MeanGreen61

Brett Vito: Defense not living up to hype for UNT 08:51 AM CDT on Monday, September 10, 2007 Ever since Todd Dodge arrived at North Texas in December, offense has been the center of discussion when it comes to the Mean Green. The reasons are obvious. While throwing for a school-record 601 yards on Saturday night against SMU, UNT quarterback Daniel Meager looked nothing like the player who struggled earlier in his career. Try convincing anyone in the college football world that Casey Fitzgerald was a former walk-on after he racked up 327 receiving yards against the Mustangs. After what transpired in a 45-31 loss at SMU on Saturday, it might be time to turn the attention away from the Mean Green’s monster night offensively, though, and ask the obvious: What the heck happened to UNT’s defense? No one was expecting this season’s UNT defense to resemble the one from a few years ago, when the Mean Green ranked among the national leaders in points allowed thanks to players like Brandon Kennedy, Adrian Awasom and Jonas Buckles. UNT is supposed to be solid or even better than that after returning nine starters, including three who were preseason All-Sun Belt Conference selections. That crew has now given up 108 points in the first two weeks of the season, subtracting the interceptions OU and SMU returned for touchdowns and a safety posted by the Sooners A slow start was expected against national power Oklahoma, but SMU hammered the Mean Green defensively. This is the same SMU team that scored just nine points against Texas Tech on Monday. SMU had only a few days to prepare for the Mean Green and still picked UNT apart. Mustangs quarterback Justin Willis couldn’t get anything going against the Mean Green last season, and came back to pass for 353 yards against UNT the second time around. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Willis threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Zack Sledge that proved to be the game-winner. The former Ryan standout is a solid player who has improved since last season. Willis was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2006. The Mean Green caught Willis early last year before he got on track and began to roll toward a solid debut season. Is the difference between the Willis who threw for 112 yards against UNT a year ago and Willis on Saturday really that great, though? There is little doubt the Mean Green’s problems are based in its secondary and adapting to a new system. Former UNT head coach Darrell Dickey played zone almost exclusively and was a big believer in the bend-but-don’t-break philosophy. UNT is loading up to stop opponents’ running games in the 4-3 this season and is leaving its defensive backs in more single-coverage situations. One has to wonder after two weeks if the Mean Green has the personnel to play a pressure scheme. UNT has just one sack in two games and its corners have not performed much better in single coverage. “Neon” Don McGee isn’t roaming on the edge of UNT’s defense these days. There is no punishing hitter if a player ventures over the middle like in the days of Craig “The Hit Man” Jones or Buckles. Safety Aaron Weathers is the best defensive back UNT has on the field, but might be a little taxed. The senior is the Mean Green’s leading tackler and is also being asked to contribute in single coverage on wide receivers. The players in UNT’s defensive backfield are staying in coverage far too long at times because the Mean Green hasn’t mounted much of a pass rush. Senior defensive end Jeremiah Chapman and linebacker Brandon Monroe combined to post the Mean Green’s first sack of the season against SMU. Before facing the Mustangs, UNT had gone three straight games without a sack dating to last season. So far this season, UNT has one sack on 70 passing attempts by its opponents. Dodge said before the season that his defense would have to be the strength of his first team at UNT, especially early in the year. So far UNT’s defense hasn’t lived up to its billing. Those shortcomings didn’t make a whole lot of difference in the first week of the season against a powerhouse Oklahoma team that blew the Mean Green away in every facet of the game. That wasn’t the case in Week 2. UNT had a chance to post its second straight win over the Mustangs on a record-setting night for its offense. It didn’t work out because of another off night for a defense that still hasn’t hit its stride. BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

North Texas (0-0 SBC, 0-2 Overall) Last Week at SMU: Daniel Meager broke a 38-year-old record of most passing yards in a game with 601 yards. Casaey Fitzgerald set a new North Texas game-high in receiving yards with 327 yards. Truman Spencer has had 145 successful punts without allowing a blocked punt. The 199 total yards of offense during the first quarter was the most by any North Texas team since they tallied 207 against Middle Tennessee in 2004. The 277 yards of first-half offense was more than the Mean Green recorded in six complete games last season. Casey Fitzgerald and Brandon Jackson became the first two North Texas receivers to tally 100-yard plus yards receiving in the same game since 1997. This Week Bye (Next: Florida Atlantic): Todd Dodge’s Mean Green will take a weeks rest before a Sun Belt clash with Florida Atlantic on September 22. Last season FAU used three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, to defeat NT 17-16 in Denton. FAU holds a 3-0 all-time record against NT. SUN BELT WEEK THREE FOOTBALL RELEASE http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...;ATCLID=1211226

