According to Phil Steele, UNT’s 2008 schedule is ranked 92nd toughest out of 120 teams.  If you just take wins and losses of the teams on the 2008 schedule from the year before, UNT is ranked 82nd compared to 96th in 2007.  With their 92 ranking in Steele’s magazine, UNT’s schedule is considered tougher than Texas teams Rice, a UNT opponent, and Houston as well as nearby Tulsa, also a UNT opponent.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at the UNT schedule.

@ Kansas State, August 30, TBA
The Wildcats are known to Texas fans for knocking off the Longhorns the last two years.  In his first year as coach, Ron Prince took the ‘Cats to the Texas Bowl, but last year K State fell apart after a promising start.  The Wildcats return 7 offensive starters and 5 defensive starters and will be relying on some newcomers to get back to a bowl game.

Tulsa, September 6, 6 PM
This will be the home opener for the Mean Green, and it should be rough.  Tulsa had basically the best offense in the country last year with about 543 yards of total offense per game.  This is an interesting match up as UNT Coach Dodge was leading Southlake Carroll High School to the 2005 Texas 5A DII State Championship at the same time that Tulsa Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn was leading Springdale High School to the Arkansas 5A State Championship.  Both coaches employ a hurry-up, no huddle, spread offense.

@ LSU, September 13, 7 PM
Mark this down as a nice pay day.

@ Rice, September 27, TBA
Only once did Rice hold a team to less than 29 points, and that was FCS Nicholls State.  Rice will be looking to get better on defense, but the offense returns 9 starters.

Florida International, October 4, 6 PM
Simply speaking, FIU was the worst team in the nation last year winning just one game, but they beat UNT in the last game of the season.  I guess the Golden Panthers were due for a win.  They return 9 starters on both sides of the ball.  FIU was fairly competitive with most of its Sun Belt Conference foes, just don’t get them mad.

Louisiana-Lafayette, October 11, 6 PM
The Ragin’ Cajuns return 8 starters including the QB on an offense that rushed for 252 yards per game.  In fact, ULL rushed for 300 yards against UNT last year.  The Ragin’ Cajuns finished last year 3-9, and, of course, look to build on that toward a winning record.

@Louisiana-Monroe, October 18, 6 PM
The Warhawks return 7 starters on offense and 8 on defense.  The defense struggled last year, but the offense rushed for 209 yards per game.  ULM finished the season winning 5 of their last 6 after losing to North Texas including a stunning 21-14 upset at Alabama in front of 92,138 fans.  UNT is 3-2 against ULM in the last 5 years.

Troy, October 25, 6 PM
The Trojans, the Alabama version, returns 7 starters on both offense and defense.  Troy has a new Offensive Coordinator after OC Tony Franklin left to take the same position at Auburn.  Troy has been one of the most consistent teams in the Sun Belt the past couple of years winning 8 games in each year including a trip to the New Orleans Bowl as the representative of the Sun Belt Conference.  Trivia:  Ohio State plays back to back Trojans, first USC and then Troy (September 2008).

@Western Kentucky, November 1, TBA
UNT won a thriller last year in Denton, but the Hilltoppers who are still in transition from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Bowl Championship Subdivision, will return 7 starters on offense and 6 on defense.  WKU averaged 247 yards on the ground but a meager 162 through the air.  So, who wants to travel to Bowling Green?

@ Florida Atlantic, November 8, 3 PM
The Owls were the surprise champions of the Sun Belt Conference a year ago when they knocked off Troy at the end of the year to earn the trip to the New Orleans Bowl.  This season FAU returns 10 starters on offense and 8 on defense.  QB Rusty Smith may be the best QB in the state of Florida not named Tim Tebow.  Smith passed for 463 yards in their upset at Minnesota.  For the year, Smith threw for 3688 yards with 32 TD’s and only 9 INT’s.  In 2008, FAU begins the season in Austin against the Longhorns.

