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DENTON, TEXAS — A three-game losing streak and a quarterback controversy will follow MTSU into its bye week.The Blue Raiders fell awkwardly in a 34-7 loss to North Texas on Saturday night, and bold letters were applied to their previously quiet signal-caller question. Senior three-year starting quarterback Logan Kilgore was benched late in the first quarter and replaced by redshirt freshman Austin Grammer — whose role as a change-of-pace runner was expanded greatly the rest of the night. Kilgore — ranked No. 2 all-time in passing TDs and fourth in passing yards in MTSU history — never returned. “At the FAU game, we scored 42 points but we didn’t score the drive that (Grammer) was in, but for (offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner’s) reasons, he thought he would spark it,” Kilgore said. “... We just have to stay together as an offense and keep working. But competition breeds success.” Kilgore completed 8 of 8 passes for 36 yards before being pulled after two possessions. Grammer rushed for a career-high 106 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries, but he was only 6 of 22 passing for 36 yards with no TDs and one interception returned for a score. Head coach Rick Stockstill said it was predetermined that Grammer would play on the third series, as he has in other games this season. But when UNT dominated the line of scrimmage and rushed the passer, the Blue Raiders stayed with the more mobile Grammer. Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20131013/BLUERAIDERS01/310120032/QB-questions-come-Raiders-fall-34-7-UNT

I know he had the pick six last night but besides that, game in game out is there a more consistent defensive player on this squad? He really has impressed me this season and is without question the hardest hitter on the team. I think he's one of the main reasons this defense is playing so well.

DENTON, TEXAS North Texas is at its best when defending its house. Middle Tennessee State seems to feel at home on the road. The two trends clash at 6 p.m. today in a Conference USA showdown that has spanned 13 years and two leagues. (MTSU has) won a lot of their conference road games the past couple of years, and that takes focus, belief and confidence, North Texas coach Dan McCarney said. Playing on the road usually means adversity, and (MTSU coach Rick Stockstill) has done a great job over the years with getting his team to do a good job of handling that adversity. MTSU (3-3, 1-1) is coming off a tough 24-17 loss on homecoming to East Division favorite East Carolina. The Blue Raiders hope to head into their bye week with a winning record overall and in C-USA. They have won four of their past five conference road games since falling hard, 59-7, in their most recent trip to North Texass Apogee Stadium in 2011, when both teams were in the Sun Belt. The road has been kind to MTSU. Stockstill has the same number of wins (23) in road/neutral site games as he does at home over the past eight seasons. And the Blue Raiders have won at least the same or more conference games on the road than at home each of the past four seasons. Read more: www.tennessean.com/article/20131012/SPORTS06/310120023/Strengths-will-collide-when-MTSU-plays-North-Texas

North Texas (vs. Middle Tennessee State): Formerly known for their vaunted rushing attack, the Mean Green now boast one of the nation's top-ranked passing games. Ranked 30th nationally and led by quarterback Derek Thompson, North Texas averages 287.4 yards through five games. Four receivers have at least 100 yards receiving so far, led by Darnell Smith's 401 yards and three scores. They'll hose a Blue Raiders defense that allows nearly 278 yards weekly and has surrendered 321 yards or more three times. Read more: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/24063447/team-unit-breakdown-for-week-7

MTSU’s football team is in the midst of a very difficult four-game grind. All seasons are a grind on any team, but this “second season” of sorts has been, and will continue to be, very difficult for the Blue Raiders. If you take MTSU’s schedule and break it down into three seasons, you’ll find that this is easily the most brutal stretch. Coming out of the first four games, it was expected that MTSU would be 3-1. A loss at North Carolina wasn’t bad, and one have assumed the Blue Raiders would knock off Western Carolina, Memphis and Florida Atlantic. However, the second season of the three is against BYU, East Carolina, North Texas and Marshall. Those teams have a combined record of 12-8 going into this weekend’s action. MTSU, coming off a tough 24-17 loss at home to ECU, visits North Texas on Saturday. The Blue Raiders are close to a touchdown underdog. A road win would be huge, particularly when you start looking at the bigger picture on down the road. We’ll do that shortly. Read more: http://www.murfreesboropost.com/mtsu-amid-most-difficult-part-of-schedule-cms-37076

DENTON, TEXAS — If MTSU is looking for empathy for its offensive line injuries, North Texas feels its pain. UNT coach Dan McCarney revealed this week that starting offensive tackles Antonio Johnson and LaChris Anyiam each had arthroscopic surgery on a knee two weeks ago, mostly keeping them out of practice since then. They have returned to the practice field this week, as the Mean Green hope to boost a slumping ground game against visiting MTSU on Saturday. “Our running game has been extremely disappointing,” McCarney said from his office on Wednesday in an interview with The Daily News Journal. “Some of it is because we have not blocked as well as we needed to. Some of it is because our backs have not made enough people miss. Some of it is that we have had to juggle the lineup a bit, and I know (MTSU) has had to do the same thing. Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20131010/BLUERAIDERS01/310100026/North-Texas-O-line-also-bit-by-injuries