Offensive Player of the Week Casey Fitzgerald (North Texas, Jr., WR) Fitzgerald broke North Texas and Sun Belt Conference records for receiving yards in a game and broke the Sun Belt Conference record for receptions in a game when he caught 18 passes for 327 yards and two touchdowns in a 45-31 loss to SMU. Fitzgerald’s 327 yards was the fourth-most in NCAA Div. I history for a single game. He averaged 18.2 yards per catch, which included a long of 66 yards. His touchdown receptions came from 25 and 26 yards out. He entered the game with 12 career receptions, which included seven in the season-opener last week. His performance this week makes him the nation’s leading receiver with 226.5 yards per game. Fitzgerald broke the North Texas receiving record that had stood since 1992. Sun Belt Conference Players of the Week[/b] http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...;ATCLID=1211055

Who's Hot ? North Texas WR Casey Fitzgerald A quick note to the Florida Atlantic coaches this week; figure out where No. 87 is. Junior Casey Fitzgerald caught 18 passes for 327 yards and two touchdowns against SMU after making seven grabs for 126 yards and a score against Oklahoma. To put this all in perspective, North Texas threw for 1,380 yards all of last year, finishing 117th in the nation. Who's Not ? SMU's pass defense Arkansas State QB Corey Leonard has to be licking his chops. SMU's secondary is dead last in America after allowing 473 yards and four touchdowns to Texas Tech's Graham Harrell, and then 601 yards and three touchdowns to North Texas QB Daniel Meager. WHO'S HOT ? WHO'S NOT ? http://cfn.scout.com/2/677820.html

Maybe the Ponies gettin' a little reality ? THREAD http://www.ponyfans.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=25030

Who woulda thunk ? A Mean Green offense going 99 yards in a 9 play, 1.44 drive ! WOW !

Here's some stuff from NCAA stats Single game catches #1 Casey Fitzgerald (18 receptions - SMU) Single game receiving yards #1 Casey Fitzgerald (327 yards - SMU) Single game passing yards #1 Daniel Meager (601 yards - SMU) Single game passing attempts #1 Daniel Meager (64 - SMU game) Single Game pass completions #3 Daniel Meager (46 - SMU game) Passing #5 Daniel Meager Total Passing yards #5 Daniel Meager (709 yards) Passing yards per game #5 Daniel Meager (354.5 yds pg) Total offense #7 Deaniel Meager (343 yds pg) Receptions yards per game #1 Casey Fitzgerald (226.5 yds pg) #17 Brandon Jackson (108.5 yds pg) Receptions per game #3 Casey Fitzgerald (12.5 catches pg) #9 Brandon Jackson (8.5 catches pg)

Yep, there are some "Polly Perfects" on the board.

