Coach Hall and the Mean Green Machine

[JTV3]

[B]Mean Green Tap Austin for New Head Coach[/B] Denton - Today, University of North Texas Athletic Director Keith Haley annouced the hiring of new head football coach JT Hall. His hiring comes on the heels of the shocking departure of UNT's previous coach who won the state lottery 6 weeks ago and retired and moved to the Bahamas a month later. With practices beginning next week Haley had to fast-track the search for the replacement. Knowing UNT relied heavily on in-state recruiting he went looking for someone local. Hall, who has been the special teams coach for the Longhorns for the past 3 years, was a name he did not immediately know but when he started asking around locally the name came up more than a couple times. JT Hall had quit his "New York life" in the late 80's and returned home burned out. He began helping out an old friend coaching high school football and after a few years found himself as the head coach of a 3A football program. After a decade he had made a name for himself winning a couple state championships and sending a few players to Austin and College Station. His players spoke highly of him and Mack Brown took notice and brought him on board. At the press conference, AD Haley said, "When I asked coach Brown why Hall was just the special teams coach he told me something that really stuck in my head. He said that he felt it was one of the most important positions on the staff because most of the freshman at a big time school like Texas know that their only hope of getting on the field is on special teams and Hall is excellent at kicking their [rears] and getting their heads on straight. He felt that Coach Hall knew how to baptize them into Longhorn football. I felt that if it was good enough for UT, it was good enough for us." At his introduction Hall kept it brief but did say, "As long as I'm around here at UNT, we aren't just developing football players, we are developing young men. It's about more than winning or losing, it is about getting an education while playing the game you love." Before the crowd started to feel like they were in an AMEX commercial, the coach then added with a sly grin, "but don't be fooled out there in the Sun Belt, we plan on doing more than our fair share of winning too!"

[JTV3]

Just a few quick notes before getting started. I've always enjoyed other dynasties and figured I'd give it a shot. I call all the plays myself so I won't be flying through the games and seasons but I hope it will still be a good read. The career I will be chronicling began when the retail version came out and I'm about midseason now, so the first games will be quick recaps. I setup the Real College Football database (1.4) courtesy of [Icy] and set hte player ratings to the 100 scale. I believe I left everything else as default on the setup.

[JTV3]

Whew! What a whirlwind few weeks! I was in my office one day looking over tape of the incoming freshman at UT when the phone rang. Much to my surprise it was the AD at North Texas. I knew they were looking for a new head coach and figured he was being thorough getting my opinion on one of our other assistants he was looking to hire, boy was I surprised when he said he would like me to come in for an interview! Apparently I impressed enough to get the job, but now am I in over my head? With the season only a few weeks away, I vowed I would not be outworked by another football coach in our conference or in all of D1. I had to get started by figuring out the budget for the next season. This was something I'd never done before and was a bit lost. The AD told me not to worry as he only wanted me to avoid embarassing the program this year and thought we'd be ok because we had some decent talent. I immediately made the decision that we would recruit locally and recruit hard. I dropped the budgets for much of the national recruiting in the East and Midwest (too many big name schools between us and those players) and put more money into hiring the best recruiting service we could get locally. I think I had partially been hired at UT because I could provide a Dallas area recruiting name for Coach Brown's staff, but I'd rarely been asked to leave Texas on a recruiting trip. I would need the best info money could buy. I also upped the budgets for Academics and Medical as I wanted all our bodies on the field as much as possible. After this was taken care of I began to look over the rosters...

[JTV3]

Offense: Seems I stumbled into a good QB situation as our starter, Ron Upshaw, is a (JR) rated 69/69 with very solid all around numbers. with 5 QB's on the roster I decide to redshirt true freshman Terry Toon who is currently rated 47/69. We've got two JR RB's on the roster Landry and Gary both rated 54 and some servicable backups so Gurley the freshman will get a redshirt this season as well. We've got a good mix of ages at WR and they are all seem to be similar overall with individual strengths and weaknesses. Nothing special to speak of at TE or FB. Our offensive line may be a concern however. The line is anchored by SR C Dwight Matthews rated 66/66, but only one other player breaks 50, (So) OG Currie. The upperclassmen will start at OT but blocking may become a concern. Week 1 Starting Lineup: QB R. Upshaw (Jr) 69/69 RB B. Landry Jr 54/58 WR A. Breedlove Sr 51/51 WR R. Chandler So 46/56 WR S. Kenn So 46/64 TE J. Thomas Sr 41/41 OT R. Wesley Jr 48/57 OG S. Currie (So) 53/59 C D. Matthews Sr 66/66 OG K. Smith (Fr) 42/49 OT J. O'Sullivan Sr 47/47

