Only one team in the league could have beaten UNT today

Only one team in the American Conference could have beaten No. 22-ranked North Texas today.

No, it wasn’t the usual suspects–Tulane, South Florida, Navy or Memphis–but it was another 3-4 team like Temple was:

Army.

This highlighted play is what lost the game for Temple.

The Cadets have pretty good intelligence in the sense that Jeff Monken is probably the most underrated coach in the country and knew that North Texas had the 14th-ranked run defense in the league. That’s another way for saying it was the worst run defense in the league. Monken probably also might have known that on top of that the Mean Green had two starting defensive tackles out with injuries.

Army would have run, run, run until UNT proved it could stop the run.

Temple probably should have done the same thing in a 52-25 loss in Denton.

For awhile there, it looked like the Owls had this thing figured out–run the ball, keep the ball away from Drew Mestemaker and company and shorten the game.

Maybe it wouldn’t have won the game and maybe UNT would have answered every long Temple run-dominated drive with a short drive to tie it.

“Why the hell are you guys even attempting a pass when it’s obvious North Texas can’t stop the run?” Jeff Monken probably said while watching the Temple game on Saturday.

Then again, Temple forced one turnover and, if the refs had any integrity whatsoever, would have forced at least one other and the Owls would have been ahead of the trading scores game.

That’s assuming Temple would have shredded a suspect UNT run defense.

We will never know because the Owls abandoned the running game a little too early.

How early?

On the first play from scrimmage, Jay Ducker had an 8-yard run, followed by an 8-yard run by Keveun Mason, followed by runs of 10, 5, 6 and 1 from Ducker.

Except for that last run, they weren’t stopping Ducker. Then Temple had to dick around and throw a pass.

No need to do that.

The Owls were called for a questionable ineligible man downfield but had Ducker gotten another opportunity, who knows if they would have been able to stop him? Or even a couple more opportunities. The weird thing is that Temple never needed to go triple option to win–just Jay Ducker right, Jay Ducker left and Jay Ducker up the middle with occasional cameos by Keveun Mason and Hunter Smith to the outside.

Army would have stuck with the game plan.

For some reason, Temple got away with something that was working and everything unraveled shortly after that.

When the battle plan is working, stick to what got you there and don’t deviate. If the enemy is in full retreat of your infantry, you never have to call in air strikes.

Army understands that.

Maybe Temple will next year.

Monday: Season Post-Mortem

6 thoughts on “Only one team in the league could have beaten UNT today

  1. Actually, from what I saw of the game (switching back and forth to the Eagles debacle), the NT offense was nearly unstoppable by the Owl defense. I believe they would do well in an FBS playoff.

    • Would have liked to see us really commit to the run. When you get 10, 8, 6, 5 and 1 yard on the first few plays from scrimmage, you don’t abandon the run after the 1. You keep pounding, especially considering the opponent gives up 211 yards a game on the ground BEFORE losing two starting DTs.

  2. Was at the Eagles game so I didn’t have a chance to catch this one but I’m not shocked by the outcome. UNT should be ranked and I think they will beat Tulane to reach the CFP. To echo Keelers postgame comments, Temple needs to get faster. Looking at the box score it seems we were able to run the ball a little but couldn’t get much going through the air. This may not be a popular comment but I am happy with the progress we made this season. Keeler came in and made an immediate impact on the culture here, and although that didn’t translate to a bowl game, I have a feeling it will sooner rather than later.

    P.S, why couldn’t anyone give KCK a chair and a table for the postgame presser?

    • The only Philly media there was Shawn Pastor. There was no chair. He got him by the wall on the way out. Same thing happened two years ago with Stan Drayton, who was interviewed outside the brick wall of the stadium.

  3. Two one point losses to be in a bowl game. We have a ways to go but this year was an improvement but disappointing none-the-less. The AC has how many teams bowl eligible? A lot and Temple was sooo close……

  4. Linemen need to get bigger in the off season. Still getting pushed around.

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