DENTON - Mostly during a run of four conference titles in eight seasons, North Texas ran to daylight.
Three games into this season, the Mean Green's running game can barely locate one of those red first-down markers.
For UNT, it's a college football conundrum. What happens when the thing you do best becomes a weakness?
UNT (1-2) hopes to solve the riddle when it plays at Akron (1-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday. UNT's running game was not only poor last Saturday at Tulsa, it was the worst in a game during coach Darrell Dickey's nine seasons. UNT had 27 rushing yards and 89 total yards, another low in the Dickey era.
For two games and half of another (SMU), UNT's running game has gone nowhere. In losses to Texas and Tulsa, UNT had two rushing first downs in each game. Against SMU, all seven rushing first downs came in the second half.
To the untrained eye, it's a simple case of tentative running and poor blocking up front. During the more intricate study of game tapes, it's not so black and white.
"It's the difference between offense and defense," Dickey said. "On defense, 10 guys can screw up, but no one notices if one guy makes a great play. On offense, it's the opposite. One guy makes a mistake, and it foils the whole play."
Coaches say the breakdown is one of shared responsibility, themselves included. Running backs Jamario Thomas and Evan Robertson are slow to read holes or find them when they appear. UNT's zone-read running game requires blockers to execute assignments on the fly and counter defensive adjustments.
UNT does less one-on-one pass blocking, which favors younger lines. UNT is rotating eight to 10 linemen, but only two, tackle Joel Foster and guard Dylan Lineberry, are considered experienced.
Some blocks are being picked up but go unfinished.
"Even if you get your block, it's all about how you handled it," Foster said. "You know you could have done better or you made a mistake. You know when you watch the film that you messed up.
"On top of that, you have a coach there telling you, and other players seeing that you messed up."
Bottom line: The running game lacks rhythm or consistency, whether it's poor running or blocking, Dickey said.
The added component of a running quarterback in Woody Wilson, who will make his second start at Akron, eventually could help UNT improve up the middle. Wilson, a rollout specialist, has the speed to keep defenses from packing the box every play.
"We've got to be able to have another threat back there that scares the defense, running and throwing," Dickey said.
In no way does that let Thomas and Robertson off the hook. The coaches know Thomas has the overall ability and Robertson the speed to better produce.
"[So far] it's not the running game we had in the past," running backs coach Ramone Archie said. "Sometimes the hole's there, but our back might make the wrong read or cut and not get there. We need to see it, react to it and go to it."
Three games into this season, the Mean Green's running game can barely locate one of those red first-down markers.
For UNT, it's a college football conundrum. What happens when the thing you do best becomes a weakness?
UNT (1-2) hopes to solve the riddle when it plays at Akron (1-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday. UNT's running game was not only poor last Saturday at Tulsa, it was the worst in a game during coach Darrell Dickey's nine seasons. UNT had 27 rushing yards and 89 total yards, another low in the Dickey era.
For two games and half of another (SMU), UNT's running game has gone nowhere. In losses to Texas and Tulsa, UNT had two rushing first downs in each game. Against SMU, all seven rushing first downs came in the second half.
To the untrained eye, it's a simple case of tentative running and poor blocking up front. During the more intricate study of game tapes, it's not so black and white.
"It's the difference between offense and defense," Dickey said. "On defense, 10 guys can screw up, but no one notices if one guy makes a great play. On offense, it's the opposite. One guy makes a mistake, and it foils the whole play."
Coaches say the breakdown is one of shared responsibility, themselves included. Running backs Jamario Thomas and Evan Robertson are slow to read holes or find them when they appear. UNT's zone-read running game requires blockers to execute assignments on the fly and counter defensive adjustments.
UNT does less one-on-one pass blocking, which favors younger lines. UNT is rotating eight to 10 linemen, but only two, tackle Joel Foster and guard Dylan Lineberry, are considered experienced.
Some blocks are being picked up but go unfinished.
"Even if you get your block, it's all about how you handled it," Foster said. "You know you could have done better or you made a mistake. You know when you watch the film that you messed up.
"On top of that, you have a coach there telling you, and other players seeing that you messed up."
Bottom line: The running game lacks rhythm or consistency, whether it's poor running or blocking, Dickey said.
The added component of a running quarterback in Woody Wilson, who will make his second start at Akron, eventually could help UNT improve up the middle. Wilson, a rollout specialist, has the speed to keep defenses from packing the box every play.
"We've got to be able to have another threat back there that scares the defense, running and throwing," Dickey said.
In no way does that let Thomas and Robertson off the hook. The coaches know Thomas has the overall ability and Robertson the speed to better produce.
"[So far] it's not the running game we had in the past," running backs coach Ramone Archie said. "Sometimes the hole's there, but our back might make the wrong read or cut and not get there. We need to see it, react to it and go to it."
