are individuals who embody the Owl Spirit and share our excitement about the future of FAU Football. They will play an important role in spreading the vision of Coach Schnellenberger and creating new fans for FAU Football in their respective Communities. All Ambassadors will be eligible to win a trip to a post-season Bowl game of their choice (including the Super Bowl) plus other prizes during the 2004 season. A reception for all Ambassadors to meet Coach Schnellenberger and watch Spring Practice will be held on Saturday, April 3rd. FAU is currently 1-5 overall and 1-1 in Belt play. They have not been world beaters just yet in their first full year as a 1-A program, but in '05 they started the season off against Kansas(30-19), Oklahoma State(23-3) and Minnesota(46-7). In their two games against Kansas and Oklahoma State they managed 553 yards and 22 points. Troy University Trojans: I think we are all well aware of this program. They have been historically a 1-AA powerhouse and moved up to their first full year of 1-A in 2002. Yes, they got one donor and a corporation to come in and rebuild a shoddy, old Memorial stadium in '03, so they do have a new facility to recruit to now but it hasn’t always been there for them. I thought it would be interesting to see what Memorial looked like back when they first beat us while in their 1-A provision year in ’01. Here it is: http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/SunBelt/TroyState/. It was told by many at the time that their stadium was not much to look at that year as the photo may suggest, yet they managed to beat North Texas, sending us to the N.O. Bowl with a losing record. Two years later in ’04 they beat Marshall a week after the Hurd had beaten K State. The next week Troy knocked off a ranked Missouri team enroute to a bowl at the end of the season and managed to have a player taken in the first round of the ’05 draft and who may very well win the NFL rookie of the year award this season. Regardless of their stadium situation 4 or 5 years ago, Troy has never looked back, but rather chose to go out and play competitive football with anyone they step on the field with in only their 3rd year of 1-A status. Florida International University Golden Panthers: FIU held their first practice on August 27th, 2001 and spent that season scrimmaging each other. They played their first season against other competition in ’02 while we were going to our second straight bowl game at North Texas. They played a 1-AA independent season in ’03 and are currently in their provisional 1-A season in the SunBelt. They too have an on campus stadium. http://www.fiusports.com/football/stadium.htm. FIU Stadium seats 7,000 permanent spectators and has added an extra 10,000 temporary seats brought in during the season. It also serves as their track facility. It states that FIU Stadium has a field house but does not mention an athletic center on their site. As you can read from the link above, they had to combine efforts with the State of Florida, Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation, the county commission and the Dade County Youth Fair, Inc. to get the necessary minimal needs met to get to 1-A. It goes without being said how very little FIU has had to recruit to. Maybe, compared to North Texas, the words “very little” is, VERY GENEROUS as they truly have had NOTHING to recruit to, NOTHING. They are currently 0-4 overall and 0-1 in Sun Belt play. They are currently on their 4th recruiting class overall, yet in their first game in '05 they played K State very well putting up 236 total yards and 21 points. I expect that, considering their aggressive nature to overcome so much to start a football program from scratch that it will only be a short amount of time for them to move up in the future as USF and UCF have. FIU is the newborn of college 1-A football. I hate to even speculate what it would mean for North Texas to drop this game against them this coming Saturday. Rick

The Indians also had 203 yards rushing on the day, 145 passing averaging 4.1 yards per complettion. They allowed 316 yards on the ground to the hogs, losing 44-15. Rick

All that is left on TV at this time, 11:15 p.m. is the ASU vs Oregon game. It's been pretty quiet on the east side since about 1 p.m. today so I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of football on TV. I didn't write anything down, but I've seen teams from one end of this country to the other go for it on 4th and inches all afternoon long, and not one team handed off 4 yards deep. Every team I saw go for it had their QB just lean across the line for a 1st. Talk about Square Peg in a Round Hole? The only thing more painful watching the the Mean Green offense continue to attempt 1st and inches plays against stacked lines by handing off 4 yards deep is listening to that goofy Simpson sister attempting to impersonate a singer carrying a song in tune on SNL tonight. How does someone that bad continue to get on TV? Rick

