Sunday Morning Thoughts: 11.15.26
We’ve slept and now are thinking clearer
MGN and family got back from San Antonio to Central Texas about 1 in the morning. The kids were all asleep by then, but before they fell asleep a couple did ask me what happened. “Dad, you said we’d win.” I did. I thought North Texas would pull away.
The prediction:
Before we get to that, lets’ discuss Tayven Jackson:
Tayven Jackson
The portal is great when you get a chance to learn about a guy like Jackson, a hard worker, a talented kid and a great teammate. He has been the best QB in the American by a lot of measures. The portal sucks in that we don’t know him better than we do. He moved around and finally found a place where he could thrive. North Texas benefited from his previous development and now it all ends unceremoniously. The life of an injured athlete is depressing. The sporting culture of a team is designed around leaving you behind — “next man up” — and the nature of athletics is to reward those who can do. If you are injured? Well you cannot do.
Tayven Jackson was on pace to equal a lot of single-season records for the Mean Green. Instead he will try to heal, prepare for the draft or the NFL somehow, someway. Best of luck the rest of the way.
Brec Long
Also Brec Long, the co-starter alongside Max Reese was injured on the first offensive play from scrimmage. He broke his lower leg and was carted off the field. He’s also a senior and had done some really nice things throughout the season. He was a security blanket and the third read on a lot of QB rollout things and was a good blocker for NT’s run game. We wish him the best going forward. </p>
The Game
I predicted 35 points allowed. I predicted one interception and three sacks.
The defense allowed 35 (after two late game long touchdowns) and did get one interception, and did get 3 sacks. So, I feel good about that.
In the preview, some folks were dismissive of our defensive line. I wrote “we have a good defensive line and experienced corners.” They played well! While the defense allowed long touchdowns (bad) we don’t expect negative 50 yards rushing allowed. This roster was constructed to have a powerful offense with a good-enough defense — one that would get sacks, stops, and give the offense back enough times to be dangerous.
I thought they did that. McCown had a couple of plays where he had lots of time to throw, but otherwise was harassed. The run game — especially the east-west stuff — was bottled up.
The third quarter was one hell of an effort. North Texas’ defense gave the offense plenty of opportunity.
UTSA had three long runs, and one blown-3rd-and-20 drive where they scored a touchdown. UTSA didn’t get into the North Texas red area — or even beyond the 50 — outside of those scoring drives. Seven of eleven drives were punts or turnovers, and three were three-and-out.
The defense played very well.
Sure, the coaches will harp on the long runs and the miscues — they should! — but this was a winning effort for our purposes.
Now, obviously Tayven Jackson had a bad first half. He didn’t get a chance to have a bad second, as he had a (likely) college career-ending injury. It looked to be like a collarbone injury at first glance and it was later confirmed via social media (via the broadcast?). This, and all modern offenses are quarterback-reliant. Losing Jackson was always going to be a huge blow to the squad’s chances. Chaston Ditta has been listed as injured (undisclosed) and so the QB job is now falling on the shoulders of Chris Jimerson, Jr.
Jimerson has a ton of talent, evident in his two scoring drives, quick legs, and live arm. He has had a QB-run package this season (more early, less recently) and the offense he ran vs UTSA was limited. We saw repeat plays, limited reads, and his physical limitations were evident (only 5’10”). Neal Brown said in the post game “we will be significantly different football team moving forward” but sounded hopeful.
Sports are just life in a smaller package. You think you have a lot of time, but you don’t. The first half of the game affected the second half. You can plan and prepare and catastrophic things can happen — breaking a leg, a collarbone, etc.
Every team is top-heavy on their rosters and few can sustain a big injury to QB1. Legendary coach Nick Saban could afford (literally) to stock his roster with lots of 5-start depth but NIL money is tempting players away from being a depth piece into being a starter elsewhere. North Texas had Jackson and Ditta, with Jimerson as a change of pace. Now we have the change-of-pace guy as the number one and freshman Ziondre Williams as the only other QB on the roster.
Having a running QB as the primary guy with few backups puts a lot of pressure on him to stay healthy. I wonder if Neal Brown will start looking at some Michael Hawkins WVU game tape to get some ideas.
Whatever happens it will be different. Tayven Jackson is 6’4” with lots of experience. Jimerson, Ditta, and Williams are all underclassman and 6’0” and under. It will be different.
The Future
There is still everything to play for. North Texas previously had the most explosive offense in the league and now does not — until proven otherwise.
Next up: Tulane in New Orleans. The Mean Green have never won in the Big Easy, and are looking to avenge the loss in the 2025 American Championship game. Tulane is reeling under Will Hall, but the Green Wave did escape Rice in Houston in front of lots of empty seats. If there is a team that would be a good opponent to run out a new QB and new offensive system it would be this one.
I don’t want to look ahead but there are scenarios to ponder. After this game it is UAB in Denton. The Blazers have a good defense, and an outside chance of upsetting their way into the title game.
The Mean Green with Jackson are likely favored to go 2-0. Without him? Well that’s a huge question. “We’ll give ourselves a chance to win” says coach Brown. How good of a chance? Not sure.
Who To Root For/Against
Meanwhile, Memphis should be strongly favored at Navy (this week) and then Temple. Navy could very well pull an upset. To get into the league title game, North Texas needs one or both Memphis and UTSA to lose.
Assuming NT wins out (big assumption), root for Navy, that’s the best chance to bump Memphis if you want a rematch vs UTSA.
UTSA plays UAB in Birmingham (tough!) and then Tulsa in the Alamodome. I think Tulsa is capable of beating the Roadrunners, but it is the Dome and it is cursed. Best bet is to root for UAB next week.
The Mean Green do not control their fate directly, as the tiebreaker scenarios are in play. Memphis has one fewer loss and UTSA has the head-to-head.
GMG
Men’s Hoops Win
Not to make it an afterthought, but the mens’ squad won 66-65 vs South Alabama. The big takeaway for me was that Aeneas Alexander was hooooping. We talked a bit about in the Discord. I’ll try to watch a bit today if I can squeeze it in around some Thanksgiving preparation.
GMG
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