Search the Community

From the MUTS game last night. Dedicated to our very own Plumm! Not the best quality but MAKE SURE TO WATCH IT IN HD (just click the gear icon on the bottom right of the video for settings once the video starts) --- just a snippet but gives you a taste of how awesome they are. Enjoy and as always GMG!

DENTON, Texas - After playing from behind in the first five games this year, North Texas finally got off to a fast start Saturday against Middle Tennessee. The Mean Green found the experience very much to its liking. The North Texas running game, so silent through the past two games, roared to life for a season-high 303 yards. Running backs Brandin Byrd and Reggie Pegram both had career highs, with 139 and 88 yards, respectively, and Antoinne Jimmerson added a season-high 72 yards as the North Texas ground game dominated the Blue Raiders in a 34-7 victory at Apogee Stadium. "Just a bunch of young men that took it personally," North Texas coach Dan McCarney said of his offense's reaction to its recent struggles running the ball. "We know our foundation is built on running the football. We've been extremely disappointed in two of our losses. Running the ball was almost non-existent. They took it personal, every guy on offense." The Mean Green defense was just as dominant as the rushing attack, swarming MTSU all night and never allowing the Raiders to cross midfield in the second half. Coming off two straight losses and with two road games ahead, the dominant victory was huge for a Mean Green team now halfway to its goal of being bowl eligible for the first time since 2005. North Texas had chances to take control midway through the first half after putting together a 71-yard touchdown drive and getting a blocked field goal from linebacker Zach Orr. But James Jones's apparent touchdown return off the Orr block was wiped out by a penalty, and MTSU got a pair of interceptions on tipped balls to scuttle Mean Green drives and keep Blue Raiders in range of a tying score, which they got early in the second quarter. But the Mean Green did take control late in the second quarter. After North Texas got a one-yard scoring run from Byrd for a 14-7, safety Lairamie Lee picked off an Austin Grammer pass and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead. What They Said "We won with our preparation There was about as much intense preparation and focus this week as I've seen I took the job here." --North Texas coach Dan McCarney "Our main focus all week was to be able to run the football." --North Texas running back Brandin Byrd "Speed, quickness, consistency, and great understanding of what we're trying to do." --McCarney on his defense's performance Quick Hits • The North Texas defense came out attacking the Blue Raiders' offense, getting solid open-field tackles from Kenny Buyers and Zac Whitfield, a pair of flying tackles by Will Wright, a jarring hit from Zach Orr to open the game, and an early fumble caused by James Jones. • North Texas had a season-high 303 yards rushing, topping their previous high this year of 231 against Ball State. Running back Reggie Pegram had a career-high 88 yards and two touchdowns, Antoinne Jimmerson had a season-high 72, and Brandin Byrd rolled up a career-high 139 yards and a touchdown. • Senior linebacker Zach Orr recovered a fumble on MTSU's first possession of the game, giving him a team-high three for the year. The fumble was forced by James Jones, his second of the year. • Junior running back Reggie Pegram's five-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was the first time this season that North Texas has scored first, and the first time in 12 games the Mean Green has scored the first touchdown of the game. • Pegram's run also gave North Texas 43 yards rushing for the game, surpassing their total of 41 yards from the two previous games combined. By the end of the half, the Mean Green ground game had 115 yards, almost tripling their output from the Georgia and Tulane games. • The Mean Green defense allowed a season-low 205 yards of total offense, including 66 yards passing, the fewest opponent passing yards surrendered at Apogee and the fewest since 2010. • Middle Tennessee had a touchdown pass overturned on replay, which showed a hit by North Texas defensive back Marcus Trice sending the Blue Raider receiver out of the back of the end zone before he could come down in bounds. • Following Trice's big hit, Zach Orr got the first field-goal block of his career • Junior defensive back Lairamie Lee got the Mean Green's first pick six since 2011 when he intercepted a pass from MTSU's Austin Grammer and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead. It was Lee's second interception of the season and third of his career. The ball was tipped by Will Wright. It was also the Mean Green defenses' first score of the year. • Although quarterback Derek Thompson was intercepted twice in the first half, both on passes that that were tipped off the hands of receivers, he finished with an efficient 13-of-19 for 113 yards, giving him 6,010 yards passing for his career and moving him past Scott Hall into fourth place all-time at North Texas. • Brelan Chancellor had his third punt return of more than 40 yards this year with a 55-yard return in the second quarter, which set up a 21-yard Zach Paul field goal. It was Chancellor's second-longest return of the season, bested only by his 62-yard return against Idaho. • The Mean Green's 17 points in the second quarter were the team's most points in a period this season. • This was the second game in a row North Texas did not allow a point in the first quarter. • Marcus Trice, who had another outstanding game with XX tackles, had his first punt return of the year. In the fourth quarter, a Middle Tennessee punt took at North Texas bounce, springing backward through the Blue Raider coverage team. Trice scooped up a friendly hop and went 23 yards to the MTSU 25, setting up a 22-yard Zach Paul field goal. Up Next North Texas is on the road the next two weeks, beginning with a game against Louisiana Tech on Saturday, October 19, at 2:30 p.m. in Ruston, Louisiana. Read more: http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/101213aab.html

