UNT Welcoming Unbeaten, No. 18 Army to Denton

DENTON – The UNT football team returns to action at home after a bye week and will look to rebound from a two-game skid against unbeaten Army, who will come to DATCU Stadium as the 18^th-ranked team in the country on Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. The game can be seen on ESPN2 with the radio broadcast set for 97.1 The Eagle/The Varsity Network/Sirius XM Channel 391.

Head coach Eric Morris and selected players spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, the intricacies of Army's triple option attack and the difficulty of preparing for it, the importance of each possession on Saturday, perhaps an overlooked factor against a team like Army and the program's history of playing ranked teams at home.

Game featuring two productive, unique and very different offenses
The Army triple option rushing attack is notoriously difficult to prepare for, which makes last week's bye for the Mean Green especially timely, but it won't be the only unique offense featured in Saturday's game.

Morris made a point on Tuesday to say the Air Raid isn't an easy offense to prepare for either, but it's worth noting it is much more prevalent in the football world than the more antiquated triple option that was developed and widely used in the 1960s.

Essentially, when run to perfection, the triple option forces defenses to trust their eyes and read their keys. A minor slip in technique, and a big play follows. It all starts with the quarterback, who will choose to keep the ball or give to the fullback on the dive. Or, he can do neither, fake the dive and take off laterally with the pitch option to the slotback.

"People have played three down (linemen) and four down against the triple option," Morris said. "It's so unique. You have to have the discipline of reading your keys and when it's executed the right way, it's an art form out there. It's always intrigued me. Mike Leach used to talk about the triple option being similar to the Air Raid in getting the ball to many spaces on the field and making (defenses) cover every space on the field. If you play three-down, they have rules. If you play four-down, they have rules. It's not about coming up with a unique counter to it because they have a plan for everything. There are so many intricacies in what they do and how they run the system."

Both offenses have been plenty productive this year. UNT's pass-heavy offense is third nationally in total offense at 527.6 yards per game, while Army ranks 35th nationally at 433.9 yards per game, but the Black Knights rank first nationally in rushing offense at 340.1 yards per game. They also rank first nationally in team passing efficiency (197.5).

"This game will be fun for people to watch," Morris said. "To be able to do it at a high level, with both offenses, is almost artwork out there. We're trying to accomplish the same thing by getting the ball in so many different spaces, and if you don't have great eye discipline it'll create issues for you. We just do it more by throwing the ball downfield and they do it by running it and getting you up and then throwing it over your head. The schematics are different, but overall, the emphasis of it is to trick the defense's eyes and get the football in space.

"I'd like to learn this offense some time in my career. I've been around great mentors who taught me the Air Raid and helped in incorporating some run game into the Air Raid, but I'd love to study and learn the triple option at some point."

UNT must treat each possession as gold
When facing a team that runs the ball as often as Army, teams are often limited in their possessions. In fact, Army ranks fourth nationally in time of possession at 34:01 per game, meaning each and every possession for the Mean Green will be a precious commodity.

To go along with that stat, Army is also tops in the nation in scoring defense (11.3 points per game) and fourth nationally in turnover margin, while UNT ranks 107th nationally in that category.

Limited possession time makes taking care of the ball even more important for UNT on Saturday.

"Every time we get the ball, we have to take advantage of it," senior offensive lineman Landon Peterson said. "We have to execute and do our job and fall back on what we're being coached to do every day."

While the Mean Green often run an up-tempo offense focused on catching the opposing defense off guard or just worn out, Saturday's approach will likely be different against a defense that doesn't make mistakes and a team that will try to limit the amount of time UNT's offense has the ball.

"You have to be mindful of your possessions, and they do a great job at time of possession and utilizing time of possession," Morris said. "Executing and being in the right play is more important than tempo sometimes against these teams because you have to take advantage when you have the ball and can't get behind."

To be sure his team has an adequate number of possessions and doesn't give any away to an aggressive defense, Morris said he and his staff have been stressing winning the turnover battle for the past two weeks.

"We've done an offense vs. defense ball security circuit and are finding ways to get turnovers and emphasizing how important the football is for us," he said. "We've lost the turnover margin these last two games, and with this team and your limited possessions, ball security on the offensive side of the ball is a premium. Then, any time you can steal one from a team like this that prides itself on ball handling is huge."

Punting game could be pivotal for UNT
Along with time of possession on Saturday, field position will also be a key thing to watch and flipping the field even when UNT can't score on a drive could be the difference in the game.

So far this season, the Mean Green have been stellar in the punt game, leading the AAC and sitting second in all of FBS in punt return defense (1.2 yards per return) and ranking third in the AAC in net punting (41.31 yards per punt).

"Just transitioning the ball on special teams is going to be a big deal," Morris said. "You know, when someone does break here or there, which will happen in this game, being able to really utilize our punt unit, which has been fantastic all year. I mean, we're one of the top punt units in the nation, as far as not allowing yardage on that. So being able to continue that, and when need be, to flip the field and make them go and drive the whole, entire field will be huge for us."

Mean Green's history against ranked teams in Denton bodes well
When Army comes to DATCU Stadium, it will mark the fourth time a ranked opponent has come to Denton, and the Mean Green are 2-1 previously in those games with wins over No. 20 San Diego State in 1974 and No. 15 UTSA in the 2021 regular season finale.

In that most recent game against UTSA, UNT rushed for 340 yards to win 45-23 and earn a bowl bid on the regular season's final day.

Senior nose tackle Roderick Brown was on the field that day and said that experience has helped the team's confidence going into Saturday.

"We had UTSA in here my sophomore year, so this ain't nothing new," Brown said. "It's obviously a big game, but I just let the guys know we can't let that get to us. I'm always confident in us. I'm betting on us over everybody.

"…We're predicted to not beat them, so why not shock the world? Why not UNT?"

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Roderick Brown

Landon Peterson

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