[Game Thread: 9/16 @ LA Tech]

Couple of nice catches by WRs with balls that were thrown behind them.

[Game Thread: 9/16 @ LA Tech]

Wow, that seemed like a lot of contact before the ball got there.

[Game Thread: 9/16 @ LA Tech]

Oof, we lost the coin toss.  Could be the difference.

[Other Games - 9/16/23]

16 minutes ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

At the half, FIU is whooping up on a UConn team I thought was at least decent 24-3.  Maybe FIU is better than we thought after making their much-need QB change.

However, Cal is losing 17-0 in the 2nd to Idaho.

 

Hahaha...no

 

 

 

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

16 hours ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

Yeah, Caponi might not be able to coach a 4-6 or another type of defense. But, it seems he can't coach a 3-3-5 either. At this point, what the harm in trying something we might be better suited to run. I don't think it can get worse than giving up 46 to FIU.

[Game Day vs La Tech- How are we feeling?]

2 hours ago, Greendylan said:

If Rogers leads the offense to a TD on every single drive, we will be in the game!! 

Agreed.  We must score on every drive in order to be in the game.  Coin flip will be critical.

 

[Army vs UTSA]

1 hour ago, Cr1028 said:

Did he say “it’s gotta be easier to make a living somewhere else than this dump”? At the 3:05 mark?

I am sure that is what he wanted to say. 

 

Of course, he also might have said 'dumb game' but I am sure he was thinking 'this dump'

[Army vs UTSA]

Wait, some coaches still show up for a press conference after a loss?  What a boomer!

 

 

 

[Rogers gets the start against LA Tech]

1 hour ago, NT80 said:

I agree, the portal is a much faster way to build a roster.  But a lot of moving pieces involved with a coaching change.  Did Morris have enough time to hire assistants and staff plus get their input on portal guys?   

And remember, every player taken from the portal is not a guarantee to be the fix until they show they are.... ie Jace Ruder, Grant Gunnell, etc

They had an entire spring practice to evaluate the roster before the spring portal opened up.  If they felt like they needed an overhaul there were no signs of urgency at DL.  I think we brought in 1 player for the DL.

I think the sad truth is that this staff got caught standing flat footed and did not do a good job of evaluating their roster and are now paying the price.

[Rogers gets the start against LA Tech]

16 minutes ago, NT80 said:

This is the problem most try to say is poor coaching...

instead, it's about not having enough of the right personnel.

I am not disagreeing that we may not have enough of the right personnel, but who is responsible for getting the right personnel? 

The portal has removed the built in coaching excuse of needing time to recruit guys from HS.  This excuse has been proven false with countless examples of coaches getting it done.

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

I don't expect wholesale changes during the season.  They may tweak some things here and there but I highly doubt a scheme change. 

I assume even a 3-3-5 defense has packages that puts an extra defender in the box that makes it look/act more like a 7 man front.  Maybe we can lean on those packages until things stabilize.  Of course any reaction in one area will impact another area so we will likely be choosing between 'in the stomach or in the face'.

I suspect Morris will try to adjust the same as Littrell did and start emphasizing the run game in order to slow things down to try and limit the time his defense stays on the field.  Let's hope that adjustments are made quickly because this defense is headed toward historical ineptness if something doesn't change soon.

 

[Rogers gets the start against LA Tech]

Earle did not value the ball as much as he needed.  5 picks in 5 quarters should rightfully earn you an opportunity to watch for a while.  Add in 5 fumbles (luckily only 1 lost) from the rest of the offense and the football has been loose a lot.

Really need Rogers to step up and stabilize the QB spot and hopefully it trickles down to the rest of the team.

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

16 minutes ago, NT93 said:

I don’t disagree, but I’ll play devils advocate.  What would be our reaction if Morris was a Flexbone guru, but it was failing miserably with Littrell’s Air Raid roster?  Would we expect Morris to run a version of the Air Raid since that’s what he has the personal for?  
 

Honestly, and I really don’t mean this as a knock on Caponi, but he may not even know how to teach another defense.  Kind of the same as it’s unlikely Morris could teach another offense.  A lot of these guys are married to the system they know and trust.  

If we were in a tear down scenario it might make sense to bring in a guy with a tangent philosophy.  If you are just trying to take what has had moderate success and take the next step I would not expect the AD to hire a guy that requires taking it down to the studs.  If this is what we have done then I think the AD failed at his job.

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

57 minutes ago, ChiefTenBeers2015 said:

 Don’t agree Bennett’s defense was serviceable. I agree things have gotten worse, and didn’t think that would/could be the case. 

Fair.  They were marginal defenses except for 2021 which was his best year, yet somehow we regressed to 2007/2008 ridiculousness.

Edit:  Bennett's defense in 2021 was ranked 68th, the year after taking over for Bowens 127th/last ranked D.  Weird how he did not require a complete rebuild.  In 2022 his D finished ranked 120, not good and a contributing factor to Seth's demise so don't want to get too revisionist history with Bennett. He had one pretty decent year and one that was not light years ahead of this one (but 'only' gave up 32 pts per game, a solid 20 ppg below where we currently sit).

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

Looking at our depth chart to start the year against Cal (1st) vs depth chart for La Tech (2nd), there does not seem like a lot of change even with the lack of production (being nice).  It will be interesting to see how this defensive staff and players respond. I would say it can't get worse but we know we can find a way to make it worse.  If we have players that have not bought in and not giving effort after two weeks into the season and they are still playing, I am not sure how to respond.

             

[It’s a Culture Problem]

4 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

it'll either become too hot for outdoor sports to take place sometime during the late 21st century, or DFW will become a "coastal city" if you know what I mean.

