DRC Sunday Defense spectacular for NT

OldTimer · October 17, 2005

Defense spectacular for UNT

08:06 AM CDT on Sunday, October 16, 2005

By BRETT VITO / Staff Writer

MIAMI – Florida International's offensive line has faced some pretty impressive competition this season, including Texas Tech and Kansas State.

That fact alone made what the Mean Green accomplished in a 13-10 win over the Golden Panthers on Saturday night at FIU Stadium all the more impressive.

UNT finished with five sacks and constantly hounded FIU quarterback Josh Padrick. FIU had allowed just five sacks on the season heading into its game against the Mean Green.

Colleges

North Texas 13,

Florida International 10

UNT's defense comes up big again in win over FIU

Defense spectacular for UNT

Notebook: Cobbs: QB Meager shows improvement

Game summary

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UNT's breakout performance rushing Padrick played a key role in the Mean Green ending their three-game losing streak.

"We had a good scheme coming in," UNT linebacker Maurice Holman said. "We wanted to come after him this game and see if they could take the pressure. We executed our plan."

Holman was one of several players who spent large part of the night in FIU's backfield and was part of what turned out to be one of the key plays of the game.

UNT was trailing 10-6 in the third quarter when junior linebacker Phillip Graves burst into FIU's backfield and leveled Padrick. Padrick fumbled the ball on the play and Holman was there to jump on it at the Golden Panthers' 23-yard line.

UNT scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown a short time later on a 7-yard pass from Daniel Meager to wide receiver Johnny Quinn.

Graves finished with two sacks, while junior defensive end Willie Ransom and sophomore defensive lineman Montey Stevenson each added one.

FIU had prevented its opponents from getting to Padrick for most of the season, but had to make a few adjustments on its offensive line heading into its game against UNT. Starting left guard Ed Wenger had a concussion and did not start, although he did play.

"They were using some twisting inside and a couple of other things we weren't used to," FIU head coach Don Strock said. "We adjusted in the second half, but they still got to us."

The pressure UNT applied helped the Mean Green force eight turnovers, stopping multiple FIU scoring threats.

UNT used several different blitz packages to apply pressure, but also benefited from rotating a host of defensive linemen into the game. Ransom moved into the starting lineup for the first time this season in place of senior Eli Hutchinson.

Ransom responded with his first sack of the season.

UNT had just six sacks on the year coming into the game.

The improvement UNT made rushing the passer helped the Mean Green force Padrick into enough mistakes to negate his 243 passing yards.

"[Defensive coordinator] Kenny Evans did a good job of game-planning for their protection scheme," UNT head coach Darrell Dickey said. "We got some guys free and made some things happen when we blitzed. When we didn't blitz, we got pressure with four guys. It was important for us to pressure Padrick because it could have been a long night if we didn't."

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

October 17, 2005

When you consider how many chances our thus-far ineffective offense has given the other teams, it is very impressive what our defense has done in SBC games this season. We are missing leadership and attitude in the offense. Some of the guys need to step in and fill that role. It is there for the taking.

Black Scholes · October 17, 2005

Agree totally with AV. Our defense has thrived despite the offense keeping the defense on the field for long periods of time, and placing them in bad field position to defend the opposing team. At the beginning of the season, the buzz was all about the offense, etc. The real story in conference play is the defense. With just a little offensive production (AND NOT TURNING THE BALL OVER / AND A REDUCTION IN PENALTIES) Troy would not have beaten us.

However, the Tulsa game was a disappointment, but I place a lot blame on the coaches as I think they lost the team after the first TD of the second half.

NCMeanGreen · October 17, 2005

Agree totally with AV. Our defense has thrived despite the offense keeping the defense on the field for long periods of time, and placing them in bad field position to defend the opposing team. At the beginning of the season, the buzz was all about the offense, etc. The real story in conference play is the defense. With just a little offensive production (AND NOT TURNING THE BALL OVER / AND A REDUCTION IN PENALTIES) Troy would not have beaten us.
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Good point. For me, this season harks back to the mid-late 90's, where our defense wasn't too bad, but our offense would do NOTHING to help us win games. Defense cannot win it alone (well...that's a moot point, I guess), but typically your offense has to help some...

Edited October 17, 2005 by NCMeanGreen