Familiarity breeds contempt for UNT/SMU 8:55 AM CDT on Friday, September 7, 2007 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer Brandon Jackson was familiar with the football programs at North Texas and SMU long before he found himself in the middle of what amounted to a backyard brawl last season between the teams at Fouts Field. The Mean Green senior wide receiver watched both schools while growing up in Fort Bend, and is just one of several players who will be well versed in the teams’ histories when they face off for the second straight season Saturday at Ford Stadium. Some are former teammates or rivals. Others were recruited by both programs and had to pick one over the other. Those ties will make this weekend’s game an important one for both teams, a fact Jackson quickly learned in 2005 when the schools agreed to renew their longstanding series that had been dormant since 1992. “The first thing I heard was that we had to beat SMU. Whatever you do, beat SMU,” Jackson said of the reaction after the series was announced. “People who went to North Texas hate SMU and people who went to SMU hate North Texas.” The reasons why are almost too many to name. UNT fans often feel like SMU looks down at its public school neighbor, and the Mustangs have dominated the series. SMU enters this weekend’s game leading the overall tally 27-4-1. UNT campaigned for years to have a chance to play SMU. Former Mean Green head coach Matt Simon went so far as to challenge the Mustangs to play publicly in 1994. “I’d like to play because I think we could beat them, Simon said. “And my players feel the same way. If they’d like to play on a Safeway parking lot ... just give us a date and time.” There is also the perception that SMU never supported UNT in its efforts to move up in college athletics. Hayden Fry coached at SMU (1962-72) before serving in the same capacity at UNT (1973-78). The College Hall of Famer tried to persuade the members of the Southwest Conference, including SMU, to admit UNT while he was coaching at the school to no avail. UNT also made a bid to get into Conference USA. UNT was in the running for one last spot in the league shortly after SMU accepted a bid to join C-USA in 2003. SMU president Gerald Turner drew the ire of UNT fans when he said he would rather see the league invite Louisiana Tech instead. “All the stories of North Texas being held out of a conference because of a relationship or something that was done by SMU adds to the rivalry,” UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. “I don’t think there is any reality to it, but it builds the story and the animosity towards each other.” Despite that animosity, UNT and SMU decided to renew their rivalry last year in one of the highlights in the recent history of Mean Green football. UNT backup quarterback Woody Wilson came on early in the game and led the Mean Green to a 24-6 win. Wilson only spent one season with the Mean Green, but cemented a special place in program history by leading UNT to 17 second-half points to secure the victory. “That win was big for a lot of people, not just us,” Jackson said. “People who went to school here, it was big for them, too.” UNT knows what a repeat performance would mean this season under new head coach Todd Dodge. Dodge has only been at UNT since December and is still trying to build his program. A win over SMU would give him a solid foundation to work from in recruiting. “I am focused on winning, but it is one of the biggest games we have because of recruiting issues,” UNT senior linebacker Brandon Monroe said. “That is what is on the line. We are also both in the Dallas area, so I guess it is also for bragging rights.” Plenty of UNT’s players know SMU’s players well. Holman was rivals with SMU running back and former New Boston standout Cedrick Dorsey when he was playing at Vernon. SMU quarterback Justin Willis and defensive lineman Ben Goldthorpe played for Ryan, while defensive end Anthony Sowe played for Denton. SMU sophomore center Mitch Enright, and linebacker Pete Fleps both played for Dodge at Carroll. Those connections will make the game all the more intriguing. “SMU and North Texas ought to be a big rivalry and should probably be even bigger than it is,” Dodge said. “Hopefully we will continue to play, which would be great for both programs and the fan base of both programs. It should also be great for recruiting for both teams because it is another chance to keep Dallas kids home. … It has the makings of a great rivalry if it was one where you didn’t play two years and then take five years off.” Continuing the series is a move SMU coach Phil Bennett is behind. “It’s a natural,” Bennett said. “You have two Metroplex universities. The cost of travel is low and the money is good. It makes all the sense in the world.” BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

Off the Ponie board. From the only in America category: Ann Arbor, MI: A distraught University of Michigan fan has filed a four million dollar lawsuit against Appalachian State for its victory over the University of Michigan’s football team last Saturday. The suit alleges that Appalachian State was to be a sacrificial lamb and by winning, Appalachian Sate violated an unwritten understanding that Michigan never loses to creampuffs. The suit alleges that Appalachian State knew or should have known that its football team was supposed to lose in an ignoble fashion to the University of Michigan. Elton Alda is suing for four millions dollars damages, an apology and a forfeit by Appalachian State’s football program alleging that Appalachian State’s victory has caused serious mental anguish, lost sleep, and damaged self esteem and overall dysfunction with daily activities. Alda said, “You just can’t imagine how painful this whole ordeal has been. All the money, time and emotional effort I put into this game only to have a group of nobodies break a traditional BCS understanding to be a sacrificial lamb. All I have been able to do is cry.” Alda believes that a forfeit by Appalachian State would restore Michigan’s number five national ranking and reopen Michigan’s dream of a National Championship in football. Officials for Appalachian State refused comment stating they had not seen the suit, yet. James Robert Taylor, an Appalachian State senior commented, “Well that just figures. Where else but America can an underdog win and still get screwed.” A preliminary injunction barring Appalachian State from claiming a victory over Michigan will be ruled upon by Friday by 22nd Circuit District Judge Edith Demwitty.

SMU 33 UNT 13 Harmon Forecast - Week 2 games http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/8820391

From the official site SMU game info. OU was the first game for 21 Mean Green players. 15 freshmen, including 9 true freshmen played their first game as members of the Mean Green. It was not only the first game action for red-shirt freshmen O linemen Matt Menard & Esteban Santiago, it was also their first career start.

The "must win" factor and SMU A year ago, North Texas pulled off arguably one of its best non-conference wins in recent years against SMU in the final season of the Darrell Dickey era. It was a magical night that UNT put together because of two key factors that gave UNT an emotional edge: The Mean Green had been pointing to the Mustangs as the key opponent of the season all year long and UNT’s players had been well versed in the school’s tradition of despising its private school neighbors. After Texas Tech pounded SMU 49-9 on Monday, the Mustangs seem to be in the same situation UNT faced last season. Phil Bennett can't lose to UNT twice in a row and the Mustangs have a host of veteran players who felt the pain of falling to UNT last season. I would just about bet the farm on the fact former Denton Ryan standout and current SMU quarterback Justin Willis has been thinking about getting even with his hometown team for a year now. That's not to say UNT can't or won't win the first game of the Todd Dodge era in Dallas. I just have a feeling that it will take a special effort from the Mean Green, one that would well exceed what it came up with in its first game of the season against Oklahoma. Willis didn't have a very good night against Tech on Monday, but he was the Freshman of the Year in Conference USA last season. Junior running back DeMyron Martin was hurt early against UNT and missed five of the next six games. SMU will know its back is to the wall after losing to Tech when it comes to becoming bowl eligible this season. Players are motivated every week, or at least they should be, but every once in a while a team can have a chip on it shoulder and take advantage of it. UNT followed that path to a win over SMU last season. The Mean Green will have to be at its best Saturday because there are a lot of factors that point to the Mustangs have that same edge this season.