[JTV3]

Defense: A lot of solid defensive players but no one who stands way out. Our best players seem to be Sherman Moore a So DE (55/62), Reno Olivo (So) CB (54/62), and SS Bill Bishop will provide our senior on-field leadership (56/56). We will be running the 3-4 so our LB's will be important. Sam Thomas a redshirt frehsman is rated 50/68 so we will definitely want to get him on the field at OLB and SR Brad Hopkins will start on the other side. Inside we will have a 3 man rotation of Sr D. Turnball (51/51), Fr I. Davis (52/59), and (Jr) A. Birden (49/49). One other note, I also redshirted Fr CB Calvin McGee who at his current ranking of 35/57 wasn't likely to see the field this season. Week 1 Starting Lineup: DE J. Smith (Jr) 53/57 DT M. Vincent (Jr) 48/52 DE S. Moore So 55/62 OLB B. Hopkins Sr 52/52 ILB D. Turnball Sr 51/51 ILB I. Davis Fr 52/59 OLB S. Thomas (Fr) 50/68 CB R. Olivo (So) 54/62 CB A. Burke Sr 45/45 FS K. Rypien Jr 54/69 SS B. Bishop Sr 56/56

[JTV3]

2005 Schedule Week/Opponent 1 @Texas A&M 2 Colorado State 3 Open 4 Rice 5 Troy 6 @Florida Int 7 Louisiana-Monroe 8 Arkansas State 9 Open 10 @Florida Atlantic 11 @Louisiana-Laf 12 Middle Tenn St 13 UTEP 14 @Duke 15 Open Overall we should have a pretty easy schedule this year with only 5 road games. Hopefully tests against A&M (where a good showing may help us catch the eye of some local recruits) and Colorado State early on will prepare us for the Sun Belt. Week 8 matchup at home against rival Arkansas State is another one circled on the calendar. As I look around the college football news on the internet I notice that someone decided we had the 106th ranked schedule, I guess there are worse ways to start your head coaching career. On the same website I notice we have the 115th ranked recruiting class. Ouch! I'll have to get that turned around next year.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 1 North Texas (0-0) @ Texas A&M (0-0)[/B] TEAM 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q OT FINAL North Texas 7 7 0 7 0 21 Texas A&M 3 13 7 16 0 39 Despite the final score, we had a solid showing with an effort our team can be proud of. Moral victories don't count in this league, but I'm personally happy we got our first game in the books without getting embarassed. Ron Upshaw scored on a 5 yard run with 1:53 to go in the first half to take a 14-13 lead. Our kids were pumped up but forgot there was still two minute left and allowed A&M to drive for a 20 yard field goal to close out the half down 16-14. Our defense ran out of gas in the fourth quarter and a safety by A&M as time expired made the final score 39-21. Bernie Landry was clearly our player of the game with 97 yards rushing on 21 attempts as well as 6 receptions for 101 yards. He also scored two of our three TD's. However, he also lost 2 fumbles. Other highlights include: SS Bill Bishop recording 6 tackles, 3 assists, 1 sack, and an INT OLB Brian Hopkins recording 8 tackles including 1 stuff Bad News coming out of the game: Primary backup RB John Gary is out a couple months with torn cartilage in his elbow and true freshman ILB Israel Davis is hampered by a lower back injury and will have to sit out next week.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 2 Colorado St (0-0) @ North Texas[/B] TEAM 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q FINAL Colorado State 7 7 7 0 0 21 North Texas 3 7 3 12 0 25 What a game! We scored two fourth quarter touchdowns on a 1 yd run from Landry and a 44 yd pass from Upshaw to Breedlove with 2:13 remaining to take the lead. Our experience last week paid off as our defense held strong to close out the game this week. I would have been a lot more comfortable though if we could have made either of our 2pt conversions, something to work on in practice this week. The player of the game was Ron Upshaw completing 24/35 passes for 341 yards and 2 TDs. Breedlove and Chandler each broke the 100 yard mark recieving (but had 3 drops bewteen them) and Landry again toed the 100 yard mark with 99 yards on 29 rushing attempts. Landry lost 3 fumbles this week and is really starting to concern me despite his solid running. Defensive highlights include: Sacks from Brian Hopkins and Sherman Moore. Redshirt Sophomore Reno Olivo recorded 2 INTs and 2 passes defensed.