North Texas has to improve defense

[meangreen11]

HUNTINGTON — The good news is that North Texas’ offense was the best offense in Conference USA last season.

The bad news that the North Texas defense was one of the worst defenses in FBS, if not THE worst.

That porous defense led Seth Littell’s bunch to a losing record overall and even in Conference USA, which was not the expectation coming into a season in which they featured one of the nation’s best receivers in Jaelon Darden.

Unfortunately for the Mean Green, Darden is gone to the NFL and the defensive problems still are present.

Former SMU head coach Phil Bennett takes over the defense, which is a big step forward, but North Texas needs more than Bennett’s expertise to fix a defense that allowed an FBS-worst 43 points while also yielding 522 yards per game.

The good news for Bennett is that, from a production standpoint, there are plenty of pieces returning who can help.

Up front, All-Conference USA tackle Dion Novil returns and there is young talent at the end spots with Grayson and Gabriel Murphy, but defending the run and getting a more consistent pass rush are pivotal to improving the 2020 numbers.

read more:  https://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/2021-marshall-football-opponents-north-texas-has-to-improve-defense/article_88448e57-cd3f-5230-9726-58e5c1f6a1be.html