Interesting.  Which coast?

[GMG Exclusive Interview With Former North Texas DC Phil Bennett]

During the interview Phil said when he took the North Texas job he had other coaches ask him flat out why on earth would you go to North Texas?  Oh man, that's rough.

Thank you for this JD.  Great to hear coach weigh in.  I really wish they would bring him in as a consultant to try and calm things down a bit and talk some sense in this defensive staff.

 

[GMG Exclusive Interview With Former North Texas DC Phil Bennett]

 

 

Please?

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

To level set fairly, this is not accurate.   
We were definitely running Briles' Veer-&-shoot under Bloesch, with a few Air Raid nuances from Littrell.   It's a different offensive philosophy altogether, and we've seen that with the cliff-like dropoff of RB production.    But, Morris being an OC by trade, he can implement and run his Air Raid.   We saw it work against FIU to the tune of 39 points.    I expect it to get better as the year goes on as well.  Especially if he sticks with Rogers.

But yeah, apparently you need more LBs to run a 3-3-5 instead of the 4-2-5 Bennett was running defensively.  Who knew?   Then you lose a guy who started a bunch of games over the past few years.... you may want to try and find a guy to play there if you're not sure Wesloski & Brown can do it.  Preferably, a guy that wasn't playing QB his whole career prior.

My issues have not really been focused on the offensive side of the ball.  While the offense may also be a wreck, in comparison the issues seem more manageable so I defer to your comments regarding the differences.  

My (and others) not so subtle angst has been regarding the defensive clusterF this coach has implemented.  I think the reason the reaction has been so sudden and loud is that many of us witnessed this same thing with Todge and we know how painful that was to endure and ultimately ended in tears.  Morris may not have lived it and Mosley may not have lived it, but plenty of long time fans lived through the Todge years. 

There is no reason it had to be this way. Bennet built a blueprint of how to build a complementary defense that was at least serviceable.  This guy was supposed to be a better recruiter and better communicator.  We did not bring him in to try to run some edgy defense that the team was not built to run.  All he had to do was bring in a guy that fit the existing talent OR be prepared to rebuild immediately through the portal.  He did neither.

Why must we have to suffer through another inexperienced coach and AD's learning curve?  These things should have been discovered in the interview process and avoided altogether.

 

By the way, I hear the mimosas at shuffleboard today were delicious.

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

1 minute ago, TheColonyEagle said:

 

That's an interesting point I hadn't thought of when comparing bringing your system to an established team vs bringing in your own players to work within your system....

I can see the challenge Morris has, especially given that it has started so poorly.

The offense should be a no brainer.  Air Raid to Air Raid with minor differences.  For some unknow reason, he decided it would be a good idea to completely change the defensive scheme and not recruit new players from the portal that bought in to the scheme.  

Complete incompetence and lack of experience as a coach.  And the AD was complicit as well.  Amateur hour all around.  How could the AD hire a guy that says he is going to change the defensive philosophy and not ensure he had a plan for how he was going to adapt the roster to fit?  Poor skills and planning from the person making the hire unless the coach said he needed 3-4 years to get his guys in here and the AD was ok with it.

What time is shuffleboard today?

 

[DCTF: Are Texas State and North Texas Case Studies in Roster Building]

25 minutes ago, meangreenbob said:

3 year rebuild only to teach and groom our recruits to see them portal out in their prime. 

Unbelievable. 
 

Kodak didn’t change fast enough when everything went digital. It cost them big time. 
 

We are North Kodak Texas. 

 

[Does a week 3 win take the pressure off of the new staff?]

6 minutes ago, meaniegreenie said:

I haven't paid attention to Navy, but assume they still rely on their traditional offense.  I don't see how our undersized 3-man front will keep them from getting 5 yds on every play and more when tackles are missed.

They will set records if we send out the same defense/effort as the first 2 games.

[Coach O is Keeping Receipts...]

1 hour ago, Matt from A700 said:

Mosley hears the heat. He retweeted this this morning. Hopefully "stay the course" is not referring to Stone Earle or the 3-3-5.

 

Clearly the AD is smarter than everyone.  R-E-L-A-X.  What time is shuffleboard today out at the village?

[Does a week 3 win take the pressure off of the new staff?]

2 hours ago, Hunter Green said:

I agree with you, but can you fire your DC with the lack of talent, size and depth he has to work with? I know it's not a popular opinion, but we probably need to see the entire body of work as you can't really fire someone after 2-3 games. Just won't happen. At this point, I want Chandler Roger's to start the rest of the way, give Oscar Addaway the bulk of the carries and look for improvement on defense. After the season, tear that portal up!

The part that is inexcusable, even if they manage to right the ship is that they showed up to the season in complete disarray, especially on defense.  That just can't/shouldn't happen.  

[It’s a Culture Problem]

2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

* Winning, first and foremost. The DFW market are notorious front runners.  *Second, you have to make every game an event. It has to be the place to be and be seen.
* Third, game times, which we don’t have much control over, need to be mainly in the evening when family/kids events are done for the night.

* Incorporate the community.  Make every home game an elementary school night. There are enough schools to recognize two for each game. Also, recognize a local community. For example, have a Robson Ranch Night. Sell them a block of tickets, bus them over, drop them off at a dedicated tailgate tent with food, cash bar and music, tickets to the game, post game entertainment in their tent and then bus them home. 
* Recognize local North Texas towns. Sanger night, Krum Night, etc…

*Bring back the Scrappy Squad lineup for the team to run through either pregame or after halftime. 
* Half price upper wing tickets. 
* Win consistently. 

Tell them that it is a Winstar trip with a brief stop in Denton.