Mean Green

Head coach Todd Dodge was suffering from flu-like symptoms today, which unfortunately was the only day for availability outside of the Sun Belt coaches call for the week.

Dodge stood about as far away from everyone as he could and left right after practice. At least he didn't come by and give his best impression of the guy with bad breath on the Monday Night Football commercial.

Hhhhhhhiiiiiiii guuuuuys. What quuuuuuestioooons do you haaaave today?

I talked to Gary DeLoach and he had the news of the day. He wasn't ready to say he had made a final decision, but it sounds like UNT is going to hold John Weber out this week. DeLoach admitted that redshirting the big defensive end is in the back of the coaching staff's minds, but at this point UNT needs to win games.

DeLoach likes Weber and thinks he has a chance to help UNT out at the end of the season.

Kelvin Jackson missed practice today. He is still having some problems with his elbow he dislocated earlier this year but is expected to play.

As far as the big (Sun Belt) game between Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe, the Warhawks are looking pretty good right now. ULM hung on at home 16-10 despite missing a field goal and an extra point.

The Warhawsks are 4-2 and 3-0 in the Sun Belt. They look like they are the real deal and could challenge Troy for the Sun Belt title. With four wins, it's also not all that hard to see ULM getting to seven wins and getting to a bowl even if it doesn't win the league championship.

Considering ULM recruits Texas and is, well ULM, that is not the scenario I would want to see play out if I were a UNT fan. Monroe isn't a horrible place, but it's hard to imagine how Charlie Weatherbie and his staff get enough talent to the town to win when compared to UNT and Denton. Somehow they seem to have done it this year. The question will be if quarterback Trey Revell is OK. He was knocked out of the game and didn't return. It sounded like he hurt the thumb on his throwing hand.

I swapped a few questions with Ted Hutton, who covers FAU for the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Here's what he had to say about the UNT-FAU game on Saturday.

1. FAU was expected to contend for the conference title this season. Why are the Owls off to such a slow start?

That is the question players, coaches and fans are asking. It is a repeat of 2007, when they were expected to repeat as Belt champs but started 1-5 and 0-2 in the conference. They said they had learned from that and it wouldn't happen again, but it has.

Starting 0-2 against Nebraska and South Carolina was expected, but they then lost winnable games at home by two points -- 27-25 to ULM and 30-28 to Wyoming. FAU had better talent on the field in both those games, but mistakes on offense and defensive lapses cost them.

2. Rusty Smith is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Is he due for a breakout game against UNT?

Well, everyone is waiting for him to have that game, and his stats are much better when FAU plays at its own level, but Smith has not been the same since 2007. It's not all on him, but with nine seniors and eight returning starters, FAU's offense is not coming close to playing to its potential. They are underachieving in a big way.

3. UNT is one of the better defenses in the league against the pass. Do you expect FAU to be able to throw it on UNT effectively?

Yes. Tight end Jason Harmon is rounding back into form after missing all of 2008 recovering from knee surgery. Cortez Gent is back after being suspended for two games. Chris Bonner can get deep, and Lester Jean did well in place of Gent. The line is giving Smith time. FAU's problem is getting into the end zone. They will move the ball.

4. Why is FAU struggling so much defensively this season?

Only three starters returning, and very limited experience among the eight new starters. They are athletic, but they are still learning how to play games, and it has showed. After two terrible games to start the season, they have played well in stretches of the last two, but still aren't consistent enough to play winning ball.

5. Will the return of Cortez Gent, who now has a game under his belt this season, make a big difference?

It makes a big difference. Gent is Smith's go-to receiver. He had some big catches against Wyoming and will be someone North Texas has to keep an eye on.

6. Howard Schnellenberger absolutely owns UNT. What do you think that is?

This is like FAU and ULM, where the home team has lost every game. Just weird. It's not like Howard circles this game on his calender and spends extra time plotting how to vanquish the Mean Green.

The biggest win was the first one, when FAU was in its fourth year of existence and making the start of its transition to I-A and they beat North Texas, which then went on to win all seven of its Sun Belt games to take another conference title.

In 2005 FAU was a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and finished 2-9 but somehow beat NT and ULL.

In 2006 FAU was getting better, and 2007 they were on their way to the Belt title. Last year NT came to town when FAU was in the midst of its 5-1 second half run after they started the season 1-5.

7. Does Alfred Morris give FAU the running threat to complement Rusty Smith?

Morris is the real deal. I expect him to have=2 0a breakout game before Smith does. He is FAU's first complete runner, and Patrick Cobbs type guy, who doesn't go down with the first hit and is deceptivley quick and shifty. Should be fun watching him and Dunbar.

After all the heartbreak and losing that UNT has endured in football the last month or so, I found myself wondering.

When the heck does basketball season start anyway?

Well, the games are still a while off, but UNT starts practice on Friday.

