DMN NT hopes OT win provides springboard

OldTimer · October 12, 2006

UNT hoping overtime win provides springboard

08:16 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 11, 2006

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

DENTON – In the days since North Texas' 25-22 win over Florida International, Darrell Dickey has heard his team's win criticized in every way possible.

The seven-overtime affair that featured eight missed field goals and no touchdowns in the extra sessions has been described by some as ugly, by others as a display of ineptitude.

That ugly duckling looks pretty handsome to UNT, which had lost three straight and sees just the third seven-overtime game in NCAA history as a potential turning point as it heads into a bye week.

"You sit down and look at the little things you can nitpick, but it all comes down to wins and losses, and we came out with a win," UNT quarterback Daniel Meager said. "A game like that can give us momentum. ... I don't know if you can ever have a bad win."

That sentiment seems particularly apt for UNT, which had won just three of its last 16 games dating to its 2005 season opener before knocking off FIU.

The Mean Green (2-4, 1-1 Sun Belt) beat area rival SMU in the second week of the season but hadn't won since. They came into the game against FIU off a 35-0 loss to Middle Tennessee that ranked as the worst conference home loss in school history.

Sophomore Woody Wilson looked like the answer at quarterback when he led UNT over SMU, but he has struggled since.

Dickey pulled Wilson in favor of Meager in the FIU game and watched him do just enough to lead the Mean Green to the win.

Meager threw a touchdown pass to Johnny Quinn late in the fourth quarter to give UNT the lead, added a two-point conversion and managed the game well enough for Denis Hopovac to make three field goals in the overtimes, including the game-winner.

Meager's performance elevated him back into the competition for the starting job that has raged all season. Dickey declined Tuesday to name a starter for UNT's showdown with defending league cha- mpion Arkansas State on Oct. 21.

"We have three players who we began the season with who we thought had a chance to be our quarterback," Dickey said of Wilson, Meager and sophomore Matt Phillips. "We still don't really know who our best option is. At times, each of them have done some really good things and, at times, each has not done some things well. They are all a reflection of how poorly we have performed offensively through six games."

If it weren't for UNT's defense, those struggles would have cost the Mean Green its game against FIU. UNT made two goal-line stands and gave up just one touchdown despite seven overtime possessions that began at the Mean's Green's 25-yard line.

UNT's players said addressing their problems will be easier after pulling out a win over FIU, no matter how rough the road was to victory.

"We can handle anything now," UNT linebacker Maurice Holman said. "We had our backs to the wall and still came back. It's definitely something we can build off of. We grew up a little bit in that game."

E-mail bvito@dentonrc.com

North Texas (2-4, 1-1 Sun Belt) at Arkansas State (3-2, 2-0), 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21.

Mad Hatter · October 12, 2006

I went to the Jr. Mean Green Club authograph session last night with my 4 year old daughter. It was a really cool event. The players were all awesome and appreciative of our support. A couple even remembered her name and said Hi every time she walked by.

Coach Dickey came out and introduced himself as the head coach and the one everyone is usually boo-ing. He also said he loved the Jr Mean Green Club because the kids are to young to boo and second guess his plays. I thought it was pretty funny.

UNTFan23 · October 13, 2006

Coach Dickey came out and introduced himself as the head coach and the one everyone is usually boo-ing. He also said he loved the Jr Mean Green Club because the kids are to young to boo and second guess his plays. I thought it was pretty funny.
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Classic Dickey.

NM Green · October 13, 2006

Dickey doom and gloom. Meager's comments even sounded like a good dose of Dickey influence.

I am grateful we won and confident we learned as a result of being pushed to the nth degree, but get over it already. Admit that it was an ugly win, that our performance to date is below standard and that we are ready to fight like hell to take down the defending co-champ!

That dickey poor is me talk is why there needs to be a change after this season.

GMG