McCarney felt when it came to the Sun Belt Conference football teams North Texas has faced this year he felt the top two were ASU and University of Lafayette-Louisiana.

Quarterback Derek Thompson was injured on the first series of plays on second down and was a result of poor protection from one of the offensive lineman.  “It wasn’t the actual hit in the chin he got” that resulted in the concussion it was when Thompson’s head hit the turf.

Freshman Quarterback Andrew McNulty came in for Thompson and the offense seemed to stumble. McCarney stated that should not matter who came in. The team has to win games as a team and the team as a whole did not play well when McNulty came in.

When a player gets injured there are a battery of tests the coaches use to determine if the player should come back into the game. Whey Thompson was asked who the Texas Rangers were playing in the World Series, he did not remember so he was headed to the bench and he was not going to be put back in the game.

 McCarney said back when he played football and players got hit in the head, no matter how hard they were hit, the players got back into the game and there was no talk about injuries. He agreed with the medical professions progress concerning injuries and the safety they promote.

While Thompson still has some headaches and some soreness he looks to be ready for next week’s game.

Unfortunately, Zack Orr is going to require surgery and will be out for the season.  “Huge loss,” McCarney stated about losing Orr. When they brought him off the field they were hoping it was a bad contusion because he could put some weight on his leg. The onsite X-Ray machine revealed he had a fracture.  Even with the injury, because he is a sophomore, he still has a lot of playing time left in his college career and “he’ll have the chance to be a three time captain.” McCarney stated he is a vocal leader on and off the field and is important to the team. Orr should be back by spring ball.

With the loss of Orr, McCarney stated “someone has to step up.”   The question is will it be Will Wright, Jeremy Phillips or Derek Akunne? “Those guys have to fill a huge void right now.”

ASU Head Football Coach Hugh Freeze stated on the Sun Belt Conference Call the first half of the North Texas game was the best his team has played all year and McCarney said he had to agree with the comment.

When ASU faked the field goal and ran it in for the touchdown, McCarney said there were several things that happened. It was a huge play in the game, North Texas had one player screened by the referee and another did not make the stop but in the end ASU executed better then North Texas.

Arkansas State uses a lot of cut blocking which is hard to get a team prepared for. With the exception of one, which North Texas turned in, all the cut blocks were legal. Cut blocks are not the same as chop blocking where one player holds a player high and then another player comes in to hit him low. Cut blocks are outlawed by the NCAA because of injuries. When it comes to cut blocking there are areas a player can’t cut block and areas they can.  

It is hard to practice against cut blocks because during practice a team could put their own players in the hospital. So, the team uses bags or shows the technique on tapes so the players can be aware of “what is coming.”  Still, it is not the same as seeing the opponent coming full speed to make the block. McCarney said he doesn’t like cut blocking.

 McCarney mentioned another team that uses a lot of cut blocking is Navy. Cut blocking is used when a team does not have big lineman. It slows defensive players down because the defensive player has to put his hands down to protect himself. The end result is you don’t have to knock a player on his back to be successful.

North Texas had three good drives in the second half, two resulting in touchdowns and one ended with an interception. It shows North Texas did not lie down but fought hard to get back into the game. The touchdowns were not against the second or third team defenses, the starters were in. So the touchdowns were well earned.

“We don’t like losing, not of us do. This isn’t fun for any of us.” The players were not in the locker room worried about whether they are getting chicken or pizza on the bus ride home. The players and the coaches are not taking the losses lightly. “This stuff hurts. We hate it, we don’t like it.”

At halftime he told the team there is a lot of character in the room but when they played like they did in the first half they did not show much character. He told them he knows they care, the coaches care and he wanted them to go out in the second half and play with pride.  So it was no surprise to him that “they responded” and got the scores.

Lance Dunbar recorded a tough 90 yards which the best output a running back has had against ASU all season long. Dunbar needs 129 yards to “become only the sixth player in the history of the game, THE HISTORY OF THE GAME, to rush for 4,000 yards and have 1,000 yards receiving.”  He only needs about 180 yards to become the all time leading rusher in North Texas history and surpass Patrick Cobb.

 McNulty will be ready to play if Thompson isn’t able to play. Because of McNulty being thrown into tough game situations it has helped him to become a better player. It has built his confidence in his playing abilities, increased the coaches’ confidence in him and has increased the teams confidence in him. 

Thompson should be ready for next week’s game at Troy and has been in the coaches office the last couple of days telling the coach he is ready. McCarney said he believes in Thompson and knows he is a competitor.  

Troy’s game has been moved to a noon kick-off and has become a national game. It gives North Texas a lot more national exposure. McCarney said he loves the early afternoon games and has a great winning percentage in early games. He is not overlooking Troy’s record because they have a lot of good players and they have the #1 passer in the league.

North Texas has some clear indications they are improving such as being plus seven in turnovers. That puts North Texas in the top 15 in the nation. McCarney said they practice to “respect the ball” no matter what position a player is playing. He preaches during practices when you carry the ball you carry the whole team.

Having the plus in turnovers is important however when North Texas starts to score on defense it will lead to more wins. Right now North Texas leads the conference with 24 sacks. Akpunku is still the conference leader in sacks following by Brandon McCoy at number five and McCarney thought Julian Herrion was between number ten to eleven.

Special teams is doing a good job and improving. They do have some areas to work on but in other areas there isn’t much improvement needed. Some of the best of the special teams players are playing without scholarships like Lynrick Pleasant, Colton Clay and Mike Marshall. If North Texas could bring in players like them with the same toughness, courage and better speed they are going to help North Texas win more games.

McCarney stated the quarterback situation is clear from practices. Thompson “clearly, clearly is the number one quarterback,” McNulty clearly is number two and number three is Brent Osborne. The decisions are based on how a quarterback moves the team downfield during practices, how he “takes care of the football. Can I emphasis that again? Take care of the football.”  I trust my coaches and “it’s not like we are trying to put guys on the field to get our butts beat.”

They have altered their practice schedule this week since it is a bye week and the coaches will have Saturday off since they have not had a week off since July.

In order to win on the road the team is “going to have to get off to a great start.” North Texas is going to have to win the turnover margin. When looking at the teams North Texas has played on the road this season they have a total combined record of 31-9 and McCarney thinks they all will be in post season play.  North Texas is going to have to be a real confident on the road and “our playmakers have to make plays over their playmakers.”

As for the home games, McCarney has been encouraged by the hometown crowds and with two good crowds at the last two games could set an all time fan attendance record at North Texas.