University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: The Real Season Begins Saturday
9/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, September 20, 2009, 12:59 p.m.
It wasn't pretty and it wasn't suppose to be. The fourth-ranked team in the country did what it's suppose to do and for North Texas the mindset it simple, very simple. The real season begins next week against Middle Tennessee. Yes non-conference games are important, very important, but what makes or breaks your season is the league schedule and how you do.
The first three-games have given a pretty good idea as to what the Mean Green can and can't do. The Sun Belt schedule will give us a real picture of how much this team has improved or not.
Before the game Alabama game I spoke with Riley Dodge on the field. He begged and begged and begged his father and head coach Todd Dodge to let him play against Alabama. It wasn't going to happen and as much as I would have loved to see the McElroy vs. Dodge matchup it shouldn't have.
Riley wasn't ready to play and there was nothing on the line for North Texas to risk. If this was Middle Tennessee yesterday, Riley would have played. The reasoning is simple. The conference season is the most important part of the year and Coach Dodge wasn't about to risk putting his starting quarterback into a game where the risk wasn't worth the reward.
He needs Riley to be ready for conference play. If he's not, I'm not that worried and fans shouldn't either, but they need Riley at 100 percent. Nathan Tune went into a hostile atmosphere and executed the game plan without making any mistakes. If you want to complain about the play-calling or game plan, just stop before you make a fool out of yourself.
It has been said by many that of the 11 starters on defense for Alabama.....11 of them are going to the NFL in some form. (Quick aside, did you know that Shelton Gandy had Terrance Cody on-campus at North Texas for a visit in 2007 before he eventually committed to Alabama? Your local Rivals.com reporter didn't see that one on the radar, but kudos to TD and staff for even getting him here).
The Alabama defense is going to make a lot of game plans this season look boring, vanilla, and just flat out silly. I'm willing to bet a wooden nickel that the Crimson Tide D is ranked in the top 5 at the end of the year and possibly No. 1. It's that good folks. Sometimes the Mean Green just catches these big boys at the wrong time. It happens.
For North Texas it's all about getting healthy, getting focused, and getting ready for the Sun Belt Conference season. Need I remind everyone that the Mean Green has won just five games in the SBC in the last four years.....I know that hurts reading it because it hurts writing that. That's unacceptable.
So before you can even think about the Mean Green pulling a shocker against an SEC team, North Texas needs to gear up for its long climb back to the top of the SBC.
