North Texas still target
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com
July 18, 2004
The Sun Belt Conference has only known one champion in football.
The North Texas Mean Green has captured each of the league’s championships, winning in 2001, 2002 and 2003, with Darrell Dickey the Coach of the Year every year.
UL Lafayette fans are familiar with that kind of performance, since the Ragin’ Cajun softball program has ruled that sport since the Sun Belt hopped aboard in 2000.
But the two sports diverge at this point.
While there have been other softball programs following the Cajuns’ lead into NCAA Tournament play, no one has matched the Mean Green in football.
The league only has one postseason bowl bid, the New Orleans Bowl, and until someone steps up and challenges UNT on the field, the Sun Belt will not be considered a solid football league.
Established football conferences have multiple teams heading for bowls, with the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten usually leading the parade.
Conference USA, the Mid-America Conference and others also go bowling far more frequently than Sun Belt members.
On Monday, we’re going to get an idea whether anyone can break through the UNT blockade when Sun Belt Conference football coaches gather for annual media day activities in New Orleans.
But, be warned, it doesn’t look promising.
North Texas was 7-0 in conference in 2003, three games ahead of any other member, and has won 18 straight SBC games.
The Mean Green were the only team to allow fewer than 300 points last year (285), strengthening the idea that defense wins championships.
They had so many good defenders that nose tackle Brandon Kennedy was Player of the Year in the Sun Belt and linebacker Chris Hurd was Defensive Player of the Year.
Hurd and 15 other starters are back, as are 42 lettermen.
UNT was the only program to outscore the opposition (358-285).
Come to think of it, the Mean Green was the only Sun Belt team to even have a winning record at 9-4 counting a 27-17 loss to Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl. The rest were a combined 23-61.
It’s no surprise, then, that national analysts don’t think too much of the Sun Belt. Most of the members are ranked down around the 110’s, and some are just a touchdown ahead of 1-AA teams.
Can anyone make a dent in the North Texas parade? For now, let’s try for a winning season for someone else before we can try to unseat the champions.
Coach Rickey Bustle’s UL Ragin’ Cajuns finished strong in 2003, winning four of their last five games and tying Middle Tennessee for second in the league at 4-3, so they could be in line for more dramatic improvement.
If UL can improve, the Nov. 5 UNT visit to Cajun Field will be worth the 9 p.m. TV kickoff.
Sooner or later, somebody’s got to knock off the Mean Green.
The Lafayette Daily Advertiser
July 18, 2004
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