Before the game we asked if UNT was ready for this moment and if the fans would see the kind of team we have wanted for a long time. The answer: a resounding, thundering, answer in the affirmative.
The biggest first half head in program history .The most impressive aspect? The defense. If you knew anyone that turned away from this program because of the awful last placed efforts the last couple of seasons you were beckoned to return by this new-look defense that is hungry for turnovers, sacks, and stingy with points.
A box score only watcher might say that the offense isn’t as potent, and the defense is carrying the team. But close observers will notice a potent offense that is simply presented with short fields. Last week in Kalamazoo the squad was pinned back and yet scored 33 including some clutch must-score drives. In this one? Well it was one or two plays before scoring. Ideal, if you ask me. We want to keep the powder dry, so to speak and it is a desert in that arsenal. That’s an overly clever way of saying of that UNT just needed some simple offense to be effective.
4 plays 4 yards TD 3-14
4 plays 19 yards TD 3-21
6 plays 30 yards TD 3-28
1 play 12 yards TD 3-35
2 plays 20 yards TD 42
That’s taking full advantage of the opportunities. Past teams might have gotten a field goal or something. This team put points on the board. McGill walked in for the second touchdown. I mean it was ruthless. It was beautiful. Ethan Day caught a TD!
I completely understood why Morris wanted his team to get points in the second half because they simply hadn’t run many plays. In the end they had just 63 plays — as many as WSU. North Texas was just much more effective. Sure, there were a couple punts and a sack. And maybe a misthrown ball. Who cares?
This offense can play with some freedom thanks to the awesome power of the Defense.
In the preview of Cassity, we mentioned that his teams forced turnovers, got sacks, and didn’t allow points. Everything a defense could want. We wondered how the up tempo offense would change things but the answer through three games is: not much. The five first half turnovers blew the game open. Eric Morris was -6 in turnover margin last year and -5 the year before. This year it’s already +6.
Now is WSU good? Doesn’t matter. They got smacked up. Good teams win and do it in demonstrative fashion. The question could be: Is North Texas Good?
I don’t know that answer. I think they have a very good chance to do some fun things. The schedule is light, but there are some good teams on the schedule - USF! - and it all can line up for some trophies. We said the model is Army last year. They punched above their weight and won the league. It doesn’t matter that Memphis most talented and that Navy beat them or any of that other stuff. They got a trophy. We need hardware and banners. We need 10 wins. We need a bowl win. This group is good enough to do that.
Putting it all in context, this was a year that North Texas needed to win back some fans and rediscover some program self confidence. It will be much easier to sell tickets when the score line looks like it did. The loss column is still empty.
Be joyous. Be indulgent. This is what why we care so much through the hard times. It is for the chance of results like this. A 59-10 destruction of a program with NFL and college football pedigree1. That’s how you win fans and build a program.
But you know what? I couldn’t care less about the future right now2. We only have the moment and right now our favorite program is the best team in the Denton Desert.
Go Mean Green.
You can debate whether the Arkansas game was more famous or was more helpful. I think home wins are more important. That said I would put this somewhere in the Indiana category but for the fact that we kicked ass this afternoon which is a force multiplier.
I mentioned on twitter and in the chat that my family was barricaded in a mall restaurant for fear of reports of an active shooter in a mall right as the game started. The cops said it was just a fight and loud noises from stuff falling but people were running with fear in their eyes. When they sprinted past us with terror in their eyes we felt the danger. People were holed up crying and calling loved ones. It again made small things small. For 5 minutes I thought there was a real chance that we would see some tragedy. My family is safe now but the kids were scared. They saw some grown people run in fear.
Glad to hear your family is OK from that scare
As a following-fan of The Mean Green since the fall 2014 campaign (first ever game this user went to, in-person, was the rare win against SMU, in Denton), these eyes missed the Indiana win and only saw the loss to the Indiana team, at their house, with NFL-caliber TevinColeman at RB....who ATL mismanaged in-favor of that fellow Mean Green nemesis in the FAU-standout, D.Freeman.
The Arkansas road-win in front of JerryJones, himself, was, IMHO, still the "best"/"biggest" win for UNT in AT LEAST recent history, and may be for the near-future. Prove this viewer wrong this postseason and the following postseason(s)!
THAT SAID....this win, at-home, is just behind the Indiana win, IMHO. This Wazzu team is full of South Dakota FCS players and is by no means the GM3 Wazzu teams of the past, when they were, at the very least, a nuisance to prepare for for the bulk of the "real" Pac-12.
Does that take much away from this victory? HECK NO! YES, this IS something to hang the team's hats on, so-to-speak and BUILD ON in every conceivable fashion, on-and-off-the-field!
"Meaningful" victories are relative to the given team of game-time with their respective seasons in-perspective, with hindsight being 20/20, of course. With THAT said...this victory could do more for this team, this season, than those other two aforementioned victories from a standpoint of "leveling-up" players as if they were "Pokemon" or "Final Fantasy" characters! Learning how to win can come in many forms, as much as learning how to lose. One can lose close, lose big, win close, and win big. This was a case of winning big and learning how to handle it, and that is a rather sought-after experience that all teams wish to enjoy and this program has not had in quite some time! Relative to the schedules and players of those two previous, aforementioned seasons, this win could be more meaningful to the team, in the moment, relative to preparing for the far easier schedule, ripe for "experience gains" than those previous teams had to face. Those teams had a couple players who sniffed the NFL for a short period of time, and did not do too much in it (with future Cherokee-Tribe-leader MasonFine floundering as a back-up in Canada being one of the most egregious examples of wasted-potential these eyes have ever seen), but this team seems to have a handful of players that may break the UNT-to-NFL-Draft record in the coming years and that can all happen with a schedule that is prime for no more than two losses and with the potential to run-the-table, at least until either the Playoffs (fat-chance) or American Title Game (barring injuries). Am betting on the "Bowl Game Curse" finally being broken, as that is something these green-eyes have NOT yet seen in that span-of-time, being that The Heart Of Dallas Bowl was JUST before arriving in Denton.
That (thankfully false) report of an active mall-shooter story being relayed here is wild.
Glad they're safe! Am the kind to stash the kids with the mother or in a cabinet/dishwasher in the restaurant and go hunting for the shooter (being that this user rarely leaves the house/hotel without having....."something".....that can be used as a weapon in self-defense on their person, in their pockets and/or elsewhere, besides decades of prowrestling and martial-arts knowledge in muh head, and a bullied-soul that was quite angry growing up to fuel the focus). Would go "Solid Snake" on 'em like that, but also understand the "flight" and "freeze" parts of the "Flight, flight, freeze" response, and hold nothing against the frozen in most cases. Sometimes one is "the windshield/bear" and sometimes one is "the bug/salmon", and know, all too well, without getting into too deep here/now, about getting "pinched" in-between danger and locked doors and in a corner...even on campus (stupid f'n locked doors...).
Might this reader suggest, say, a pair of ladies' cuticle scissors in the pants pocket from this point forward? Not something unheard of. Heck, up in Canada, there's places where people ask each other, strangers on the street, for a "shank", or if they have one on-hand for themselves!