University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Breaking Down The Polls
7/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, 10:45 a.m., July 20, 2009
Finally a preseason poll and all-conference team worth noting is out and it’s not the greatest for North Texas. The preseason all-conference team was released by the Sun Belt this morning along with its Coaches Poll and the Mean Green was shutout in terms of all-conference players and picked to finish eighth by the coaches.
Typically coaches polls are nothing more than referendum on how you did last year and this poll is no different.
Preseason Poll Final 2008 Regular Season Standings
Troy Troy
Ark. State ULL
FAU Ark. State
MTSU FAU
FIU MTSU
ULL FIU
ULM ULM
NT NT
WKU WKU- not a full-time member
Not much difference in the final standings and the prognostication for this year. The lone exception being Louisiana-Lafayette, who has perhaps the toughest challenge in the league this year in replacing Tyrell Fenroy and Michael Desormeaux.
The punch to the gut for North Texas is not having anyone selected to the all-conference team. Since the league formed in 2001, it’s the first time that the Mean Green hasn’t had a player selected to a preseason all-conference squad. Ouch. Western Kentucky is the other team in the Sun Belt without a player selected to the preseason all-conference team.
The two areas positions I think the Mean Green has a legitimate quarrel with are at running back and linebacker. Running back went to Arkansas State’s Reggie Arnold and Troy’s DuJuan Harris. Arnold was a no-brainer as the leading rusher returning in the league. Harris ended last year with 1,077 yards in 13 games while Montgomery had 928 yards in 12 games.
Cam averaged 5.5 yards a carry to the 5.1 for Harris but voters no doubt factored in final record and the team’s performance when it comes to who they chose.
The Tobe Nwigwe omission is even more surprising but not hard to understand if you dig a little deeper. Remember this is the All-Sun Belt Team, not teams. While Nwigwe was a second-team all-conference selection last year, the two of the three first teamers Cardia Jackson, Boris Lee were the linebacker picks for the all-conference team. Makes sense but still tough to swallow.
Bottom line, North Texas has a lot to prove this year and they now have a little more incentive to prove some people wrong.
