Sun Belt Sports Fans

Two teams that took a step (or several) up in weight class on the opening weekend of the college football season get back to punching at their own weight this Saturday, when the Rice Owls travel north on I-45 to face their Lone Star State rivals, the North Texas Mean Green.  Neither the Owls nor the Mean Green fared well in their scraps with BCS league programs on the opening weekend of the season. Rice got hammered 34-17 by Texas at Reliant Stadium in Houston, while the Mean Green lost 35-10 to Clemson in Death Valley.

Rice figures to feed North Texas a steady diet of running backs Sam McGuffie and Tyler Smith, as the Mean Green gave up 246 yards rushing on 25 carries to Clemson in week one.  The Mean Green will almost certainly do the same to a Rice defense that was leaned on by the mighty Longhorns. Texas pounded the rock 46 times at Rice’s undersized front four, grinding out 197 yards and three touchdowns in the process.

At some point during this game, the Owls and Mean Green are going to have to take the air.  Coach Todd Dodge’s Mean Green have the advantage when that happens, since senior UNT quarterback Nathan Tune has the type of experience that the Owls’ quarterback-by-committee lacks. However, North Texas – as any chronicler of the Sun Belt Conference knows – has a reputation for pulling off come-from-ahead losses late in games thanks to bad interceptions and all manner of late-stage slip-ups. The Mean Green can’t enter this game thinking they have it made; that’s never been the case over the past four seasons.

Rice, for its part, acquitted itself well against Texas, staying within just 14 points of the Longhorns (24-10) by halftime and fighting all the way until the final whistle. It’s worth noting that two Rice passes should have been turned into pick-sixes for Texas, but Longhorn defensive backs dropped each of those aerials from the Owls’ rotating quarterback lineup. Neither one of these teams owns the heft and power needed to pound the other into a state of complete submission, so turnovers and quarterback play are extremely likely to tell the story in Denton, Texas.

Two more factors are worth keeping an eye on in this game. For one thing, Rice spilled the emotional tank against Texas and could very well be set up for a letdown or hangover. It’s always tough to get up for the next week’s game following the contest that absorbed your attention and energy throughout the offseason. Rice needs to enter this game mentally refreshed, or it will collapse.

A second key to follow is Mr. Dodge on the North Texas sideline. Last year, Dodge coached his son, Riley, at the quarterback position. That’s always a tough situation, as Colorado coach Dan Hawkins can attest after struggling to mentor his son Cody last year. If Dodge is in Tune with Nathan, his new signal caller that could magnify the extent to which father-son difficulties hampered UNT last season. If the absence of family tensions makes UNT’s quarterbacking really good in 2010, every Mean Green watcher will have new hope for the program going forward.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer