DMN Conference opener leave NT empty

OldTimer · October 1, 2006

Conference opener leaves UNT empty

11:38 PM CDT on Saturday, September 30, 2006

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

DENTON A return to Sun Belt Conference play used to signal good times were ahead for North Texas.

The latest sign that those days are long behind the Mean Green came Saturday night at Fouts Field against Middle Tennessee.

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Mid. Tenn. 35, UNT 0

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Summary

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MTSU dominated from start to finish in UNT's Sun Belt opener and rolled to a 35-0 win, one that showed just how much has changed since the teams met in their 2005 season opener. UNT snuck out of Murfreesboro, Tenn., that night with a seven-point win that extended its winning streak in Sun Belt play to 26.

The Mean Green (1-4, 0-1) has won only two of its 15 games since and saw its dominance of MTSU (3-2, 2-0) end in its worst home conference loss in school history in front of a crowd of 16,986. UNT had won all five games in its series against the Blue Raiders.

"This is as disappointing a night as we have had since I have been here," coach Darrell Dickey said. "Our hats are off to Middle Tennessee. They dominated every phase of the game and played the game the way we would like to play it."

The Blue Raiders controlled the ball for more than 40 minutes, racked up 366 yards of offense and limited to the Mean Green to eight first downs.

Those totals resulted in a long night for UNT, which suffered its worst loss ever in the Sun Belt, a league the Mean Green dominated from 2001-04.

The Mean Green entered the night ranked No. 117 out of 119 teams in Division I-A with an average of 196.0 yards of offense a game and continued to struggle.

Former national rushing champion Jamario Thomas had 53 rushing yards against the Blue Raiders a week after appearing to get on track with a 120-yard night against Akron.

Thomas' total accounted for more than half of the Mean Green's 103 yards of total offense.

"We had trouble moving the ball and passing the ball," offensive lineman Joel Foster said. "They had a good team and did some things that we were not ready for. We couldn't come back."

Woody Wilson started at quarterback for the third straight week, but managed only 42 passing yards and threw two interceptions. Sophomore Daniel Meager came in during the second quarter but failed to spark an offense that ran only one play in MTSU territory all night.

Running back Eugene Gross helped the Blue Raiders take control in the first quarter with touchdown runs of 15 and 1 yard and finished with 88 yards. Clint Marks led the Blue Raiders with 154 yards passing and buried the memories of throwing a critical interception in the Mean Green's 14-7 win last season.

"I am a fifth-year senior, so beating North Texas is real big for me," Marks said.

The nature of the loss made it even bigger for UNT, which reached a new low in its slide in the Sun Belt.

"It's a wakeup call," linebacker Maurice Holman said. "We have to get back to work. Our season isn't over."

Briefly: UNT had lost six total games in Sun Belt play by a total of 23 points before falling to MTSU. ... Junior safety Roy Loren made his first start against the Blue Raiders. ... Junior Johnny Quinn extended his streak of games with at least one catch to 41. ... UNT ran only 40 plays, the lowest total in Dickey's nine seasons with the Mean Green.

E-mail bvito@dentonrc.com

NT91 · October 1, 2006

worst home conference loss in school history

Not true?

BlueRaiderFan · October 1, 2006

I cna understand a team dropping off a level year to year, but the bottom came out for you guys. You got dominated at the line and that has always been a problem when we faced you because you got too much pressure on the QB. I expected a win by a close margin, but you guys didn't even show up. Is the team demoralized? Are they young? That wasn't even close to the level you guys have played at in the past. Maybe it was that we have gotten that much better coupled with you guys being down that put you guys behind the 8 ball. Seems really unusual though for an in confernce game to be that lopsided against any team in the Sunbelt.

VideoEagle · October 1, 2006

worst home conference loss in school history
Not true?
←

Not quite the worst. We were shut out at Fouts and gave up more points to Memphis State (40something to nothing) back in our last year in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The radio guys were talking about it on the air late in the 4th quarter.

SilverEagle · October 1, 2006

Not quite the worst. We were shut out at Fouts and gave up more points to Memphis State (40something to nothing) back in our last year in the Missouri Valley Conference.
The radio guys were talking about it on the air late in the 4th quarter.
←

We lost to Memphis 0-41 in 1974, but I thought we were out of the MVC and "Indy" starting that year.

VideoEagle · October 1, 2006

We lost to Memphis 0-41 in 1974, but I thought we were out of the MVC and "Indy" starting that year.
←

Might have been indy by then. But George and Hank were listing that as the last home conference shut out. I don't have my media guide handy. I know we were indy the next year.

OldTimer · October 1, 2006

Might have been indy by then. But George and Hank were listing that as the last home conference shut out. I don't have my media guide handy. I know we were indy the next year.
←

It is my understanding that the last time NT didn't score at Fouts was in the year 2000 when Boise State beat us 59 to 0.