@ Middle Tennessee State, November 22, TBA
The Blue Raiders have flirted with the Sun Belt Conference Championship in each of the last 2 years with their best chance in 2006 when they were upset in the last game against Troy to lose the title.  MTSU returns their top QB’s Dwight Dasher and Joe Cradock.  The Blue Raiders return 6 starters on offense and defense.  Despite injuries at the QB position all year in 2007, the Blue Raiders averaged 336 yards per game including 202 yards passing per game.

Arkansas State, November 29, 1 PM
2008 marks the first year as ASU will be called the Red Wolves changing it from Indians per the NCAA.  The Red Wolves returns the dynamic duo of Corey Leonard and Reggie Arnold.  QB Leonard accounted for 3057 total yards of offense for ASU in 2008 for an average of 254 total yards per game.  Arnold was a 1000 yard rusher for the second year in a row, and when he and Leonard are healthy the Red Wolves are dangerous and never out of a game.  However, the Red Wolves lose a lot from a defense that included Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year Tyrell Johnson who was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round with the 43rd pick.

When Todd Dodge became the new head football coach at The University of North Texas, few people doubted that he would put up big offensive numbers. Some even believed he would be successful leading the Mean Green to be a top program in the Sun Belt Conference. Others, however, doubted his ability to be successful at the college level. Dodge’s previous stop was at the high school level, head coach at Southlake Carroll High School in Southlake, TX.

Dodge proved both sides right, and wrong. Dodge’s offense was good. Freshman Giovanni Vizza was Freshman of the Year in the Sun Belt Conference. He threw for over 2300 yards with 17 touchdowns as a starter in 8 games. Wide Receiver Casey Fitzgerald was a 1,000 yard receiver for UNT, including a game against SMU where he caught 18 passes for 327 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Mean Green moved the ball well, but struggled to score a lot of touchdowns in the red zone. The big problem was their defense. Dodge and his Defensive Coordinator, Ron Mendoza, seemed to be overmatched at the college level.

At the end of the season, Dodge made a defensive coaching change. Dodge brought former UNT Defensive Coordinator Gary DeLoach. DeLoach’s defenses at UNT were spectacular. During the spring practices, it seemed as if the UNT defense is already making progress. This move may have been a college level move by Dodge. If DeLoach can make the UNT defense significantly better, then UNT will be a dangerous team in the Sun Belt Conference.

For the Mean Green to be successful, Dodge, DeLoach, and UNT has to put the mean back into the Mean Green. They have to force turnovers like they did against UL Monroe, their lone conference win in 2007. They will need more depth at the defensive line. There is enough talent in the DFW area to recruit and find the defensive skill players, therefore, it is the defensive line they have to find talent to help make the front 7 better. If we remember Terry Bowden’s characteristics of a champion, we will recognize the need to stop the run. A good, a better, defensive line is key to stopping the run. The highlight of UNT’s ineptness against the run was against Navy when the Mean Green gave up 572 yards on the ground.

Keep an eye on UNT this fall to see if they put the Mean back into the Mean Green.

I wrote an article outlining the possibility of a weekly air show in the DFW area earlier this month. Now, if I had a mailbag like Stewart Mandel or The Denton Record-Chronical’s Mean Green Blog, I might have an email asking me about the kinds offenses that are used at UNT (The University of North Texas) and SMU (Southern Methodist University). Some may simply ask, “What kind of offense did you say that was?” Others may ask something like, “What is the difference between the No Huddle Spread Offense and the Run and Shoot?”

Now, as if there weren’t enough teams running a spread of some kind, it seems that the Oklahoma Sooners are going to spread it out next year. The Texas Longhorns have runned some version of the Spread Offense dating back to the Vince Young era. Tulsa runs a high octane version of the Hurry Up No Huddle Spread Offense. Therefore, there are many college football teams in the DFW area running something in the way of a Spread Offense.

