Under Seth Littrell, UNT is now 6-1 in one score games

[oldguystudent]

Me:  Looks at score on Saturday night. "Holy shit!  We won!  We're bowl eligible and quite likely to win the division!!!"  Does happy dance, scares parents of young children in the vicinity. 

Also me:  Comes to this board after seeing the score.  Looks for nearest sharp edge and starts cutting myself and listening to Deathcab for Cutie. 

[golfingomez]

10 minutes ago, Aldo said:

I get it. We should have beat UAB and ODU like we did USM, due to game script alone, but we kept them in the game. La Tech is a different team than all of those, except for the young QB. UAB has the best QB out of this bunch, imo.

The offense gave us a preview of what they can be with a consistent defense, special teams, and offense itself. But that hasn't been the case. Coaching, execution have been up and down through every game. But we adjust.

Defenses have schemed out Guyton and attacked the offensive line. Since UTSA, defenses have blitzed and blitzed and blitzed knowing they can disrupt the pass game. 

And yet we still win. Give credit where it's due. La Tech is a good team. They have injuries, we have injuries. They have issues, we have issues. This is CUSA. We play to our competition.

We aren't a complete team, but the fact this inconsistent team is pulling out wins is a difference from past teams.

Am I content about that? No, we can be so much better, but right now this is what we got. It's good enough to pull wins, and for damn sure I expect us to be even better next season.

the only similarity between UAB and La. Tech is that the score was close.

People tend to be less than happy when you go up by a score of 30-14 on a team and then nearly lose it with a really bad second half, especially against a team that we thought was not as good as they have turned out to be.

People also tend to be more excited when your team does not play it's best game, yet manages to come from behind and eek out a victory against a team that is perennially competing for the conference championship.

[Green Mean]

46 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

What is has become is fans are okay about a 1 Point win and a team that is just getting by in CUSA.. A point win vs a team who may not make a bowl game and that was littered with 2nd and 3rd team guys playing and they hung with us, but yet most people on here were pissed off after a 3-Point wanting more vs a better UAB team.. We complain and ask why recruiting sucks.. it sucks for a number of reasons and the lacking statement/prove it games is another reason... We have given up more points than we have score this year, and that is not a what winning teams do. UNT made a statement vs USM and vs UTSA, and could have made a major one vs LT, even SL has said he fine with close wins but the team needs to focus and win by biggeer margins. We beat UTEP by single digits, we have some major problems.

The goal is to win the game...they did.  It just takes 1 point to win so I don't understand the issue.  We are happy because the alternative outcome was losing...so why won't the fans be happy when we not only won but ALSO became bowl eligible. 

I don't care if they're just 2nd, 3rd, or 10th teamers.  There are two teams trying to win a game and have self pride to go out there an give it their all not to mention they were playing at home.  The average/casual fan/person does not give a rip how many points we won by, what the detailed statistics are etc.  The bottom line people will ask and want to know is did they win or lose and what is their record. 

Our recruiting has sucked because the product on the field has been utter garbage.  I don't care who/what you are, you will not recruit well if you're perennial losers for much of our history.  We're seeing improvement and it appears the program is truly being rebuilt and rebuilt the right way.  Let's just hope the momentum continues and if/when it does you'll see a huge spike in recruiting.  This will take time...this is not a quick fix in Denton.

[MeanGreenTexan]

8 minutes ago, Aldo said:

I get it. We should have beat UAB and ODU like we did USM, due to game script alone, but we kept them in the game. La Tech is a different team than all of those, except for the young QB. UAB has the best QB out of this bunch, imo.

The offense gave us a preview of what they can be with a consistent defense, special teams, and offense itself. But that hasn't been the case. Coaching, execution have been up and down through every game. But we adjust.

Defenses have schemed out Guyton and attacked the offensive line. Since UTSA, defenses have blitzed and blitzed and blitzed knowing they can disrupt the pass game. 

And yet we still win. Give credit where it's due. La Tech is a good team. They have injuries, we have injuries. They have issues, we have issues. This is CUSA. We play to our competition.

We aren't a complete team, but the fact this inconsistent team is pulling out wins is a difference from past teams.