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 3 OPEN[/B] It says open on the schedule but we practiced hard and studied lots of film to learn from our two biggest non-conference games. With Gary out, Landry will have to carry the load at RB so we worked a lot on his fumbling problem. This week we also go news that 3rd WR Scotty Kenn would be academically ineligible. I brought him into my office and explained what would be expected of him academically and that it was more important than football. If the soft approach doesn't work he'll learn that football isn't very much fun when you don't keep your grades up! Headed into next weeks game Davis is still sidelined with a back injury and Jr backup DT Jim Bush got added to the injury report with a minor thumb injury.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 4 Rice (0-1) @ North Texas (1-1)[/B] TEAM---------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q---FINAL Rice-----------7----0-----3----7----17 North Texas---7----21----0----0----28 On the first possession of the game ILB Aaron Birden returned an interception 79 yards to give us the early lead. Unfortunately, 13 minutes later we gave it back when Landry fumbled and Rice returned it 55 yards to tie it back up. Obviously I need to come up with some new fumbling drills! Upshaw threw three 2nd quarter TD's to 3 different receivers to give us the 21 point lead and we held Rice at arms length the rest of the way. Player of the Game was again Ron Upshaw who this week completed 20/26 for 244 yards and 3 TDs. He also showed of his legs on a number of broken plays going for 79 yards on 6 carries. Landry ran for 90 yards on 32 carries and Breedlove was our leading receiver with 6 receptions for 86 yards. The offensive line had a disappointing day allowing 5 sacks, two each from the tackles. On defense, in addition to the INT return by Birden we got 5 sacks overall including 2 from Hopkins. Dominique Turnball was our leading tackler with 7. We came out of the game no worse for wear as the only addition to the injury report was #4 WR Charles McMakin with a minor injury. Davis, the only starter on the injury list is still suffering from a lower back injury and the training staff is still recommending more time.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 5 Troy (1-3) @ North Texas (2-1)[/B] TEAM--------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q----FINAL Troy---------0-----7----0-----0-----7 North Texas--10---6-----7-----7-----30 I begin my career in the Sun Belt with a dominating victory over the Trojans. We have trouble getting into the endzone in the first half but get field goals from Larry Houston of 37, 43, and 25 yards. In the second half we pound the ball hard and Landry scores on two short runs. We outgain them 492-296 and despite converting only 3-13 on third down. Today's player of the game was Bernie Landry who ran for 140 yards on 38 attempts and 67 yards receiving on 5 receptions. Even with that great game Landry lost a fumble. Upshaw was 22/28 for 324 yards and the offensive line had a dominating blocking performance featuring 10 pancake blocks. The defense was lead by ILB Turnball, FS Rypien, and CB Reno Olivo with 6 tackles apeice. Olivo and Birden each had an INT and Olivo also forced a fumble. The injury list got a little longer this week. OLB Sam Thomas injured his toe and will be out for a few weeks and SS Bill Bishop has a minor lower back injury that should not sideline him. DT Jim Bush will also be back this week. On the academic side, Kenn remained suspended and will now have a few extra workouts in his future. He won't be so quick to forget homework assignments in the future. Redshirt freshman OLB Sam Thomas also received poor marks and will be out for the next few weeks.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 6 North Texas (3-1) @ Florida Int. (2-3)[/B] TEAM--------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q---FINAL North Texas--14---7-----0----0-----21 Florida Int----0----7-----0----7-----14 We jumped out to another early lead and the defense held strong in the second half to secure the win. Landry, Breedlove, and Chandler each pick up a TD and we dominate time of possession. The player of the game was again Bernie Landry who ran for 141 yards on 32 attempts and 114 yards receiving on 5 receptions. He fumbled 3 times but luckily only 1 was lost. I'm at a loss for how to improve his fumbling problem, but for now I have to be happy with his production since none of his backups are even close to being ready to step in. Upshaw was 19 for 39 to break 300 yards but was sacked 4 times. Our receiving corp also had 5 drops between them. On defense, we were lead by our safeties who had 12 tackles between them. Backup CB Sam Gant, filling in after Burke was injured, had an INT and our defensive line had 2 sacks. Much shorter injury report this week. WR McMakin is still out for at least a month and the training staff does not recommmend playing Burke this week due to an elbow injury. OT Randall Wesley has a slight injury to his forearm but should be able to remain in the starting lineup.