Morning After: Post Memphis, Pre Tulane
We look back, forward, and also consider former coaches' fate.
We are back at MGN HQ. Safe. Sound. Tired. Also filled with too much food that we otherwise would not have eaten.
Everyone in the Nation is a little unhappy. Losses do that to you. For me, upon a quick re-watch of the game I was reminded of how good and entertaining the game was. North Texas was one-play away from (getting an opportunity to get) a tie. Every contest has areas of improvement. Morris mentioned the defense and third-and-longs, but the offense left some points on the field. The coaches made some questionable choices and it all could have been a little better. That’s the nature of the game. It was fun and entertaining and I enjoy watching Chandler Morris make plays. It is fun to watch DT Sheffield emerge as a playmaker. It is fun to watch Wyatt Young and Landon Sides develop. It is fun to watch Miles Coleman catch 7 passes in the second half and look like some version of the next Sheffield.
The schedule is still tough. Tulane this week. A bye. Army. Then UTSA, ECU, Temple with two of those on the road. The chances of a league title are narrower than they were before Saturday, but if this squad wins out there’s a good chance someone slips up. You never know. But you have to be ready to take advantage by handling business.
What We Learned
Boy no one likes Matt Caponi. Over on the message boards I accidentally found myself as a Caponi Defender. To be clear, I don’t think he is a great hire, or earning every penny of his salary. Those aren’t my decisions to make. I am not “accepting mediocrity” and all the rest of it. We want to be smarter enjoyers of the game. I want to not be stuck in a cloud of confusion all day long wondering why the coaches “Just don’t do XYZ” on game day.
Memphis put up 500+ yards of offense, and Mario Anderson ran for 183 and four scores. I saw a difference from previous years where running backs were galloping through space untouched. Memphis had to earn it. The defense shown brightest when forcing five straight 3-and-outs. They got a stop (a FGA) after the onside attempt, and that gave the offense a chance to win it.
There were plenty of breakdowns. The backup safety McFarland got beat over the top on a play-action to end the streak of 3-and-outs for Memphis. Is that all of Caponi’s fault? It is ultimately his responsibility, yes, but also we have to judge the guy with some rationale.
Building a roster takes time. Yes, even in this portal era. Finding and retaining and developing talent takes resources —time and money —and North Texas had a lot of needs all throughout the roster. They went and got a QB, a wideout, and some other pieces. The defense added some lineman, some safeties, and a couple of linebackers. Thus far we have seen Caponi and his staff adjust to the talent, but they did lose three safeties to this point. Spruiells was the starter and is now transferring out. Isheem Young is lost for the season. BJ Allen is now in week three of his return as NT goes into the eighth game of the year. Yes, part of his job is adding depth to hedge against losses. Sometimes you just get a little unlucky however. Whitter (another addition) had been good. The linebacker that are holdovers have improved. The new additions to the defensive line have shown good things — Dawkins is a leading TFL/QB Pressure guy.
Is it perfect? Now. Do you have to squint a little to see improvement? Sure. I think that the 5-straight three-and-outs are good (six overall) and that some small changes can be made to improve those 3rd-and-12 conversions that were some backbreakers. Is it possible that firing Caponi and bringing in a new defensive staff with new coaching methods will help close that gap? Yes. Is it going to happen this week? No. For me, those are offseason decisions.
There are maybe some easy wins this week — Memphis used a hard count to check the defensive alignment right before max-protecting and throwing a pass to Roc Taylor on Ridge Texada for a conversion. I would check to see if the signals are getting read, or if the play-calling is too predictable. That’s an easy win. It is harder to get a better pass rush, or faster linebackers, or any of that stuff. Maybe when they do a hard count we check out of our pressure and drop eight? That is more likely to improve ahead of Tulane than any of the lineman getting stronger.
Caponi adapted to the game. When McFarland was beat over the top, we saw more Nickel from NT - -that means Kollin Lewis was in more often. He made some nice plays — flying up for tackles and had good coverage. He also got beat on a shallow crosser on 3rd down and long when North Texas — you guessed it! — brought pressure that didn’t get home.
That’s something that can be fixed. Were his eyes in the right spot? Was that the call to make there? Could we have made a personnel change? Caponi did drop eight and — to his credit — Seth Hennigan found his man for a first down on … third and long. NT’s three-man rush didn’t get home, and Hennigan found his wideout in a soft spot of the zone about 16 yards down the field.
Yes, we can hold Caponi’s feet to the fire for these problems. Consider, however, that Kollin Lewis played well as a nickel corner and is a redshirt freshman. Brian Nelson also had some nice plays and is a redshirt freshman. Ethan Wesloski has done some great things and is a sophomore.
Evan Jackson sophomore. Jayven Anderson sophomore. Taylor Starling sophomore. Quinton Hammonds freshman. Kamdon McFarland sophomore.
So what? you ask. We have underclassman on the roster. So what? Well consider these eight dudes play major snaps for the Mean Green every week. Wesloski is the starting will linebacker, Lewis our nickel corner, Starling/Nelson our other corner combination and likely starting corner duo for next season. Evan Jackson and Anderson were the starting safety combination and both play in nickel situations. Hammonds/McFarland have played big minutes in passing and base downs.
You know our most productive/high performing players are upperclassmen? Jayden Hill is a fifth year senior. Ridge Texada is a senior. Shipley, Brown, Vailea are two seniors and a junior. Terrell Dawkins is a senior. Breylon Charles and VJ Bronson are juniors.
Did you know that the 2013 North Texas defense had a bunch of upper classmen wrecking shop? Richard Abbe, Aaron Bellazin Brandon Mcoy, Ryan Boutwell — seniors. Zach Orr, Will Wright — seniors. Mike Marshall a junior and Marcus Trice a senior. Backup safety Lairamie Lee a junior.
With few exceptions it helps to have consistency and experience in your defense. I can see a year three of Matt Caponi with guys with three years of experienced supplemented by additional defensive line talent and another round of recruiting to be pretty good. It is amazing what can happen when you give some talented players some time.
All that said, it is very possible that a new coordinator will improve recruiting, triple the development, and implement better game plans that the current option.
I think this staff was asked to join and be a part of a youth-movement and so it makes sense to let that play out. Morris wanted high school kids and young transfers. He has them.
Personally, I am a little tired of the constant rearranging of staff that happened under Seth Littrell. He had co-DCs, then let one go, then fired Reffett, then hired Cosh, then hired Bennett to consult then just hired him to do the gig. In that whole time the squad had some of the worst defenses imaginable and only succeeded when there was consistency early — those Reffett years. I do not think it was a coincidence that guys who grew into upperclassmen in the same system shone bright and helped put together the best defense in the Littrell era. That group had a couple of future NFL dudes on it as well.
It is no fun being patience and I don’t even absolutely love all the stuff Caponi is doing but I also know the value of letting things play out. Yes, we could be making a mistake but ripping things out always starting over has not worked at North Texas before. I’d like to see a different approach.
Next Up: Tulane
It is homecoming and Tulane is in town for a morning game. I have not watched much of them so I apologize for not having a hot sports opinion. They are good but like every AAC team, they are beatable.
GMG