Super Bowl Update

Here's a Q and A with North Texas beat writer Brett Vito

1. How much better is this program going forward with the new coaching staff and stadium?

UNT is a lot better off. Todd Dodge just wasn’t head coaching material – at least not on the college level – at this point in his career and pretty much ran the program into the ground. To say Dan McCarney is an upgrade would be a huge understatement. He has taken over the mess he inherited and has UNT headed in the right direction. One more win and UNT will have its best record since 2004, when Darrell Dickey led the Mean Green to the last of four straight Sun Belt titles. The new stadium has also helped matters a lot. Fouts Field needed to be replaced years ago. Having a new venue has helped a lot in terms of attendance and should help with recruiting down the line. UNT promised a new stadium to players who graduated two years ago. Having it in place now allows UNT to sell something that is in place instead of something they say they are going to put in place.

2. Seems UNT is good at home, not so good on the road. Why is that?

A lot of UNT’s struggles on the road have to do with who they played. I don’t think UNT was going to beat Alabama, Houston, Tulsa, Arkansas State or Florida International on the road, at home or in a parking lot in Waterloo, Iowa. UNT has beaten Indiana (terrible team) and Florida Atlantic (even more horrible team) at home. A win over Louisiana-Monroe was the most legit W of that bunch. A little bit of it probably has to do with a team learning to win anywhere as well.

3. People know about Lance Dunbar and how effective he is at RB, but what's got to happen for the offense to really click like it did against, say, UL-Monroe?

UNT was able to throw the ball effectively against ULM. Derek Thompson had 332 yards and three touchdowns in that game. He has been good at times this season and throws a pretty good deep ball. When he is throwing it well, UNT is a whole lot better. He has missed two games this season. When he’s out, UNT isn’t very good.


4. How does UNT's defense look at this stage of the season?

UNT is better than it has been in the past. The Mean Green is making a few more plays and seems to have more confidence. What I wonder is how this team will play without Zach Orr, its middle linebacker and best defensive player, who was lost for the year late in the Arkansas State game with a broken leg. I would imagine Troy will try to go after the middle of UNT’s defense.


5. How do you see the game going?

My guess is this will be a close game. UNT has been bad on the road and Troy isn’t what it was in previous seasons (didn’t see that coming). UNT is selling this game as a chance to keep its bowl hopes alive. I could see it going either way, but give me UNT 28-27.