UNT ranked in Washington Post "Lookahead"

[Harry]

The Mean Green made substantial progress in coach Dan McCarney's first season, advancing from bumbling to simply subpar.

Credit some of that to McCarney knowing what he's doing. Of course, North Texas' stunning decline from Sun Belt contender to bottom feeder in the second half of the Aughts made a 5-7 season worth praising.

Dig into those numbers, and the Mean Green wasn't terrible at much (defending the pass and any sort of return game), but above average nationally in only a smattering of categories (net punting, turnover margin, sacks and sacks allowed).

There isn't much back on defense, and this was never going to be an immediate turnaround for McCarney (who suffered a stroke in February but nonetheless was back for spring practice). Nonetheless, North Texas could crack the top half of the Sun Belt if things break right.

There's one minor problem: The Mean Green hopped on the wheel-o-realignment and landed in Conference USA starting in 2013. That won't make returning the postseason prohibitively difficult, but it probably pushes North Texas' chances of seriously contending for a league title again back a few years.

Read more: http://p.washingtontimes.com/blog/d1scourse/2012/jul/8/college-football-lookahead-nos-101-105/