North Texas (2-4, 2-7) takes to the road to visit Sun Belt Conference member Middle Tennessee State (3-5, 2-2) with kick-off slated for 2:30 and televised on ESPN3.com. The game is called a “Salute to the Armed Services/Veterans.” This will be the third game for North Texas Interim Head Coach Mike Canales, 1-1. Middle Tennessee is out of the conference race and the bowl bid unless they get help from another conference member in knocking off Troy.

Going into Saturday's games North Texas is tied with MTSU, Florida Atlantic and Louisiana-Lafayette with a total of two conference wins with Western Kentucky sporting a one win season.

The Blue Raiders are led by senior Quarterback Dwight Dasher who was a preseason pick as the best QB in the Sun Belt and voted top offensive player in the conference. He was on the Davey O'Brien Watch list, Walter Camp Player of the Year list as a “Player to Watch,” Paul Hornung Watch List and others. However, issues with the NCAA about a $1,500 loan resulted in him missing the first four games to start the season. He played his first game against Troy which MTSU lost. This season he has not been as good as he was last year but is still dangerous running the ball. His passing game has been a little off, throwing 10 picks in the four games and as a result his efficiency rating is now down to 95.0. Still he accounts for 233.5 total yards a game.

North Texas defense needs to be ready for the offense for several reasons. Primarily the offense employs an up-tempo offense which can catch a defense napping resulting in big plays. They have a balanced attack with the running game only twenty yards behind the passing game in total yards per game.

When the Blue Raiders are on offense, North Texas fans need to look at several things. They use their running backs as ground and air assault weapons. Look for swing passes out of the back field to get their running backs out on the edge quicker. There is no featured back per se, while Phillip Tanner gets the ball more per game, the other two running backs and quarterback are right there behind him. They spread the ball around to different receivers with nine receivers getting double figure catches on the season. Malcolm Beyah and G Andrews are at 22 catches for the season while the rest are in the low teens including RB Tanner coming in with 11 catches.

The team has some injuries with the offensive line having some nicks and dings which resulted in them not being as effective this year as last year. Last year they were a healthy team and as a result won the conference title and beat Southern Miss in the New Orleans Bowl. Although out of the conference bowl picture, they still have a shot at becoming bowl eligible and maybe an open bid somewhere. North Texas is simply playing out the season while a new coach is being considered.

North Texas will have the opportunity to get some turnovers in this game. MTSU has been turning the ball over this season at a higher rate then last season. The result has been more losses then they expected.

The Eagles should be able to run on the Blue Raiders. This year the defensive line has been ineffective against running teams and as a result have been giving up a lot of yardage on the ground. If they elect to try to use the passing game as a weapon they could run into a lot of trouble.

Quarterback Riley Dodge will have his hands full with Defensive End Jamari Lattimore. One of the best QB sackers in the conference will be in his face all game long unless the offensive line can control him and few teams have been having that problem. The North Texas offensive line has not been able to stop anyone getting to the quarterback. Against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Lattimore recorded a school record four sacks. For the season he has recorded 8.5 sacks for a loss of 54 yards. In second place is linebacker Darin Davis. Through blitzes he has recorded 3.5 sacks accounting for 19 yards lost.

Safety Jeremy Kellum is their leading tackler with 45 solo tackles and 23 assists for a total of 68 tackles. It means a lot of ball carriers are getting deep into the secondary. Linebacker Antwan Davis is second with 20 solo and 30 assists for a total of 50 tackles.

Defensively, MSTU is focusing in on stopping Lance Dunbar. According to MTSU Head Coach Rick Stockstill North Texas has a great running game and in order to win they have to stop it. Offensively, they are concerned about the North Texas defensive line which he considers a big line and effective against the run. He noted North Texas has lost a lot of close games and were in most games they lost.

MTSU is giving up 30 points a game while they have been averaging 26.6 points a game. Their best quarter to score is the second quarter where they put up a total of 101 points. The fourth quarter they have scored 41 points, the first 37 points and the third with 34 points.

While opponents have scored almost evenly across the quarters they score best in the second with 73 points, the third with 65 points, the fourth with 52 points and 50 points in the first.

When it comes to the running game they are averaging 4.3 yards per carry for 179.2 yards per game while defensively they give up 4.1 yards per carry or 182.1 yards a game. MTSU uses three running backs, Tanner is averaging 61.4 yards a game, D.D. Kyles with 42 yards a game and Benjamin Cunningham with 33 yards a game. Dasher is the #2 rusher on the team with 56 yards a game.

In the passing department they pass for 205.6 yards a game or 10.8 yards a catch while the defense gives up 205.6 passing yards a game for 11.8 yards per catch. Beyah is their leading receiver with 38.1 yards a game or 13.9 yards per catch. Garrett Andrews is their second leading receiver with 34.5 yards a game or 12.5 yards per catch, Tyler Mason is contributing 26.4 yards per game or 16.2 yards a catch and the rest of the receivers are adding in about 11-14 yards per game.

They have been plagued by turnovers and so far this season they have 18 fumbles losing the ball 12 times and have only been able to cause 8 fumbles but only getting 4 of them.

They punt pretty good average slightly over 44 yards a punt. On punt returns they bring the ball back 9.3 yards per punt. On kick-offs they average 24.1 yards and hold opponents to 20 yards per return.

Opponents have been able to control the clock 33:42 to 26:18.

They average 22,444 fans per game.