Thoughts on UNT's schedule
North Texas released its schedule on Friday and after all the switches that happened -- not to mention those that didn't -- the Mean Green ended up with some good breaks and some bad ones as well.
The real kick to the shorts is playing Arkansas State at home the weekend after Thanksgiving. Most students will be gone and UNT could be out of the race for the Sun Belt Conference title by that point. That game could be a tough sell as far as attendance. UNT had only 5,027 people show up for last year's regular season home finale against Western Kentucky on a terrible day as far as the weather goes.
UNT's nonconference schedule will also be brutal with three road games, although a home game against Tulsa and a game at Rice are solid as far as being against regional rivals. UNT also only has five home games, marking the 11th straight season the Mean Green has been at home five times or less.
The real break UNT received was playing Florida International and Louisiana-Lafayette in its first two conference games at home. FIU and ULL are two of the teams UNT could be favored to beat in Sun Belt Conference play, although last year's game against FIU shows there are no sure bets. The Golden Panthers broke a 23-game losing streak with a win over the Mean Green last year.
Wins over FIU and ULL could keep the Mean Green in the race for the Sun Belt title for a while.
One game that could be brutal is a homecoming date with Troy. There are a lot of people out there who expect Troy to be down this season after losing Omar Haugabook, the best quarterback in the league, and offensive coordinator Tony Franklin.
Don't count me among them. Troy is stacked with talent and isn't going away any time soon. The Trojans hammered UNT 45-7 last season and will represent a huge challenge on homecoming next year.
Post your thoughts on UNT's schedule on the blog.
2008 North Texas Football Schedule
Aug. 30 at Kansas State
Sept. 6 Tulsa
Sept. 13 at LSU
Sept. 20 OPEN
Sept. 27 at Rice
Oct. 4 Florida International*
Oct. 11 Louisiana-Lafayette*(Family Weekend)
Oct. 18 at Louisiana-Monroe*
Oct. 25 Troy* (Homecoming)
Nov. 1 at Western Kentucky
Nov. 8 at Florida Atlantic*
Nov. 15 OPEN
Nov. 22 at Middle Tennessee*
Nov. 29 Arkansas State*
* Sun Belt Conference Game
Posted by Brett Vito 
at 1:31 PM | Permalink
Comments
5K at last year's WK game?...right.
Posted by: steve | March 13, 2008 7:18 PM
what a downer that we couldn't continue the SMU series this season. With coach Jones coming in for them, there would be tons of build up and excitement for the game. What happened here? Surely they are planning to renew the series...right?
Posted by: t-rock | March 14, 2008 9:32 AM