Mean Green

What everyone and his brother were expecting for weeks finally became a reality today when SMU fired Phil Bennett.

I know what you are thinking -- How will this affect UNT in recruiting?

UNT and SMU were recruiting a few of the same players. That only seems natural since the schools are located just a few miles apart.

Athlete James Hamilton of Cedar Hill, safety John Shorter of Lake Highlands and cornerback Jarrett Ben of Garland were all high on the recruiting lists for both UNT and SMU. UNT was also after La Vernia wide receiver Corey Fuller before he committed to SMU.

The impact of Bennett's ouster could affect those recruits, but there was not a whole lot of overlap when it came to who both schools are recruiting.

What could be interesting is seeing who SMU hires as its next head coach and how that affects UNT down the line. Whoever the Ponies hire, he is sure to hit the Dallas area hard in recruiting and compete with the Mean Green for players. If SMU hires a coach who likes to run a spread offense, that will only increase the competition between the schools for players.

The future of the UNT-SMU series could also be affected by the change. Bennett was on record as saying he thought the UNT-SMU series was good for both schools. Who knows what the next coach's opinion will be?

My guess is whoever takes over will want to keep the UNT-SMU game a part of the regular schedule. It just makes too much sense in terms of publicity and travel, but you never know.

With 7:32 remaining in the game, MTSU holds a 48-28 lead and it's third-and-short for UNT at its 31.

DeMarco McNair just scampered 18 yards to paydirt with 8:17 remaining. It was the senior's second score of the night and puts the Blue Raiders up 48-28 with 8:17 remaining. If I remember correctly, my score prediction was 48-20 MTSU. Not too shabby.

Yup, that's right. Jamario Thomas was just dropped in the end zone by Erik Walden for the Blue Raiders' second safety in three minutes to make the score 41-28 MTSU with 11:13 left in the game.

This guy just hit his third punt of the game inside the UNT 1-yard line. I'm going to go ahead and give him the award for player of the game and donate that dollar that no one won to the school's scholarship fund in his name. It'll be forever known as the David DeFatta Scholarship.

You could just see that coming. Giovanni Vizza was called for intentional grounding when he was about three-quarters of the way down on a sack. That makes the score 39-28 MTSU with 14:27 left in the game.

Wow, what a great punt. UNT has the ball literally at about the 6-inch line.

MTSU is facing a 4th-and-13 from the UNT 39-yard line and have to decide whether they want to let David DeFatta try to pin the Mean Green deep or go for it on fourth down with a 9-point lead.

Giovanni Vizza just threw his fourth interception of the night. This time, he threw behind intended receiver Casey Fitzgerald and right to MTSU's Erik Walden. The Blue Raiders have the ball at the Mean Green 36-yard line with 1:15 left in the third and a score here would probably put the game out of reach.

Defensive end Tavares Jones just picked off an attempted Vizza screen pass and took it back nearly 40 yards to the UNT 5. That could be the Pontiac Game-Changing Moment of the night right there as Phillip Tanner took it to the house on the first play of the drive. MTSU now leads 37-28 with 3:43 remaining in the third quarter.

UNT just held again on defense, but this time the Mean Green should get good field position as MTSU is punt from its own end zone and Evyn Roman called a fair catch at the Mean Green 46-yard line.

The Dodgeball Gang has to capitalize on this chance to take the lead. They might not get a better one.

Vizza just passed the late Andrew Smith for the Mean Green freshman single-season passing record on a 30-yard pass to Casey Fitzgerald.

MTSU is now 4-of-11 on third downs tonight and UNT is taking possession at its 11-yard line. Now that the offense is showing signs of life, we'll see if Vizza can keep up the momentum from his last drive, when he went 4-for-5 and capped it off with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Giovanni Vizza just scampered in from two yards out on third down to pull the Mean Green within two points again at 30-28. The true freshman has now accounted for four touchdowns tonight. There's just more than 10 minutes left in the third quarter and the normal third-quarter collapse displayed by the Dodge gang hasn't reared its ugly head yet.

Damon Nickson is laid out on the field now. The same Damon Nickson that has two interceptions tonight and is roaming the field from his safety position. He's gingerly jogging off the field so he looks to be OK. We'll see...

So far, the freshman is 4-for-4 on this drive and has the Mean Green with first-and-10 at the MTSU 22 after a personal foul facemask penalty. That's four plays, four completed passes for Vizza.

North Texas just bailed Vizza out by pitching a three-and-out. The Mean Green will now take possession at their 24-yard line and give Vizza a chance to get something going after the lame duck on his last pass.

Vizza just threw his second interception of the night and his second fly ball to centerfield. Safety Damon Nickson victimized Vizza again on a lofted ball that sailed the intended receiver.

MTSU took possession at its 34, so essentially it worked as a punt, I suppose.

Middle Tennessee quarterback Dwight Dasher was grabbing the back of his leg before leaving the game near the end of the first half and appeared to have a hamstring injury.

There's no doubt Dodgeball gained some life in the second quarter as the Mean Green finished the half with 218 total yards with 127 coming through the air.

The Blue Raiders were struggling mightily early on with third-down conversions but are now 4-for-9 and 1-of-2 on fourth downs. The Blue Raiders scored 20 second-quarter points and held the ball for 21:25 of 30 total.

