Holman, young defense key for UNT

[MeanGreen61]

Russ Goodall: Holman, young defense key for UNT

11:33 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 12, 2006

North Texas came a long way as a team between a loss at Texas to open the season and a big home win over SMU this past Saturday night.

You can thank the play of a very youthful defense for that.

After giving up 410 total yards and 56 points at Texas, the UNT defense allowed SMU just 270 yards of total offense in a 24-6 victory.

Mean Green linebacker Maurice Holman was all over the field against the Ponies, having one of the best performances of any defender over the last 10 years at UNT.

The junior from Houston finished with 11 tackles and a sack.

More importantly is that three of Holman’s tackles came on third-and-short situations for SMU. All three forced the Mustangs to punt.

“I know Maurice Holman and we couldn’t block him,” SMU head coach Phil Bennett said. “He was all over the field.”

Because of Holman and the rest of the young defense, SMU came up with just the one touchdown despite entering UNT’s end of the field five times.

However, there’s no time to celebrate for Holman and the defense.

It was back to work on Monday, when the Mean Green ‘D’ began preparing for Tulsa and its experienced offense.

“This is a team that definitely has our attention,” North Texas head coach Darrell Dickey said on Tuesday. “They [the UNT defense] are going to be tested by an offense with a quarterback that has experience. That is not what we have faced.”

Unlike Texas’ Colt McCoy and SMU’s Justin Willis — McCoy was making his first ever start on the college level, while Willis was making just his second — Tulsa starting quarterback Paul Smith is very seasoned.

For Smith, it is all old hat.

Smith led the Golden Hurricane to a Conference USA title last season, and ended the year with a Liberty Bowl victory over Fresno State.

And despite the loss of New England Patriots draftee tight end Garrett Mills, Tulsa is the same team that came into Fouts Field last season and took the Mean Green to the wood shed, 54-2.

Does that worry Dickey? You know it does.

“I’m very concerned because we are young, but very pleased with what they have done so far,” Dickey said about his defense. “We are playing pretty much four corners that are all freshmen. … The first two games they have done pretty well, and they have been tested. They haven’t played great. They are not where they need to be yet, but they are really doing a nice job. But, they will be tested again this week.”

Tulsa opened the season with a win over Stephen F. Austin, and then followed that with a loss to BYU last week.

But despite being 1-1, Tulsa’s offense is already in high gear.

The ‘O’ is averaging 412 yards of output a game, while Smith has thrown for 411 yards and four touchdowns in the two games.

And the Golden Hurricane are finding their way up onto the scoreboard — to the tune of 34 points a game.

This could mean a long night for the young Mean Green defense, which is giving up 340 yards of total offense and 31 points a game.

“We are a good defense that showed signs of being able to make some plays and contain a pretty high-powered offense,” Dickey said. “But this week is probably going to be the biggest test we’ve had, because we are going to see everything.”

And it doesn’t get much easier after Tulsa, with games against Akron and Middle Tennessee on the schedule before September ends.

This is going to be a year of growing pains for such a young defense.

But with a player like Holman leading the charge, the Mean Green defense has a chance to stop anybody — including Tulsa.

[good_ken]

Mean Green linebacker Maurice Holman was all over the field against the Ponies, having one of the best performances of any defender over the last 10 years at UNT.

That caught my attention, made me think," gonna have to tap the brakes a little."

So I started thinking about defensive performances:

1. Bogger against UT (holding Benson to 54 yards and sacking Simms 7 times).

2. Booger against Baylor.

3. _____ (DB I can't remember) intercepting Cincy 4 times in the first half of the NO Bowl.

Anybody got any ideas on the top 10 defensvie performances in the past 10 years? I am sure that that list would have to include Brad Kassel or Cody Spencer; but its still early.

[GangGreen]

Didn't Chris Hurd have 21 tackles against Air Force a couple of years ago?

[GreenBat]

That's what you get from somebody who doesn't know much about the program.

[Eagle1855]

But despite being 1-1, Tulsa’s offense is already in high gear.

The ‘O’ is averaging 412 yards of output a game, while Smith has thrown for 411 yards and four touchdowns in the two games.

And the Golden Hurricane are finding their way up onto the scoreboard — to the tune of 34 points a game.

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this is the stat that needs to bring everyone back to reality. SMU win was great, but they are a mediocre squad- at best.

We will have our hands full. Our offense is far from impressive. It has shown flashes of greatness, but we still have a lot of work to do if we want to win out... or win the belt.

[Travis]

I would agree with Russ Goodall on Holman. that was damn impressive what I saw on saturday.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Uhh, Russ. One minor correction. Holman is from Mount Vernon, not Houston. If he can step up the pace then maybe we can include him on their billboard along with Don Meredith and Bobby Maples.

[BIG DAWG]

That caught my attention, made me think," gonna have to tap the brakes a little."

Good performance, but I agree, one of the best ever...

There have been a lot more ind. def. efforts that were better. Great play from Holman none the less

[DeepGreen]

And don't forget, Johnny "The Jet" Quinn will not be wearing a cast on his hand.

[adman]

Uhh, Russ.  One minor correction.  Holman is from Mount Vernon, not Houston.  If he can step up the pace then maybe we can include him on their billboard along with Don Meredith and Bobby Maples.

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The "Mount Vernon, It's A Dandy Town" billboard came down a long time ago.