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 7 Louisiana-Monroe (2-3) @ North Texas (4-1)[/B] TEAM--------------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q---FINAL Louisiana-Monroe---7----21----7----13---48 North Texas--------7----7-----10----8---32 Our first really disappointing loss of my career came in a shootout today against Louisiana-Monroe. The game started off bad when Breedlove fumbled and the ball was returned 33 yards for a TD. We answered 2 minutes later when Landry went for 62 yards on a screen pass. Upshaw scored on a 1 yard run with 9:42 left in the half but it was all ULM the rest of hte way. Two TD passes sandwiched a 63 yard INT return to give them a 28-14 lead at halftime. By the end of the third we closed to 35-24 but never got any closer. Our receivers began dropping like flies in the 2nd half and all of the sudden 3rd string TE Lional Marshall a sophomore who had begun the game at the bottom of the receiving depth chart was our third receiver in the shotgun set. He was one of the few bright spots on the day getting open downfield a number of times and finishing with 124 yards and a TD on 6 receptions. Upshaw threw for 507 yards on 32/53 passing and Landry ran for 61 yards on 19 carries. Marshall was our leading receiver followed closely by Chandler with 123 yards and Breedlove with 94. The o-line allowed 5 sacks and also suffered a few in game injuries which did not help the situation. It was an unspectacular day for our defense despite giving up only 365 yards. Turnball led with 8 tackles and a sack and Hopkins had an INT. Today's injury report hits two positions particularly hard. At WR Robbie Goodspeed, Josh Kennedy, and Charles McMakin all need more time to recover. These 3 combined with Kenn on academic probation leave us with just two healthy receivers on the roster. It appears Marshall may get another chance in 3 receiver sets. At OT both of our starters appear on the injury report with the trainer recommending rest. Due to poor backups, O'Sullivan will continue to start with Wesley as his primary backup and Bill Williams a true So rated 38/45 will fill in on the other side.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 8 Arkansas State (2-3) @ North Texas (4-2)[/B] TEAM-----------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q----FINAL Arkansas State--28----0----7-----0-----35 North Texas-----7-----7----7-----0-----21 Not being ready out of the gates cost us in the end. Before we scored our first points with 1:37 left in the first quarter Arkansas State had four TD's including an 80 yard TD pass and a 27 yard return of a Landry fumble (!!). Other low-lights included a missed 30 yard field goal as well as getting stopped twice on fourth down in the red zone. Landry ran for 48 yards on only 12 carries and Upshaw threw for 396 yards on 29/52 passing with 3 TD's and an INT. Breedlove caught 5 passes for 123 yards and Josh Kennedy was forced into service and caught 8 balls for 105 yards. The offense was further decimated during the game as our SR center Matthews and our OT's who were questionable going into the game were all hurt. Marshall, who received his first start at TE left the game after getting only 2 receptions. On defense, SS Bishop and FS Rypien each had an interception and we recorded 3 sacks. I'm beginning to hate the sight of my team doctors as they brought me another long injury report. Hopefully with some rest during our bye week next week we will get a few linemen and receivers back.