Realistic goals for the rest of the season

[Harry]

Main thing -- get better.  Develop DaMarcus as best you can.  Perhaps even get Means some reps if possible. Get the defense to improve.  You have two winnable games against UTSA and UTEP.  Win em both!  Play respectable against Marshall.  Don't let Tech and MUTS embarrass you.  Take some chances.  Get better every game despite the opponent.  Let the young guys who haven't played yet get a chance to show what they can do.  Don't pull off any redshirts that are already in place.  Provide some good evaluation on various players for the new staff.  Even though you can't offer, keep in touch with the high school coaches and let them know have interest and we care.

[Got5onIt]

Agreed.

 

I would add that I would look at this as a 6 game season. Shoot for .500 and consider it a triumph if attained, considering where this thing was pre-Chico.

[SilverEagle]

....find a way to bring back the defense that played like hell the first three quarters of the SMU game. If Cosh can't motivate them, then put one of the other defensive coaches in charge.

[VideoEagle]

Make sure to emphasize don't pull any red shirts for this season no matter the injuries or chance to win a game. Get the younger guys in the game earlier if we are down by a lot. At the point, building for the future is more important than winning. 

[oldguystudent]

Exploit kitchen pass for November 7th.  Drive to Ruston.  Experience unexpected "car trouble" in Bossier.  Find self unable to push onward.  Forced to spend the night in casino.  

[Eagle-96]

Experience, experience, experience. Get young players reps in games. Backups will be starters one day and they need live gameday experience. We have been hamstrung for too long by coaches that don't give meaningful time to backups even in blowouts. We then enter the next year with players that take half the season to get up to speed. I also don't buy into the "seniors have earned playing time in their last year". That's BS. We need to build for the future and play the guys that will give us the best chance for the future. Period. Regardless of class status. 

[MeanGreenHoops]

I'm not sure I agree with the redshirt thing, and it looks like the coaches don't either as McNair got in the game against WKY. I mean, if you have the ability to help this team next year, I'd much rather get the growing pains out of the way this year that is lost and get somewhat used to this level.

[MeanGreenTexan]

If you have players wearing redshirts that you believe can help you win games right now, you play them.

If you're asking for the players not to quit & to give max effort, you have to expect the same from the coaches.  Each & every game.

[Hunter Green]

I read this post with nodding approval. Written by an old friend who I met at a practice many years ago. Harry, you have always been the voice of reason, even during times as torturous as these. You know this program inside and out and have a passion that is unmatched by anyone in the Nation.  Your approach toward the AD, administration, the players, and even us unwashed fans has been fair, rational and almost always spot on.  So, as I read your post again, I began to smile and thought to myself, Harris Meirs should be the Athletic Director of our beloved university. Why not?  Surround yourself with the best people you can find and get this ship righted. Hank would be a great right hand man to help you with the ins and outs of the job until you got your feet wet. We've always wanted someone with ties to North Texas in the AD, so, why not Harry Meirs?  Thanks for all you do for all of us and for giving us the forum to voice our worthless opinions. You're the man, Harry!

GO MEAN GREEN!

[VideoEagle]

I still remember many, many angry posts about Dodge pulling a red shirt to make an injury substitution and terrible it was to waste a year's eligibility trying to win a game in a year that reached the point it didn't matter. I can't remember the player but I remember many complaints we could have used him the year after his eligibility ran out more than in a losing last game of the year. 

If you are playing to win, then you don't play the backups. If you want to see what you have, you eat the loss and build for the future. Obviously it's a balancing act as you start out trying to win every game. But this season, and hopefully ONLY this season, you reach a point in a losing game you build for the future. 

[Eagle-96]

I still remember many, many angry posts about Dodge pulling a red shirt to make an injury substitution and terrible it was to waste a year's eligibility trying to win a game in a year that reached the point it didn't matter. I can't remember the player but I remember many complaints we could have used him the year after his eligibility ran out more than in a losing last game of the year. 

Derek Thompson

[MeanGreenTexan]

I still remember many, many angry posts about Dodge pulling a red shirt to make an injury substitution and terrible it was to waste a year's eligibility trying to win a game in a year that reached the point it didn't matter. I can't remember the player but I remember many complaints we could have used him the year after his eligibility ran out more than in a losing last game of the year. 

