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Idaho (0-0) at North Texas (0-0)

Harry

By Harry
in Mean Green Football

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The top offensive effort for the Mean Green a year ago came against Texas Southern (34-7), a squad which finished a mere 2-9 as a member of the Football Championship Subdivision. Averaging 20.9 ppg, UNT was 103rd in the country in that department, and yet the team was still good for almost 400 ypg and ranked first in the nation with just .50 sacks per game allowed.

The unit brings back eight starters, including quarterback Derek Thompson who has 24 career starts to his credit. The signal-caller threw for more than 2,600 yards and 14 TDs in 2012, but he was also picked off just as many times which means he has to make better decisions moving forward.

Brelan Chancellor, Carlos Harris and Drew Miller will be the primary targets for Thompson, the first of whom turned just 25 catches into 450 yards and a team-best five scores in only eight games last season.

Running back Brandin Byrd took the ball 205 times in 2012, logging almost twice as many carries as anyone else on the unit, leading to 875 yards and four TDs, making him a key figure in the offense moving forward as well.

Senior linebacker Zachary Orr has the most career starts (22) on the defensive side of the ball for UNT, and comes back after being the top tackler a year ago with 108 stops. However, he and his teammates will have to make up for the loss of K.C. Obi who was tops in both tackles for loss (10.5) and sacks (5.5).

The good news is that Aaron Bellazin is back at his defensive end position after ranking second with nine TFL and five sacks, not to mention coming up with a couple of forced fumbles.

Youth and inexperience will be the death of the Vandals for the foreseeable future and it doesn't help that the squad is having to begin the season on the road. However, North Texas is far from a juggernaut which means Idaho still has a fighting chance in this encounter.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: North Texas 35, Idaho 23

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