These are my best scribbled down notes and will not be 100% accurate...enjoy Mac: LaChris Anyiem and Antonio Johnson both were recovering from arthoscopic knee surgery; not an excuse but probably hurt us. TE Daniel Prior will be out for awhile. Later in the season. His career is not over but he will be missed. Penalties: the 4 deadball personal fouls were bad. Abbe got a late facemask that he earned but was inadvertent. He has never turned in as many plays on a game to the conference. They brought up the Zach Orr foul where he decelerated but touched the QB; later Tulane did the same thing against DT and clocked him. So much football left to be played. Would love to be 1-0 but we are 0-1 and will love being home been a month since we were home. DT doing much better moving better more accurate. Had one he would like to have back but he is playing pretty well overall. Special guests are Marcus Trice and Mason Y'Barbo. Spoke about the great out and up play for the final touchdown and how Darnell Smith asked to make that play because he was being crowded by the DB. Derek got drilled on the play but made the perfect throw. It was a great play. Talked about how Derek played through a big hit to his head and how he turned his ankle on the same play but stayed out there and never quit. Any Saturday you give up 10 points and make them go 4-14 on 3rd downs you are playing good defense. Only got one turn over got to improve that. But did a lot of good things on defense. Only had 16 yards after a missed tackle during the game. Big hit from Marcus Trice on Nick Montana. Wasn't dirty. They congratulated Y'Barbo on the first o-lineman to score a touchdown they could recall. Y'Barbo thought DT was across the plane on the goalline fumble but he knew to go hop on it and pushed #94 out of the way to go get it. Marcus Trice said its a competition between them to make the big hit and get the turnover. They watch film on Monday without the coaches and kid around each other. He said Laramie Lee hits harder than him. Lee has a very hard head. Even his mom says that. Y'Barbo said that playing different positions is part of what they have to do. Said Shawn McKinney is doing a good job and Cyril Lemon is doing a good job at tackle. Marcus said that despite the loss, they still have a lot of games to play. Since he is a senior this is it. The goals they set at the beginning of the season are still out there. Y'Barbo said you look around and there is a different look in everyone's eye. He said there have been several times where the team gets down this season and they fight back where in the past they would have faltered. Marcus said on special teams the mindset is these are guys who love what they do (special teams). In the past there were some guys who played special teams or did not like it. Y'Barbo likes to watch TV and his favorite show is Breaking Bad. Likes Rock and country music. Likes Skynard and ACDC. Marcus likes all kind of music. Last downloaded the new Drake album. Mason's parents came all the way from Sulphur Springs. Mac said that these two guys will be so successful and hopes both of them will go into coaching and would impact young peoples lives. Mac said the ref called the DT non fumble a touchdown on the sidelines BTW... Facebook from Poppy Segment. Fan Kyle: we should have won both the Tulane and Ohio games what adjustments will you make. Mac: Sure we would have liked to win both those games. You keep accentuating the positives. Keep moving forward. We can't act like we are in a funeral parlor around here. But if you haven't noticed the improvement in this program over the last couple of years your eyes are closed. Fan Austin: We are 2-14 on the road why? Mac: We play teams on the road who have been bowl teams have been in the top 10 or top 20 very good football teams... Tulane not as much --- but we have faced some very good teams. Look it up. So yeah I get a little defensive about this look at 2010, 2011 and 2013 and there are a lot of good teams we faced on the road. We are working towards that (winning on the road) to keep improving this program. We are clawing scratching and kicking to do this every day I promise you. Fan Jamie: Do you see a lot of NFL talent on this team? Mac: No I don't. We have some possible free agent talent on this team. I try to be professional with all of the scouts and give them the best experience of any place they visit. We're not loaded yet but that's the direction we want to go. Trivia Question 1346 DT passing through 5 games a school record -- the previous record was 1315 through 5 games. Mac On MTSU: 2nd in nation in forced turnovers really impressed with them, athletic fast beat us by 17 points last year. Really experienced. Offensively will use a lot of formations. Same basic plays. Defensive athletic, fast and gave ECU fits last week. Exciting to play for a 3-0 record in Apogee. MTSU forces a lot of turnovers more than us but they play more than us. More sacks than anyone else in the conference. We give up fewer sacks so it will be a good matchup. George brought up the loss back in 2001 against Monroe to come back and win against MTSU and get to a bowl game so lots to play for. Mac brought up Ball State beating Virginia and what a good win that was for us at home. Said we have a team that is fun to watch. If you have loyalty to North Texas why would you not want to come out and cheer this team on to a 3-0 record. Family weekend. 6:00 in Apogee. Help us fans in terms of taking this thing to the next level. Trivia Answer: Mitch Maher in 1994 was the prior record holder for passing through 5 games that DT beat out against Tulane. Poppy said he was in high school back when Mitch set that record. Mac said Poppy looked much older than that (Laughter from the audience). Mac: Kenny Buyers has grabbed a starting spot and won't let go improved his tackling he's one of the most improved guys on our football team. Great special teams guy for us. Helping Brelan Chancellor have a great year. George: On Brelan are you surprised that teams aren't kicking away from him? Mac: Will probably see teams stay away from him more. I'm fine with them kicking it to him. George: Running game improvements? Mac: Our o-line lineup back in tact this week is big. We got our face crossed too much on Saturday. Don't be predictable. Pegram did the best job running the football and knifing it in there. Bottom line is we have to do whatever we can to get the victory. Hank: Are teams crowding the box? Mac: Sure -- you may not have a hat on a hat but teams still can make the running game happen. Our receivers are much better than we have had. Mike Grant has done a terrific job there. We have to find ways to make plays and score more points on offense. We are 5-0 on the coin toss. Zach Orr is the guy who will communicate on how we handle the flip. Big football game. Great to be back home. It all adds up to a home field advantage. This is a football team that deserves great support. We're 1-1 againt MTSU and I would like to break that tie on Saturday. GMG