U N T Close To Bringing Army To Fouts In 2009

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UNT close to bringing Army to Fouts in 2009

09:53 AM CST on Wednesday, November 28, 2007

By Brett Vito Staff Writer

North Texas enjoyed one of its best atmospheres for a game in recent memory earlier this season when it hosted Navy, and appears as if it will have an opportunity to have a similar crowd in 2009.

UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said Tuesday that Army is expected to play the Mean Green at Fouts Field that season. The game will be part of a landmark campaign for UNT, which will have six home games for the first time since the 1996 season.

UNT was set to host Air Force in 2009 before the Falcons backed out of their contract with UNT in order to be the first team to face Minnesota at the new TCF Bank Stadium.

Villarreal said the athletic department has several good prospects for filling the void in its 2009 schedule that was left when Air Force decided not to come to Denton.

‘Our goal in the future is to get to a point where we have six home games every year,’ Villarreal said.

UNT attracted a crowd of 26,012 for a shootout that Navy won 74-62. The crowd was the third largest for a UNT game in the history of Fouts.

The Mean Green lost to Air Force 34-21 in Colorado Springs in the 2003 season.

Dodge: Defense headed in right direction

UNT came up with one of its best defensive performances of the season last week in a win over Western Kentucky, an outing head coach Todd Dodge said is a sign the Mean Green is headed in the right direction.

UNT limited WKU to six points in the second half and held on late for a 27-26 win. The Hilltoppers drove deep into UNT territory in the final minutes, but had to settle for a 38-yard field goal try that went awry because of a bad snap.

‘The other night was one of the most consistent nights we had,’ Dodge said. ‘It was a good feeling. We didn’t tackle as well as I would have liked overall, but they got into the red zone quite a few times and had to settle for field goal tries. That was huge.’

UNT has struggled throughout the season defensively and still ranks last nationally with an average of 45.7 points allowed a game, but has shown improvement the last two weeks.

UNT gave up a game-winning touchdown drive in a last-second 31-27 loss to Arkansas State before coming up with a few key plays against WKU.

‘We have started to put things together defensively,’ Dodge said. ‘Earlier in the year we lost our focus at times in critical situations. We have started to become more consistent.’

UNT allowed 349 yards of total offense against WKU, in its second-best performance of the season.

The Mean Green gave up 335 yards during its loss to Middle Tennessee earlier in the season.

UNT preparing for FIU QB Younger

UNT’s defense will spend part of its practice time this week preparing to face FIU quarterback Wayne Younger, even though Golden Panthers coach Mario Cristobal announced earlier this week that he would miss the game.

‘They played three guys against Florida Atlantic and we never did find where Younger got hurt,’ Dodge said. ‘We are preparing for him. I have been impressed with him. É We are not so sure we won’t see him.’

Younger has started every game this season for the Golden Pan-thers and leads the team with 1,357 passing yards and 536 rushing yards.

The redshirt freshman completed five of 10 passes for 73 yards last week against FAU before leaving the game.

Paul McCall is listed as FIU’s starter heading into Saturday’s game. The sophomore has thrown for 185 yards on the season.

Meaning of Orange Bowl finale not lost on UNT

UNT and FIU will play the final college game at the Orange Bowl on Saturday, an honor Dodge and the Mean Green’s players are looking forward to with great anticipation.

‘I started our Tuesday meeting trying to give the players a little history lesson and let them know how important it is,’ Dodge said. ‘I have grown up in this game and have never been in the Orange Bowl, so I am looking forward to it.

‘Between Super Bowls, Miami Dolphins games and Orange Bowls, I have watched a lot of games on television that were at the Orange Bowl. We will be part of a trivia question someday when they ask who were the last [college] teams to play in the Orange Bowl. People won’t guess North Texas and Florida International. It will be a neat deal.’

Men’s basketball

Jones: UNT has weapons to beat zones

UNT suffered its first loss of the season against UT-Arlington largely because it struggled to knock down shots from the perimeter against a zone defense.

Jones does not expect those problems to linger the rest of the season.

‘Any time you don’t shoot the ball well, zones work,’ Jones said. ‘We pride ourselves in knocking down shots and stretching people. When we had Calvin Watson and Kendrick Davis last year we were really good at that and would get excited to see zones. We have a number of guys who can shoot the ball as well. É I look forward to it because I think we have guys who can stretch a defense and knock down shots.’

Jones said the presence of senior forwards Keith Wooden and Quincy Williams will prompt UNT’s opponents to use a zone in an effort to shut down the Mean Green’s inside game.

UNT is shooting 32.9 percent from 3-point range this season, down from 37 percent last year. Adam McCoy and Dez Willing-ham, two of UNT’s newcomers at guard, have struggled so far this season. Both are 1-for-11 from behind the arc.

Jones will not know for sure how well his team has recovered from its loss to UT-Arlington until Friday, when UNT plays Western New Mexico in the first round of the Lou Henson Classic.

Jones: UTA still a good match for UNT

UNT’s struggles with longtime rival UT-Arlington continued last week when the Mean Green fell to the Mavericks 72-64, ending a three-game winning streak to open the season.

UNT has lost four straight games to UTA, including a heartbreaking last-second loss last season in the Super Pit. The Mean Green went on to post a school record for wins in a season while finishing 23-11.

‘It’s a good game for us because they have a really solid program,’ UNT head coach Johnny Jones said. ‘They have good guard play and good post players.’

Playing the Mavericks also gives the Mean Green added exposure in the Dallas area, which UNT recruits heavily. UNT does not have a game against either SMU or TCU this season.

Player of the week

Jamario Thomas took advantage of his last chance to go out on top in front of UNT’s fans last week in the Mean Green’s game against Western Kentucky.

The senior not only rushed for 147 yards, he scored three touchdowns in the second half to lead the Mean Green to a 27-26 win. UNT trailed 20-7 at halftime before coming back to win just its second game of the season.

Thomas scored the game-winning touchdown on a 42-yard run. The former Longview standout has scored five touchdowns in his last two games and is tied with UNT Hall of Famer Ken Bahnsen for third in UNT history with 26 career rushing touchdowns.

Thomas will end also his career as the second-leading rusher in school history behind former teammate and current Miami Dolphins running back Patrick Cobbs. Thomas has 3,448 yards.

For his performance against the Hilltoppers, Thomas is the Denton Record-Chronicle UNT Player of the Week.

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