This could be a special season for the UNT men considering what is going on around Sun Belt. Western Kentucky (a huge UNT nemesis) lost two of its key incoming recruits, not mention Orlando Mendez-Valdez to graduation.

Arkansas State might need a couple of years to get going under John Brady.

Middle Tennessee will be good again this year, but you have to wonder if the Blue Raiders didn't miss their window of opportunity last year.

Losing Kedrick Hogans to a shoulder injury will hurt the Mean Green, but UNT has a ton of talent back.

Josh White's hand, which was an issue all last season, should be back at 100 percent. Eric Tramiel will be in the starting lineup from Day 1. Tristan Thompson, Dominic Johnson and George Odufuwa all return.

UNT will miss Collin Dennis from a defensive perspective and not having Adam McCoy's shooting from deep won't help, but the Mean Green signed a couple of big wing players who could help in Shannon Shorter and Richard Thomas.

Jacob Holman might be the best high school player Johnny Jones has ever signed.

I was talking with a few other guys who cover the league the last few weeks, and the consensus seems to be that this could be UNT's year.

Rivals.com came out with a mid-season rundown of all 120 FBS teams recently. UNT checked in at 109, up 11 spots from the preseason.

Here's a link: Top 120

And you thought I only put bad news on the blog.

UNT is ranked ahead of Western Kentucky (120), Florida Atlantic (114) and Florida International (110). If UNT can beat all three in the stretch run of the season, the Mean Green will finish 4-8 and exceed my season projection by one win.

Four wins would be a dramatic improvement over last season and would exceed the total number of wins (three) from the first two seasons of the Dodge era.

We will have to see. I have a feeling UNT will manage to give one of those games away, though, and I am still not convinced Riley Dodge will last the entire season. You have to hand it to UNT's trainers. They have put UNT's quarterback back together with duct tape and bailing wire. He has also shown remarkable toughness to have as many injuries as he endured and still get pounded every week.

And now for the mailbag.

A reader wanted to know if UNT is missing Cam Montgomery as a short yardage back. I can't find fault with what Lance Dunbar did against ULL. He was fantastic. Cam is a bit more of a battering ram, but I don't think it was a problem not having him in there.

What I wonder about is what Todd Dodge had to say after the game and today about how important it is to get it in a lot of running backs and wide receivers' hands. We have heard that all season, but only two players carried the ball against the Ragin' Cajuns -- Dunbar and Riley Dodge. That was a season low. UNT had at least four players carry the ball in every other game this season. Why not get some fresh guys in there or give it to Dunbar late in the fourth quarter and try to run out the clock behind that big offensive line after taking a big lead?

UNT didn't have any problems in short yardage situations, but I also question the strategy of running Riley out of the shotgun on short yardage plays. That has cost UNT before and it will again.

Another reader was wondering about how UNT's defensive line fared against ULL's offensive front that might be the best in the Sun Belt. I thought the Mean Green's front was pretty good. UNT got pressure on the quarterback and limited ULL's running game. 14 of the points ULL scored were a result of an interception and a blocked punt that were returned for touchdowns.

T. was impressed with the way UNT played and said that he can see the Mean Green winning out and even beating Troy. I agree that UNT looked better and has a chance to win some additional games the rest of the season, but lets not get carried away here. UNT was hammered by MTSU until the Blue Raiders lost interest. Troy drilled MTSU and UNT has to go to Troy.

History says that Trojans get caught napping once a year. Maybe UNT times it right, but I would be surprised if UNT is within two touchdowns of Troy.

Our resident Guyer or Ryan dad, I am not sure which, asked about why UNT is recruiting smaller players and hoping they grow in college. It's not just UNT. Every college program does the same thing. The theory is you take a player with great speed and agility and help him grow into playing closer to the ball. If you have a defensive end with the speed and agility of a high school linebacker, he has a chance to be good at the college level. The same goes for safeties with the speed and quickness of a top high school cornerback or a defensive tackle with the physical skills of a high school defensive end.

One of the all-time greats at UNT Brad Kassell came to UNT as a high school quarterback and ended up being a linebacker. That's just the way it works. Every team wants more speed on the field.

I wrote a story for our football preview section that talked a lot about UNT using that theory while moving DaWaylon Cook from corner to safety, Kylie Hill from safety to linebacker and Brandon Akpunku from linebacker to defensive end.

And finally, Rickey asked about the big pink elephant in the room. He wanted to know how long Todd Dodge will be at UNT.

I think there is a lot left to be seen in that regard. There is a ton of time left in the regular season. Maybe UNT gets on a roll and wins a bunch of games down the stretch much like it did in the 2001 season. Maybe UNT tanks and finishes 1-11.

There is just too much left in the season to give a really good answer. If I were a betting man, I would say Dodge is back next year and the heat will be on for him to contend in the Sun Belt or at least come close to the .500 mark.