2015 Opponent Look Ahead: North Texas

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North Texas at a glance:

Head Coach: Dan McCarney (22-27 through 5 years at North Texas)

Conference: Conference USA

All-time record: 493–478–35

2014 results: 4-8 (2-6 C-USA)

Returning starters: 12: 6 (offense), 6 (defense)

2014 Overview: 

Coming off a nine-win season in 2013, the Mean Green looked like a team heading in the right direction under Dan McCarney.

In 2014, North Texas learned that one successful year doesn’t guarantee another, however, and the Mean Green returned to the uncomfortable four-win mark that it experienced in 2012 as well.

Finding the bright spots is somewhat of a futile effort. A 4-2 mark at home is respectable, but those four wins came over an FCS opponent and three FBS foes that had a combined eight wins in 2014. The road was an absolute disaster for North Texas. The Mean Green lost all eight contests aways from Apogee Stadium by an average of 21 points per game.

Their two games against Power 5 schools came against programs that were mediocre, at best, in 2014 in Texas and Indiana. UNT didn’t put too much resistance up in those games either, falling 38-7 to Texas in the opener and 49-24 to Indiana.

The final numbers were a reflection of UNT’s struggles. The Mean Green finished 11th in Conference USA in total offense, eighth in scoring offense and seventh in scoring defense.

Three early questions for the 2015 matchup: 

1. Will Tennessee be focused?

It’s natural to think that Tennessee, coming off six SEC games, and with a potentially important game in the SEC East race against Missouri coming up the next week, could have a hard time getting up for this one. This will be the first time since 2012 that Tennessee has played a non-conference foe in the second-half of the schedule – a time that, if Tennessee is as improved as many predict, the Vols will be thinking about their positioning in the SEC East. There’s a lot of margin for error in this one, but it will be interesting to see if UT goes out and slams the door early or lets North Texas stick around a bit.

read more:  http://www.rockytopinsider.com/2015/07/29/2015-opponent-look-ahead-north-texas/