UNT notebook: UNT works on special teams

[Harry]

Monday morning is usually when the North Texas coaching staff begins putting together its offensive and defensive plans for the next game.

That changed this week, as UNT’s staff took some time out of its regular routine to take a long, hard look at how to improve its play on special teams.

The Mean Green has seen several signs of progress across the board early this season, from the way its running game has come together to the improvement quarterback Derek Thompson showed last week in the passing game.

The one area that has consistently lagged behind is the kicking game, where UNT struggled mightily last week in a loss to Kansas State.

UNT knows it will have to improve quickly if it wants to make a run at the Sun Belt Conference title, beginning with its league opener against Troy on Saturday at Apogee Stadium.

The Mean Green does not rank higher than sixth in the Sun Belt in any of the major special teams statistics and made several key mistakes against Kansas State.

“It was a major problem, issue and weaknesses of our football team in that loss to Kansas State,” head coach Dan McCarney said.

“We are going to do everything we can to get it right this week.”

UNT gave up a 96-yard kickoff return after taking a 7-0 lead, had a field goal blocked, missed an extra point and started one drive at its 12-yard line after a short return out of the end zone. UNT also had a punt travel 15 yards when it was looking to pin the

Wildcats deep in their own end of the field after being forced to punt from the Kansas State 40-yard line.

Those mistakes prompted UNT’s coaching staff to take a look at what it is doing from top to bottom in an area that was expected to be one of the Mean Green’s strengths.

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