If you are playing to win, then you don't play the backups. If you want to see what you have, you eat the loss and build for the future. Obviously it's a balancing act as you start out trying to win every game. But this season, and hopefully ONLY this season, you reach a point in a losing game you build for the future. 

Derek Thompson.  You're absolutely right.  It wound up being a wash anyway as he got a hardship waiver for his injury during the 2010 season.  But, even at the time, I was on board with burning his redshirt because the game wasn't too crazy out of reach and he was the best QB available after both Tune & Dodge went down.

[untjim1995]

....find a way to bring back the defense that played like hell the first three quarters of the SMU game. If Cosh can't motivate them, then put one of the other defensive coaches in charge.

That defense that looked so good against SMU in those first three quarters has now been shown to have looked good against the worst team on our schedule--by a mile, I might add.

At the beginning of the year, I predicted SMU to win one game this year--at home against FCS James Madison. Instead, they beat us, then lost to a better team in James Madison. It was as clear that if we lost to SMU in that first game, we probably weren't beating another FBS team on our schedule--now that Portland State abused us, it just really appears that the overall talent here is just lower than we could have ever imagined--especially on defense. Maybe Damarcus Smith at QB would've been enough to beat SMU, but we obviously blew that, so now we just have to hope and pray he can be developed into a good starting QB, both on and off the field.

At this point, getting a win will be really, really hard, but I just want to see us play competitive games for 4 quarters against most of the teams we have left (this week and against Tennessee are the outliers). We absolutely cannot get blown out by UTSA or UTEP. And it would be nice to play competitively with La Tech and MUTS, if possible. The continued development of the QB and the OL are critical to this team getting better. On defense, it won't get better until you recruit/develop linemen and linebackers that can pressure the QB and make open-field tackles. The DBs on this team play 10 yards off because the front seven can't pressure the QB.

Its gonna take a while to get this going again--whoever we hire will have his work cut out for him. He has to rebuild the offense to a modern playbook with guys who weren't necessarily built for it and strengthen up a front seven that is woefully small at this point.

[Cr1028]

I don't see how you convince a staff who is coaching for their next job to "build for the future". They won't be here and won't care. They are going to do their best to win every game left on the schedule so they aren't unemployed next season.

[EagleMBA]

....find a way to bring back the defense that played like hell the first three quarters of the SMU game. If Cosh can't motivate them, then put one of the other defensive coaches in charge.

That was the defense that prompted me to defend them. I anticipated improvement going forward, based on experience with the new DC. In fact, the defense has gotten steadily worse. WTF?

[meangreen15]

#hit6 

[Cr1028]

That was the defense that prompted me to defend them. I anticipated improvement going forward, based on experience with the new DC. In fact, the defense has gotten steadily worse. WTF?

The further we get from Skladany, the worse the defense becomes.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Derek Thompson.  You're absolutely right.  It wound up being a wash anyway as he got a hardship waiver for his injury during the 2010 season.  But, even at the time, I was on board with burning his redshirt because the game wasn't too crazy out of reach and he was the best QB available after both Tune & Dodge went down.

He was the only QB available.  Chase Baine had to stay at home for that trip.

[Army of Dad]

That was the defense that prompted me to defend them. I anticipated improvement going forward, based on experience with the new DC. In fact, the defense has gotten steadily worse. WTF?

Because every team we've played since then is better than SMU?

[MGNation92]

Because every team we've played since then is better than SMU?

If you ask Dan McCarney, they're all really good football teams.

[Cr1028]

He was the only QB available.  Chase Baine had to stay at home for that trip.

Yep, it was either trot DT out there for finish the game in wildcat with Darius Carey, the College Football Performance Awards 2012 Elite Punt Returner Award winner taking the snaps. As much as I like Carey and hate that Mac ran him off, I think Dodge did the right thing putting DT out there.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Cr1028

[Matt from A700]

Defense should be #1 focus. If the defense performs like I did against SMU, I believe DaMarcus Smith is capable of winning out at home. I'd like to see us steal a game on the road, too. I would say MTSU is our best chance to split the rest of our season.

[NT2002]

#HIT1 - Our  new mantra. 

Oh the heights from which we have fallen.