***OFFICIAL 2018 New Mexico Bowl Game Thread***

[Rudy]

21 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

Whooo boy. I've never spent money to see the mean green and regretted it. Today may have changed that. What a shit show.  

Let's sign this class and keep improving. We have a long way to go.

ETA: I hope everyone who keeps thinking we're going to find another Fine easily got a wake up call today. We're a 3 win team without him.

I agree. This may be the first time I actually regretting spending money to travel for a game. I honestly want my $400 back. Discount my season tickets, something. 

[risinggreen]

Guess I was lucky that I have an unbreakable commitment tonight, because I really wanted to make it a football, skiing, and basketball long weekend. Oh well, on to Tuesday basketball via kntu.

[Pavlovs Eagle]

11 minutes ago, Rudy said:

Discount my season tickets, something. 

Jokes on you once the renewals come.  I'm bracing for being taken to the cleaners with a 5-10% increase.

[Got5onIt]

Definitely disappointed. Team wasn’t ready but I don’t think they’re best game could beat USU. They were much better in the trenches and had more speed than the D could handle. They were going to need to score to keep pace with USU and Fine going out pretty much was the nail in the coffin.  #23 team whooped a ~ #75 team as expected.  I hope Bean or Martin get more playing time next year. Bean had the deer in headlights thing going, but he’s got a ton of ability. Oh well, wish my son and I woulda stayed in Denton and helped the wife and daughter put up the tree tonight....

[Travis]

What we do know is that we have no other QB besides Fine at the moment. I hope those others grow fast from now till when mason graduates/gets hurt. 

[Sig381]

Looks like we are getting a lot of pub from the results of the game that we have been asking for. To bad it’s all us getting blown out. 

[Mike Jackson]

1 hour ago, CaribbeanGreen said:

This ain't "beating ourselves," guys. Sometimes, you just get your ass kicked. Burn the tape. 

Nope, the opponent has nothing to do with not being able to snap an on target snap.   Also the opponent can't make you not attempt to cover a wide open receiver on a basic play.  They also can't make you forget the snap count and run 5 yards down field before the center snaps the ball.  Yes Utah State played well (and beats us by 10 at least most days) but getting beat in mental execution of basic aspects of the game caused this blow out.

[GrandGreen]

56 minutes ago, koscott1966 said:

Agree, we seem to be biting off more than we can chew in the bowl games outside of the DFW area. Call me a Homer, but the Heart of Dallas (now First  Responder Bowl) has been good to the Mean Green Nation. We beat UNLV in a great game in '15 and took Army to OT in '16, another great game.  I know a lot of folks will say that we have to branch out in the bowls to get respect, but really, how much respect have we gotten from last year and now today? BTW, still love Mean Green !!!

Do you really believe that NT can dictate what Bowl they attend?  Your choice is to stay home or play where ESPN wants you.  I guess theoretically you could win every game and be eligible for the playoffs; but I doubt NT would be chosen even with a perfect record. 

[Salsa_Verde]

I feel like the last two bowl games North Texas has been a sacrificial lamb. It may be that the only way to get an easier bowl opponent is to win the conference. 

Edited December 16, 2018 by Salsa_Verde

[Cr1028]

1 hour ago, meangreenlax said:

My hot take of the afternoon is that SL will be the coach at another institution before we win another bowl game. 

I don't even think its something he did or didn't do. I don't know. It's just been an absolute garbage fire the past two attempts.

We very nearly won his first bowl game in year one when he wasn’t going anywhere. The next two years when he was a hot coaching prospect we got worse as P5 coaching jobs began to open. Coincidence? For me it is a question of commitment level at this point. Are you about building a program or are you about making your early season resume look good for P5 coaching vacancies?

If your heart isn’t truly with taking this team to the next level, say so and move on. 

If your heart is truly with taking THIS team to the next level, stop flirting with every P5 that comes sniffing around and PROVE it.