Am I content about that? No, we can be so much better, but right now this is what we got. It's good enough to pull wins, and for damn sure I expect us to be even better next season.

I think the LATech win was encouraging because of the way we held onto the win, rather than needing super-late offensive heroics, as we did for UAB & UTSA.   The TD that put us up 24-23 was scored with over 6 minutes remaining in the game.   That is an eternity when trying to protect a 1-pt lead, but the defense held.   

The fact that this team can win games against anyone if they are within 7pts (either up or down) in the 4th quarter is a testament to the team's resilience & belief in themselves.

[BTG_Fan1]

3 minutes ago, Aldo said:

I get it. We should have beat UAB and ODU like we did USM, due to game script alone, but we kept them in the game. La Tech is a different team than all of those, except for the young QB. UAB has the best QB out of this bunch, imo.

The offense gave us a preview of what they can be with a consistent defense, special teams, and offense itself. But that hasn't been the case. Coaching, execution have been up and down through every game. But we adjust.

Defenses have schemed out Guyton and attacked the offensive line. Since UTSA, defenses have blitzed and blitzed and blitzed knowing they can disrupt the pass game. 

And yet we still win. Give credit where it's due. La Tech is a good team. They have injuries, we have injuries. They have issues, we have issues. This is CUSA. We play to our competition.

We aren't a complete team, but the fact this inconsistent team is pulling out wins is a difference from past teams.

Am I content about that? No, we can be so much better, but right now this is what we got. It's good enough to pull wins, and for damn sure I expect us to be even better next season.

I agree with most all of this, but the fact LT has had 70+ guys miss 1 game ahows they are in a state of major influx and adjustment. LT has a number of injuries during the game as well.

Yes this team is inconsistent, but the point I have been making and it has most often been missed is this was a potential statement  game, similar to USM, UTSA, FAU.. the USM sent shockwaves through CUSA putting teams on alert for UNT and so did the UTSA win because UTSA was viewed as the golden boy. FAU we crapped the bed in a game that may have cost these guys 1 extra home game, and shifted the talk of look at UNT not look at FAU and what they did.. LT was the potential statement game that if we win big (like USM) that UNT is now taking the torch and has a major impact. Most alumni and students likely have no idea LT  is a solid G5, but recruits and HS coaches do. If UNT had won by 10, it is leading the talkshows like Dave Campbell’s and getting the attention of recruits that now do a double take..

10 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

Dude, everyone has out recruited us aside from UTEP and Charlotte. 

We have 14 3-star guys on this team, overall. 14. And most, if not all, fall into @BillySee58 classification offer list of about a B or B- player per their offer lists. LaTech has 38 similar players. 38. They can sub in guys that are just as talented as our starters in some cases, but with less experience. And experience does matter when a guy has minimal to none. Point is, LaTech's subs are way, way more talented than UNT's. And that is why the game was winnable for LaTech. That and some coaching blunders. 

I agree they likely more talented than UNT back ups, but UNT had its #1s out there.. Guyton a P5 transfer only gets a handful of looks vs a LT true Freshman CB 1on 1? Wilson gets 8 carries at half and was destroying LT, but yet we are running a 180lb QB between the tackles? 

[Ben Gooding]

5 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

I agree with most all of this, but the fact LT has had 70+ guys miss 1 game ahows they are in a state of major influx and adjustment. LT has a number of injuries during the game as well.

Yes this team is inconsistent, but the point I have been making and it has most often been missed is this was a potential statement  game, similar to USM, UTSA, FAU.. the USM sent shockwaves through CUSA putting teams on alert for UNT and so did the UTSA win because UTSA was viewed as the golden boy. FAU we crapped the bed in a game that may have cost these guys 1 extra home game, and shifted the talk of look at UNT not look at FAU and what they did.. LT was the potential statement game that if we win big (like USM) that UNT is now taking the torch and has a major impact. Most alumni and students likely have no idea LT  is a solid G5, but recruits and HS coaches do. If UNT had won by 10, it is leading the talkshows like Dave Campbell’s and getting the attention of recruits that now do a double take..

