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By Scipio Tex Overview Head coach Dan McCarney spent a decade turning Iowa State into the scrappy spoilers of the Big XII Conference, putting up five .500-or-better conference records and also making five postseason appearances in an area that’s known more for bowl haircuts than bowl appearances. His Build-A-Gutty-Overachiever tool kit in hand, he headed to Denton in 2011 to help the Mean Green dig out from the wreckage of the Todd Dodge error era (not every successful Texas high school spread coach gets to be the next Art Briles.) That tool kit paid dividends in 2013 as the Mean Green turned in a nine-win season highlighted by giving Georgia all they wanted for three quarters and logging the program’s first bowl win since...that Booger Kennedy-led team in 2002! McCarney got it done last season with a spread-out passing game that emphasized stretching the defense horizontally and then hitting them with a big back, and his defense thrived on creating negative plays (over 70 tackles for loss, 39 sacks and 17 forced fumbles.) Of course, North Texas lost plenty of seniors who keyed both sides of the ball, and rebuilding rather than reloading tends to be the order of the day at programs of this echelon. But if the newcomers are capable of emulating 2013’s style then they’ll be more than capable of giving Texas a game. http://www.statesman.com/feed/sports/north-texas-mean-green-texas-longhorn-football/fjGmH/

By Wescott Eberts Only five offensive lines in the country feature more experience than North Texas. When Navarro College transfer Josh Greer takes the first snap from center on Saturday against the Texas Longhorns for the North Texas Mean Green, he will do so behind one of the nation's most experienced offensive lines. So while the Mean Green lost most of the skill position talent from the squad that won nine games and finished the season with an impressive destruction of UNLV at the Heart of Dallas Bowl, the offensive line should remain a team strength -- head coach Dan McCarney returns 123 starts and four starters in the trenches. http://www.statesman.com/feed/sports/experienced-north-texas-ol-will-test-talented/fjGnX/