GO MEAN GREEN! The official thread of North Texas (championship, conference)

[LargeKingCat]

Kicking off the 2018 bowl games against Utah State. Hope our QB does a Fine job and the MEAN GREEN WIN."][/color]

[LargeKingCat]

well after faltering, the AlmaMater might just get the 6 wins and some trip to the tidy bowl or someplace. 3 more wins is a possibilty with UTEP and RICE on the slate Charlotte is this week, and road games are risky.
THE QB has been having a great senior year but the defense has been atrocious.
Or non ex distant. Or staying in the locker room. Take your pick.
Go Mean Green!

[LargeKingCat]

After a disappointing season, in spite of a Fine performance by the QB, Coach Seth has done the right thing with some firing and hiring of new defensive coaches. Of course this might help. and I hope it does. Recruiting would help too, but in the big game politics of of college football, UNT remains the penny ante participant in the high stakes poker game. North Texas does not have the $$ to offer blue chip recruits compared to Texas or Oklahoma.The other problem will be finding a QB as Fine as the one they are losing. There are several redshirt freshmen and sophomores waiting in the wings so we will see how they are in a game situation. Ultimately, winning with the MEAN GREEN will come down to making the best use of the players on the team, finding a way to design plays and formulas which take advantage of the skills present and sbuilding a team around the areas where it can excel.

[LargeKingCat]

SO what I am hearing/noticing is two problems

First, the Defense seems to be greatly lacking. Seth Latrell is an offensive minded coach, and while the teams have had some high scoring offenses in the recent past, the offense cannot keep up with the poor defense.

Second, North Texas is losing the local recruiting wars to SMU. This is obviously because SMU has money and North Texas does not.

And while I admit, I have not been on campus recently, I can tell you that when I was there the school was run on the cheap, almost like a teacher's college budget. They even removed every other lightbulb in the hallways to save money on electricity.

SO, somehow, the school is going to have to start be=ringing in a nd spending some money if they really want to compete in the American Conference. Maybe more games against Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and LSU ?

Second, they need to go out, spend some serious $$ and hire a new defensive coordinator. Since they will not do this, I will go ahead and say it right here: They need to hire Defensive line coach Andre Carter of LSU. Obregon is leaving next week, the LSU staff will all turnover, and offering Carter a Big salary for a few years will allow him to make a jump upwards in status to defensive coordinator as well as inspiring defensive recruits to come to Denton to learn from a former NFL player. I would expect that a 30 to 45 % improvement would occur within two years.

If North Texas does not want to ante up, then maybe they would be more at home back in the Sunbelt losing to teams like LOOSEy_ANNA and Coastal Carolina.

[LargeKingCat]

I have to make sure that the ALMA MATER thread is listed

SO Last week, hosting a PAC 20 (or however many schools they have now ) we saw the same Old Same Old.....North Texas has good offense, no defense, and the opposing team adjusting allowing the Mean Green zero points in the second half.

Now what has to happen, well, lots of things, but first, they need a defensive coach who can put together a defensive scheme that can stop a passing offensive as well as the outside run.
Years ago they won a bowl game by using a "next man up" defense, keeping players fresh on D through the game.

BUT my experience shows too that the school has always done a half-arsed job with athletics, hiring and running programs on the cheap as opposed to getting someone who knows what they are doing.

There has to be a coach who can take the program to the next level. So far, this cat is unimpressed.

[sluggermatt15]

Here's to N Texas rebounding after last week!

[Buckeye77]

Just thought I'd bump up this thread. North Texas is 3-7, and in 11th place in the American Athletic Conference. 9-1 Tulane is at the top, and 8-2 SMU is in second place.

[LargeKingCat]

North Texas won today, beating the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes but not covering the OVER of 69 points


Next week is the season finale vs UAB 4-7 I think that there were likely better coaching carousel candidates available. Maybe Billy Joe Jimbo Jimbob Fisher would work for free, he is already paid for the next 7 years by someone else.

Mean Green always tried to run that program, like the school: ON THE CHEAP !!!!!

When I was there, it was so bad that the school needed to cut costs so one of the efforts was to remove 50% of the light bulbs from campus fixtures. I mean that place was cheap to attend, yes, but they ran it on a teachers college budget. When I was graduating, they announced that there would be a MINIMUM $100 tuition fee with increase to $18 per credit hour. SO IF You took one course, tuition would be $54 but you would be rounded up to $100, but if you took two classes, your tuition was $108
AND there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Mostly from the same students who whined about the streetlights on campus being off after 11 PM

SO getting a coach with an offensive background shows, but they need to hire a hard nosed defensive coordinator and go after some solid recruits. Which is hard when Texas and Oklahoma are offering corvettes and hookers, while North Texas guarantees 3 frozen meals daily in the double wide trailer housing and ice cream on Sundays.

[DRob4JC]

There's actually a UNT football thread?? Just when I thought I had seen it all.

My daughter is a graduate.

[LargeKingCat]

SO is this Cat .... What did your daughter study there?


I requested a thread several years ago, and Double H who was the moderator at the time kindly and generously started one for us.
SO NOW Looking at the season, 5-7 under a new coach and not bowl eligible BUT here are a few takeaways

First, the OFFENSE was great while the defense was as in season past, suspect. The OVER was reached in almost every game,
with an average of 34.5 PPG on offense.

In 7 loses, two were by a field goal, two were by a touchdown. Any of those 4 could have been won, and 2 should have been
3 of the 5 victory were come from behind to win late in the game scenarios. That suggests that the offense and coaching is now able to analyze and adjust, something that was getting lost under previous coaching.

The Defense however was horrendous, The team gave up an average 37.8 PPG Which tells me that the defense needs improvement. And the new Head Coach in his first year is of an offensive background so looking into getting a defensive coordinator with a MEAN attitude and a next man up System might be a consideration. I mention that because the last time the ALMA MATER won a bowl game, they used a next man up defense to keep the defense fresh throughout 4 quarters.

Good news, is that Chandler Rogers will be back next year at QB It would be good to get him a few more weapons so that the team can seamlessly run the 4 receiver set ...

Next year, I am hoping that I can make a trip to Texas on Sept 21 to see the home game vs WYOMING I have no plans to visit Wyoming next year, sadly, but at least could see two of my favorite teams play each other in person.


Overall, no bowl and a somewhat disappointing season BUT on the other hand, the potential for growth and development is there. The first thing is that the team is going to HAVE to go back to the MEAN defense. It was named after Mean Joe Green. I once worked with a doctor who played Center in college football, and he said that the last game of his career was vs North Texas and that he had to face off against Joe Greene...I asked him what it was like and he said "Strongest man I have ever met in my life...He almost killed me that day" THAT is what North Texas needs to capture to move up in the American conference.