I agree they likely more talented than UNT back ups, but UNT had its #1s out there.. Guyton a P5 transfer only gets a handful of looks vs a LT true Freshman CB 1on 1? Wilson gets 8 carries at half and was destroying LT, but yet we are running a 180lb QB between the tackles? 

I get it. These are good questions. And valid one's tbh. Especially the constant stupidity of running 108lb QB between the tackles power play. That's getting a bit old. Play calling was suspect. I was saying this during the game afterwards and now. It was. Bad play calling. Poor route trees on pass plays and not nearly enough timely running. But people on this board don't care to hear it. They're the beaten wife that refuses to call the police. Their husbands are finally open hand slapping them instead of pummeling them like a man, and they're not going to complain about bitch slaps, they're just not. 

[BTG_Fan1]

8 minutes ago, Green Mean said:

The goal is to win the game...they did.  It just takes 1 point to win so I don't understand the issue.  We are happy because the alternative outcome was losing...so why won't the fans be happy when we not only won but ALSO became bowl eligible. 

I don't care if they're just 2nd, 3rd, or 10th teamers.  There are two teams trying to win a game and have self pride to go out there an give it their all not to mention they were playing at home.  The average/casual fan/person does not give a rip how many points we won by, what the detailed statistics are etc.  The bottom line people will ask and want to know is did they win or lose and what is their record. 

Our recruiting has sucked because the product on the field has been utter garbage.  I don't care who/what you are, you will not recruit well if you're perennial losers for much of our history.  We're seeing improvement and it appears the program is truly being rebuilt and rebuilt the right way.  Let's just hope the momentum continues and if/when it does you'll see a huge spike in recruiting.  This will take time...this is not a quick fix in Denton.

The idea that fans don’t care about margin of victory is funny.. I know many students who don’t come because UNT sucks they think, and it’s viewed that way because of losing and not beating teams handily. There was a huge buzz after USM, compared to beating ODU, why is that if score doesn’t matter (one was at home and the other on the road)? You ask normal UNT alumni (not on this board) to name the city that LT is in, I’m guessing at minimum 70% have no idea.. LT is a G5 name to us but to most it’s another never heard of program. 

Do we really think fans of someone like Alabama is happy beating a down team like Ole Miss by 1, hell no Bama drops in the polls and fans are saying we should have beaten them by more.. Do we think LT would have been happy with them beating us last year by 1 Point last year, no they wouldn’t have. Hell are NFL teams happy to beat the Cleveland Browns by 1 with the number of backups they play, no...

Yes teams get injured and this was UNT time to take control and make a statement similar to UTSA beating a down Baylor team.. 

[Quoner]

18 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

They're the beaten wife that refuses to call the police. Their husbands are finally open hand slapping them instead of pummeling them like a man, and they're not going to complain about bitch slaps, they're just not. 

@Lydia Gooding plz post or like a gallery pic if you are ok

[Aldo]

16 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

Do we really think fans of someone like Alabama is happy beating a down team like Ole Miss by 1, hell no Bama drops in the polls and fans are saying we should have beaten them by more..

It's always good to have expectations. Certainly.

But you got to have context. This isn't a dominating team on paper or on film. The offense is filled with teenagers and has gone from worst to first. The defense needs work. A lot of work.

But damn, dude. Give some margin for error on a young, inexperienced team that doesn't have the talent across the board that other teams in the league do. That's on the coaches, but that's whole other conversation.

"Team X and Y have had the same amount of time in their system as us."

We beat team X and Y.

[UNTcrazy727]

Not sure if it's been touched on here yet, but our punter is awful. Even when we're in prime position to pin someone deep the poor guy either shanks it short of the 20 or into the end zone. 

[UNTLifer]

@BTG_Fan1

[MeanGreen_MBA]

1 hour ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

The idea that fans don’t care about margin of victory is funny.. I know many students who don’t come because UNT sucks they think, and it’s viewed that way because of losing and not beating teams handily. There was a huge buzz after USM, compared to beating ODU, why is that if score doesn’t matter (one was at home and the other on the road)? You ask normal UNT alumni (not on this board) to name the city that LT is in, I’m guessing at minimum 70% have no idea.. LT is a G5 name to us but to most it’s another never heard of program. 

