North Texas Head Football Coach Dan McCarney said his team beat a very good and a very confident University of Louisiana-Monroe football team on Homecoming this past Saturday. The Warhawks were coming to play North Texas after an impressive win over Troy at home the week before. They were charged up, expecting to win, so North Texas knocking them off was great victory for the program.

As for the Homecoming crowd the coach stated it was great to see a lot fans at the ball game and to see North Texas Fans coming back to Denton to see the stadium and the team.  He is looking forward to the day there will be no empty seats in the stands.

“I’m sure everybody knew we were going to win by 17 points after that first opening kick-off.” UL-M took the opening kick-off back for a touchdown. Even with such a bad beginning, things were calm on the sideline. The team and the coaches “did not flinch” everyone kept their poise and as a result, in the end it was a great win for North Texas.

While the offense and defense seemed to be on their game the special teams struggled at times. However, the coach thought it was a complete game by all three phases of the game. “I said a complete victory and that is what I meant even though we had struggles on special teams.” He pointed out special teams had some great plays during the game.

Quarterback Derek Thompson said both privately and publicly he had to do a better job under center and he stepped his game up in the UL-M victory. He had “three touchdown passes and no picks.” He’s got great talent and pride.  He is starting to elevate the players around him and the coach said “you really see that on the sidelines in that game on Saturday.” You could see it in his eyes. He never got really too high or really too low on setbacks.

Lance Dunbar went over 100 yards in the game and has become the 25^th player in NCAA history to run for 3,000 yards and receive for 1,000 yards, he is on the verge of becoming only the sixth player in NCAA history to run for 4,000 yards and receive for over 1,000. Even though he has set records and has a chance to break and set more records, the coach said the most important to Dunbar is winning.He still is not at 100% even though it may not have looked like it during the game and his final big run.

The defense continues to improve. McCarney stated he saw the progress by the defense even during the early losses in the season. Under Defensive Coordinator Clint Bowen the players are beginning to “understand our system.”

Right now North Texas has three of the top sack guys in the Sun Belt Conference with Brandon McCoy, Brandon Akpunku and Julian Herron. They are part of the temperament and tenacity the coaches are trying to teach everyone on the team.

One of the reasons North Texas is 14^th in the nation and first in the conference with 23 sacks is Akpunku.  He is also tackling people behind the line of scrimmage which means the opponents not only lose the down they lose the yardage.  While he is injured, McCarney stated he is not ruled out of the game against Arkansas State University this coming Saturday. It is a day to day situation.

The good news is Matt Tomlinson and Jeremy Phillips will be available  for Saturday’s game. The coaching staff will watch them practice this week to make a decision about how to use them this weekend.

North Texas missed a field goal by Zack Olen at the end of the first half.  McCarney stated he talked to Olen during halftime, he did not yell at him because he felt that would not do any good. He said “I said you are going to help us win this game.” It seemed his 46 yard field goal in the second half seemed to start the onslaught of points by North Texas. The coach feels confident in Olen because he hits those field goals in practice so they know he can do it in game situations. It just some breakdowns on the unit they are going to fix.

McCarney gave a hand to his coaches wives for the help they give the program. He mentioned they do not see a lot of their husbands during the football season and he appreciated them.

One area the team is having problems with is playing on the road. At University of Louisiana-Lafayette, North Texas played even ball until the fourth quarter which was encouraging. “Were going to have to be at our best this weekend” and carry that winning attitude they have gotten at Apogee Stadium and carry it to ASU. It is a key to a winning season.

North Texas leads the conference in turnover margin with a plus six and is in the top three in fewest penalties. If North Texas can continue holding onto the ball to prevent turnovers and doesn’t beat themselves with penalties they will win more games.  “We had the two of the dumbest [penalties] in the history of coaching I ever saw” against ULM. He was referring to running into the kicker and running into the punt returner. According to the coach neither should have happened and the coaches are going to have to teach the players better to get a handle on those types of penalties.

UNT had three penalties in the game, those two mentioned plus a delay of game which the coach took for better punting position.

The attendance is standing at 20% ahead of last year.  To break the all time attendance record, only 15,000 or more fans are needed for each of the remaining games.

McCarney mentioned the great turnout for the pep rally on Friday night. While past coaches may have only brought several players or leaders to the rally he stated he was going to bring the whole team.

On the opening kick-off, special teams gave up the 100 yard kick-off return for a touchdown. McCarney stated two players basically took the wrong angle to the runner. However, the runner was a fast one, he place third last year in the NCAA in track.

 Will Atterberry continues to lead the conference in punting.  Offensive Lineman Troy Kokjohn has been doing special things on special teams and will be the Special Teams Captain this Saturday.

Preparation is the key to winning games on the road. The coaches have to teach the team on how to eliminate the distractions coming from the other team and their fans. They do something weird during timeouts where the entire team goes to the sideline. His team has to be able to ignore it otherwise it could become a distraction.

 ASU is undefeated in the Sun Belt and looking for the conference crown and a trip to a bowl. They have no intentions of getting beat by North Texas. In order to win this game, North Texas has to play perfect football, especially in the kicking game.

One of the things McCarney wanted to find out before he took over the program was which team was North Texas’s rival. There is no rivalry when the teams have been beating up on North Texas has they have over the last few years. Hopefully, with a win against ASU on Saturday, it could turn into a big rivalry for the two teams.