Troy Defense Prepares For U N T Attack

MeanGreen61 · October 18, 2007

Troy defense prepared for North Texas attack

Thursday, Oct 18, 2007 - 12:20 AM

TROY — Troy cornerback Elbert Mack doesn’t expect to see anything he’s not used to when North Texas plays the Trojans at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s going to be the same offense we’ve been seeing for a year and a half now,” Mack said. “They run a lot of tunnel screens and bubble screens like coach (Tony) Franklin has installed in our offense.”

Two of the top offenses in the Sun Belt will be on display, and it’s a far cry from what was shown just two years ago, when Troy held off North Texas 13-10 in Denton.

Since then, both offense have undergone a major overhaul. Troy brought in Franklin prior to last year and the new, pass-happy, spread-the-field Trojans won a conference title.

North Texas fired head coach Darrell Dickey and brought in Todd Dodge, a successful high school coach at nearby Southlake-Carroll High School.

Dodge is well-known for a spread offense, and North Texas leads the conference in passing at 318 yards per game.

But it was a change in quarterback that helped UNT to its first win, a 31-21 win over UL-Monroe last week. The Mean Green will trot out true freshman Giovanni Vizza again this weekend.

Vizza threw for 202 yards and ran for 66. Earlier this year, Daniel Meager threw for 601 yards against SMU, but was winless in four starts.

“We would all be naive to say that there hasn’t been some renewed energy with Giovanni in the lineup,” Dodge told the Denton Record-Chronicle. “When we made the change, it wasn’t because of what (Daniel) Meager hasn’t done, it’s an indication of what Giovanni brings in terms of his running ability and the spark he brings.”

Meager has been the starter the last two years, and he’s good enough as well, Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said.

“They’re both good enough to beat us if we don’t play our fannies off,” Blakeney said. “If we play our fannies off, we’re good enough to beat both of them.”

Linebacker Marcus Richardson and the Troy defense would love to knock Vizza around early in the game, but that may not be the key to disrupting his game.

“The biggest thing you can do to young quarterbacks is confuse them,” Richardson said. “You have to put them on their heels and force them to make checks they shouldn’t make.

“You confuse young guys and hit older guys. You can’t confuse an older guy because an older guy’s seen it before.”

North Texas wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald leads the Sun Belt and is third in the country in receiving with 140.8 yards per game.

Vizza has thrown for 827 yards, and Meager has thrown for 1081, but the two have thrown 15 interceptions to just nine touchdowns.

“They can play football,” Mack said. “Their stats show it. Their offense is a good team and they can throw it all over the field. They’ve got the numbers, so we’ve got to go out and play a good game.”

NCMeanGreen · October 18, 2007

"They're both good enough to beat us if we don't play our fannies off," Blakeney said. "If we play our fannies off, we're good enough to beat both of them."
"You confuse young guys and hit older guys. You can't confuse an older guy because an older guy's seen it before."

"If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?!"

TIgreen01 · October 18, 2007

TROY — Troy cornerback Elbert Mack doesn’t expect to see anything he’s not used to when North Texas plays the Trojans at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s going to be the same offense we’ve been seeing for a year and a half now,” Mack said. “They run a lot of tunnel screens and bubble screens like coach (Tony) Franklin has installed in our offense.”

So the flip side of that coin is that our defense should be pretty familiar with their offense, too.