Attendance numbers for most of Thursday's non-BCS season openers were not too impressive. 30,278 @ Boise v Weber State 22,022 @ULM v Tulsa 15,488 @Ball State v Miami (Ohio) 15,102 @Utah State v UNLV 12,682 @NMSU v SE Louisiana

Attitude !

Oklahoma 44 North Texas 6 HARMON FORECAST http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/8820391

What triggered this nonsense ?

So, are you concerned about Tomlinson also ? He's a freshman and didn't make the two deep either. Bet TD wants to redshirt his incoming OL freshmen if possible.

Why ? Kaiser is a true freshman. Don't see any true freshmen OL in the 2 deep. Matt Tomlinson isn't there either.

Let the Todd Dodge era at North Texas begin. In what he describes as the start of a long journey together, Dodge has had just eight months to prepare his team for what is undeniably one of the most anticipated beginnings to a football season in North Texas history. Dodge was hired at North Texas in December to resurrect a football program that has won just five of its last 24 games. After winning four straight Sun Belt Conference titles from 2001-2004, the Mean Green faithful endured back-to-back seasons where it was looking up at nearly everyone in the Sun Belt standings. The team that once carried a 27-game win streak over Sun Belt opponents, has now lost 10 of the last 14 meetings with those same foes. Without putting a timeline on a turnaround, it is impossible to diminish the abiding belief that Dodge is the guy who will return North Texas to its winning ways. NORTH TEXAS PREVIEW http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...;ATCLID=1146560

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=57322 MTSU football hurting for numbers By Nate Rau, Sports Correspondent MTSU coach Rick Stockstill only has 60 scholarship players heading into this season. It’s the strangest thing – Middle Tennessee is coming off its best season since making the jump to Division I-A. It was a season that included a first-ever bowl berth, and yet coach Rick Stockstill said his program is still three or four years away from being competitive with teams outside the Sun Belt Conference. Yes, Stockstill applauds his team’s effort and intensity during training camp, which concludes on Saturday. But the reality for MTSU football is the fact that on Tuesday, there were only 60 scholarship players taking part in practice. That’s 25 less than coaches want to have. The scholarship level is down anyway because of academic restrictions that came from the previous staff. Couple that with the loss of six players from a combination of injuries, dismissals and leaving for personal reasons, and MTSU is down to the number 60, according to Stockstill. Three starters have been subtracted during training camp, including starting defensive end Sean Mosley, who surprisingly quit last week. “You’ve got to laugh to keep from crying,” Stockstill said of the depleted numbers. “We didn’t start with that many to begin with because of where we’re at with this program. Then you throw in the amount of injuries we’ve had, it’s just compounded the problem.” But while the Blue Raider roster is watered down, expectations are at an all-time high. MTSU went 7-1 in the Sun Belt and then advanced to its first ever bowl – the Motor City – at the Division I-A level. “We live in a microwave world,” Stockstill said of the increased expectations. “Everybody wants it now. But I said it last year, we’re at least three to four years away from building this program to where it needs to be so it can compete on a weekly basis with other conference teams. “I understand that and I’ve been in the business long enough to understand what people on the outside expect. But when you look at it, we’ve had one winning season in five years so that means you’ve got a long way to go in building your program.” But the players who are healthy and in camp aren’t about to write off this season. Much as the Blue Raiders snuck up on the SBC last year, they’re hoping to do the same this year. “The guys that we have here can make plays,” senior cornerback Bradley Robinson said. “We’ve got to go into the season with what we have and I’m feeling confident with what we have.”

