Grade the Coaching/Performance

UNT90 · September 4, 2016

11 minutes ago, Hunter Green said:

It allows Fine to grow up a little bit and not have the weight of the world on his shoulders. Give him a little bit each week, and depending how the season unfolds, make him your starter toward the end of the season. Playing during mop up time does not give an accurate guage how he would do as a starter. College defenses are much more advanced than what he saw in high school.

No doubt about playing in mop up time not meaning anything, but Littrell has continually talked about how good he is and his comments last night lead me to believe a change is imminent.

Its baptism by fire. If you believe the kid is mentally strong enough to fail and learn and get better from that failure, you play him in a season you know is going nowhere. Littrell also needs to make sure he is right about Fine.

I think he is the starter by Rice, if not before. Not because of what I saw last night, but because of what Littrell SAID last night in response to a lay up question and because of Littrell's earlier comments about Fine. Also, Littrell had no problem burning Fine's shirt in the first game of the year. All this adds up.

It will be interesting to see how the next 3 weeks unfold in relation to the starting QB position at UNT.

Edited September 4, 2016 by UNT90

Cerebus · September 4, 2016

22 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

I think he is the starter by Rice, if not before. Not because of what I saw last night, but because of what Littrell SAID last night in response to a lay up question and because of Littrell's earlier comments about Fine. Also, Littrell had no problem burning Fine's shirt in the first game of the year. All this adds up.

Best place to make the switch would be the Army game. If we go into that bye week at 1-5, then it's the perfect time to get him acclimated and also probably the weakest FBS pass defense we'll face this year.

rws69 · September 4, 2016

While none of us liked being down 17-0 after the first quarter, we have to remember it was the first quarter for new offense, new coaches, new defense, etc. versus SMU having played a year with their current coach and team. While it was not pretty, out-scoring SMU 21-17 after that was somewhat encouraging. AM was obviously rusty after four years riding the bench, but I suspect most of us expected better. While AM was riding the bench, MF was playing in game situations the last few seasons. Between the two, at least we should be OK at quarterback.

SMU's Davis was expected to rely less on his own running and rely more on his running back and passing game. While we certainly did not defend against his run, our defense forced him to run much more than I think SMU coaching staff wanted. Let's call that a silver lining in an otherwise difficult day for our new defense.

All that said, I think we can win next week. With steady improvement, we could still get to 4 or 5 wins.

Great turnout last night, especially by the students. Let's give them reason to keep coming back.

TreeFiddy · September 4, 2016

I don't recall that Davis returned after Combs or Wheeler (can't remember which) planted him the second half. He walked off, but stayed down for quite a while.

Ben Gooding · September 4, 2016

5 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

I don't recall that Davis returned after Combs or Wheeler (can't remember which) planted him the second half. He walked off, but stayed down for quite a while.

He didn't return. He got thumped.

GMG24 · September 4, 2016

3 hours ago, Side Show Joe said:

Offense- F

24 points is terrible for a spread offense. Morris held the ball too long and often took a sack instead of throwing the ball away. His accuracy was poor too. The WRs didn't do a good job of coming back to the ball. Wilson, Thompson, and Smith were good and had solid games.

Defense- D

The D gave up that terrible 3rd and 45 touchdown, and didn't contain Davis, but still managed to hold SMU to only 34 points. Not great but better then last years group, considering they are better this season..

Special Teams- D

This used to be a solid unit. Dropped punts and poor kick coverage are not acceptable.

The fact that Tauaalo is on KOR is a bad sign, nothing against the kid but an interior DL on KOR isn't springing hope eternal, or the fact that Goree has to be on Punt, run down and cover then try to tackle, we have no one else? Ouch.