Mean Green Struggling On The Ground

MeanGreen61 · November 2, 2005

Mean Green struggling on the ground

Dan McDonald

dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

North Texas' four-time Sun Belt Conference football champion team has both of the last two national rushing champions.

Patrick Cobbs ran for 1,680 yards in 2003 when he led the country in both rushing and scoring and became the Sun Belt's Offensive Player of the Year. He ranks fourth among all Division I-A active ball carriers.

When Cobbs was hurt last season, Jamario Thomas tallied 1,801 yards in his freshman year and became the NCAA's fastest-ever running back to 1,000 yards on the way to Freshman All-America status and that same Sun Belt offensive award.

The combination would seem to be unstoppable, especially in a Sun Belt that has not been noted for stalwart defenses.

So why have the Mean Green been not-so-mean on offense this year? UNT is last in the league in total offense (and defense) and scoring offense (and defense), and ranks only fifth in the league in rushing with only 121.3 yards per game on the ground.

The Mean Green has scored two rushing touchdowns all year, and one of those came from freshman quarterback Daniel Meager. Cobbs has one rushing score this year and Thomas has zero.

"Jamario's been a little hurt throughout the season," said UNT coach Darrell Dickey, "but our inability to sustain drives has hurt both of them. We've had games where we've had 55 or 60 plays, and if you're converting first downs you're going to get 75, 80 plays. That's what we haven't done this year."

Heading into Saturday's home contest against Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns, the Mean Green has had 60 or fewer offensive snaps in five of their seven games. Only against Troy did North Texas have solid offensive numbers (76 plays, 323 yards), and UNT had five turnovers in that game.

In fact, the Mean Green has less than half the ground yardage the Cajuns have amassed (1.819 to 849) this season.

Quite likely, UNT is still struggling with the graduation losses of three starting offensive linemen and two-time all-conference quarterback Scott Hall.

"We're not where we hoped we'd be," Dickey said. "We had expectations, but we also had reality checks in that we had a young football team. We're not pleased with our results right now, but to be honest we've progressed."

That was hard to see in Saturday's 56-3 loss at LSU, but Dickey and his players insist the improvements are there.

"We moved the ball against the number seven team in the country," said wide receiver Johnny Quinn. "It's just the score got out of control."

"We made improvements that aren't showing up on the stat sheets and the scoreboard," Dickey said. "We showed a little sign of life against LSU. It's crazy to say when you get beat 56-3, but I saw some good things Saturday."

Cobbs only had three carries for 21 yards against the Tigers before aggravating a sore right ankle. Even with the team's offensive struggles, he's had five 100-yard rush games this year.

"You keep looking at them on film," said Cajun head coach Rickey Bustle, "and you keep waiting for them to just break out. Those two guys are great ones."

Thomas, likely closer to healthy than at any time this year, had a season-high 83 yards against the Tigers. He's getting most of the practice repetitions this week to take the pressure off Cobbs.

But even with all the struggles, the Mean Green stands 2-1 in league play and could claim a fifth straight New Orleans Bowl berth if they win their last four games.

"Our team knows our fate will be determined by our next four games," Dickey said, "as opposed to the previous six."

UNT's One-Two Punch

Patrick Cobbs

2003 Accolades

Led the nation in rushing (152.7 yards per game)

Led the nation in scoring (11.5 points per game)

Nine straight 100-yard rushing games

Only player in the nation with four 200-yard rushing games

Jamario Thomas

2004 Accolades

Led the nation in rushing (180.1 yards per game)

Set NCAA freshman record for 200-yard games (six)

Set NCAA record for fastest back to 1,000 yards

One of only three freshmen ever to rush for 1,800 yards

Only player in the nation with six 200-yard rush games

UNTLifer · November 2, 2005

"We're not where we hoped we'd be," Dickey said. "We had expectations, but we also had reality checks in that we had a young football team. We're not pleased with our results right now, but to be honest we've progressed."

I know it is apples to oranges, but thank goodness Coach Hedlund didn't have the same attitude about our soccer team. The ladies have only three seniors, won conference, POY is only a sophmore and a freshman was all-conference first team.