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UNT is just days away from opening Apogee Stadium on Saturday when the Mean Green hosts Houston.
One could argue the events surrounding the game will make it one of the biggest in school history.
Throw in the facts that UNT will have a rare chance to play an in-state rival and that the Mean Green will be at home and there are plenty of potential distractions.
UNT head coach Dan McCarney has a plan for how to handle it — try to forget it all and focus on improving after a season-opening 41-16 loss to Florida International last week.
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/sports/stories/DRC_UNT_football_0906.139c85b24.html
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Dan Mac Radio Show
By MeanMag, in GoMeanGreen.com,
Comments from Dan Mac:
On Houston:
- Anything can happen on a Saturday.
- Essential to keep our offense on the field and control the clock to keep Houston's offense off the field
- Houston should be ranked.
- Much respect for Sumlin, coached against him before.
- The players were embarrassed after FIU, and Lance Dunbar said he wanted to go back and practice right away. (MacCarney sounded slightly emotional when mentioning the feeling and comments made by players in the locker room after the game.) If we aren't winning it's not because the players accept it.
On Apogee:
- Only one chance to open a stadium.
- Great venue for a college football game.
- Hopes the atmosphere will be electric on Saturday.
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Here are my thoughts from the game. I don't think any of us saw this kind of shellacking coming, but it's happened, it's over, and there are some correctable things that I think the coaches and players will take away from it and improve on before next weekend's home opener versus Houston:
...let's talk nuts and bolts about the…game?…last night. I hesitate to call it a game, because it was more of a football massacre than a game. In the run up to the season opener, I had told everyone who would listen that one of the two keys to having a shot at upsetting FIU was keeping T.Y. Hilton from beating us. From the opening kickoff through the end of the first quarter, T.Y. Hilton came out to make a statement, and he made it. He had big plays that directly contributed to all of FIU's 28 first quarter points. His 62 yard return of the opening kickoff set up the first FIU TD, he scored FIU's second TD on a 60 yard pass from Wes Carroll, he converted a 3rd and 2 with an 18 yard reception and drew a 15 yard pass interference penalty on the drive for FIU's third TD, and he ran a 31 yard reverse to the Mean Green 1 yard line to set up the Darrient Perry 1 yard TD run for FIU's fourth and final touchdown of the first quarter.
I don't think there could be a more emphatic example of letting a single guy beat you than what T.Y. Hilton did to the Mean Green in the 1st quarter.
The short and sweet of the game from the Mean Green side of the ball is this: on offense, we never established a credible passing threat, which allowed FIU to tee off on Lance Dunbar and the running game. Derek Thompson didn't have much of a chance to get comfortable in the pocket as FIU's relentless pressure, although resulting in only three sacks, hurried him and knocked him down all game long. That same pressure resulted in lots of balls thrown too early or too late that were easily defended by the FIU secondary. When passes were there, too many were dropped. The one that really stung was the wide open drop by Breece Johnson Willie Taylor, a pass that would have gone for 30 yards or possibly even a TD instead when through his arms, off his number 17 3 on his chest, and into the puddles on the FIU turf. On the defensive side of the ball, adjustments were made after the first quarter, but the defense was never able to shut down FIU's running game. The Golden Panthers didn't throw for a huge number of yards, but thanks to their ground dominance, they didn't need to. When Wes Carroll did drop back to throw, the Mean Green were unable to get pressure on him.
I paid attention to the line play on both sides of the ball for the Mean Green last night. That's what I decided I was going to focus on in the offseason: the lines. So much of what goes on in the rest of the game is determined by how the lines play; success on each side of the ball begins at the line and radiates out from there. Good offensive line play allows you to run the ball on any down and distance and gives your quarterback time to throw from the pocket. Good defensive line play stops the opponent's inside running game and pressures the QB from the outside. Unfortunately, I don't have much positive to say about the line play in last night's game beyond the obvious that we never established the running game, Derek Thompson was hurried and knocked down more times than not when he dropped back to throw, we were unable to stop FIU's running game, and Wes Carroll likely felt like he was wearing the red jersey in practice with the lack of pressure he had on him. I think most of us understood that this was going to be a transition year for both lines; we lost a lot of experience last year due to graduation. Going forward, though, the coaching staff and the guys in the trenches are going to have to find ways to step up and make some plays or else what's likely to be a long season will be that much longer.