[Mike Jackson]

1 hour ago, koscott1966 said:

Agree, we seem to be biting off more than we can chew in the bowl games outside of the DFW area. Call me a Homer, but the Heart of Dallas (now First  Responder Bowl) has been good to the Mean Green Nation. We beat UNLV in a great game in '15 and took Army to OT in '16, another great game.  I know a lot of folks will say that we have to branch out in the bowls to get respect, but really, how much respect have we gotten from last year and now today? BTW, still love Mean Green !!!

It shouldn't matter where you play as long as it is a neutral field.  You have to go out and compete.  

1. Snap the ball on target 99% of the time at least

2. Don't forget the snap count

3. Know your responsibilities on defense and be on the same page with the rest of the team

4. Finish your pass routes and compete for any pass thrown in your general area.

5. Know your pass protection schemes and at least put a hand on every pass rusher

You do those things you can compete.  You might get beat but you won't get beat 52-13 by anything less than a team than a team rank in the top 25 if your team has athletes that can compete on the FBS level.

3 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Do you really believe that NT can dictate what Bowl they attend?  Your choice is to stay home or play where ESPN wants you.  I guess theoretically you could win every game and be eligible for the playoffs; but I doubt NT would be chosen even with a perfect record. 

We can't dictate what bowl we go too.  But I believe CUSA and out Athletic Department could do a better job make traveling to a bowl easier to plan.  Like once we get to the 6 win mark they can designate what bowl they want to go to if they finish out the season in the top 4 of CUSA and the champion doesn't pick that bowl.  Maybe even before the season they could offer some travel packages base on our predetermined preference.  I love the idea of a Bahamas bowl and it might be the only way I could get my family to want to travel to a UNT Bowl game with me.  If you would be interested in a refundable Bahamas Bowl travel package if you could start planing in August/September give me "Ray" reaction to this post.  

[Mike Jackson]

12 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

If your heart isn’t truly with taking this team to the next level, say so and move on. 

If your heart is truly with taking THIS team to the next level, stop flirting with every P5 that comes sniffing around and PROVE it.

As much as I was disappointed by the flirtation with KSU and from an emotional stand point want to harshly criticize Seth, I can't.  But what I will say is that the flirtation should have been shorter and should have never lingered the way it did.   When a program like KSU calls and you are in Seth's position   negotiating things beyond a salary should be simple.  Once the KSU paused at the notion of him bringing his entire staff the negotiation should have been over.  In fact he shouldn't even have interviewed without that being agreed upon and he was committed to it.  KSU is not a blue blood program.  So your head coach flirting with their open position is not a positive or negative.  Now if he flirts with a blue blood program that would be.

[UNTLifer]

24 minutes ago, Mike Jackson said:

It shouldn't matter where you play as long as it is a neutral field.  You have to go out and compete.  

1. Snap the ball on target 99% of the time at least

2. Don't forget the snap count

3. Know your responsibilities on defense and be on the same page with the rest of the team

4. Finish your pass routes and compete for any pass thrown in your general area.

5. Know your pass protection schemes and at least put a hand on every pass rusher

You do those things you can compete.  You might get beat but you won't get beat 52-13 by anything less than a team than a team rank in the top 25 if your team has athletes that can compete on the FBS level.

We can't dictate what bowl we go too.  But I believe CUSA and out Athletic Department could do a better job make traveling to a bowl easier to plan.  Like once we get to the 6 win mark they can designate what bowl they want to go to if they finish out the season in the top 4 of CUSA and the champion doesn't pick that bowl.  Maybe even before the season they could offer some travel packages base on our predetermined preference.  I love the idea of a Bahamas bowl and it might be the only way I could get my family to want to travel to a UNT Bowl game with me.  If you would be interested in a refundable Bahamas Bowl travel package if you could start planing in August/September give me "Ray" reaction to this post.  

You really think we have that much pull to dictate once we hit 6 wins what bowl we go to?  

[Mike Jackson]

1 minute ago, UNTLifer said:

You really think we have that much pull to dictate once we hit 6 wins what bowl we go to?  