SMU runs June Jones’ version of the Run and Shoot. The advent of the Run and Shoot dates back to the 1950’s and 60’s when an Ohio high school football coach developed the offense. Jones himself played QB in the Run and Shoot at Portland State under “Mouse” Davis who popularized the offense. Jones has extensive experience running the Run and Shoot in college, the NFL, the USFL (the United States Football League which no longer exists) and the CFL (Canadian Football League). Jones, the Mustang coach, has brought an offensive system to Dallas that he not only has experience coaching and playing, but one in which he was a major part of its own development. The Run and Shoot uses four receiver sets, or double slots. The key to exploiting the defense is the ability of both the QB and the receiver to read after the snap of the ball to what the defense is doing. Such a tactic is called a “hot read.” The “hot read” is still an important element in the NFL even though the Run and Shoot’s use has largely faded from the NFL playbooks. In fact, just playing EA Sports’ Madden football will leave a fan familiar with the concept of the “hot read.” Some of the subsequent reads happen prior to the snap. Often, the QB knows exactly where he is going to go with ball for it is snapped, or least he knows his best options.

The Spread Offense is very similar in that the offense often employs the use of four receivers. The idea is to spread the defense horizontally and sometimes vertically with deep passes. The Run and Shoot also tries to spread out the defense horizontally. What are the differences? For starters, those that run the Spread Offense are not afraid of using a Tight End. Missouri Tight End Martin Rucker was an All-American at that position for Missouri’s Spread Offense. Usually, a team that uses the Spread likes to use a TE or some kind of H Back. With the need for defenses to have extra defensive backs on the field to cover the spread formations, a TE becomes a major match-up problem. An H Back is usually built like a TE or a Fullback. However, in addition to his ability to block, he has the ability to catch the ball. Imagine an extra Cornerback standing at 5’10″ or 5’11″ and weighing 190 lbs covering someone, by accident, who is 6’6″ 255 lbs. So, while the Spread Offense likes to spread out the defense, at times they use a more TE or H Back type player instead of all four receivers.

Another difference between the two formations is how the Spread Offense uses the QB. The QB is called on to make plays with both his arm and his feet. He is the ultimate playmaker on the field. He uses instincts to make a positive play. Coaches usually make the calls from the Press Box based on what kind defense is being run. Often, teams in the Spread Offense do not use a huddle and look to the coaching staff to make the call based on the defense’s alignment. Reads are made before the snap most of the time. However, some teams use a Hurry Up style of No Huddle Offense in which the object is to snap the ball within 3-5 seconds. Such a philosophy does not depend on what the defense is running, particularly because the defense is out of place because of the quick snap of the ball. Other teams, use the run oriented option out of the Spread Offense. West Virginia has been the best example of this under Coach Rich Rodriguez. Some incorporate what is known as the Zone Read. Vince Young excelled using the Zone Read when he was playing at Texas. All of these variations rely on the playmaking ability of the QB with both his arm and his feet. Such a QB is known as a dual threat QB.

A Run and Shoot is usually more geared toward a passing game. Texas Tech’s Air Raid offense is more of a Run and Shoot offense. Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell averaged 54.8 attempts per game. There was not a lot of emphasis on the running game at Texas Tech. As we have seen, the Spread Offense has several different variations which include a pass oriented, a balanced oriented and a run/option oriented. Todd Dodge’s No Huddle Spread Offense is a little more of a passing oriented attack. However, he does like to use the running game. At Southlake Carroll High School, Dodge enjoyed the use of Texas recruit Tre Newton. Further, all of his QBs were mobile and were considered a threat to run the ball.

Now that you know some of the differences between these two offenses, check out SMU and UNT this fall to see how they are used by each team.

Note: A number of websites and webpages were used to help construct this article. Below is a list of those sites and pages.

Americanfootballmonthly.com
Doubleslot.com
Wikipedia Articles Run & Shoot, Spread Offense, Todd Dodge, June Jones, Mouse Davis
Espn.go.com Bob Davie Column
Maddenscecrets.com
ohsfca.org
scribd.com
smartfootball.blogspot
Video from Espn.go.com with June Jones
sports.espn.go.com
thespreadoffense.com
spreadoffense.com
tulsaworld.com: Oklahoma, Todd Graham
usatoday
Video: Colt Brennan demonstrates Run & Shoot
everything2.com
ezinearticles.com