I got the offensive film late Monday, didn’t really start looking until Tuesday, and finished it up this morning. We will hopefully have a Film Room video up this week but there are Real Life concerns making that slightly difficult. We are hosting family in town this week so there are Obligations to consider.
Excuses made, let’s put down some thoughts on the state of the offense so far. Neal Brown has grumbled a bit about the state of the offense a bit, saying he wants more. “It was slow” and “Too many mistakes.”
NT is at 8.2 yards per attempt, at 29 attempts per game, for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. “Was a defensive pass interference, should have not been ruled an interception” says Brown. Last year — a banner year — NT was at 9.4 yards per attempt, 35 scores, 9 interceptions and 33 attempts per game.
Throughout the UNLV game, this was basically the look:
Tayven Jackson’s offense is heavily RPO/Play-Action based and against Indiana the game play was to dink and dunk. There have been some opportunities, but it looks like Jackson is 1) still figuring out his WR weaponry and 2) playing it safe against a very good team, and then against a team that couldn’t score. In both situations simply protecting the ball is a good decision. He’s thrown a couple of good passes and used his legs to good effect. He’s also missed a couple of throws. This should have been a touchdown. NT ended up with 3 points.
Verdict: Room for improvement. Nothing to get too worked up about. We’ve seen bigger offensive numbers in two games from Chandler Rogers/Stone Earle (6 TDs 5 Ints), Chandler Morris (7TDs, 3 Ints), and Drew Mestemaker (5 Tds, 2 Ints)1 but more turnovers.
For the most part, Jackson takes care of the ball. We like that.
The offense has been moving the ball primarily through the heavy run game — relying primarily on Jaheim White. The squad is at 76 carries for 335 and 4 scores — 4.41 ypc. Last year through the first two games? 315 on 133 carries 5 scores — 4.43.
The difference here being that Indiana and UNLV were the two opponents and not Lamar and Western Michigan2. Everyone starts to get more of a groove in the run game as the season goes on. The early stats across the nation usually reflect teams that are playing overmatched opponents, or have a lot of returning pieces and can pick back up where they left off.
Jaheim White is averaging 7.12 yards per tote — Caleb Hawkins finished at 6.21 for NT last year — and so far White is averaging more yards per game receiving. That will all change, of course, for lots of reasons but we can surmise that we have a game-breaking back like last year. The film shows a guy who does it differently but just as effectively. White does not run through guys like Hawkins does, but he also does not take hits. He slips them, like a boxer. In avoiding clean hits, he reduces injury and wear-and-tear. He runs tough, sure, but he’s running through arm tackles instead of torsos. That makes a difference.
The line is gelling, and is better at gap-scheme stuff than the zone runs. When we talk about teams improving over some time this is where we find some areas to do so. The coaching staff will point out some things they see on film, the guys will improve and we should see that on the field. Failing that, we could simply see different play-calls. “Hey this just isn’t working as well as we’d like. Let’s change it.”
Texas State was poor against the run last year, and so far has allowed 8+ yards per carry against Texas and 4+ vs UTSA. Even if North Texas is in the 4.5 ypc range this weekend, we can say we are on pace and things should be good.
Really, it is the details that are keeping NT from being explosive. The run game is effective even with a pass game that isn’t taking full advantage of the opportunities. That said, the team is averaging 8.9 yards per attempt, which is good for third in the conference so far. We mentioned that last year’s team had 9.4 per attempt. Well 2024 saw NT at 7.6 and in 2023 at 7.9.
You want your pass game to be efficient. The run game opens up the pass game, and it should open things up more for guys like Corri Milliner, who runs good routes, and has the experience to set himself up for yards-after-catch. He’s been on the verge of some nice things.
I like to think of teams and talent as Margin for Error. Making a mistake against an Indiana or something means you usually pay for it immediately. On a given play, if one block is missed then we might be blown up. Against UNLV? Well, one guy lost his matchup but White was able to still win the play.
Similarly, White reduces other team’s margin for error. You can see UNLV get hands or arms on him, but if they are not fully squared up in the run lane they miss the tackle. They need to be more perfect.
For North Texas, as the run game gets more focus from the linebackers and defenses, we should see some of the wideouts get open. At least, that’s my thinking.
I’m counting the TxState Bowl game where he tossed 2 and 2. He also had a fumble in that one as well. I’m not counting those, but there were a ton between that Eric Morris group.
Lamar was not as talented as UNLV, and WMU was good defensively, but not nearly as good as Indiana.