Do we really think fans of someone like Alabama is happy beating a down team like Ole Miss by 1, hell no Bama drops in the polls and fans are saying we should have beaten them by more.. Do we think LT would have been happy with them beating us last year by 1 Point last year, no they wouldn’t have. Hell are NFL teams happy to beat the Cleveland Browns by 1 with the number of backups they play, no...

Yes teams get injured and this was UNT time to take control and make a statement similar to UTSA beating a down Baylor team.. 

What record did you pick UNT to have this year???  How do we match up to that prediction....be honest......I would bet you predicted 6-6 or worse.....if that is the case, we are beating your expectation as a team, and should be very happy, might I say proud of this accomplishment......  Can somebody look to see what BTG_Fan1 predicted?  I don't really know how to research past postings...for a specific post....

[BTG_Fan1]

4 hours ago, Aldo said:

It's always good to have expectations. Certainly.

But you got to have context. This isn't a dominating team on paper or on film. The offense is filled with teenagers and has gone from worst to first. The defense needs work. A lot of work.

But damn, dude. Give some margin for error on a young, inexperienced team that doesn't have the talent across the board that other teams in the league do. That's on the coaches, but that's whole other conversation.

"Team X and Y have had the same amount of time in their system as us."

We beat team X and Y.

This is a young team? Fine has played in 18 games (plus had a bowl season to practice/study, he was throwing at the HoD game)..3 of the 5 OL started last year, Center we rotate with a starter at UNT last year and the other was a starter at his JUCO, Mayfield started at ACU.. Wilson leads the RB room with young guys that have over taken experienced guys in Wyche, Tucker.. WR/TE are the least expereienced and they have likely had the biggest impact from Guyton to Lawerence to Smith with him blocking/receiving. Yes we have some guy who are playing but we don't have any that are locks to be All-CUSA Freshman guys because of production.. Johnson/Smith aren't lead backs but could get votes, Darden has gotten looks at WR but again he maybe 15/20 catches... 

Defense again, the DBs have 1 sophomore who plays, the rest are Jrs/Snrs.. LBs they have all Jrs/Snrs but Lemasters has played more lately. DL outside of Hambone they are all Jrs/Snrs.. This team has experience with the guys who play, but alot of young guys who the staff are protecting/ not playing outside of special teams.. They could be working in Davis, Sanders, Johnson, TonyK on defense but haven't because of the close games.. 

We can keep saying they are inexperienced but they are playing Jrs/Snrs not true freshman or sophomores at 5/6 spots on each side of the ball... 

We can put it in whatever context you want.. The context is this team has had the potential to make mutliple statements through out the season has only hit on 2 maybe (USM/UTSA/UAB?)  of the 5 or 6 (UAB/USM/UTSA/FAU/LT and possibly ODU) on how you judge games.. UAB shouldn't have been that close.. USM great statement, UTSA great statement/come back.. FAU huge let down, ODU could have been a solid response but ST let ODU stay around, and LT we were going against young and inexperienced back ups that if UNT had performed like USM it would have gone noticed by alot of important recruits and recruiting personal (coaches, recruiting sites, etc)... 

UNT needs to come out and run over, through, and around UTEP and Rice.. You will get more attention the more you win by, just not by getting a W... 

3 hours ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

What record did you pick UNT to have this year???  How do we match up to that prediction....be honest......I would bet you predicted 6-6 or worse.....if that is the case, we are beating your expectation as a team, and should be very happy, might I say proud of this accomplishment......  Can somebody look to see what BTG_Fan1 predicted?  I don't really know how to research past postings...for a specific post....

Yes we should be proud of this team for this record, and again when and where have i said I have been disappointed, i'll save you the time and tell you I have not been disappointed in the Wins.. I'm disappointed that we have missed on numerous statement games... I said it above but we at 40 or 50% in statement games (but that is even giving a big benefit of the doubt).. It could be alot higher, we don't allow those 2 KR TD vs ODU and its a totally different game, LT make a few more plays on offense/defense (the duck passes) and you prevent LT from scoring on 1 drive and you win by 10 and not 1... 

