Interim Head Football Coach MikeCanales was excited about the win over Western Kentucky and nearly intears he said after the 33-6 win “I'm so proud of these kids.”

North Texas had an emotional couple ofweeks losing one of their players in a traffic accident to beembarrassed during Homecoming with fans politely walking out athalf-time to the release of former Head Football Coach Todd Dodge.

Canales stated “they played withheart and passion and after everything this team has been throughthis season, it’s just amazing to be a part of.” Even with allthe things pulling on the team over the last couple of weeks Canalessaid they were focused this week and “they didn't miss a beat.”

During practices he told the kids thegame plan against WKU was going to be simple, “they were going torun the football” and “put it on Lance [Dunbar's] shoulders.”His goal was simple too, he wanted to show everyone the best runningback in the conference was playing for North Texas and not for theHilltoppers. He emphasized his feelings when he stated after the win“Lance Dunbar is the best back in the Sun Belt Conference.”Dunbar carried the ball 30 times for 215 yards and three touchdowns.WKU's Bobby Rainey carried the ball 23 times for 100 yards.

Using a more up tempo game it seemed attimes some of the plays coming in from the sideline were not gettingin fast enough but he stated “we managed the game offensively”and as a result “gave ourselves a chance to win.”

Maybe Canales seen something in hisshort coaching career at North Texas. While committed to the passingattack he saw three quarterbacks, a running back and a punter go downwith injuries because the offensive line was porous. The result was alot of three and out situations and the defense was being beat up bybeing on the field for too long. However, the offensive line alwaysseemed to be the best during running plays. So in his first game as ahead coach he elected to give the running game a try and itperformed well.

The win was not limited to the runninggame but all three phases of the game contributed. It has been nosecret Shelton Gandy's special teams needed to play at a higherlevel. It was not special, not even ordinary just plain bad. Thisweek they upgraded their playing performance and move to a level thathas not been seen in a while. They did not make any major mistakesand even recovered a kick-off late in the fourth quarter to all butto end any thought of a WKU comeback.

There is no question that GaryDeLoach's defensive line has been getting better ever since hisreturn last year. They have been pretty good against the run but weakagainst the pass. This week they once again were hard to run againstas they limited WKU's Running Back Bobby Rainey to 100 yards on 23carries, many considered him the best running back in the conference.

While the defensive line been effectiveagainst the run they have had problems getting after the quarterbackto disrupt plays. Using a few well placed blitzes they were able toget into the face of the one of the best quarterbacks in the SunBelt, Kawaun Jakes. They kept last weeks Sun Belt Offensive Player ofthe Week off balance. Part of the success to get after thequarterback was the play of the secondary. So far this seasonopposing offenses have found more holes in the North Texas secondarythen Swiss cheese. The result was opponents were able to make bigplays. In this game they played the receivers tight forcing theirquarterback to check down to the third or fourth receiver. .

Canales said he harped all week to “getoff the field after third downs.” He encouraged the defense to getthe job done to stop WKU's offense and it is what the practiced onall week. The interim coach stated what you “emphasis in practicewill translate on the field.” It worked against WKU and thedefense “they brought it” and as a result they got off the fieldafter third downs. The result was the offense with the running gamewas able to chew up the clock and wear down the WKU's defense.

Quarterback Riley Dodge played the gamewith a caste on his non-throwing left hand. As for what Canalesthinks of him he said he “is a champion” and called him “awinner” and he would not rely on anyone else right now.

Because of the efforts of Gandy's,DeLoaches' and Bryant's units they all got game balls.