Dodge Never Cared Much About Pre-season Polls

MeanGreen61 · July 25, 2007

Football: UNT picked to finish seventh in SBC

Sun Belt coaches tab Troy as preseason No. 1

08:08 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS — Todd Dodge never cared much about preseason polls when his team was at the top of them during his time at Southlake Carroll.

That attitude won’t change now that Dodge is at North Texas, which will open the first season of his tenure with the Mean Green as a decided underdog in the Sun Belt Conference race. UNT was picked to finish seventh out of the eight teams in the league when the Preseason Sun Belt Poll was released on Monday during the opening session of the conference’s annual media days.

UNT ranked just ahead of Florida International, which finished 0-12 last season. Troy received five of the eight first-place votes and was picked to win the conference title in the poll of the league’s head coaches.

“We are not going to put a whole lot of stock in it,” Dodge said. “It will not change the way we prepare our team or what our expectations are. … If one of my players brought it up, I would not shy away from the fact that we need to understand that our expectations are to finish a lot higher than seventh in the conference.”

Most preseason projections have the Mean Green finishing near the bottom of the Sun Belt in its first season under Dodge, who is installing new offensive and defensive philosophies. UNT will run the spread this season after nine years in a run-based attack and will also use a 4-3 defense after a season in the 3-4.

UNT senior defensive end Jeremiah Chapman believes the Mean Green will adapt quickly to Dodge’s philosophy and exceed expectations. UNT returns 10 starters on defense and also has a few key starters back on offense, including former national rushing champion Jamario Thomas.

“I am not too worried about the preseason poll,” said Chapman, UNT’s player representative at media days. “Most times when you look back, those polls do not come close to how the standings end up. It can definitely be used as motivation. You work hard all summer and then see that people think that you are going to finish close to last. It gives us something to prove.”

Dodge and Troy head coach Larry Blakeney both said preseason polls often are a reflection of what happened the previous season instead of an indication of a team’s potential in the upcoming year.

The Sun Belt’s poll was no different.

Troy was picked to win the Sun Belt championship after finishing in a tie with Middle Tennessee for the league title at 6-1 last season. The Trojans won the head-to-head matchup and went on to beat Rice in the New Orleans Bowl.

“I thought we would be picked to win it,” Blakeney said. “That has been the policy down through the years. If you win it, the coaches pick you to win it the next year and give you that bull’s-eye on your back.”

MTSU was picked to finish second behind Troy, but didn’t receive a first-place vote. Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe and Florida Atlantic were each picked to finish first by one of the league’s coaches.

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

Edited July 25, 2007 by MeanGreen61

meangreendork · July 25, 2007

No coach should care about pre-season polls, but many do. It's good that TD doesn't because all of the rankings for #1 in the universe don't mean squat when your record is 0-12. I think there was a talk about this on ESPN radio between one of the radio hosts and the coach at TCU.