No Shows: Louisiana Tech 42 – North Texas 21

We sure had no offense in that first half. Look at those six straight 3-and-outs. That’s not winning football, ya’ll.

Josh Greer looked poor again. His decision-making was too slow to break down the Louisiana Tech pass rush, which was augmented by an assortment of blitzes. Why? Well the Bulldogs scouted the Mean Green well enough to know that OC Mike Canales’ offense can pretty much only run well.¹ LaTech loaded up on the run and brought the house on the passing down (usually third-and-long).

That meant we punted often. The Mean Green defense, our only hope, was predictably tired and began giving up touchdowns instead of forcing punts. Give a ton of credit to much-hyped Cody Sokol. He stood tall in the pocket and delivered strikes.

Still, North Texas nearly overcame the hellish first half — really the hellish 2nd quarter — and almost got back in the game in the 3rd. The game was all but over after Carl Caldwell fumbled the ball into Terrell Pinson’s hands who returned the ball 61 yards to the North Texas 2 yard line. Kenneth Dixon punched it in on the very next play putting North Texas down four scores and sucking any life out of the team.

It could have ended there but a turnover on a Louisiana Tech punt allowed Cody Sokol to pad the stats a bit late. Dajon Williams stoked the fire of the QB controversy by leading his second unit to two scores that made the final score somewhat more respectable.

Offense: C-

Once again the offense looked inept against a good team. Louisiana Tech is not bad in that they aren’t SMU, the worst team in America. Josh Greer isn’t helping his case as starter. The run game couldn’t get any traction with the entire defense keying on it. Later, when Josh Greer put together a couple of decent drives, Carl Caldwell fumbled and the game was basically over after that.

Dajon’s TD drives were against the second unit, and freshman, and they came when the game was no longer in doubt. Does that mean he should start? No. He should get a start because Josh Greer looks like he is processing the defense too slowly, delivering ducks, poor balls, and is to slow when attempting to evading the rush. Dajon, whatever rumors you believe about him, looks decisive and at the very least can make the defense miss a bit.

Nicholls St and Indiana are up next. There are nine days before Nicholls, and fourteen before Indiana. I imagine we shall see some hard looks at the offensive units.

Defense: C+

They looked good in the first quarter, but that may have been because Cody Sokol was going through his usual slow start. The secondary gave too much cushion to the receivers as Skladany said, but the real problem was the penalties. The drive-sustaining roughing call in the first half led to a score, and the holding call against CB James Jones overturned an interception. Would he have picked that off if he didn’t hold? Probably not. It doesn’t matter because no good defensive play was going to come after a penalty.

This defense needs to play perfectly for the team to expect to win. The offense is completely unreliable right now. They did not and so we got rolled. That doesn’t mean they didn’t play okay-to-good.

They had to defend short fields all first half as Josh Greer and company put up six-straight three-and-outs. In the second half, they had to defend a 2-yard field and a 12-yard field that both led to immediate scores. It would have been nice to see FG attempts there, though I realize completely how difficult that would have been to do. Again, they need perfect defense to be able to expect to win.

Special Teams: C-

They didn’t do anything especially good but one thing really bad. The turnover put a stake in the heart of any miracle comeback that even the most hopeful fan had. Carlos Harris forever looks on the verge of taking one back but still hasn’t. CUSA Special Teams Player of the Week Trevor Moore didn’t get a chance to show off his skills.

Coaching: D

Two runs and a pass. Two runs and a pass. Two runs and a pass. Missing on a recruit happens. That is why you recruit some depth. It looks like we have two poor options at QB and one talented option that doesn’t go to practice². The offense was this predictable last year and without Brelan Chancellor and the message-board hero Derek Thompson, this thing looks completely inept.

Mike Canales has some talent at his disposal. Carlos Harris is capable, Darvin Kidsy has some speed. Erick Evans and Jeffery Wilson look breathtakingly explosive. And yet we saw six-straight three-and-outs.

That is simply ridiculous.

John Skladany has his guys playing like Spartans at Thermopylae. They are losing the battle but winning lots of fans.

Alumni: F

Way to show up for a big game ya’ll. I can’t wait for the current crop of students to buy all your seats and fill up the stadium. The worst part of this game is that you have your ready-made excuse for your absence. “I won’t show up until we get a consistent…. ” Oh shut the hell up.

Show up.

Put your venting posts here.