Mean Green

Anyone still want to argue that Troy is not a more talented and better coached team than UNT?

Anyone?

Troy absolutely hammered UNT on its way to a 50-26 win that wasn't even that close on Saturday. Levi Brown threw for a Troy school record 469 yards and a touchdown, and he didn't throw a single pass in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans were up 50-13 before Larry Blakeney called off the dogs.

Lance Dunbar rushed for 111 yards to lead UNT. He scored on a 69-yard run and a 60-yard pass and was about the only bright spot for UNT.

UNT was terrible in short yardage situations. Dunbar was thrown for a 1-yard loss when UNT went for the first down on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter on a running play out of the shotgun. The Mean Green has now converted just one of eight on fourth down this season.

Todd Dodge took the blame for the call, but said he thought he made the right call on an option play from the UNT 1-yard line that resulted in a safety. Dodge said that Dunbar could have run all day if Nathan Tune would have been able to pitch the ball. Troy's safety crashed in from the perimeter and cut off the lane Tune had for the pitch.

At least Dodge took the blame for the shotgun run on fourth down. The play has not worked all season. When Troy needed a yard on third or fourth down, Brown got under center and dove for it. There is a reason that is what every other college football team on the face of the planet does in that situation.

It works.

UNT was awful on defense again. A lot was made of the Mean Green improving against the pass, but UNT given up more than 300 yards in the air in each of its last two games.

UNT had two extra points blocked and has missed four on the season.

Here's the good news. Troy is really, really good when it comes to the Sun Belt and mid-major teams in general. UNT won't face a team as talented as Troy the rest of the season. A game UNT has to win looms this week against Western Kentucky, which might be the worst team in the country.

UNT could still hit the three wins I picked it to come up with season.

The Mean Green will just have to regroup after being drilled by Troy.

I just filed all my stuff. I am driving back to Montgomery and will be back with some thoughts later.

UNT caught a break when Troy was called for being offside on a Mean Green punt attempt.

Lance Dunbar took advantage when Lance Dunbar broke free for a 69-yard touchdown.

Troy is up 50-19 and has pulled nearly all of its starters.

Levi Brown has set the Troy record for passing yards in a game. He has 469 yards on the day and might be done for the afternoon. Dantavious Parker is in for the Trojans, who have driven to the UNT 27-yard line and are on the verge of adding to the 50 points they have already scored.

Troy has scored its 50th point against UNT.

It's still in the third quarter, by the way.

Shawn Southward scored from two yards out. Troy converted on fourth-and-4 on the drive.

Nathan Tune was tackled in the end zone on UNT's last possession. UNT had the ball on its 1-yard line and tried to run it out from the shotgun.

Both UNT and Troy have scored on their first drives of the second half. UNT caught Troy in a blitz and scored when Lance Dunbar went untouched to the end zone from 60 yards out.

UNT's extra point was blocked.

Troy leads 41-13.

Troy hung a rather shocking 17 points on UNT in the final five and a half minutes of the first half and is up 34-7 at the break.

It should be interesting how long it takes for Larry Blakeney to call off the dogs in the second half.

Troy has a 313-165 edge in total offense.

UNT has 13 rushing yards against Troy, which has totally shut down the Mean Green's running game.

The bright spot for UNT has been wide receiver Michael Outlaw, who has four catches for 72 yards in the first half. Outlaw set up UNT's only touchdown of the first half with a 36-yard catch.

UNT failed to convert on fourth-and-1 on a running play out of the shotgun. Don't ask me why UNT continues to run out of the shotgun on short yardage plays. I have no idea.

Troy took advantage by driving for its third touchdown of the first half. Maurice Greer scored from a yard out.

Troy is up 24-7.

UNT scored its first points of its game against Troy on a 3-yard touchdown run by Lance Dunbar.

Mike Outlaw set up the touchdown with a 26-yard catch from Nathan Tune on third-and-10.

UNT finally prevented Troy from getting into the end zone, but the Trojans still managed to add to their lead.

Michael Taylor's 30-yard field goal has put Troy up 17-0 after the first quarter.

Troy finished with a 152-57 edge in total yards in the first period.

UNT picked up a first down on its second drive, but had to punt the ball away. Troy needed just five plays to drive for a second touchdown.

DuJuan Harris went in from three yards out.

Troy has run 11 plays and is up 14-0.

Troy needed just six plays to drive for its first touchdown. DuJuan Harris scored from a yard out.

UNT picked up a false start before its first play and went three and out. Nathan Tune made a nifty move to avoid a sack, though.

Nathan Tune has come out for UNT's first series of the game.