Sooner board score prediction thread. http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98053

Spread offense all the rage in Belt By ADAM SPARKS sparks@dnj.com One philosophy is being fine-tuned at nearly all Sun Belt football programs with one week remaining until the season kicks off. Troy converted to it last season and won a share of its first Sun Belt championship. Western Kentucky is installing it solely in anticipation of moving to Division I-A and the Sun Belt in 2009. North Texas hired a new head coach who had gained national acclaim for perfecting it — on the high school level. It's the spread offense, and everybody seems to be doing it (or at least a version of it). "It seems like people have only referred to it as spread in the last five or six years, but I've been doing that a lot longer than five or six years," MTSU offensive coordinator G.A. Mangus said. "A lot of things are called spread, but it's really just the concept of spreading out the defense in 100 x 53 1/3 yards instead of crowding it all up." The spread offense has a wide-ranging definition. Most call any scheme that includes three or four wide receivers as a spread offense. Some play with one running back, some play with no backs, most play it in the shotgun formation. But regardless of the personnel, the spread offense has a multi-layered meaning because it involves spreading an offensive formation, spreading the football to several offensive players and spreading the defense's responsibilites. MTSU and Florida Atlantic, which play Saturday in the season opener, are actually two of the Sun Belt teams that used the spread philosophies the least last year. Both teams' use of the style will depend on its personnel, and MTSU coach Rick Stockstill acknowledged that as being a gradual process. "When coaches are at schools long enough, they can recruit to their offensive philosophy and then you can stay with it," Stockstill said. "It depends on what you have. At Clemon for a stretch there, we had bona fide NFL wide receivers. So you try to get the ball in their hands. But now they've got those two good backs, so those guys are more the focus on the offense." Troy coach Larry Blakeney recruited players specifically suited for the spread offense, and even added a coach to guide the system in former Kentucky offensive coordinator Tony Franklin. The experiment worked, as Troy won a Sun Belt co-championship last season. "I felt like we could recruit better and enhance our evolution as a I-A program if we went to the spread," said Blakeney, whose long-time offense had been based on a power running game. "In 2001, I tried to hire Tony Franklin to run this, but we couldn't do it then. I got him in here, and we've recruited players for it. If I was at LSU or Alabama or Georgia, I believe we could maybe recruit big tight ends, big fullback and have enough skill and offensive-line power to run some different things. But we were trying to enhance our personnel and give us a chance to win on offense." The spread offense requires speed, and that can come in any size player, even those deemed too small for major conference programs. It also needs several weapons to be effective. "We'll be a successful offense at North Texas if we can spread the ball around and get it in a lot of people's hands," said first-year North Texas coach Todd Dodge, who ran a variation of the spread for years on the high school level. "The spread doesn't rely on two good players. No matter what kind of spread you're talking about, it needs numbers to run it the right way." Indeed, there are many versions under the umbrella dubbed spread offense, and most of them derive from coaching trees and mimicry. "Football has an influence on itself, so everybody picks it up somewhere," Dodge said. MTSU's multiple offensive attack is both a result of its personnel and its coaches. Stockstill helped run current West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez's spread offense while both were assistants at Clemson. Mangus was tutored as a quarterback under Steve Spurrier at Florida. Sun Belt member Louisiana-Lafayette had derived much of its style from head coach Rickey Bustle's past experience coaching Michael Vick at Virginia Tech. This season, ULL's offense will be run by coordinator Blake Anderson, a former MTSU assistant who helped guide the Blue Raiders' no-huddle version of the spread from 2002-04. "Ours started off when I was at Utah State in 1992, and we put in the Miami Hurricanes' offense, the Dennis Erikson-type stuff," Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie said. "We used the tight end a lot back then, and then at the Naval Academy in 1995, we used four wide receivers and no tight ends. At Monroe, we do it both ways." Many other versions exist such as the University of Houston's run-and-shoot and Urban Meyer's spread option attack at Florida. No one can rightfully claim the spread offense's birth place, but plenty have picked up the general philosophy of it. Two years ago, about half of the Sun Belt ran the spread offense. This season, all will at least borrow its principles within a given game. "Everybody's doing it in our league because it gives you more options at the line of scrimmage than most other (offenses)," Blakeney said. "You have more versatility with it, and that's why we switched to it last year. Everybody wants an edge, and I think running some kind of the spread gives you that. "If it didn't give you that, then people wouldn't be movng to it so much."

http://www.fanblogs.com/miami/007107.php North Texas drops Miami, will open season at LSU The University of North Texas has reached an agreement to open the 2008 season opener at LSU, according to the Dallas Morning News. LSU and North Texas last played in 2005, a game that was rescheduled in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. UNT is 0-3 against LSU. The new deal with the Tigers means that the Mean Green will be dropping the game at Miami, which would have been the Hurricanes home opener in Dolphin Stadium. Now Miami is searching for a replacement. UNT is negotiating with the Hurricanes to come to an understanding on the $450,000 guarantee that the Eagles would owe The U for breaking the contract.