Dear Jean Jacques

[Hoop Fan]

a fairly on point article, but when you rip kids for playing without emotion to start a game, your analysis MIGHT want to include the fact that they were playing on a very short 5 day turnaround. Rip Bennett all you want, but that has to be a factor last night.

[expony18]

i was surprised with how well the team stayed in a shoot out after a short turn around...

[Eddie P]

Hoopfan-

Did you see that disinterested team out there for much of the game like everyone else in the stands?

By your rationale, we need to watch every team with a short turnaround game and see if they too play disinterested-type football.

I think JJT was DEAD ON with his story in every aspect possible.

[Hoop Fan]

Hoopfan-

Did you see that disinterested team out there for much of the game like everyone else in the stands?

By your rationale, we need to watch every team with a short turnaround game and see if they too play disinterested-type football.

I think JJT was DEAD ON with his story in every aspect possible.

well, Texas Tech was pretty flat last night by all accounts too. look, the short turn just has to be mentioned in fairness if you are gonna write that kind of scathing article.

[Eddie P]

I understand where you're coming from. I dont think it was scathing towards the players so much as to Bennett.

[PonyPride]

a fairly on point article, but when you rip kids for playing without emotion to start a game, your analysis MIGHT want to include the fact that they were playing on a very short 5 day turnaround. Rip Bennett all you want, but that has to be a factor last night.

Coach Bennett addressed the short turnaround in his postgame press conference. He said that regardless of UNT's record and the fact that it has a new coach teaching a new system, he was worried about this game in large part because of the quick turnaround. He said he and Steve Orsini debated the merits of a short week, but the opportunity to play Tech on national TV was important for the program, etc., even though they both knew it meant risking an upset loss to UNT.

JJT didn't hear that explanation, because he wasn't in the press conference.

[giacfsp]

Pretty ballsy to badmouth college players without bothering to talk to them or their coach to find an explanation for their performance.

[Eddie P]

With all due respect, some journeyman UNT Qb threw for 600 freaking yards against us yesterday. Rip JJT all you want, but can we please stop blaming the quick turnaround for a poorly played game.

Quite frankly, we are either showing up poorly prepared and poorly coached OR we are a far more medicore (or worse) team than any of us expected and we will win 3-4 games this year.

We have played poorly two weeks in a row and thankfully have one win to show for it. But if it happens again next week, then perhaps Bennett, Orsini and whoever can stop mentioning the quick turnaround as the weekly crutch for our uninspired play and look for the root cause instead of the symptoms.

[Eddie P]

I love what people do with semantics on this board...was everyone here on the debate team in college?

Who cares if he was at the press conference. Do you think no one from the DMN was at the press conference? You think the guy doesnt have access to a transcript from the press conference? give me a break.

[jtstang]

I was pleasantly surprised with our win.

[Eddie P]

I'm very pleased as well. I just also happen to be very, very concerned.

[PonyPride]

Never said the short week was the reason for the performance, just a factor, which Coach Bennett and the players admitted. You're right — maybe JJT borrowed Kate's recorder to listen to her quotes. All I was saying was that he wasn't in there.

[jtstang]

Oh, I've been saying how worried I am about our defense since the beginning of summer while everyone else on this board has been touting our expected 9-3 record on the strength of our offense. That has not changed. I have no expectations that our D will control any offense we face this year. Our offense needs to crank it up a notch. I'd like to see us scoring in the 40s or 50s every game so that more pleasant surprises might come to pass.

[perunapower]

I love what people do with semantics on this board...was everyone here on the debate team in college?

Who cares if he was at the press conference. Do you think no one from the DMN was at the press conference? You think the guy doesnt have access to a transcript from the press conference? give me a break.

Journalists need to get their own scoop and not rely on second-hand information. If you're going to write a story over a team and it's coach, you go interview the coach and players.

[jtstang]

I love what people do with semantics on this board...was everyone here on the debate team in college?

Who cares if he was at the press conference. Do you think no one from the DMN was at the press conference? You think the guy doesnt have access to a transcript from the press conference? give me a break.

Journalists need to get their own scoop and not rely on second-hand information. If you're going to write a story over a team and it's coach, you go interview the coach and players.

There is nothing inaccurate in his analysis.