DENTON, Texas - Middle Tennessee could not slow down an explosive North Texas offense, as the Raiders fell 34-7 to the Mean Green on Saturday evening at Apogee Stadium. An early 7-7 ballgame changed quickly when the Mean Green (3-3, 1-1 Conference USA) scored two touchdowns in the span of 16 seconds to take a 14-point lead. Middle Tennessee (3-4, 1-2 C-USA) was limited to a second quarter touchdown in the loss. The Raiders put together 205 yards on 59 plays for 13 first downs. However, North Texas managed 416 yards of offense with 25 first downs. Both squads committed three turnovers, while NT dominated time of possession 37:49 to MT's 22:11. Quarterback Austin Grammer played the majority of the game. The redshirt freshman ran 15 times for a career-best 106 yards and one touchdown. He completed 6 passes out of 22 attempts for 36 yards with an interception. Logan Kilgore completed 8-of-8 for 30 yards. Chris Perkins led MT with five grabs for 33 yards. Kevin Byard led the Blue Raider defense in tackles for the second consecutive week. The sophomore upped his previous best of 15 stops with 17 on Saturday against the Mean Green. The bruising defense of the Raiders forced three North Texas turnovers. MT forced two interceptions and recovered a fumble. MT has forced 19 interceptions during the last 12 games. North Texas jumped on the board first with a 4-plus minute scoring drive. NT used a five-yard rushing touchdown by Reggie Pegram to put the Mean Green ahead early. T.T. Barber's interception in the second quarter set up a 57-yard Blue Raider scoring drive. The freshman Grammer hit the pylon on a rushing touchdown to tie the game, 7-7, early in the second quarter. The next few minutes would be controlled by North Texas. A near five minute drive put the Mean Green up by seven. The NT defense then took over with a pick-six touchdown by Lairaime Lee to take a 21-7 edge. North Texas tacked on a field goal to take the 17-point edge at the break. PHOTOS Statistically in the first half, NT accumulated 197 yards on 36 plays, while MT was held to 132 yards on 38 plays. Kilgore was 7-of-7 for 28 yards, while Grammer completed 2-of-6 for 8 yards and an INT. Grammer ran 8 times for 60 yards and a touchdown in the opening frame. NT's Thompson completed 10-of-12 for 82 yards with two interceptions. In the second half, North Texas added 10 points and held the Blue Raiders scoreless to pick up their first win as a member of Conference USA. Thompson would complete the game 13-of-19 for 113 yards. Brandin Byrd led the NT rushing corps with 139 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Middle Tennessee takes a week hiatus before hosting Marshall in the Blackout game on Thursday, Oct. 24. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and will air nationally on Fox Sports 1. GAME NOTES CAPTAINS: Today's game captains were Pat McNeil, Jiajuan Fennell and Marcus Henry. PICK MEN: Middle Tennessee came away with its ninth and 10th interceptions of the season when Xavier Walker recorded the first of his career in the first quarter and T.T. Barber had his second of the season in the second quarter. Over the last 12 games, MT has 19 interceptions. GRAMMER SETS RUSHING HIGH: Middle Tennessee freshman quarterback Austin Grammer established a new personal-best in rushing against North Texas. Grammer rushed 15 times for a career-high 106 yards and a touchdown. Grammer's previous high on the ground was 14 yards against WCU. TACKLE MACHINE: For the second straight game, sophomore Kevin Byard set his personal-best in total tackles. After being credited with 15 against East Carolina, Byard came back with 17 in the loss to North Texas. QUICK HITTERS: Blue Raiders wore all white with silver helmets for the first time since defeating FIU last year ... WR Kyle Griswould made his team-leading 22nd straight start today ... Kyle Griswould has now caught at least one pass in 29 straight games which ranks fourth longest in school history ... DT Jimmy Staten, P Josh Davis, and OL Josh Walker all played in their 43rd career games which is tops on the team ... Xavier Walker recorded his first career interception in the first quarter ... UNT's blocked field goal was the first against MT since Troy did it in 2012 ... North Texas' interception return for a touchdown is the first against MT since ULL's Devon Lewis-Buchanan went 55 yards on October 29, 2011 ... MT's opponent has now scored points in the last 30 seconds of the first half four times this season. read more: http://www.goblueraiders.com/content.cfm/id/70680

