Sunday Morning Preview

Green Nightmare · August 16, 2006

2. NORTH TEXAS

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2005: 2-9 (2-5 Sun Belt) / Last Five Years: 31-30 (27-6 Sun Belt)

2006 Schedule (Do not click this link at work, in a public space such as a library or around small rodents unless you have first clicked 'Mute')

What Everyone Should Know: After four unabted years of running roughshod over everybody amidst a conference win streak spanning hundreds of games (actually, only 25, which is impressive enough), the Mean Green must consider themselves the true gatekeepers around these parts, and only on a brief hiatus in 2005 before reclaiming its rightful place in a sparsely-attended, oft-mocked December bowl game of little to no consequence.

Good At: The Green produced another 1,000-yard rusher in Patrick Cobbs, who hit 1,200 returning from injury last year. Back in the spotlight this fall steps Jamario Thomas, who led the nation in yards per game as a true freshman during the regular season in 2004 but dropped to 360 with no touchdowns behind Cobbs. Four starting lineman return to aid this effort.

Not So Good At: A once passable run defense was chewed up and spit out on a weekly basis last year, and not just by the LSUs and Kansas States on the slate: four Sun Belt opponents easily topped 200 yards rushing, and only Florida International (79 yards) failed to top 180. A lot of tackles return, and a good number of them are in the secondary.

Will Be Better At: UNT made a living of winning close games in its championship run, then proceeded to lose its last four in '05 by a combined 18 points. If a team is going to go an entire season without leading in any game by more than seven points, as the Green did in '05, a prerequisite for success is protecting the meager advantages. Which the Green did not do.

Defining Games: Sept. 9 vs. SMU, Sept. 30 vs. Middle Tennessee State, Nov. 4 at UL-Lafayette

The Goal: A year under sophomore QB Daniel Meager's belt ought to get the 4:8 INT ratio into line and complement the inevitably heavy doses of Thomas en route to reclaiming the league championship. They won't win a game outside the conference either way (even SMU is a nearly automatic loss in SMQ's mind), but judging from the littany of one-score losses last year, there's not enough of a gap to keep a more experienced bunch from challenging as usual.

The Abyss: Ding dong, the witch is dead. '05 was the new trend, not the aberration, and the losses will pile up again.

The Reality: SMQ sees no reason to give up on the league's poster child after a tough season in which it continued to play competitively even after all hope was lost by November. Call it a mulligan, and the gashing handoff-fest scheduled at Lafayette the de facto championship game.