North Texas travelled down to San Marcos and lost big. The defense allowed 337 yards rushing, 268 passing for a total of 605 yards. That’s ridiculous. Texas State was averaging 6.9 yards per run — and this includes the kneel-downs. They were at 8.5 yards per play in the game. That’s just walking up and down the field with very little resistance.
I haven’t looked at the play-by-play but my feeling of it early was short, short, long run. Medium run, short pass, long play.
In the final drives it was Long run, Long run, TD.
Again, my sense of it is likely different from the actual play-by-play. NT was losing contain, and this was because they were getting gashed in the interior. We thought Texas State’s OL was going to be a bit of a problem, but that the depth of our DL would make up for it. As it was, guys were gassed, injured, and ineffective. The short/short/bust kind of cycle in part correlated with the rotations along the line. We’ll have to wait and see the details there.
I have mixed feelings about this game. It was closer than the final score. The defense was closer to getting stops than they looked. North Texas was close to taking the lead in this game, even. If you feel differently, I don’t blame you. The run defense was gashed, the pass defense was as vulnerable as it ever was, and the mistakes are piling up on both sides of the ball. A bad run defense is just about the worst thing you can have in this game — we’ve seen it before.
The offense was effective, however, and we were worried about that coming into the game. Jaheim White was held on the ground, but managed 101 total yards on 22 touches and two scores. Not bad. Haygood ran for 50, and Texas State’s focus on the run game allowed Tayven Jackson to slice up the Bobcat’s defense for 483 yards (career high, and fifth highest in school history) and three passing scores (also a career high).
I am still bullish on this team, as it is still getting to gel, Brown is still figuring out what he has and they adjust. This next week should be a week to work things out and get right, as NT prepares for the conference season.
What Did Your Predictions Say?
Defense
Best Case Scenario: NT holds serve in the run game, and let’s Jackson throw the ball to them, or just the ground.
Worst Case Scenario: Jackson remembers how to complete passes to his guys and NT’s thin secondary are tested.Verdict: I think Jackson Arnold is a much better QB (running and passing) with a worse offensive line. I think we’ll learn just how important having a good line is.
We saw what a good offensive line can do. They leaned on the NT run game and eventually the Mean Green broke. The Defensive Line coach will have a tough week. The pressure on Jackson was nearly non-existent, as he was able to find open guys with no one in his face. He stepped up from last week, where he was super awful, and that’s a credit to him.
Texas State played with a desperation early and often that North Texas didn’t immediately match. They walked down the field thanks to a 29-yard pass, and a good run game for the first, then they threw open wheels on the next drive.
Offense
Best Case Scenario: North Texas is able to find gaps, and move the ball well by staying ahead of the chains and scoring enough to either stay competitive (Indiana) or blow it open (UNLV).
Worst Case Scenario: The big gambles Texas State takes pay off, and we see some terrible turnovers or big sacks. NT is unable to move the ball and has to play catch up.
Verdict: I think NT’s offense is only going to get better. We haven’t needed Jackson to really show his stuff, and the third week in on the road is a great time to do it. Neal Brown’s team are usually criticized for being too conservative, so I don’t really think we’ll see NT play into Texas States hands and do anything too risky.
For the most part, NT was able to stay ahead of the chains. The sideline-to-sideline run game was bad, and caused most of the penalties (holding, etc) but NT was able to overcome those after a poor first drive. North Texas finished the first half with four straight scoring (touchdown) drives. They converted one early fourth-down to tie the game. On third down they were clutch. Jackson was making the right reads, firing good throws, and guys made big catches — Koch, Tipton, Stevenson.
The back-and-forth stopped when NT started the half with a fumble (Jackson) that didn’t turn to points (forced a punt) but the next two drives ended with failed conversions. Texas State scored on those possessions.
In short, NT couldn’t keep offensive pace. For me, it’s hard to blame the offense and ask them to be absolutely perfect. Reducing this game to its core elements, we look at the defense and ask them to be better. There is, however, coaching all around. The starting QB fumbled and threw a bad INT. The last one was when the game was about 99% over, but you never know. Texas State missed the ensuing Field Goal Attempt but used up 1:07 of crucial time and UNT used up all their timeouts (they also crossed into the two-minute time out scenario).
The details are important and UNT didn’t take care of enough details today.
NT record: 1-2.
Next opponent: Houston Christian (FCS) in Denton.