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 9 Open[/B] As we head into another open week I get another academic update. OLB Thomas returns from his suspension but WR Kenn remains suspended. While I've got some time before practice here is a quick look around the league and the country to get you up to date on the season: Sun Belt Standings 1. Louisiana-Monroe 3-0 2. Arkansas St 2-1 3. Florida Atlantic 2-2 4. North Texas 2-2 5. Troy 2-3 6. Louisiana-Laf 1-2 7. Florida Int 1-2 8. Middle Tenn St 1-2 GDCS Top 10 1. USC 6-0 2. Texas 7-1 3. Florida 6-0 4. West Virginia 8-0 5. Notre Dame 7-1 6. UCLA 5-1 7. Nebraska 6-1 8. Miami 7-1 9. Auburn 7-1 10.Wash St. 6-1 Hawaii is also undefeated at 7-0 and ranked 17th in the GDCS. Texas suffered their only loss to Nebraska. Sun Belt Results from Week 9: Middle Tenn 20-Florida Int 14 Arkansas State 44-Louisiana Laf 0 Louisiana-Monroe 31-Troy 13 In GDCS Top 10, Miami suffered a defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech, UCLA lost to Stanford, and Nebraska lost at Iowa State. Hawaii also suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Fresno State. Florida pulled ahead of Texas and now trails USC by only a few percentage points but otherwise the GDCS top 5 stayed the same. For next week's game, the trainers recommend sitting WR's Goodspeed and Kennedy although Goodspeed is likely to take a few snaps. McMakin is still out and TE Marshall is also out. The good news is that they recommend playing both our starting OTs. They still recommend holding out C Dwight Matthews who suffered a concussion. Sr Braham will start at C but Matthews will be the primary backup.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Not bad. You just need to win a couple more games to get bowl eligible.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 10 North Texas (4-3) @ Florida Atlantic (3-4)[/B] TEAM------------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q----FINAL North Texas------7----14----0----14-----35 Florida Atlantic---14----7----10----7-----38 We lost a heartbreaker in another offensive shootout. The game included over 900 yards of combined offense as well as a defensive touchdown from Florida Atlantic following a fumble by (surprise!) Landry. Alas, the close loss might not be the most devastating loss our team suffered today. FAU converted a big 4th and 1 from the 11 for a TD to tie the game up early in the first quarter. Defensive stops were few and far between leaving us down 21-7 with 7:37 left in the half. Upshaw led us on a TD drive to pull within 7 with 2 minutes left in the 2nd quarter and the defense forced a quick turnover and allowed us to tie it up as the half closed. After giving up 10 pts in the third quarter the defense got a stop on fourth and goal from the 4. Upshaw then drove us the length of the field and finished the drive with a 1 yard touchdown pass with 11:52 left in the game. The TD pass was costly though as Upshaw suffered a lower back injury on the play. Backup Ahmad LeMaster a Jr (53/67) began to warm up but it took him a few live plays before feeling comfortable. He was able to use his legs to get a couple key first downs and drove us for a touchdown with 2 minutes remaining and putting us up by 4. FAU got the ball back with 2 minutes left and we quickly stopped them on the first 3 downs. 4th and 8 from their own 8 yard line they completed an 11 yard pass and our defense clearly took it as a punch to the gut. The next two plays went for 43 and 37 yards and they scored from the 1 a few plays later to retake the 3 point lead. A missed 37 yard field goal early in the game now loomed large. LeMaster was unable to complete any last second deep balls and on the last play of the game went down with a thumb injury. Upshaw was the Player of the Game throwing for 247 yards and 4 td's before getting hurt. Landry ran for 97 yards on 25 carries but had one costly fumble. Chandler was our leading receiver with 93 yards. On defense, Reno Olivio and Sam Gant each got an interception and Ben Suhey got a sack. After the game the trainers were afraid to even come see me and just sent an email. Here is a summary: QB Ron Upshaw (Lower Back) D 1-3 weeks QB Ahmad LeMaster (Thumb) O 4-6 weeks WR Robbie Goodspeed (Pulled Quad) D 1-3 weeks WR Josh Kennedy (Groin) P 4-6 weeks WR Charles McMakin (Elbow) D 0-2 weeks TE Lional Marshall (Broken Ribs) Q 6-8 weeks TE Ben Tuten (Elbow) P 2-4 weeks OT Jack O'Sullivan (Forearm Laceration) P 0-2 weeks OT Randall Wesley (Forearm Laceration) P 0-2 weeks C Dwight Matthews (Mild Concussion) P 2-4 weeks DE Ben Suhey (Elbow) Q 5-7 weeks DT Jim Bush (Spinal Compression) O 12-14 weeks CB Aaron Burke (Elbow) Q 5-7 weeks We're playing a weak Louisiana-Laf team next week so I think Upshaw will start and hopefully take us out to a quick lead so he can rest and his backup Hilgenberg a true sophomore can hand the ball off for the rest of the game. All the linemen will be playing. New GDCS Top 5: Florida 8-0 USC 8-0 West Virginia 8-0 Notre Dame 9-1 Texas 8-1

