Riley Dodge was already taking a beating this season on the field. Lately he has been taking one off the field as well after turning the ball over eight times in a pair of losses the last couple of weeks.

I talked to him about the turnovers he has committed and his approach to getting better after practice this week.

As usual, he said all the right things and appears to be taking the right approach.

I will leave the exact quotes for tomorrow's paper, but his point was that he has to be a playmaker in this offense and can't get to the point where he is afraid to make a play. He is trying to balance that responsibility with his duty to do a better job of protecting the ball.

Dodge is in his first season as UNT's quarterback and has done a pretty good job. The problem is he has tossed seven interceptions and lost a couple of fumbles, although it's tough to count that last one he threw against Louisiana-Lafayette last week against him. UNT was down in the final minute and needed a touchdown in desperation time.

UNT will need Dodge to play well this week against Florida Atlantic in another one of those games that appears to be huge in the Mean Green's season. Let's be honest here. FAU looks like a winnable game. If UNT drops this one, it could be a long ride to the end of a tough year with games at Troy, a surprisingly solid Louisiana-Monroe team and Arkansas State still on the slate.