It isn't dictating is a partnership with the conference and the Bowl organizers.   This would only apply to Bowl's CUSA has rights of first refusal to (barring ESPN interference).  The key points are the refundable travel packages if the team doesn't perform as expected (before the 6 win mark).   Back in the classic Bowl period that is part of what made them successful.  Pac 10 and Big 10 school fans could plan for the Rose Bowl because that was the designated destination for their champions.  I think it makes more sense for Bowl to try to make traveling to their games easier to plan for.  Before the season had CUSA and UNT came out and said the New Mexico Bowl is our destination if were bowl eligible but not conference champions I would have made plans to go.  Also that would create cool post game celebration scenarios with players getting something representing their likely bowl destination after a big win.

[UNTLifer]

Times have changed. F'ing ESPN controls these bowls. 

[UNTLifer]

3 hours ago, RiseUNT said:

When it's your back up back in after your 3rd and 4th string qbs leave hard count is off the menu.

B.S.  Not when the QB can tell the team in the huddle he is going to hard count. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

This staff is a joke. About 49% of me was hoping they were all going to Manhattan. 51% of me wants this signing class. 

Want to pad your QB stats game after game for the sake of your own resume, this is the fire that burns you. Hope he enjoys it. He was out coached by a bunch of bums making peanuts on the dollar to him. He should be ashamed. I'm never going to another bowl games unless it's in a 4 hour window. Bunch of hodge podge bs. 

[Mike Jackson]

5 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

B.S.  Not when the QB can tell the team in the huddle he is going to hard count. 

Pointless argument here.  Your team has to be able to do the basic things correctly to have chance.  I enumerated some of those basic things before.  If your offense can't get into a rhythm because an on target snap isn't routine, hard counts and in game adjustments are a moot point.  Utah State beat their ass but UNT did not give themselves a chance to compete with their mental mistakes and inability to do basic things correctly.  

They say run the ball more?  Well how do you know what play was called when the snap goes 3 feet over the the QB's head?  Is running on 2nd and 21 giving you the best chance to keep a drive going?

[RBP79]

#olddenton

[Mean Green Matt]

2 hours ago, Salsa_Verde said:

I feel like the last two bowl games North Texas has been a sacrificial lamb. It may be that the only way to get an easier bowl opponent is to win the conference. 

Getting an easy opponent isn’t the goal of bowl games is it?

[Mean Green Matt]

3 hours ago, Travis said:

What we do know is that we have no other QB besides Fine at the moment. I hope those others grow fast from now till when mason graduates/gets hurt. 

It’s a big ask for anyone other than Shanbour (who we know isn’t the QB of the future because well, he’s a senior) to come in and play well. Bean and Martin are getting way less first team snaps. Way less chemistry with receivers. I was hoping Quinn could do more and I’m sure he is disappointed too. These things happen sometimes.

I don’t want to fall into a lowering expectations trap, but this sure does beat going 3-9, 3-8, 1-11, etc...This team now needs to take the next step forward but I still believe the arrow is up. 

[southsideguy]

8-4

[UNTLifer]

4 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

Pointless argument here.  Your team has to be able to do the basic things correctly to have chance.  I enumerated some of those basic things before.  If your offense can't get into a rhythm because an on target snap isn't routine, hard counts and in game adjustments are a moot point.  Utah State beat their ass but UNT did not give themselves a chance to compete with their mental mistakes and inability to do basic things correctly.  

They say run the ball more?  Well how do you know what play was called when the snap goes 3 feet over the the QB's head?  Is running on 2nd and 21 giving you the best chance to keep a drive going?

I was talking about one play not the entire game. 

[MGNation92]

Langston was a major downgrade from Brad Davis. We need a new OL coach and fast

[NT93]

7 hours ago, gruu said:

Complete embarrassment today. A no bowl game season would have been better. 

True.  I would much rather have been 4-7...maybe even 3-8.