[JTV3]

[B]Week 11 North Texas (4-4) @ Louisiana-Laf (2-6)[/B] TEAM----------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q----FINAL North Texas----7-----7----0-----9-----23 Louisiana-Laf---7----10----0-----0-----17 We pulled out an ugly win this week as both teams had trouble moving the ball. We were called for 9 penalties for 83 yards but won the turnover battle which ended up being the difference in game. A HUGE stop by our defense on first and goal from the 10 with 43 seconds left was the difference in the game. Redshirt freshman kicker Larry Houston hit 3 field goals from 23, 29 and a career long 43 yards and scored the last 9 points. The player of the game was Ron Upshaw, who clearly suffered from his injury and was about 75% the whole game. He completed 21/41 for 303 yards and a touchdown. He also scrambled for 59 yards. Landry had trouble all game running behind our patchwork offensive line and only managed 48 yards on 31 carries. Chandler and Breedlove had 99 and 97 yards respectively but they also had 2 and 4 drops apiece. Despite giving up a 49 yard play with a minute left, the defense held strong getting 4 straight stops inside the 10 yard line to hold the lead and win the game. Gant and Hopkins each recorded an interception and Davis and Moore each got a sack. The good news on the injury report this week is that a few players actually got off. WR McMakin who has been out most of the year is back as well as OT Jack O'Sullivan. Other injuries are progressing about as expected except OT Wesley's injuries worsened and he was downgraded to doubtful for next week. On an academic front starting OG Keith Smith was placed on academic probation. At 3-3 in the Sun Belt I'm squarely in the middle of the pack. Louisiana-Monroe is undefeated in conference and leading by 1.5 games. In the GDCS Texas and Notre Dame flipped positions at 4 and 5 but the top 3 remained unchanged and undefeated. Lots of football left to play but WVU is going to need a loss from one of the top two as they have played the 116th ranked schedule in the country.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 12 Middle Tenn St (3-6) @ North Texas (5-4)[/B] (I installed the 1.02 patch before playing this game) TEAM-----------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q----FINAL Middle Tenn St---0----10---3-----0------13 North Texas------7----7----3-----7------24 We again won an ugly game this week with a touchdown in the last minute (when I was trying to take a knee??) led to a larger final margin. Most of the game was played with less than a touchdown separating the two teams and in the end it came down to turnovers. We held MTSU to 193 yards total offense and only 9 first downs but two lost fumbles and an interception kept them in the game. Upshaw was once again player of the game throwing for 251 yards and 3 td's. He also ran for 81 yards on 11 attempts mostly on broken down passing plays. Dwight Matthews (C) and Shane Currie (OG) went out early in the game and the patchwork offensive line did not perform well. Landry ran for 54 yards on 29 attempts and was benched in the final 5 minutes after fumbling the ball on two straight plays. Neal Walton his sophomore backup got only 10 yards on 5 carries but didn't fumble. Chandler was our leading receiver with 118 yards on 6 receptions and freshman McMakin had a solid day returning to the lineup with 63 yards on 3 receptions. Our defense had a very good day forcing 5 turnovers. FS Ken Rypien led the way with two interceptions and 6 tackles. We had 7 total sacks for 46 yards led by Jr defensive end Joey Smith with 2. He also forced one of the fumbles. Only new entry on the injury report is OG Shane Curries out with tennis elbow and is listed as probable for next week. GDCS standing remained unchanged at the top: 1) Florida (10-0) 2) USC (10-0) 3) West Virginia (11-0) 4) Texas (9-1) 5) Notre Dame (9-1) Florida's remaining games are @FSU week 15 and the SEC Championship, likely against #6 Auburn. USC's remaining game is @ #25 UCLA week 14 West Virginia has no remaining games. With SOS rated, 115 West Virginia is going to need a lot of help. National Award finalists were announced this week and Ron Upshaw, our junior QB, is a finalist for both the Davey O'Brien award and the [B]Heisman Trophy![/B] While he is certainly not the favorite, it is an achievement that young man and our entire team can be proud of simply to be mentioned amongst the best QB's in the country. With Upshaw and North Texas getting mention in the national media I field a number of calls of congratulations from alums this week.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 13 UTEP (6-4) @ North Texas (6-4)[/B] TEAM--------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q-----FINAL UTEP---------13---24----3----0------40 North Texas---0----0-----7----7------14 Horrible showing at home from my team. Upshaw did not have a good game and the offense turned the ball over too much, but the defense was truly disappointing. Allowed big play after big play in the first half and left us down 37-0 at halftime. Much more respectable play in the 2nd half, but there was no coming back from 37 points down. Upshaw threw for 362 yards, mostly in the 2nd half, but had an interception and two fumbles. Landry ran for 105 yards but had 3 fumbles. The defense was sliced and diced by UTEP quarterback Fred Scott, giving up 546 total yards. ILB Dominique Turnball led with 9 tackles and a forced fumble but there were few real highlights to speak of. Our trainer tells me our starting FS Rypien has a broken thumb and should be held out next week, but with our final regular season game coming up he will likely give it a go. Our starting offensive line will be back in the game next week with lots of bumps and bruises. with only a few top 25 teams in action this week there was no change at the top of the GDCS standings.