4 words. Hayden Fry.........Corky Nelson Rick

Please re-read my post. I said nothing of the kind that we didn't have any NFL talent. Your tired head is getting the best of your reading comprehension. That's OFFENSIVE, as in the team with the ball, that scores by advancing the ball in increments of 10 yards for first downs......... My point is, this system will NEVER produce an NFL QB because the QB position at NT is not allowed to do what NFL teams look for to run an NFL system. Which goes back to the original post. Danny isn't allowed to "Read" a defense. Niether will Byerly, or XYZ QB in the future. Look at the QB's coming out of the MAC conference schools for an example. See anyone running a conservative, run first to set up the pass, play-to-keep-it-close style of offense at Marshall, Miami O, Akron, Bowling Green....etc? No, it doesn't make a case for DD at all. But then again, he's not the offensive coordinator either, right? Rick

No, I'm on the anti-Our offense wagon. And most who know me personally know I have been so for 8 years now. Maybe I should have explained that better. Without specualting about the other positions, although you would have thought if anyone had the best shot on offense to make it that Zuniga would have. He got an invite to the combine but that was it. And it looks as if Patrick will get his shot as well, we will see. I should have said, you won't see any QB's getting looks from this system. I'm not saying Danny couldn't make it or not. But I'm guessing that he could start the next 3 years and won't get enough opportunities to get anything on tape or during games to show what he can do to a defense. Rick

Back to the object of the thread: I posted under: "Daniel Meager, JaMario Thomas, Quarterback, running game" FirefightnRick

I think we should have a " Mean Green Chicks Footballspeak-a-thon" competition against the other schools' women. I'd put our girls up against any others. My money would be on John Denver's woman for sure. Followed up by untgirl04 and VeryGreen Olson. Rick

I agree with most of your oppinions on this subject other than this statement gangreen, in that Danny isn't taught to "READ" defenses in this system like what most would believe. Let me explain. For years we have been wondering why our passing seems so watered down? It became apparant to some that Hall/Smith never seemed to audible. Plus, if we pass, we pass regardless if the reciever was there or not, unless the QB is forced to run. Later on in his carreer Hall learned to throw it away more if the reciever on that side of his rollouts(ALWAYS an indication of a pass...ALWAYS) was covered. Finally, last year there was a report on Scott Hall, DD, Flanigan and our offense and it revealed what many here had guessed for years. In the report Hall admitted to the reporter that, unlike most high schools, we do not allow our QB to audible out of the play. Scott stated he could change which side the play is to go to, but he could not audible out of the called play. It explained a lot, at least to me it did. Therefore, it is my oppinion from the fact that this inept offense not only handcuffs the most powerful weapon on the field, the QB, from allowing him to change the play at the line of scrimmage, I also do not believe the QB checks off recievers. One reason for this oppinion: You never see our QB's roll out and throw towards a covered WR(either throwing it away or forcing it, making a bad read) while everyone on the sideline and in the stadium is yelling for him to look at some other reciever that the defense allowed to slip by and getting wide open. You know those: AH, look, look, look, he's wide, he's wide, Ahhh No, no damnit he was wide open!!!! type of plays. I know this doesn't happen a lot of times with other programs, but you see it now and then. Never at NT. Also, The "OTHER" reciever knows the ball isn't coming his way so you always see him get down field, clearing his man, then start to block with his back to the ball. If he was an option, he would be trying to gain separation by continuing his route or coming back, instead of blocking away from the play. Read those last two lines...again. If you have watched enough Mean Green football these past 8 years, this makes perfect sense for what you have seen. I would like to propose a question to everyone. Not including punters or Brian Waters, who's the last offensive player to make it to the NFL? 4 conference championships now, surely somone made it, right? Still pulling my hair out! Rick

ttunt, I was there to see some of those wins also. I would like to add to that list the final game in '88 in which NT went down to Houston and wiped the floor up with Rice. I remember the freak rain storm that came from no where in the 3rd quarter in which everyone headed for cover under the East side overhang. Everyone but the NT fans because we were having such a great time watching NT go up and down the field on a SWC school. The vast amount of luxuries that NT had to do without during it's 1-AA years made those wins fantastic for us. But as great as that season was in '88, and as great as the win over TCU in '86 was regionally for us, I would trade them all to have seen in person the win over Tennessee in '75. Rick