Ive said it over and over and it keeps getting missed. UNT had the chance to make a real statement in CUSA vs LT. After USM everyone took notice of UNT and what they did to a favorite when UNT was not viewed as a favorite, UTSA was a statement because of the whole UTSA could go 11-0 (even after they lost to USM)... All the great press we got after USM and UTSA, and it would have been as great or greater since it was LT was viewed as the Favorite before the season. LT was a critical games because it helped/ nearly locked up CUSA West for us. But if we had an even better performance (say something along the lines of USM, which was doable) you can say it would have helped UNT become the favorite next year (not just because of the potential record this year but because UNT knocked off the best of the west handily) on top of helping this staff greatly in terms of how it is viewed and recruiting. 

A 1 point win only helps this year... double digit win like vs USM helps you now and down the road since we recruit vs them and you can show/say we went to there house and controlled the game... 

[UNTFan23]

2 hours ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

This is a young team? Fine has played in 18 games (plus had a bowl season to practice/study, he was throwing at the HoD game)..3 of the 5 OL started last year, Center we rotate with a starter at UNT last year and the other was a starter at his JUCO, Mayfield started at ACU.. Wilson leads the RB room with young guys that have over taken experienced guys in Wyche, Tucker.. WR/TE are the least expereienced and they have likely had the biggest impact from Guyton to Lawerence to Smith with him blocking/receiving. Yes we have some guy who are playing but we don't have any that are locks to be All-CUSA Freshman guys because of production.. Johnson/Smith aren't lead backs but could get votes, Darden has gotten looks at WR but again he maybe 15/20 catches... 

Defense again, the DBs have 1 sophomore who plays, the rest are Jrs/Snrs.. LBs they have all Jrs/Snrs but Lemasters has played more lately. DL outside of Hambone they are all Jrs/Snrs.. This team has experience with the guys who play, but alot of young guys who the staff are protecting/ not playing outside of special teams.. They could be working in Davis, Sanders, Johnson, TonyK on defense but haven't because of the close games.. 

We can keep saying they are inexperienced but they are playing Jrs/Snrs not true freshman or sophomores at 5/6 spots on each side of the ball... 

We can put it in whatever context you want.. The context is this team has had the potential to make mutliple statements through out the season has only hit on 2 maybe (USM/UTSA/UAB?)  of the 5 or 6 (UAB/USM/UTSA/FAU/LT and possibly ODU) on how you judge games.. UAB shouldn't have been that close.. USM great statement, UTSA great statement/come back.. FAU huge let down, ODU could have been a solid response but ST let ODU stay around, and LT we were going against young and inexperienced back ups that if UNT had performed like USM it would have gone noticed by alot of important recruits and recruiting personal (coaches, recruiting sites, etc)... 

UNT needs to come out and run over, through, and around UTEP and Rice.. You will get more attention the more you win by, just not by getting a W... 

Yes we should be proud of this team for this record, and again when and where have i said I have been disappointed, i'll save you the time and tell you I have not been disappointed in the Wins.. I'm disappointed that we have missed on numerous statement games... I said it above but we at 40 or 50% in statement games (but that is even giving a big benefit of the doubt).. It could be alot higher, we don't allow those 2 KR TD vs ODU and its a totally different game, LT make a few more plays on offense/defense (the duck passes) and you prevent LT from scoring on 1 drive and you win by 10 and not 1... 

Ive said it over and over and it keeps getting missed. UNT had the chance to make a real statement in CUSA vs LT. After USM everyone took notice of UNT and what they did to a favorite when UNT was not viewed as a favorite, UTSA was a statement because of the whole UTSA could go 11-0 (even after they lost to USM)... All the great press we got after USM and UTSA, and it would have been as great or greater since it was LT was viewed as the Favorite before the season. LT was a critical games because it helped/ nearly locked up CUSA West for us. But if we had an even better performance (say something along the lines of USM, which was doable) you can say it would have helped UNT become the favorite next year (not just because of the potential record this year but because UNT knocked off the best of the west handily) on top of helping this staff greatly in terms of how it is viewed and recruiting. 

A 1 point win only helps this year... double digit win like vs USM helps you now and down the road since we recruit vs them and you can show/say we went to there house and controlled the game... 

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by UNTFan23