The Blue Raiders' backup quarterback Joe Craddock got acclimated to the game pretty quickly, needing just one play to put MTSU on the board when he found DeMarco McNair wide open in the back right corner of the end zone from four yards out. That drive chewed up over six minutes of clock and left just 40 seconds for Dodgeball to get going before halftime.

Score: MTSU 30, UNT 21

Now, the rage of football at all levels -- Crank that Soulja Boy -- is blaring over the PA. I smell disaster, mainly because that song is a disaster.

The MTSU QB just took a bootleg for no gain at the UNT 4-yard line, but hasn't gotten up yet after about three minutes. He appeared to get twisted awkwardly on the tackle like it could be an ankle or a knee injury, neither of which would be good for the Blue Raiders. Dasher's been awfully efficient through the air tonight and is now walking off with some major assistance from trainers. He's got a long walk too, all the way from the UNT sideline after rejecting the cart.

Giovanni Vizza just hit Casey Fitzgerald on a swing pass for a 9-yard touchdown reception. Fitzgerald hit a seam at about the 6 and dove over two MTSU defenders into the end zone for his seventh touchdown of the season. The Mean Green are within two points now at 23-21 with just under seven minutes remaining until halftime.

Jamario Thomas just got his second carry of the night. This time for 14 yards up the middle. That gives him 92 yards on two carries. While I'm here, Dibrell just made a nice grab for a 41-yard catch-and-run to put UNT at the MTSU 25. This could be a long-time connection for Dodge's offense.

Vizza and Dibrell just hooked up for their first collegiate touchdown pass after numerous ones in their time at San Antonio's Alamo Heights High School. Vizza found fellow true freshman Dibrell on an underneath route for the 20-yard touchdown pass to pull the Mean Green within nine points at 23-14 with 11 minutes remaining in the half.

That was a 79-yard drive that took under two minutes. Maybe Patches' services won't be needed after all.

With 12:05 left in the first half, Vizza just found his high school teammate Sam Dibrell for a first down and the Mean Green got a 15-yard penalty for roughing Vizza tacked on. Now Micah Mosley just took a screen pass 28 yards for another first down down to the MTSU 24.

One more drive is in the books with another three-and-out and another negative-yardage possession. Now the Mean Green has 76 yards of offense on five possessions and Middle Tennessee is taking over at its 49-yard line with a chance to go up three scores.

Well, before I could hit "send", Dasher found a dashing Taron Henry down the right sideline for a 51-yard scoring strike. This time, the kick's good and we have a 23-7 ball game with 12:49 remaining in the first half.

Dasher just found receiver Patrick Honeycutt on a little pass in the flat on 2nd-and-goal from the UNT 7-yard line for a touchdown, but hey, MTSU missed the extra point, maybe the good luck is still on the Mean Green's side.

How's this for mediocrity so far? UNT has 77 yards of total offense 16 minutes into the game. Thomas' touchdown run covered 78 yards.

Dodgeball really needs to get going and the Fouts Field PA people are blaring Kanye West's "Stronger" so maybe the Mean Green will draw some power from that.

Micah Moseley just fumbled the ball back to MTSU deep in North Texas territory. Now we have 3rd-and-10, and the UNT defense has actually been playing pretty well with its back to the wall.

On third-and-goal from the 11-yard line, the Mean Green defense held again but were flagged for a needless pass interference penalty to give MTSU first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Now, MTSU has a 10-7 lead instead of what would have been a 7-6 UNT lead after a 1-yard plunge from DeMarco McNair.

It's hard to win ball games when you make mistakes on special teams and have key penalties, both of which the Mean Green were guilty of on that drive.

Dodgeball has been pretty stagnant so far aside from Thomas' big run. Maybe what the Mean Green needs is a more established Dodgeball coach like Patches O'Houlihan. The man throws wrenches!

Michael Cannon just came unblocked and blocked the Mean Green punt to give MTSU possession at the Mean Green 10-yard line. First and goal to go.

David DeFatta just hit a 39-yard field goal with 4:33 to go in the first quarter to cut the Mean Green lead to 7-3. That bad snap could come back to haunt the Blue Raiders.

MTSU QB Dwight Dasher just took a shotgun snap between his legs from the Mean Green 4-yard line on first-and-goal and now it's second-and-goal from the 22-yard line. That could be a huge lift for this Mean Green defense that's been standing tall so far.

Well, I'm not talking about testing positive for illegal substances more times than he can count, I'm talking about breaking a big touchdown run to achieve a milestone.

Granted, Williams' highlight play was to break the NCAA career rushing record on a long touchdown run, but Thomas just busted a 77-yard run up the gut and down the left sideline to move into second place all-time on the school's rushing list with an exclamation point.

That's a two-play, 77-yard drive that took up 16 seconds. Is this Southlake Carroll?

Montey Stevenson just stuffed MTSU quarterback Dwight Dasher on a QB draw on 4th-and-2 at the Mean Green 24-yard line to give UNT the ball. That's two big stands by the Mean Green defense in their own territory. We'll see if it holds up.

Instead Vizza lofted a pass to Brandon Jackson down the right sideline that was intercepted by safety Damon Nickson. He was pretty much playing centerfield on the play and didn't have to do much work to get the pick. Now the Blue Raiders have possession at the Mean Green 32 after the North Texas defense forced a punt on their last drive.