The Mean Green has owned the Sun Belt with a perfect league record over the last two years and three straight trips to the New Orleans Bowl. If it doesn't seem too been-there-done-that at this point, there should be a fourth straight title in the works with the league's best offense and a defense that should be fine with a little fine tuning.
Long known for its nasty defense, all will be fine once again if the entire linebacking corps can be replaced. It'll be the other side of the ball that bears watching this year as the nation's leading returning rusher, Patrick Cobbs, will run behind the league's best offensive line. The receiving corps is experienced and explosive, and quarterbacks Scott Hall and Andrew Smith have each won Sun Belt titles. Oh yeah, and the kicking game is awesome as well.
As good as the team is, it'll be in for its biggest fight yet as the rest of the league has gotten much stronger and the bull's-eye on the Mean Green back has gotten even bigger. This might be the year someone finally hands them another league loss, but it'll take a lot to knock the kings off the hill.
The Schedule: Sun Belt title number three might be all but gift wrapped missing Troy State and getting MTSU and NMSU in Denton. Three Big XII road games in the first four weeks might be trying, but the Mean Green should be able to handle Baylor. Arkansas State is the only real road test the rest of the way.
Best Offensive Player: Senior RB Patrick Cobbs. Another 1,680-yard season won't be that out of reach if the coaching staff decides to feed him the ball 307 times again. Even if he doesn't get as much work he'll still be the league's best player and should be among the nation's rushing leaders.
Best Defensive Player: Senior FS Jonas Buckles. The three-time All-Sun Belt performer will be the leader of the tremendous defense. He's a ball hawk with 18 career interceptions and can tackle with 154 career stops.
Key player to a successful season: Gone is the All-Sun Belt linebacking corps of Cody Spencer, Chris Hurd and Taylor Casey meaning that there's major work to be done. The arrival of JUCO star Travis Thompson should help, but there's still a major concern that the overall production will be the same. Junior Arther McNac has the biggest shoes to fill taking over for Spencer and his 121 tackles in the middle.
The season will be a success if ... it's four straight. This will be the Mean Green's toughest season yet with teams like Utah State, MTSU and New Mexico State as strong as ever, but UNT is still at another level.
Key game: Oct. 23 vs. New Mexico State. UNT should know if it has the title wrapped up after this game coming off showdowns against MTSU and at Utah State. If the Sun Belt slate is still clean after this game against the Aggies, it'll be off to New Orleans again (assuming Troy doesn't run the table.)
Long known for its nasty defense, all will be fine once again if the entire linebacking corps can be replaced. It'll be the other side of the ball that bears watching this year as the nation's leading returning rusher, Patrick Cobbs, will run behind the league's best offensive line. The receiving corps is experienced and explosive, and quarterbacks Scott Hall and Andrew Smith have each won Sun Belt titles. Oh yeah, and the kicking game is awesome as well.
As good as the team is, it'll be in for its biggest fight yet as the rest of the league has gotten much stronger and the bull's-eye on the Mean Green back has gotten even bigger. This might be the year someone finally hands them another league loss, but it'll take a lot to knock the kings off the hill.
The Schedule: Sun Belt title number three might be all but gift wrapped missing Troy State and getting MTSU and NMSU in Denton. Three Big XII road games in the first four weeks might be trying, but the Mean Green should be able to handle Baylor. Arkansas State is the only real road test the rest of the way.
Best Offensive Player: Senior RB Patrick Cobbs. Another 1,680-yard season won't be that out of reach if the coaching staff decides to feed him the ball 307 times again. Even if he doesn't get as much work he'll still be the league's best player and should be among the nation's rushing leaders.
Best Defensive Player: Senior FS Jonas Buckles. The three-time All-Sun Belt performer will be the leader of the tremendous defense. He's a ball hawk with 18 career interceptions and can tackle with 154 career stops.
Key player to a successful season: Gone is the All-Sun Belt linebacking corps of Cody Spencer, Chris Hurd and Taylor Casey meaning that there's major work to be done. The arrival of JUCO star Travis Thompson should help, but there's still a major concern that the overall production will be the same. Junior Arther McNac has the biggest shoes to fill taking over for Spencer and his 121 tackles in the middle.
The season will be a success if ... it's four straight. This will be the Mean Green's toughest season yet with teams like Utah State, MTSU and New Mexico State as strong as ever, but UNT is still at another level.
Key game: Oct. 23 vs. New Mexico State. UNT should know if it has the title wrapped up after this game coming off showdowns against MTSU and at Utah State. If the Sun Belt slate is still clean after this game against the Aggies, it'll be off to New Orleans again (assuming Troy doesn't run the table.)
