Pregame's UNT 2014 Football Preview

Harry · July 29, 2014

Gone is QB Derek Thomson, who threw for 2896 yards with 16 TDs and 13 INTs last year, while leading the Mean Green to a solid 31.8 ppg last year. JUCO Josh Greer looks to take over the QB duties, but who will he get the ball to, after their top 2 WRs have departed and just 1 player is back that caught more than 16 passes last year. Carlos Harris is the top returning WR, catching 47 passes for 553 yards last year. The running game loses 1000 yard back Brandin Boyd, but Antionne Jimmerson and Reggie Pegram are back after combining for 784 yards and 13 TDs last year. They will be running behind the top rated OL in the conference and the 26th best in the nation. The defense last year allowed just 17.8 ppg, which was 8th in the nation, but this year just 4 starters are back, including just 1 in the front 7, so they should take a step or two back this year. They did recruit the 15th best LB in the nation in Anthony Wallace, who transferred from Oregon, and that means that the LB Corp will be very solid, but the DL is still one of the weakest Conference USA. The secondary is the clear strength of this defense, with 3 starters back, including James Jones, who had & PBUs and 1 INT last year.

Read more: http://pregame.com/sports/stories/b/news/archive/2014/07/28/2014-north-texas-mean-green-football-preview.aspx

Tyler Maryak · July 29, 2014

Recently I was re-watching some of our games from my undergrad (which, admittedly wasn't very long ago) against typically higher ranked teams (K-State, LSU, etc). With our smaller, younger, less experienced teams of the past (which I imagine will be similar to this season's team), teams would keep beating against our defensive line until they finally pried open a hole and ran the ball 20-30 yards. But the author does mention the quality of our secondary. Do you think they'll be able to help defend against the run better than previous years' teams?

Travis · July 29, 2014

I am excited about our secondary this year. We have a lot of depth at the CB position and we just need one whole to fill... though a big one, I still think we will see some great things by this unit.

Jason Howeth · July 29, 2014

I know experience is a lot in this game, but I always wonder how P5 teams always get the nod of approval for offense or defense when even they lose so many people. I think Mac has the mentality of those kinds of coaches and knows how to instantly replace a senior. Granted, it comes with the talent that is recruited, but I trust the guy. I don't think we're going to have as much of a setback on defense as most people think.

Ben Gooding · July 29, 2014

This may be out of right field, but I have been watching a little bit of ESPNU's top 25 games of late. Last night Georgia was one of the teams on and I couldn't help but keep noticing #84 DE/LB Leonard Floyd. I don't think he has a true position at 6'4" 220lb. He plays as a stand-up DE for Georgia. Some of you may recall, he had 2 sacks versus us. I was wondering why we don't try to find our Leonard Floyd to use as an outside rusher as Georgia does. So I started looking at our depth chart to see if we have a guy that might resemble the length of Floyd and I found Quenton Brown. Ironically enough he too wears #84. He's a little heavier than Floyd at 235lb, but is the same height at 6'4". He came to us out of a JUCO and had minimal playing time last year due to an injury. To my question, does anyone know what his situation is and is he going to be seeing a lot of action this year? GMG

meangreenacct · July 29, 2014

This may be out of right field, but I have been watching a little bit of ESPNU's top 25 games of late. Last night Georgia was one of the teams on and I couldn't help but keep noticing #84 DE/LB Leonard Floyd. I don't think he has a true position at 6'4" 220lb. He plays as a stand-up DE for Georgia. Some of you may recall, he had 2 sacks versus us. I was wondering why we don't try to find our Leonard Floyd to use as an outside rusher as Georgia does. So I started looking at our depth chart to see if we have a guy that might resemble the length of Floyd and I found Quenton Brown. Ironically enough he too wears #84. He's a little heavier than Floyd at 235lb, but is the same height at 6'4". He came to us out of a JUCO and had minimal playing time last year due to an injury. To my question, does anyone know what his situation is and is he going to be seeing a lot of action this year? GMG

He is probably done, had serious injury in spring...

GOMG2013 · July 29, 2014

He will not play this season. Will be preparing to get to 100% for next season.

DT 90 · July 29, 2014

Recently I was re-watching some of our games from my undergrad (which, admittedly wasn't very long ago) against typically higher ranked teams (K-State, LSU, etc). With our smaller, younger, less experienced teams of the past (which I imagine will be similar to this season's team), teams would keep beating against our defensive line until they finally pried open a hole and ran the ball 20-30 yards.

It was very seldom that the Front 7 was beaten into submission the last several years. .

K-State rushed for 143 yards. They rushed for 213 vs Oklahoma, 178 vs Texas, and 191 vs Okie State.

Georgia's Todd Gurley had 91 yards rushing. He ran for 154 vs Clemson and 132 vs South Carolina the previous two weeks.

LSU and Alabama were the only ones that I recall that pounded the Mean Green by the run.