[JTV3]

[B]Week 14 North Texas (6-5) @ Duke (1-9)[/B] TEAM--------1Q---2Q---3Q---4Q----FINAL North Texas--3----10----0-----7-----20 Duke---------0----10----0-----7-----17 A dominating statistical performance by my team didn't prevent a weak Duke team from keeping it close. We outgained them 550-259 and registered 27 first downs to their 16. A 33 yard kick return average and 4 lost fumbles by us kept the game close. Following a Neal Walton fumble in the fourth quarter, Duke drove 66 yards on 9 plays to go up 17-13. Ron Upshaw followed by leading a 13 play 83 yard drive featuring runs of 14 and 15 yards from Upshaw and finishing with a 4 yard TD run by Upshaw on a broken play on 3rd and 3. Upshaw was the obvious player of the game. He threw for 346 yards on 27/43 passing and was also our leading rusher with 121 yards on 12 carries. Chandler was our leading receiver catching all 8 passes thrown his way for 120 yards. McMakin pitched in with 5 receptions for 92 yards and Senior Al Breedlove gained 74 yards on 6 receptions. Outside of Upshaw the running game was mostly a disappointment. Landry gained 52 yards on 18 carries but was benched after his 2nd fumble. Our 2nd string back, Sophomore Neal Walton, took his place but also quickly fumbled twice (losing one). 3rd string Senior RB Tony Stanley took over and performed admirably breaking one big run for 22 yards and totaling 33 yards on 7 carries, his first 7 carries of the season! No specific standouts on defense although it was a good all around effort. We recorded 4 sacks and 2 interceptions. Turnball and Hopkins each had 5 tackles. On the national scene, after defeating UCLA, USC overtook Florida by percentage points and they both have a large lead over #3 (and also undefeated) West Virginia. USC's season is done and West Virginia is left waiting for the results of the Florida-FSU game and the SEC Championship. [I](by the way, upgraded to 1.03 prior to this game)[/I]

[JTV3]

[B]Week 15/16 Open[/B] Florida took care of business trouncing Florida State 55-24 and then defeating #6 Auburn in the SEC Championship. The BCS Championship game (Rose Bowl) will be held between #1 Florida and #2 USC. In the other BCS Games: Sugar Bowl: Undefeated #3 West Virgina will face #5 Notre Dame (10-1) Orange Bowl: ACC Champion #4 Virginia Tech (10-1) will face Big Ten Champion #15 Ohio State (8-3) Fiesta Bowl: #7 Kansas State (10-2), who upset Texas in the Big 12 Championship, will face #6 Washington State (10-1) West Virgina tried to stir up some BCS controversy but they couldn't gain much traction as they were a clear 3rd in both polls and 5th in the computer rankings which can mostly be blamed on their 113th ranked SOS. Louisiana-Monroe won the Sun Belt with a record of 6-1 in conference and 7-4 overall. We finished 4th in conference at 4-3. ULM will be two point underdogs to UTEP in the New Orleans Bowl and Florida Atlantic will be eight point underdogs to BYU in the Poinsetta Bowl. We were obviously disappointed as a team when we were not invited to participate in a bowl, but we all came together in a team meeting to discuss our season and our goals for next year as a team. As a first year coach I felt this was an important team building step. We all agreed that our primary goal was to perform better in our conference games and to make a bowl. At the end of the meeting I told all the players I was able to bring them some good news. [B]The National Awards lists had come out and North Texas was well represented! Ron Upshaw, our JR QB, and Dwight Matthews, our SR Center, were both named to the National 3rd team offense! [/B] They were also named first team All-Sun Belt along with WR Reggie Chandler (So). Ron Upshaw was the offensive POY. On defense, DE Joey Smith (Jr), OLB Brian Hopkins (Sr), CB Reno Olivo (So), and FS Ken Rypien (Jr) were all named first team All-Sun Belt.

[MizzouRah]

Good read! Nice to see someone playing with a low tier team. I'm using Troy and it's been quite fun so far. :)

[JTV3]

[B]Bowl Wrapup[/B] BCS Bowls: Orange Bowl - Ohio St. 21 Virginia Tech 17 Fiesta Bowl - Kansas St. 37 Wash St. 16 Sugar Bowl - Notre Dame 20 West Virginia 10 Rose Bowl (BCS Championship) - USC 37 Florida 32 In the Sugar Bowl, Notre Dame ended any BCS controversy defeating the 3rd undefeated team, West Virginia. In the BCS Championship Game USC defeatd Florida in a shoot-out. USC led 28-24 at halftime and was able to hold the lead in the second half. USC's Senior QB LaMont Davis threw for 4 TD's and 451 yards! Florida's defense clearly had trouble stopping the long pass as USC threw touchdown passes of 58, 55, 61, and 33 yards. Davis missed about half the season (presumably due to injury) but clearly would have been a Heisman contender had he been healthy. Florida's pair of Junior RB's Garcia and Whittle who averaged 92 and 98 yards apiece in the regular season combined for 270 yards. In Sun Belt action Florida Atlantic lost to BYU 23-13 in the Poinsettia Bowl and ULM was defeated by UTEP 31-28.