The injury bug bit the Mean Green in this game in a potentially big way. J.J. Johnson, our senior center, broke his non-snapping hand. If they can set the fracture, he'll miss three or four weeks. If they can't, then he could be done for the year. That would be a tremendous blow to the Mean Green o-line, a unit that after one game doesn't look like it can afford too many big blows.
There are three North Texas players that impressed me in the midst of this otherwise unimpressive evening: Brelan Chancellor, Derek Thompson, and Brent Osborn. Had T.Y. Hilton not been on the other side of the ball, Brelan would have been the individual player performance talk of the game. He racked up an astounding 200 yards in returns, caught passes for 55 yards, and even rushed for 7 yards. I think our return game is safe in his hands for the season. Our two QBs also impressed me. About now, you might be asking yourself how the starting QB who went 14/27 for 167 yards and no TDs was impressive. What impressed me was his fire as exhibited in his body language. I doubt that was evident on the ESPN 3 broadcast. It was evident in person at the game. Down 28-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, Thompson was fired up. He was angry. He was in the faces of his receivers and his linemen for getting into the game late as substitutes, for dropping balls, and for blowing blocking assignments. While that's not exactly what you'd like to see from your starting QB (think more Cap Rooney from "Any Given Sunday"), I liked that he was fired up instead of dejected. I liked that he was still after his guys to do better instead of hanging his head and staring at the field as he walked to the sideline. I was also impressed with what I saw of backup QB Brent Osborn. He plays like a pocket passer, but I was most impressed with his delivery; his passes have some authority to them. It's hard to give much more of an assessment than that considering that by this time in the game FIU was subbing in a lot of bench players on the defensive side of the ball.
In terms of looking forward, I think it's a good idea to think about the things that are correctable versus things that aren't correctable. Correctable issues are things that can be changed in practice. Things that aren't correctable include hoping our offensive line suddenly plays like two year veterans or that our players go through growth spurts in a month's time. On the correctable side of the ledger, I think the first priority is to get the defenders to wrap up in tackling. FIU likely would have had a third less rushing & return yards last night if the guys had gotten their arms around the FIU runners and brought them down in the first half. To both the players' and coaches' credit, it appeared that they did a much better job of this as the game progressed. Second item on the correctable side is dropped passes. The dropped passes last night were drive killers and, in the case of Johnson's drop, a real momentum killer. I would guess that the wet weather combined with the Golden Panthers' relentless pressure on Derek made for a lot of less-than-desirable balls thrown to receivers. FIU's receivers didn't have issues with drops, but then again their QB is a senior veteran who had plenty of time to throw, which led to many more receivers making grabs in stride. This is going to be one of those seasons where we simply can't afford the dropped balls, no matter the quality of their delivery.
At the end of the day, though, a tip of the cap to FIU. They've got a very good squad, better even than I expected in my preview of them. As a side note, FIU's students were really into the game, but their tiny stadium wasn't even halfway full. If the cards fall the right way and given their weak non-conference schedule this season, it would not surprise me to see FIU in the Top 25 at some point. T.Y. Hilton also deserves some love for the Heisman. I think playing in the Belt will likely make him a ghost as far as the Heisman race goes and FIU's weak non-conference schedule is going to hurt their visibility, but perhaps ESPN will fall in love with him and give him that crucial national recognition that he deserves. Good luck, T.Y. I'm sure glad we don't have to play you again!
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UNT vs. FIU Stats
By Harry, in GoMeanGreen.com,
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Anderson's Pro Flooring
207 West Hundley
Lake Dallas, TX 75065
940-321-3984
Click Here to Direct Link to Anderson's Pro Flooring Center
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I am glad to say that my work is finally done.
I would like to thank KingDL1 for his help with the great Aerials that also went into the film. It really takes it to another level.
Go Mean Green!
Maher Films Apogee Stadium
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