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To not score 1 point in the second half is just unacceptable. I agree. Some said you had the chance to use this season for the future and instead we went with the guy they felt could win games now. Now in two starts, McNulty plays ok but not well enough to win. I hate to say this but we may not win another game folks. At what point do you start trying to build for the future and forgive DaJon for his sins? The other thing that bugged me was the Fox SW commentator mentioning late in the game, "It's tough to recruit to North Texas.." Wonder where he got that idea? Just a frustrating year all the way around.

The most entertaining football team in Houston is not the Houston Cougars. The most professional football team in Houston is not the Texans. The best prepared, and easily the most motivated, football team in Houston is the one that plays in Rice Stadium, the Rice Owls. Most of Houston ignores the Owls, judging by the attendance figures at Rice Stadium. The Owls don't get high ratings and generally play games at awful times. Nobody talks about the team on the radio (well, aside from N.D. Kalu). And when the Owls do get prime time games, they have to go on the road to places like South Bend and College Station because the big-boy schools refuse to travel for the likes of Rice. The Owls won their fourth straight game on Saturday afternoon, defeating the North Texas Mean Green (2-6) by a 41-21 score to improve their record to 4-3. The Owls scored on the first play from scrimmage when quarterback Driphus Jackson hit a wide open Jordan Taylor on a nice pass over the middle then watched as Taylor sprinted the rest of the way for the 82-yard touchdown. It was a fun play to watch unfold in realtime. But after the game, learning that Rice had figured out earlier in the week what the North Texas defense was going to do, and then learning that Jackson and the offense were ready to run the play once they hit the field, just made it that much better. "When we went out there, we wanted to make sure we had the look," Jackson said. "When we got it, it was just a matter of timing." read more: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/news/2014/10/owls_football_flies_high.php

HOUSTON - North Texas spent the first half of Saturday's game at Rice Stadium digging out of two early deficits before taking control of the contest. The Mean Green offense moved the ball on the ground and through the air, the defense made some big plays in the secondary and controlled the line of scrimmage, and special teams contributed a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. But it all came apart in first few minutes of the third quarter, and the game - a game North Texas desperately needed to keep its bowl chances viable - unraveled from there. North Texas surrendered a momentum-gutting fumble on the kickoff to open the second half, then threw an interception that Rice returned 60 yards for a touchdown to overturn a 21-14 Mean Green halftime lead and ignite Rice to a 41-21 victory. It was the Mean Green's fourth loss in a row, and spills the NT record to 2-6. "We did a lot of good things, and it was anybody's game at halftime," North Texas coach Dan McCarney said. "But you can't start the second half any worse than a fumble on the kickoff. They jumped on it, capitalized, and did a lot of really, really good things. "There's no place in our program to give free touchdowns," he added. "Until we figure that out, we're going to continue to get our butts beat." North Texas fell behind just 18 seconds into the game when Rice scored on an 88-yard pass on the game's first play. But where the Mean Green had collapsed previously this year, this time North Texas struck back with a 51-yard touchdown pass from Andrew McNulty to Carlos Harris. The Mean Green went down again, 14-7, but took control of the game after a 100-yard kickoff return by Darvin Kidsy tied the game. From there, the North Texas pass rush, absent much of the season, began to its toll. Defensive end Daryl Mason, who missed the first four games due to injury, recorded six tackles in the first half alone, a career high. Midway through the second quarter, that control paid off with a 10-play, 62-yard scoring drive, capped by Harris scoring on a reverse from a yard out on fourth and goal from the Rice one-yard line for a 21-14 lead at halftime. But following the two critical mistakes to open the second half, a reinvigorated Rice took advangtage of its sudden 24-21 advantage, while North Texas simply did not answer the bell. The Owls threw a shutout in the second half, allowing North Texas just 45 yards total offense in the half, while padding their lead with back-to-back-to-back 11-, 11- and 10-play scoring drives. McNulty was hounded throughout the second half, sacked four times but knocked down many more. What They Said "Really, really disappointing. You have to make plays, you've got to rise up, and Rice did and we didn't." --North Texas coach Dan McCarney on his team's second-half performance "We've got to put our heads together and find out exactly who we are, what's our identity, and how we want to finish these next four games. I want to find out about the soul of this team, the passion and mental toughness of this team." --McCarney on what he wants to accomplish in the upcoming off week Read more: http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/102514aaa.html

Here are five quick thoughts following North Texas loss to Rice. 1. UNT is in a really tough spot now UNT was already in a bad position coming into its game against Rice, but is really tough spot now. UNT could point to last season when it rallied from a 2-3 start to get to a bowl game and finish 9-4. UNT will have to win out now just to break even at 6-6. That seems highly unlikely to say the least. 2. Turnovers killed UNT yet again The entire game turned early in the second half when Carlos Harris fumbled a kickoff to set up a Rice field goal and Bryce Callahan intercepted an Andrew McNulty pass and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown. Those two plays erased a 21-14 UNT lead and left the Mean Green in a 24-21 hole. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/10/five-quick-thoughts-3.html/