Here are four keys to today's game

Slow down Levi Brown
Troy's quarterback has absolutely killed UNT last season when he threw for 391 yards while completing 40 of 50 passes. The senior connected with 12 receivers, including Jerrel Jernigan, who finished with nine catches for 123 yards and a touchdown. Brown has been the best quarterback in the Sun Belt Conference so far this season and is averaging 279.8 passing yards a game. UNT was ranked first in the Sun Belt in pass defense heading into its game last week against Florida Atlantic with an average of 192.6 yards allowed a game, but was torched for 308 yards and three touchdowns by Rusty Smith and the Owls. UNT can't afford a repeat performance.

Make the key plays
UNT has done just about everything right the last two weeks but making the key play. The Mean Green failed to convert on fourth down twice late in the fourth quarter of a loss to Florida Atlantic and gave up a game-winning touchdown in the final minute the week before in a loss to Louisiana-Lafayette. The Mean Green also lost in double overtime to Ohio in the second week of the season. A key play or two in any of those games would have given UNT an extra win. UNT will not be able to let many opportunities slip away against Troy, a team that has dominated the Mean Green in each of the last two seasons.

Maintain the offensive surge
UNT has played well offensively the last two weeks, scoring a season-high 44 points in a loss to Florida Atlantic and 34 in a loss to Louisiana-Lafayette. Sophomore running back Lance Dunbar has been particularly hot, rushing for 238 yards last week against FAU after posting 187 in a loss to Louisiana-Lafayette. Maintaining that pace could be tough against Troy, which is always among the top defensive teams in the Sun Belt. The Trojans have allowed 22.3 points a game in three league games to lead the conference. Troy has 10 sacks in three conference games, which is also the top total in the league.

Get the kicking problems corrected
UNT has been terrible in the kicking game at times this season and was particularly bad last week in a loss to Florida Atlantic. The Mean Green missed an extra point, had another extra point attempt blocked and had three kickoffs sail out of bounds. FAU took advantage of a short field to drive for a touchdown. The Owls didn't score following the other two kickoffs that went out of bounds, but they helped FAU in terms of field position. A 10-yard punt by Will Atterberry set up Louisiana-Lafayette's game-winning touchdown drive two weeks ago. UNT also had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown in its loss to the Ragin' Cajuns.

There are four place cards right down from me in the press box for NFL scouts. The Giants guy just walked past me and there are two guys with the Colts in the house.

As I have mentioned on the blog over the past week, Troy has four guys who are considered solid NFL draft prospects -- defensive ends Brandon Lang and Cameron Sheffield and linebackers Bear Woods and Boris Lee.

Here's the point. This is a big opportunity for UNT's players to show what they can do, including senior running back Cam Montgomery, who is supposed to play today.

I was down on the field with Troy beat man Drew Champlin a few minutes ago when UNT came out for warm-ups. Riley Dodge was in uniform and was moving a lot better than he was in practice this week.

Nathan Tune is still supposed to start.

There were no other lineup changes for today's game.

Troy's homecoming is today, but a certain other in-state team plays this afternoon, which should help negate Troy's home field advantage when it comes to the crowd to a certain extent.

It should be interesting to see if UNT can continue running the ball as well as it has in its other three Sun Belt games. The Mean Green is averaging 220.7 yards a game in Sun Belt play. Troy is allowing 72.3 yards a game on the ground.

UNT will have to be able to run the ball to prevent Troy from coming after the Mean Green with a variety of blitzes. The Trojans finished with nine sacks the last time the teams played in Troy.

A couple of UNT's recruits had big nights as the high school season heads into the final weeks of the regular season this week.

Dallas Skyline quarterback Javia Hall threw for 318 yards and four touchdowns while completing 20 of 24 passes in a 62-21 win over Carrollton Creekview.

The farther it gets into the season, the more it looks like getting Hall to sign on the dotted line on national signing day will be a huge accomplishment for UNT.

Copperas Cove hammered Killeen Shoemaker 60-6 behind Brandin Byrd, who rushed for 131 yards on just 12 carries. UNT also has a commitment from Copperas Cove wide receiver Breland Chancellor, but I couldn't find a listing for how many catches he had in the Bulldawgs' latest win.

Here are a couple of links to stories about today's game between UNT and Troy.

Here's my game-day story. If you pick up today's paper, it has the key matchups and other trinkets: UNT takes new approach

Troy beat man Drew Champlin wrote about Trojans quarterback Levi Brown trying to avoid mistakes in today's edition of the Eagle. There is also a video preivew of the game with Drew and the Eagle's sports editor John Johnson: Eagle preview