http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/chat/

Dan McCarney has drilled two key aspects of his philosophy into his players as North Texas nears the halfway point of his third season with the Mean Green. The first is to be disciplined and avoid mistakes. The second is to be an aggressive, hard-hitting team that causes turnovers and forces opponents into the same types of mistakes it is trying to avoid. That approach has UNT walking a fine line — one the Mean Green is struggling to find as it heads into a game against Middle Tennessee (3-3, 1-1 Conference USA) on Saturday at Apogee Stadium. UNT has done a great job of forcing turnovers with 14, but also is the most penalized team in Conference USA both in terms of the number of penalties committed (40) and penalty yards per game (69.8). The Mean Green (2-3, 0-1) was flagged a whopping 11 times for 105 yards last week in a 24-21 loss to Tulane in its C-USA debut. “We are coached to be aggressive and physical,” UNT linebacker Zach Orr said. “That is what we are going to do — try to hit as hard as we can every time we get a chance. That is our M.O. as a defense. That won’t slow us down. We can’t let that affect us. We can’t let those calls back us off. If you back off, then maybe the guy breaks a tackle.” Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20131010-football-they-walk-the-line.ece

North Texas head coach Dan McCarney and his players left little doubt Monday of just how important they believe their game Saturday against Middle Tennessee is to their hopes of posting the Mean Green’s first winning season since 2004. The importance of that showdown with the Blue Raiders led McCarney to call for a big turnout from UNT’s students and fans in the Mean Green’s first home game since a win over Ball State on Sept. 14. “I hope we have a great atmosphere,” McCarney said. “I got down on my knees and begged our fans and students to come back since I took the job. We have all kinds of recruits who come in on unofficial visits and a team that responds and reacts to our fans. Who wants to come in and play in front of three-quarters-empty stadiums, half-empty stadiums? I don’t, players don’t. Recruits don’t want to see that. They want to see support, they want to see energy, enthusiasm and passion. I think they will see that.” UNT (2-3, 0-1 Conference USA) is 2-0 at Apogee Stadium this season and 9-4 overall at home under McCarney, who took over a program that was 1-16 at home in the three seasons prior to his arrival. - See more at: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20131007-notebook-mccarney-implores-fans-students-to-fill-seats.ece#sthash.IqulgGWa.dpuf

Brandin Byrd eyed the right side of the North Texas line on the second play Saturday afternoon, took the ball from Derek Thompson and went barreling forward like he has so many times in his career. Only this time, Tulane defensive tackle Chris Davenport was waiting and stuffed the senior running back at the line of scrimmage. That scene played out over and over at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in a 24-21 Tulane win that left UNT facing uncomfortable — not to mention unexpected — questions about what has happened to its running game. UNT has hit what it hopes is a just bump in the road the last two weeks, rushing for a total of 41 yards in losses to Tulane and Georgia. At a lot of schools, consecutive games when the running game falls flat might not be a cause for concern. At UNT, where the running game is at the core of the program’s identity, it’s sent the Mean Green searching for answers as it prepares for a home game Saturday against Middle Tennessee. “It’s very frustrating because there is no secret that we want to run the ball,” UNT coach Dan McCarney said. “It’s at the heart of what we did when we built this program — run the football, execute, keep moving the chains and then throw and get people guessing at what we are trying to do.” That’s exactly what UNT did when it opened the season with a 40-6 win over Idaho and rallied from an 18-point deficit to edge Ball State 34-27. UNT didn’t mow its first three opponents over, but did rush for 187 yards against the Vandals and 231 yards against the Cardinals. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20131009-football-unt-looking-for-answers-in-ground-game.ece