By the way I'm curious. Our current conference(Sun Belt), which we have dominated is still ranked below other 1-AA conferences in several ratings, and our conference still has teams losing to teams from our old 1-AA(Southland) conference(ULM losing to Northwestern Louisiana State this year). Does anyone have the information showing what the SLC was rated back when we played in it? Rick

Very good question. For the record, FFR is NOT calling for DD's head. He deserves our respect for all he's done. I want to see him take us to the next level but I don't see it happening with the current system. I just want a new offensive philosophy that is entertaining and gives us a chance to play with anyone and is not counted out when we get behind. Rick

What is even more hilarious is how you continue to drag our veteran offense in with our young defense to make your arguement that there isn't anything wrong. King was referring to my previous post concerning our offense. Our defense IS rebuilding and I have yet to see anyone here say otherwise about it. TCU is doing the very same thing, but with a back up QB on offense who only saw one play prior to the BYU game, but you certainly don't see them trying to play for field position, hoping to KEEP IT CLOSE for the 4th quarter. They know they are going to get scored on, so they go out and try to put as many points on the board the ENTIRE game using any means necessary. Replacing three starters on offense doesn't make it a young offense that is having to start over. Especially considering our RB situation which, any team in the country would love to have. I have always feared this was going to happen at some point after Deloach left. That once we finally had a year in which we truly had to rebuild our defense without him, and had to rely solely on our offense to take up the slack, that people would refer back to our great domination of Sun Belt teams as an excuse that there is not a problem offensively. This offense has alway's struggled and always will. It's had flashes against very poor teams, but for the most part it's struggled against weak programs and get's easily defeated against equal or stronger programs. In it, our players are taught to keep it close, play ball control, keep the other team back on their end of the field and hope our defense sets us up so we can score with a short field at some point late in the game. That's a defeatist attitude that does not scare anyone. DD has referred to this philosophy countless times on his show and in the paper. After the K State game he clearly stated that once we get behind, we are placed in a situation that does not favor our system. Really? So basically fans can go on out to the car when we get behind because we have little hope of coming back? That's not how you sell tickets. Rick

Good points for sure, and yes, I and many others would like to see it as well. I guess for me all in all, one play keeps coming back to me that solidifies our limited chance of ever seeing a new system under the current staff or ever seeing a change of any kind. 4th and inches in which we hand off deep. Even had Jamario held onto the ball I wouldn't have liked the call due to the unecessary risk. We got stuffed on it at MTSU and got stuffed again against Troy regardless of the fumble. I see no reason to hold onto the current system that supposedly is built to our strengths. Because right now, it isn't our strength and we have fallen back to 1999 all over again. Yes, it's worked against much weaker Belt teams...barely on many occasions I might add, and moreso due to the fact that we have had a very good defense to keep us alive which in truth, has been our true strength. We do not have that now. During our Conference run we have won 14 games by ten points or less. 6 of those were by 5 points or less, 5 of them were by 3 points or less. Our so called strong running game in the previous 4 years has lost to two provisional 1-AA schools and has been stuffed by numerous unranked OOC teams including 3 beatings in the bowl games. During our 26 conference game winning streak, which started in '01, we have beaten 2 teams with a WINNING RECORD. That's TWO TEAMS!!!!!!! An 8-3 MTSU team in only their 2nd full year in 1-A, and a 7-5 NMSU team in '02. So for me the conservative running game has been good against Belt teams. But I expected more improvement by now. It's been 8 years to build depth in this system and it's failed miserably. The current system has been proven to be easily defended by non Belt opponents, and now by them as well. I see no reason how it would disrupt the program to change to a more updated, open style of offense at the end of the year. Bring in a Todd Dodge or someone else as OC who can teach the system and start from there. We would have nothing to lose. By the way, just to remind what has cost us offensive production, so we are told, that due to current players not being able to gel from a lack of playing together? Unless Lineberry graduates in May and qualifies for grad school we will not only lose him, But also lose May, Davidson and Cobbs. That's 4 more players to replace, forcing next year's team to wait until who knows when for this team to GEL in this so called strength of ours. Rick

