2024 Week Two: The Morning After South Alabama
2024 Week Two: The Morning After South Alabama
It's SFA Game Week
North Texas won. That is what matters. Ultimately the close losses from last year make us all feel a little better, but there is no trophy or hardware or even a bowl invite for being close to anything.
This one was a winner. NT put up 550 yards of offense and didn’t look slow. The classic “slow start” and “hot second half” we saw last year was there. You maybe didn’t notice as NT looked good in both halves. Sure, the 1st half ended with a turnover on downs but there was aggression there. I liked the call, and ultimately it didn’t work out. NT thought they could score and they went for it. It was a relatively low risk moment.
Beyond that there was good on defense. Sure, 582 yards allowed and 38 points is not going to win anyones hearts and minds, but there were moments. Particularly in the start of the third quarter. NT had just turned it over to end the half and USA recieved to start the second. NT immediately forced a 3-and-out then went and scored to go ahead. USA got the ball and NT’s defense forced another 3-and-out to get the ball back. The offense roared down the field and NT’s lead is nine.
I want to pause here and look at something. The play-by-play is missing a huge contributor. It says Vailea and Hill combined to take down McReynolds. It does not mention the work of Ridge Texada. I noticed it upon first viewing but I see that it is missing. So let us give him some deserved praise.
South is running a split zone and that kickout block from the TE is supposed to well, kick out anyone on the edge. Here that is wee corner Ridge Texada. If I’m the TE coach for South I would be coaching that dude up about this play, but if I’m secondary coach for NT I am praising this play all week. I mentioned in the season preview stuff that I liked what Texada did in the run-defense game. He is always willing to mix things up. Here he takes on the block, gets into the runner’s legs and forces the run into Vailea (15) and Hill comes in to clean it up (21). It is a team game, but this is good stuff from Texada.
The next USA possession they try to run again. This is good run defense.
We have guys winning their matchups and aggressive attacking of the ball. USA does not get push, the back has to slow, and they converge on the ball. Good stuff against a power run play.
Here we have Dawkins1 absolutely destroying the man assigned to block him. This is high-level footballing right here, folks. How do you get pressure with three? Well, if the one-on-one is a mismatch. Lopez is rushed into a poor throw on a deep crosser. Incomplete.
What Did We Learn?
We have a QB. Dare I say that Morris is a clear upgrade over Rogers? For me, the offense ran smoother than it did at even the heights of Rogers’ power late last season. It is a little unfair to compare simply because there are mitigating factors (competition, teammates, play calling etc) but Rogers never had a 70+ completion game after his FIU appearance where he went 11/15. Morris went 32/41 — lots of throws! Add to this that Morris’ QB rating was 187 and Rogers never sniffed that after the FIU game. I mention that again because Rogers came in off the bench and hit some big plays. Louisiana Tech did not let him complete as many passes.
Note that Morris has some new pieces (Sheffield, the freshman — Wyatt Young, and the TE) but Rogers had Maclin, Cleveland and both had Ward and Conwright. I think we have a clear upgrade. Morris looks so much more in command and we can see that in his high completion percentage and him finding his “fourth and fifth reads” per his head coach. The offense was efficient and dangerous.
NT did a great job of taking full advantage of aggressive corners — both the TD from Ward and the WR pass were on the same corner who reacted aggressively to movement.
Defensively, I liked the stops in crucial times. There are still questions and the return of three defensive backs should change things a bit. We won’t learn a whole lot vs SFA, but there will be signs. Recall a few years ago against Houston Baptist (now Christian) that NT looked a step slow and not good. We will be able to learn something this week.
There is a lot of upside and we can be hopeful. Enjoy the good times, folks.
What is the expectation?
We should blow out SFA if we want to claim any kind of good future here. This offense looked very good against a solid USA squad that had some weaknesses. I don’t like to disparage FCS squads out of hand, but there is a talent disparity here. NT’s offense should be able to push around SFA in the second half, when the depth is evident.
Beyond that we want more aggression and more wins along the defensive line and a bolder secondary.
Next Week: Stephen F. Austin
We’ll have a bigger preview on Wednesday or so but here is the quick snapshot:
Head Coach: Colby Carthel is back for his sixth year. He played middle linebacker at Angelo State came up through the ranks of Division II football where he won a championship at A&M-Commerce in 2017. He moved to SFA in 2018 where he is 26-30 as they’ve navigated something like a rebuild. SFA has bounced back into the Southland from UAC (United Athletic) which was formerly the WAC+ Atlantic Sun. In short, they’ve struggled to regain their top-of-league form but are on the way.
Offense: The Lumberjacks have a new offense and install Chris Ross, a veteran of high school ball. They put up 77 in week one vs an NAIA squad. It’s hard to gauge them but I think we can say they don’t have as much talent as NT has on their roster so the defense should be within their abilities to stop them.
Defense: Mike Mutz, a San Antonian who had a lot of his coaching career in the midwest and later Tulane and Sam Houston is the defensive coordinator.
North Texas is a more talented and better-coached team on the offense. They should overwhelm this squad over a 60-minute game. The attention to details and focus on an inferior opponent is the thing that marks the difference between the great programs and the not-so-great. Alabama beat Western 63-0. That is the kind of focus and domination we need this week.
This is actually from the previous drive but I liked it. Dawkins had a hurry on the second 3-and-out where USA ran mesh, NT defended it from a zone look well (redirecting routes) and Dawkins just jogged Lopez out of bounds.