At the Half: N. Texas

I have been reserving judgement on this team and refraining from pre-season babble because I wanted to see the team with my own eyes.

Offense

My fear after losing Spiller and Ford was three-fold. Field position, explosiveness(big plays), and speed especially as receivers. Gilchrist has done well thus far and we have had some big plays from Ellington and Clear on a blown coverage. Harper has played tough. So we looked better towards the half and hopefully some of KP's rust has come off. We have been pathetic on third down conversions and sustaining any kind of drive. The O-line has been decent but not dominant and the WR's aren't separating or running crisp routes. It was good to see Nuke though. Allen needs to be more involved.

Defense

Disappointing...you can kiss that rushing defense goal goodbye Hawkins if this half is indicative of how our defense will handle draw plays and running QB's. The D-line is still having trouble with contain, LB's out of position and bad tackling and angles from McDaniel and Hall on a couple of big plays. We are getting penetration and pressuring the QB but looked like we were in slow motion on some plays.

Special Teams

Zimmerman has the punt of his career! After averaging what seems like a constant 39 yrd punt he goes for 78!! I like it. Kickoff coverage has been a little shaky.

Overall I think North Texas was tough to gameplan for with the new OC, who is doing a good job of mixing it up. Dunbar is legit so I will be happy with a 2 touchdown win that doesn't ever feel close. For all of you who wanted to play a 'real' team I'm glad you aren't in charge of the schedule--Clemson would have gotten smoked with that first half performance against a top 15 team.