University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Game-Changing MTSU Defense Flying Under Radar
9/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
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| By Stephen Howard, Sept. 24, 2009 - 12:02 p.m. |
For the life of me I can't figure out why people haven't given more love to Middle Tennessee in 2009. The Blue Raiders gave Clemson a tough time, and then knocked off Memphis and Maryland with a dazzling spread offense and stingy D.
But take a look at the Sun Belt Preseason Poll and MTSU sits in fourth place, nine points ahead of FIU and nine behind Florida Atlantic. No one really seems to give a whole lot of respect to the Blue Raiders.
They seem like a classic victim of the "Sun Belt overlook curse", where fans and media simply look at what a team did the previous year, and rubber stamp them into the same results the next season without really doing any research.
It happened here after the 2004 season, and it's happening again in '09. There wasn't a publication out there that didn't think the Mean Green wouldn't win the Sun Belt hands down in 2005, and in 2009 there is absolutely no way North Texas will win a league game - let alone beat a 12-2 Ball State squad.
It sounds like the Middle Tennessee defense has used the lack of preseason hype as fuel. In their two wins, MTSU had 20 tackles for loss, six sacks and forced six turnovers against supposedly better competition.
Defensive end Chris McCoy was awarded a Helmet Sticker from ESPN and was named the National and Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week for his ridiculous performance against Maryland. The definition of filling up a box score, McCoy had 9 tackles (6 solo), 4 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 pass break up, 1 blocked field goal and 1 fumble recovery.
They are led by a pair of veterans in middle linebacker Danny Carmichael and free safety Jeremy Kellem. Carmichael has 189 career tackles and Kellem, a junior, was listed on the preseason All-Sun Belt team. He leads a secondary that has combined to start over 70 games.
The Blue Raider defense ranks 49th in the nation in pass defense, but that stat has been padded by the rushing tendencies of their opponents. An area they must concentrate on, MTSU has been known to give up chunks of yardage to the pass, including lengthy scoring plays.
So far, Middle Tennessee's three opponents have run the ball 61.5 percent of the time, but 56 percent of their total offense has come via passing yardage. Of the eight touchdowns the MTSU defense has allowed, five have come on scoring plays of over 30 yards.
Aside from the home-run style scoring plays, the North Texas offense nearly mirrors those numbers. NT runs 56 percent of the time, but gets 53 percent of its yards from the pass. North Texas has been a more methodical offense so far, with Lance Dunbar's 34 yard scamper at Alabama the only lengthy scoring play.
Middle Tennessee will doubtlessly try to shore up the breakdowns that caused the long touchdowns, but it could the opening the Mean Green need to bust Saturday's game open.
