Mean Green

After last week's drubbing at the hands of Louisiana-Monroe, it was hard not to wonder if UNT hadn't started to check out for the season. The Mean Green lost a game many people thought it would win in decisive fashion.

Todd Dodge and a couple of UNT players said Tuesday that loss was a product of mistakes and not of having raised the white flag of surrender.

The exact quotes from Dodge and his players will be in tomorrow's paper, but that was the gist of what was said.

Dodge said he addressed the possibility of the team throwing in the towel after the game and liked the way it responded in practice.

Dodge pointed out that UNT has a lot to gain in the final few weeks of the season, even though this team is headed for yet another losing season. UNT is starting a lot of young players who will be back next year. I would expect to hear a lot about those young guys and the future for the rest of the season.

Most of UNT's older guys are suffering the fate most seniors do on a team that is headed nowhere. Kylie Hill is out for the season with a knee injury and a lot of the rest of the other seniors have seen their roles reduced. We may have seen the last of Cam Montgomery in anything other than mop-up duty. It's too bad because he is a really good player.

Howard stopped by today to ask if any college football program has kept a coach after he has started 5-28.

There are a few. Dan McCarney was 6-27 at Iowa State before he turned it around and took the Cyclones to bowl games in five out of six seasons.

He is probably the best example of a school that kept around a coach who was struggling and saw it pay off. You never know, Todd dodge could end up being that kind of success story.

The question UNT officials will have to ask themselves at the end of the season is if they see the team moving toward that kind of turnaround.

The difference in the comparison is that McCarney was trying to turn around a bad program at Iowa State in the Big 12. Iowa State is probably the toughest place to win in a power conference. One could make the argument that UNT should be an easier place to win in the Sun Belt Conference. UNT officials have talked about all that UNT has to offer when it changed coaches a couple of years ago.

The school has backed off that stance a bit while saying (and they are right) that Fouts Field is a dump. UNT is on the verge of rectifying that problem by building a new stadium.

At this point you have to say that UNT has a lot to offer and the football program isn't taking advantage of it yet or admit that Darrell Dickey was right when he said that UNT is a tough place to win.

Either way, one is drawing a tough conclusion about the situation UNT finds itself in.