Drc Dodge Eager To Move Forward

[OldTimer]

Football: Dodge, UNT eager to move forward

07:25 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 4, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Todd Dodge knew when he arrived at North Texas that he was in for a monumental challenge while trying to rebuild the Mean Green.

His perspective on that task hasn’t changed, despite an ominous start at Oklahoma on Saturday. The eighth-ranked Sooners hammered UNT 79-10 in one of the worst losses in school history.

DRC/Gary Payne

North Texas quarterback Daniel Meager, right, throws a pass while being chased by Oklahoma’s Curtis Lofton during the first quarter Saturday in Norman, Okla.

To say it was a change from what Dodge experienced the last five years at Southlake Carroll might be a bit of an understatement. Dodge won four state titles and three mythical national championships in that span and hadn’t lost a game since the Dragons fell to Katy 16-15 in the 2003 state title game.

“If you are in this business long enough, you are going to be on the opposite side of one of those games,” Dodge said Monday. “The only thing that I bring out of it is when you are down 49-0 [at halftime] you can dig in and try to preserve a 59-10 loss or you can go in, try to teach and take the chance that the score will end up where it did.”

Dodge decided to continue the teaching process and ended up suffering a loss similar to those his old teams at Carroll used to hand out to other high school teams across the state.

This will be the first time UNT’s new head coach has had to recover from a lopsided loss in a long time, but it’s not an entirely unfamiliar position. Dodge lost his first game at Carroll in 2000 to a Wichita Falls team that was state-ranked, 35-14.

The Dragons came back to make the playoffs and eventually lost to Wichita Falls again in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A Division II playoffs.

UNT began what it hopes will be a similar turnaround shortly after Oklahoma completed its landslide victory at Memorial Stadium.

“It doesn’t feel good or sit right and I don’t want it to sit right with anyone in this program,” Dodge said. “What we have to do as a team is go and see what the unforced errors were and see what we can do to correct them.”

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OU 79, UNT 10

UNT’s players said they were looking forward to that challenge after the game.

“This is going to be a great learning video,” UNT wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald said. “We are going to look at it tomorrow, learn from our mistakes and what we did well and continue on down the path.”

Being drubbed in a season opener is nothing new for the Mean Green, which has lost to a Big 12 team to open the season in five of the last six years.

UNT lost to Texas 65-0 in its first game in 2004 and came back to win the Sun Belt Conference title. Several of the Mean Green’s veteran players were members of that team that captured the last of UNT’s four straight Sun Belt titles.

UNT will begin looking for a way to make a similar comeback this week while preparing for a showdown with Dallas-area rival SMU on Saturday in Dallas. Texas Tech beat the Mustangs 49-9 on Monday.

UNT knocked off SMU last season, under former head coach Darrell Dickey, for just the fourth time in the 32-game series.

Dodge said the Mean Green would expect nothing less than a win against its rival, even after its rough start against the Sooners.

“Every game we go into, we are going to expect to win,” Dodge said after the OU game. “We will have the same expectation this week.”

Freshman Mosley to get additional playing time

Freshman running back Micah Mosley will receive additional playing time after performing well as a backup in UNT’s loss to Oklahoma on Saturday, Dodge said.

Mosley finished with five carries for 15 yards against the Sooners. UNT had 15 yards on 31 carries as a team.

“Micah did some good things late in the game,” Dodge said. “We are pleased with him. He didn’t get the deer-in-the-headlights look.”

Mosley moved up through the Mean Green’s depth chart in fall practice and earned the right to back up former national rushing champion Jamario Thomas. Mosley caught a pass on the first play of his college career and finished with two catches for total losses of 7 yards.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-556-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

[JayDub]

“If you are in this business long enough, you are going to be on the opposite side of one of those games,” Dodge said Monday. “The only thing that I bring out of it is when you are down 49-0 [at halftime] you can dig in and try to preserve a 59-10 loss or you can go in, try to teach and take the chance that the score will end up where it did.”

Sheer greatness.

[GreenSquared]

And move forward we will!

[MeanGreengdub]

I thought Micah looked kinda scared but maybe I should go watch it again???

[Zeke]

I thought Micah looked kinda scared but maybe I should go watch it again???

I didn't think he looked scared at all. He lower his shoulder many times and it took several tough hits to get him down.

[island eagle]

I didn't think he looked scared at all. He lower his shoulder many times and it took several tough hits to get him down.

I thought he looked good, except when he tired to make some high school moves instead of hitting the hole. He'll learn that he could get away with some of that last year, but not in college.

[KingDL1]

Sheer greatness.

I love it, why not, make something useful out of a blowout, screw the score!

[MeanGreenBuzz]

Sheer greatness.

I love it, why not, make something useful out of a blowout, screw the score!

Its nice to have this outlook instead of... lets just try to run out the clock and not get beat too bad.

[ipEAGLE]

I also thought Micah Mosely looked kinda scared... on numerous occasions he turned his back towards the OU defense as if he was running the other direction scared.

[NCMeanGreen]

I also thought Micah Mosely looked kinda scared... on numerous occasions he turned his back towards the OU defense as if he was running the other direction scared.

Yeah, I saw twice where he got popped pretty good, and he absolutely turned and started running in the wrong direction...at least until he got slammed to the ground by defenders...