4 of our five O linemen have blocked for a national rushing leader and tab 40 starts under their belts. We replaced a QB, a tightend and our center. 11 offensive players have played in over 151 games. I'm not saying we expected to be the best team in the land this season, but to average less than 3 yards a rush with those two backs is shocking. And nice read on the game LongJim, but I get the feeling this was your first game to watch? We didn't do the run, run, run and punt last night, we tried to change it up..............finally! Two, three seasons too late in my oppinion and the lack of our new QB being able to make it all come together in one game, one season showed. Many of those plays were not there against MTSU, Tulsa, which is the only way your going to get experience running them. If by any chance we here have made up the "We only run, run, run, and punt all the time" out of the thin blue sky, why do you suppose Troy/MTSU, Tulsa, K State, Southern Miss......etc played 9 in the box with the safety 7 yards off the line? Why? We have watched it for 8 years now. Yes, some play action passes were mixed in, but most were the same tire routes, the same tired play action passes blah blah blah. But overall, nothing has changed. Rick

Allow him to play towards his strongest skills(running the ball) by installing a base option offense. Then let him pass off of the reads. We all watched two-a-days. We all saw his best skill was running the ball. By uitilizing his best skills you give him a better chance to succeed. But that would have had to have been done in August. Not October. Too late now. We are going to force this square peg into a round hole regardless if Danny gets the team on track or not by continueing to set up the play-action with the run first. Rick

Danny did look better. He looks like he could be scary-like affective running the option. He's fast, possibly the quckest QB we have seen in some time. So if we are going to be so @#$#ing committed to running the ball, why not utilize his skill he seems best at,(RUNNING THE BALL) along with the two streak-fast backs we have behind him, and run the option? Pulling my hair out....still! Rick

I suppose those 23/24 are more from the defensive side of things. If so, and I believe they are, our defense played it's ass off to hold Troy to 13 points after playing in 76 plays on the night. As I have stated earlier, our current offense has players with over 140 starts and over 151 games played in. That is fact, not an estimate or a guess, but fact. I can sit here and list every player and every start or game they played in by their listing on meangreensports.com and in the media guide. Rick

Good post 66. And thank you to 96 for posting that article about Coach Fry. In a report in last year's Startlegram, I beilieve it was in their football preview, not sure?, but they surveyed graduating HS seniors throughout the region on what they rate from most to least importance for their choice of school's to attend. There were several major program's AD's interviewed including Deloss Dodds at UT and the guy from TCU. I can't remember the exact percentage, but playing time was near the top. I have gotten to know many of our players over the years and when asked just about everyone of them said the opportunity to play at North Texas right away was a major factor in their decision to come here. Of course, by now, after 8 years into this sytem, I would have thought that would not be the case any longer due to DEPTH, however I'm still hearing that? Which I believe is one of the major problems we face right now. Rick

I haven't watched the replay yet but I'll bet we didn't balance the pass early in the game. Only after we got behind did we pass to catch up in the stats, and only pass to the same usual routes. The 12 and out, the 8 and out in which the LB's knew exactly the spot to go to disrupt the pass many times including an INT, and the long streak toss up. Tell me what other successful program uses this same offense and offensive philosophy. It's been great against the belt. But they have caught up to us. The fact that Troy's safety played 7 yards deep all night say's they knew what was coming, knew how to defend it and knew we would not change nor be able to execute the change because WE DON'T PASS. WE RUN. Tire of this whole arguement, very tired. Rick

Very true! RV has done an amazing job. Last night was complete proof of just how much of a difference his efforts has made. Rick