Running Game Key For UNT

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Football: Running game key for UNT

Mean Green going for 26th straight SBC victory

08:50 AM CDT on Saturday, September 10, 2005

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

The way Middle Tennessee head coach Andy McCollum sees it, no mystery surrounds the Blue Raiders’ game against North Texas at 6 p.m. today.

The fact that UNT has not played a game and has yet to settle its quarterback situation is secondary to the central challenge.

If the Blue Raiders want to end the Mean Green’s 25-game winning streak in Sun Belt Conference play, they will have to find a way to stop Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas. The duo has captured the last two national rushing titles and is a big reason for the Mean Green’s success.

“We don’t know exactly what they will do with their two running backs, but I don’t see them getting away from what has made them successful,” McCollum said.

UNT has thrived in the past in large part because of a solid running game that has proven remarkably effective in the Sun Belt. The Mean Green have won the last four conference titles and are favored to win the championship again this season.

Today’s game against the Blue Raiders will represent one of the biggest roadblocks in the Mean Green’s path to another league title.

MTSU returns 17 starters from last season and features one of the Sun Belt’s top quarterbacks in junior Clint Marks.

Marks completed 70.4 percent of his passing last season and threw for a MTSU record 2,749 yards. The preseason All-Sun Belt Conference selection completed 12-of-18 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown in a season-opening loss to Alabama last week.

“Middle Tennessee has a big, athletic and physical team,” UNT head coach Darrell Dickey said. “We have great respect for them. We will have to be at our best to have a chance.”

UNT lost a chance to play a game before its Sun Belt opener when the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina forced the Mean Green to postpone their season opener against LSU on Sept. 3. The game was rescheduled on Friday for Oct. 29.

“So many things come up during a college football season that we have no control over,” Dickey said. “We don’t know if not playing LSU will give us an advantage or a disadvantage. We will just have to adjust.”

One of the biggest adjustments UNT will have to make is finding a new quarterback. Dickey named redshirt freshman Daniel Meager the starter for the LSU game, but said that freshman Matt Phillips and possibly redshirt freshman Kellen Haynes would also play.

“We feel as good as we can when you consider we are going to play a quarterback who has not taken a snap in a college game,” Dickey said. “We will play two and even three so we can get a sense of how they play in game-type situations.”

Northing would help UNT’s quarterbacks more than a solid game from Cobbs and Thomas. Cobbs won the national rushing title in 2003 with an average of 152.7 yards a game before a knee injury forced him to miss the majority of last season.

Thomas took over for Cobbs and went on to win UNT’s second straight national rushing title with an average of 180.1 yards a game.

The pair is expected to split time this season.

UNT’s coaches will look to Cobbs and Thomas to lead a team still looking to answer several lingering questions after its season opener was postponed.

“It’s been discussed a lot, whether having played is an advantage for us,” McCollum said. “It does not matter when or where you play North Texas, they are always tough.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.