MeanGreenTexan · July 29, 2014

It was very seldom that the Front 7 was beaten into submission the last several years. .

K-State rushed for 143 yards. They rushed for 213 vs Oklahoma, 178 vs Texas, and 191 vs Okie State.

Georgia's Todd Gurley had 91 yards rushing. He ran for 154 vs Clemson and 132 vs South Carolina the previous two weeks.

LSU and Alabama were the only ones that I recall that pounded the Mean Green by the run.

Would love an honest assessment from you about next season's front 4.

Do you see any dropoffs from last year at any specific positions? Anyone coming in or stepping up that we can expect to shine and upgrade a specific position from last year?

NorthTexan95 · July 29, 2014

Derek Thomson ??? Who's that?

Tyler Maryak · July 29, 2014

It was very seldom that the Front 7 was beaten into submission the last several years. .

K-State rushed for 143 yards. They rushed for 213 vs Oklahoma, 178 vs Texas, and 191 vs Okie State.

Georgia's Todd Gurley had 91 yards rushing. He ran for 154 vs Clemson and 132 vs South Carolina the previous two weeks.

LSU and Alabama were the only ones that I recall that pounded the Mean Green by the run.

Is that to say that you think UT doing so would be less of a threat than LSU or Bama? Also, I too would be interested in your assessment, like MeanGreenTexan.

Harry · July 29, 2014

He will not play this season. Will be preparing to get to 100% for next season.

Good info GOMG2013. I figured that might be the case but good to hear it from someone in the know. Hopefully he will get to work on a graduate degree while he is rehabbing.

UNT90 · July 30, 2014

This may be out of right field, but I have been watching a little bit of ESPNU's top 25 games of late. Last night Georgia was one of the teams on and I couldn't help but keep noticing #84 DE/LB Leonard Floyd. I don't think he has a true position at 6'4" 220lb. He plays as a stand-up DE for Georgia. Some of you may recall, he had 2 sacks versus us. I was wondering why we don't try to find our Leonard Floyd to use as an outside rusher as Georgia does. So I started looking at our depth chart to see if we have a guy that might resemble the length of Floyd and I found Quenton Brown. Ironically enough he too wears #84. He's a little heavier than Floyd at 235lb, but is the same height at 6'4". He came to us out of a JUCO and had minimal playing time last year due to an injury. To my question, does anyone know what his situation is and is he going to be seeing a lot of action this year? GMG

Chad Polk is our shorter version of Floyd this year.

Ben Gooding · July 30, 2014

Chad Polk is our shorter version of Floyd this year.

Well, what makes Floyd so good and what will hopefully make Brown good is their length and quickness. At 6'0" 225lb Polk doesn't really have that length to separate his body away from tackles. Hopefully Polk's tenacity will compensate. I think it's going to have to.

TheWestie · July 30, 2014

JUCO Josh Greer looks to take over the QB duties, but who will he get the ball to, after their top 2 WRs have departed and just 1 player is back that caught more than 16 passes last year.

DT 90 · July 30, 2014

Would love an honest assessment from you about next season's front 4.

Do you see any dropoffs from last year at any specific positions? Anyone coming in or stepping up that we can expect to shine and upgrade a specific position from last year?

Yes, there will be drop offs. You don't replace 87 game starts with 13 starts and not have a drop off. Linc(7 starts) has the only real game experience due to the rotation at DT.. I do think he will shine this year. As far as upgrades? I don't see it. They will be hard pressed to come even close to matching last year's production. I sincerely hope that I am wrong.

DT 90 · July 30, 2014

Is that to say that you think UT doing so would be less of a threat than LSU or Bama? Also, I too would be interested in your assessment, like MeanGreenTexan.

Seeing what Strong did at Louisville and his mentallity, I think tu will try to ram it down our throats. He has that same thought process that Mac has. He will also be out to prove a point that the good old days of Texas muscling opponents around is back. He doesn't have that lights out passer that he had at Louisville either. He does have the pick of the litter in Texas High School football talent; huge Olinemen and lots of top tier RBs. He will use them.

Harry · July 30, 2014

Except that this is his last year of eligibility.

Even if he is granted a medical hardship?

MeanGreenTexan · July 30, 2014

Yes, there will be drop offs. You don't replace 87 game starts with 13 starts and not have a drop off. Linc(7 starts) has the only real game experience due to the rotation at DT.. I do think he will shine this year. As far as upgrades? I don't see it. They will be hard pressed to come even close to matching last year's production. I sincerely hope that I am wrong.

Appreciate the insight & I hope you're wrong too!

Aldo · July 30, 2014

Seeing what Strong did at Louisville and his mentallity, I think tu will try to ram it down our throats. He has that same thought process that Mac has. He will also be out to prove a point that the good old days of Texas muscling opponents around is back. He doesn't have that lights out passer that he had at Louisville either. He does have the pick of the litter in Texas High School football talent; huge Olinemen and lots of top tier RBs. He will use them.

