University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Learning How To Win Isn't Easy
9/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, September 13, 2009, 2:09 p.m.
Coach Dodge couldn't have put it any better last night when he said "that was like a knife right to the heart." If you were at the game, watching the game, or just a random football fan, that's how it felt like after the double OT loss to Ohio. While the disappointment in not starting 2-0 is tough to swallow, the progress of the 2009 team from the previous years is significant. The next step for this team is to learn how to finish games off like that.
Coming out of Ball State, everyone said the same thing, great win but we sure did leave some points out there. Last night, the same thing happened. North Texas had the ball on the one-yard line twice and only came away with three points. That can't happen. That is what leaves the door open for teams to come back from and that is what this team is still struggling to learn. How to win.
It's a lot like the first time you were learning to ride a bike. Once those training wheels came off, you were nervous and slowly got rolling before eventually you crashed. Admit it, we all did. That's what happened last night. The training wheels came off in Muncie, the bike was rolling down the hill, and then BOOM, North Texas lost its balance and crashed.
The growing pains for this Mean Green team are going to evident and sometimes painful to watch. But remember this is a team that hasn't tasted virtually any success in four seasons so learning how to capitalize on that success is going to take time.
Think of how far this team has come though is just two games. The offense looks more balanced, the defense is light years ahead of the last few seasons, and the Mean Green is an eyelash away from begin 2-0. The players have confidence, their back-up's have confidence, and the team believes in what it's doing.
Over the last four seasons when adversity has hit in the form of an injury on the field, a lot of the time the team crumbled. Last night when Riley Dodge went down, the air went out of the building. And when Nathan Tune threw a pick six, panic gripped everyone.
Last year, the game was over after that. This season, totally different. The defense got the ball back and Tune shook off a tough start and marched the team down the field for the game-tying score. In overtime, Tune was a cool, calm, confident looking quarterback who had the poise of a veteran.
Tune just needed a few series under his belt, and he was riding that bike like nothing had ever happened.
This team has to take what happened last night and learn from it. Alabama won't be easy, but after that there isn't a game on schedule North Texas can't win. A locker room of devastated players was evident after last night. They all knew they let one slip away.
Winning sometimes looks easy when teams have done it for a while, see the New England Patriots. But if you haven't done it, sometimes you have to fall off the bike a few times until you learn how.