[JTV3]

[B]North Texas Season Wrapup[/B] I certainly felt like we had a solid first season and we helped lay a good foundation for the future. We had the 20th ranked offense and 30th ranked defense nationally, but were only able to muster a 7-5 record against the 116th ranked schedule in the country. I think in the future I will need to make sure to schedule a few tougher non-conference opponents to improve strength of schedule and to toughen up the team before Sun Belt play. Improvement on the 7-5 overall record begins with improvement on the 4-3 record in conference. Team Leaders in Key Categories: [CODE]

2005 Passing Stats
#	POS	NAME	G	ATT	CMP	CMP%	YDS	YDS/ATT	TD	INT	LG	GP	BP	SACK	RATING
11	QB	Ron Upshaw - (Jr)	12	460	267	58.0%	3880	8.4	26	10	74	16	15	30	143.2

2005 Rushing Stats
#	POS	NAME	G	RUSH	YDS	YPG	YPC	TD	LG	CR	MH	FUM	FLOST
34	RB	Bernie Landry - Jr	12	301	1032	86.0	3.43	5	41	1	7	22	16
11	QB	Ron Upshaw - (Jr)	12	78	577	48.1	7.40	4	29	0	0	5	4

2005 Receiving Stats
#	POS	NAME	G	ATT	REC	YDS	YPG	YPC	YAC	TD	LG	GC	DP	DP%	IR
85	WR	Reggie Chandler - So	12	143	73	1225	102.1	16.8	273	8	74	5	12	8.4	7
88	WR	Al Breedlove - Sr	12	110	54	848	70.6	15.7	31	8	61	4	11	10.0	3
34	RB	Bernie Landry - Jr	12	78	59	718	59.8	12.2	469	3	62	2	4	5.1	1

2005 Defensive Stats
#	POS	NAME	G	TAK	SOLO	AST	SACK	STF	HUR	DP	PD	INT	DEF TD	MISSTAK	OOP	BPA
46	ILB	Dominique Turnbull - Sr	12	88	68	20	2	13	2	0	8	0	0	4	0	3
24	FS	Ken Rypien - Jr	12	74	54	20	1	7	0	0	6	4	0	0	1	1
45	OLB	Brian Hopkins - Sr	11	74	53	21	4	4	5	0	2	3	0	0	1	1
36	SS	Bill Bishop - Sr	12	70	50	20	3	2	0	0	6	2	0	3	5	1
29	CB	Reno Olivo - (So)	12	50	33	17	1	0	0	0	15	5	0	4	2	0
52	OLB	Sam Thomas - (Fr)	9	49	31	18	2	3	5	0	0	0	0	1	1	5
56	ILB	Aaron Birden - (Jr)	8	34	21	13	0	2	0	0	0	2	1	4	0	5
49	ILB	Israel Davis - Fr	8	29	23	6	2	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	2	2
97	DE	Joey Smith - (Jr)	12	17	15	2	6	3	6	11	0	0	0	2	0	0
30	CB	Sam Gant - Jr	8	14	4	10	0	0	0	0	7	3	0	9	4	2
98	DE	Ben Suhey - So	11	13	12	1	7	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
92	DE	Sherman Moore - So	10	12	12	0	4	1	7	2	0	0	0	1	1	0

[/CODE] Ron Upshaw, 3rd Team All American QB, was amongst the most prolific passers in the country this year. He was in the top 10 in TD's, yards, attempts, and completions. He should be returning to throw passes to his leading receiver Reggie Chandler who averaged just over 102 yards per game which was 8th in the country. While Landry was able to break 1000 yards, he suffered from serious fumbling problems. His 16 fumbles lost was the most in the country by a factor of 2. While he might have a future as a pass catching RB I'm not sure of his ability to carry the full load as an every down back. Junior John Gary was academically ineligible all year, but with some academic improvements in the offseason may be a contributer along with redshirt freshman Shane Gurley. Our defense was dominated by upperclassmen and seniors were 3 of our 4 leading tacklers. While a number of freshman and sophomores played significant roles we will have a lot of defensive production to replace next year. The seniors will be leaving school on a high note each making an all-conference team and next year's secondary will be led by FS Ken Rypien and CB Reno Olivo. They, along with young players on the defensive line, will be our team strengths next year. ILB Isreal Davis had a solid freshman season and has good potential but will need to improve on his academics to stay eligible throughout the year. We have 13 seniors graduating this year so 13 scholarships to fill this offseason. One major priority will be improvement on the offensive line. Three starters on the offensive line are graduating and we will only have 1 center remaining on the roster. Other than the offensive line, the linebacking corp and the secondary will also be priorities. In terms of a recruiting strategy, I intend to focus on these few positions and brining in local talent. At lower tier school like ours, bringing in quality talent, regardless of position, is the most important step towards consistent winning.