Caleb Troop

An Inside Look: @ North Texas (Sept. 12)

-  I checked in with Brett Vito of the Denton Record-Chronicle.  You can read his blog here.

-  UNT was one of the younger teams in the nation last year, playing 17 freshmen and seeing 31 student-athletes hit the field who had yet to taste the college game before.  The story—or as some would argue excuse—of youth appears to be a bit misleading as several upperclassmen found the gridiron as the season went on.

-  But despite all the lettermen returning, key losses at receiver, quarterback and punter will be hard to replace for a team that is tied for the second longest home losing streak in the FBS at five games (Washington-8).

-  Head coach Todd Dodge is just 3-21 through his first two seasons, and the word out of Denton, Texas, is he needs to at least double that UNT win total in 2009.  He went 79-1 in his last five seasons—four of which ended with state titles—as the head coach at esteemed Southlake Carroll H.S. in Texas.  He coached former Heisman trophy finalist Chase Daniel many years ago.  However, Dodge has just one FBS win—two of the three victories came against Western Kentucky.

-  The Mean Green return 17 of 22 starters, but the quarterback position is not one of them.  Dodge’s son, Riley (6-0, 182), will be the starting quarterback entering 2009, taking over for Giovanni Rizza.  But Dodge lacks size—he’s actually two to three inches shorter than his listed height—and while familiar with dad’s system, Riley sounds more like an athlete than a true quarterback.  He started at receiver versus Rice before taking a medical redshirt in his freshman campaign.

-  Fans talk a lot about the importance of in-state recruiting, but North Texas seems to debunk that theory.  Roughly 90 percent of North Texas’ roster last year was made up of in-state players, and the Texas-produced roster, at least recently, has not performed well.

-  There’s no way to beat around the bush the fact that UNT was just terrible last year.  The average halftime deficit was 21.2 points.  They allowed 77 points in three quarters to Rice.  UNT was also 116th in the nation with a minus-17 turnover margin.

-  The good news is all five starters return on the offensive line, and mobile lineman Kelvin Drake is back after missing all of 2008 with an injury.  Esteban Santiago will be entering his third straight year as a full-time starter on the line, too.

-  Cam Montgomery returns as tailback.  His 2008 numbers (928 yards, 9 TDs, 5.5 yards/carry) were impressive, but in the spread offense he didn’t receive a ton of touches.  He was really the only true candidate for pre-season All-Sun Belt Conference, but was not picked.

-  Wide receiver could be a weak spot, as former walk-on turned school-record breaker Casey Fitzgerald is gone after catching 224 balls his last two seasons.  His 113 catches last year led the nation.  Coach Dodge signed three transfers at the position, and all enrolled early for spring ball.  One of which is Oklahoma transfer Tyler Stratford, although it’s unclear whether he will be eligible for ‘09.

-  On the defensive line, Coach Dodge signed six players this off-season and it appears plenty of faces will compete for time there.

-  All three linebackers in Tobe Nwigwe, Craig Robertson, and A. J. Penson return.  But, in an interesting move, Kylie Hill, who started 12 games in the secondary during 2008, will move to linebacker.  He is listed as the starter on the outside spot right now, so the LBs unit is still in a bit of flux.

-  More movement: DaWaylon Cook converts from cornerback to safety this year.

-  In the special teams department, kicker Jeremy Knott returns and is solid.  UNT will need to replace Truman Spencer at punter.  The punt and kick return units are nothing flashy—in fact the Mean Green averaged just 4.6 yards per punt return with a long of just 14 yards.  Plenty of guys will get reps heading into the fall.  It’s been 121 games since the Mean Green returned a kick for a score.

-  UNT will have six home games at Fouts Field for the first time since 1993.  Expect around 20,000 or so in Denton for what will be North Texas’ home opener after a trip to Ball State in week one (The Cardinals and Mean Green play on Thursday, Sept. 3).

-  Did You Know: Both teams played Southern Miss in their last bowl appearance (Ohio lost 28-7 in the 2007 GMAC Bowl, UNT lost 31-10 in the 2004 New Orleans Bowl).

-  Suggested eating area for Bobcat fans in Denton, Texas: PourHouse Sports Grill on the south end of town.

-  Consensus:  Mobile quarterbacks can give teams fits, but it’s hard to imagine the young Riley Dodge scorching Ohio’s defense in his second career start.  The ‘Cats get a break playing a night game in mid-September down south after a difficult time at Louisiana-Lafayette in 2007.

-  Check back Friday for a preview of the contest with Cal-Poly.

Filed under: 2009 Bobcat Blog, July '09 Blog Notes |