2007 Mean Green Recap & More

[MeanGreen61]

2007 North Texas Mean Green

Recap: The debut of “Dodge Ball” in Denton was a rocky one, but considering the dramatic changes on offense, the results surprised few observers. There were growing pains everywhere in Todd Dodge’s first season, none more so than on defense, where the Mean Green allowed more points than any team in the country. Recognizing that it wasn’t going to vie for a conference title, North Texas played for the future, handing the ball to true freshman QB Giovanni Vizza, who threw for a ton of yards to go along with an equal amount of rookie mistakes.

Offensive Player of the Year: WR Casey Fitzgerald

Defensive Player of the Year: DE Jeremiah Chapman

Biggest Surprise: The Mean Green broke into the win column on Oct. 13, beating a UL-Monroe team that wound up in third place in the league. Getting its best defensive effort of the year, including two picks for touchdowns, North Texas scored the first 21 points, holding on for a 31-21 victory.

Biggest Disappointment: The offense. No, this is not going to be an overnight transformation, but considering how often the Mean Green put the ball up and how many prevent defenses it faced, 24 points a game comes off as underwhelming. Take out the 62-point explosion in a loss to Navy, and North Texas managed just 21 points per game.

Looking Ahead: There’s a justified feeling around Denton that it’s just a matter of time before North Texas is once again a dangerous Sun Belt opponent. Dodge had to break old habits and basically start over before moving forward with his vision for the program. He’s recruiting well, and destined to be more competitive in 2008.

[Mean Green 93-98]

There’s a justified feeling around Denton that it’s just a matter of time before North Texas is once again a dangerous Sun Belt opponent.

I hope we're thinking a little bigger than that.

2008 - Dangerous Sun Belt opponent

2009 - Sun Belt Champs

2010 - Potential giant killer

[NT80]

Biggest Disappointment: The offense.

Biggest disappointment offense? I believe the offense improved 10 points per game from 2006. No, the biggest disappointment was the defense with 10 returning starters becoming the worst in the country and school history. Hopefully that will be addressed Friday!

Edited January 24, 2008 by NT80

[MeanGreenEagle]

Biggest Disappointment: The offense. No, this is not going to be an overnight transformation, but considering how often the Mean Green put the ball up and how many prevent defenses it faced, 24 points a game comes off as underwhelming. Take out the 62-point explosion in a loss to Navy, and North Texas managed just 21 points per game.

Thats stupid. Whats the point in ignoring our best offensive out put? Just to put us down? It would make more sense to ignore the games vs. OU and Arkansas since they are elite BCS programs who we aren't built to compete against.

[greenminer]

I agree that the defense was the biggest disappointment, but you guys are giving the offense too much credit (or not enough to the writer).

No doubt, the offense was tremendous between the 20s last season. But have you all figured how incredibly inconsistent we were in the Red Zone? Considering how many yards we flung/ran the ball around for against our opponents, 21 points/game is rather, well, disappointing. Tons of turnovers killed numerous 50+ yard drives. I know I'm not alone on this observation, so some others may feel free to elaborate.

Having said that, I have no doubt in my mind that it will improve next year.