With the running game never getting going Saturday, the Rice Owls found other ways to get in the end zone. Jordan Taylor hauled in an 88-yard touchdown on the first play of the game and Ryan Pollard returned an interception for a touchdown in the Owls 41-21 victory over North Texas. Jowan Davis added a pair of short touchdown runs for the Owls (4-3, 2-1 Conference USA), who won their fourth straight game to move above .500 for the first time this season. Taylor, who missed most of the first month with a foot injury, had four catches for a season-high 137 yards. His touchdown catch a perfectly timed throw across the middle from Driphus Jackson came 18 seconds into the game. Read more: http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2014/10/gameday-central-rice-hosts-north-texas-in-c-usa-clash/#26318101=0

DENTON — The trips to Iowa State are what Andrew McNulty remembers most about the genesis of a relationship that would shape his life in ways he never imagined. Back when he was growing up in Iowa City, Iowa, McNulty would pile into the car with his father, Jim, and brother, Ted, for drives across the state to Ames to see Dan McCarney’s Cyclones play. Jim McNulty and McCarney were teammates at Iowa in the early 1970s and have been friends ever since. “I remember the games, and particularly when they beat Iowa,” McNulty said. “I had a lot of fun at those games.” Years later, McCarney, still chasing wins and bowl bids, is leaning on McNulty, the kid who used to come by the locker room and then his house after games, to help guide the way. McNulty made his second start at UNT and first since 2011 last week, when he threw for 287 yards in the Mean Green’s 30-20 loss to Southern Miss. The performance helped him hang onto the job heading into Saturday’s game at Rice. UNT (2-5) has little margin for error if it wants to make a run at a second straight bowl game. McCarney is pinning the Mean Green’s hopes to a large extent on McNulty, who UNT’s coach has known since he was crawling around in diapers. read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/unt-mean-green/20141022-relationship-between-unt-coach-qb-s-family-comes-full-circle-decades-later.ece

Not a big surprise.

I listened to the Coach Mac Radio show this evening and came away feeling a lot better about the situation. The link to the audio will be posted here but here are a couple of notes: - despite the loss to USM, there was a lot of improvement in the program in this last game. - There is no quit or attitude issues. The team is working hard to get better. - the defensive breakdowns were identified and are correctable - freshman defensive back Kishawn McClain played a great game in his first start. They REALLY like this kid and think he can be special. - He was real please with winning the turnover battle against USM (2-0). You get the sense that if we can force more turnovers than we lose his blood pressure goes down ie you didn'tgive a game away. - McNulty did not turn the ball over and if not for a couple of plays (the incorrect holding call on the touchdown, dropped passes, missed field goal) we were right in the game. - McNulty plays smart and will limit the mistakes for the rest of the season. We will not be giving games away as we did before. Mac was really pleased with his performance against USM. - The defense returns some key guys this week. Tillman Johnson should be back in action. Zach Whitfield and Sheldon Wade as well. The running back Wilson may be ready to go on offense. - I think I heard that they are redshirting 16 guys from the last class right now. They had Offensive linemen Sam Rice and Chris Miles as the guests and they are apparently doing really well in practices. Both well spoken intelligent. - Mac talked about how you need players to step up and recruiting was important. He emphasized that you really don't see the effects of the success from last season until the next year (this class). He seemed very confident that they had a really good group this year. - There are 5 games left and a lot can still be accomplished (true). - There are a lot of young players out there right now who are still figuring things out. The should get better on reads and make fewer mistakes. I came away feeling a lot better especially in terms of how he was feeling about this upcoming recruiting class and the fact we have so many guys redshirting. Sure there is some coach speak mixed in but he didn't appear to concerned, disappointed yes but he seems to have a handle on things and sees the team performing better now that they have addressed the turnover issue.

Rice nose tackle Christian Covington remembers last year's loss to North Texas being especially painful. "One thing I'll never forgot is it caused me to have surgery for the first time in my career," said Covington, who tore ligaments in his thumb in the 28-16 loss to the Mean Green. "That is going to be on the back of my mind." The Owls, coming off an open date, will have other reminders in their rematch with the Mean Green on Saturday at Rice Stadium. For starters, there was the eight-play sequence from the North Texas 1 that failed to produce a touchdown. "Embarrassing to be down there and not get in there," quarterback Driphus Jackson said. Read more: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/rice/article/Rice-eager-to-avenge-last-season-s-loss-to-North-5836041.php#/0

If you are making the trip to Houston this year, there is a fun event especially for those who enjoy craft beer running from Oct 20th-26th (the Rice game is on the 25th). Food & Vine Time Productions and Houston First Corporation host a "Big Brew Houston" craft beer event at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Crafted for beer lovers in Houston and across the nation, the event will spotlight Houston's role as a leader in the craft beer industry. Big Brew is sponsored by Spec's Wine, Spirits and Finer Foods. According to the Big Brew website, the 21-and-up-only week will include a big-ticket tasting event called “Gourmand and Grains,” a Texas breweries showcase, a bus-powered pub crawl and a beer grand tasting that will include a beer snobs/VIP option. According to their website, beer lovers will be tempted by 200+ participating breweries. ( Check back, the website says, for details. Featured guests include the usual suspects (read that city’s top chefs) including Roberto Castro of Latin Bites, Randy Evans of Haven and Ryan Savoie of Saint Arnold Brewing Company. http://www.bigbrewhouston.com/Home.aspx