Agree. With the caliber of QB in Bridgewater, and the poor[er] rushing talent at Louisville, this is a 180 of a situation for Strong. There will be plenty of rushes to set up the PA by both Mac and Strong.

Our DBs tho. We got this.

GOMG2013 · July 30, 2014

Even if he is granted a medical hardship?

Like I said...he wont play this season. He is still on the team though. He will be working on getting 100% for 2015.

GOMG2013 · July 30, 2014

Appreciate the insight & I hope you're wrong too!

The DLine is going to have trouble vs UT. Not too many more games where we face an opponent that can line up and continue to smash us.

That is why I dont think the coaches are panicking. This is not skladany's first time bringing back only 4 starters on defense either.

He did it at UH, and also UCF. Both teams also had small undersized Dlinemen.

He had one of the top defenses at UCF. They did not renew his contract, but he still got results that year.

I follow UH, and skladany coached UH in 2009 when they upset the #5 okst and followed it up by beating Texas tech and was ranked most of the season. That season UH had issues against the run. The #12 coogs were upset at UTEP and could not stop the run. UH lost games because the defense got worn down and the offense could not sustain drives to get the defense rest.

Maybe that is why he is going with the dline rotation at UNT now. He already knows his line will be undersized, but at least he wants to keep them fresh. We will still need to have our offense do a decent job with time of possesion. If not, I could see us running out of gas on defense.

Skladany has had success against spread/passing teams with an undersized dline. The weak schedule will definetly help this year, but look for us to struggle against a team that can run and win the time of possesion.

Tyler Maryak · July 30, 2014

The DLine is going to have trouble vs UT. Not too many more games where we face an opponent that can line up and continue to smash us.
That is why I dont think the coaches are panicking. This is not skladany's first time bringing back only 4 starters on defense either.
He did it at UH, and also UCF. Both teams also had small undersized Dlinemen.
He had one of the top defenses at UCF. They did not renew his contract, but he still got results that year.
I follow UH, and skladany coached UH in 2009 when they upset the #5 okst and followed it up by beating Texas tech and was ranked most of the season. That season UH had issues against the run. The #12 coogs were upset at UTEP and could not stop the run. UH lost games because the defense got worn down and the offense could not sustain drives to get the defense rest.
Maybe that is why he is going with the dline rotation at UNT now. He already knows his line will be undersized, but at least he wants to keep them fresh. We will still need to have our offense do a decent job with time of possesion. If not, I could see us running out of gas on defense.
Skladany has had success against spread/passing teams with an undersized dline. The weak schedule will definetly help this year, but look for us to struggle against a team that can run and win the time of possesion.

Awesome thoughts/insight! I hope he's as much of a wizard as I imagine him being.

greenminer · July 30, 2014

The DLine is going to have trouble vs UT. Not too many more games where we face an opponent that can line up and continue to smash us.
That is why I dont think the coaches are panicking. This is not skladany's first time bringing back only 4 starters on defense either.
He did it at UH, and also UCF. Both teams also had small undersized Dlinemen.
He had one of the top defenses at UCF. They did not renew his contract, but he still got results that year.
I follow UH, and skladany coached UH in 2009 when they upset the #5 okst and followed it up by beating Texas tech and was ranked most of the season. That season UH had issues against the run. The #12 coogs were upset at UTEP and could not stop the run. UH lost games because the defense got worn down and the offense could not sustain drives to get the defense rest.
Maybe that is why he is going with the dline rotation at UNT now. He already knows his line will be undersized, but at least he wants to keep them fresh. We will still need to have our offense do a decent job with time of possesion. If not, I could see us running out of gas on defense.
Skladany has had success against spread/passing teams with an undersized dline. The weak schedule will definetly help this year, but look for us to struggle against a team that can run and win the time of possesion.

Great memory. I recall that UH upset in El Paso and had no idea Skladany was there.

Jason Howeth · July 31, 2014

The DLine is going to have trouble vs UT. Not too many more games where we face an opponent that can line up and continue to smash us.
That is why I dont think the coaches are panicking. This is not skladany's first time bringing back only 4 starters on defense either.
He did it at UH, and also UCF. Both teams also had small undersized Dlinemen.
He had one of the top defenses at UCF. They did not renew his contract, but he still got results that year.
I follow UH, and skladany coached UH in 2009 when they upset the #5 okst and followed it up by beating Texas tech and was ranked most of the season. That season UH had issues against the run. The #12 coogs were upset at UTEP and could not stop the run. UH lost games because the defense got worn down and the offense could not sustain drives to get the defense rest.
Maybe that is why he is going with the dline rotation at UNT now. He already knows his line will be undersized, but at least he wants to keep them fresh. We will still need to have our offense do a decent job with time of possesion. If not, I could see us running out of gas on defense.
Skladany has had success against spread/passing teams with an undersized dline. The weak schedule will definetly help this year, but look for us to struggle against a team that can run and win the time of possesion.

This is really great stuff. Great work!