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North Texas is coming off the bye week after having traveled to Southern Miss and defeated the Golden Eagles 43-28. Right now the Mean Green offense is on a roll where they are putting up unbelievable numbers averaging 38.8 points per game.
UTSA comes to Denton, TX after suffering its first loss in the season to the same team North Texas had just defeated the week prior, 31-29. The Runners always play the Mean Green with a chip on their shoulder as they’re always trying to prove they belong.
North Texas controls its destiny at the moment where the true Mean Green sit at 2-0. UTSA and LaTech both suffered losses in Week 6 making North Texas the only team in the West Division without a conference loss
Make no bones about it, this will be a tough game for the Mean Green. UTSA owns the series between the two schools, 3-1. Winning this game will help balance the series out but more importantly, keep the Mean Green in hunt for a first ever division title in Conference USA.
It’s finally UTSA hate week everyone. Time to put that community college in San Antonio back in their place. #UNT #GMG #BeatUTSA
— Austin Rodgers (@AustinFromUNT) October 9, 2017
2017 C-USA Standings
| West Division | Conference | Overall |
|---|---|---|
| North Texas | 2-0 | 3-2 |
| UAB | 1-1 | 3-2 |
| Louisiana Tech | 1-1 | 3-3 |
| Southern Mississippi | 1-1 | 3-2 |
| Rice | 1-1 | 1-5 |
| UT San Antonio | 0-1 | 3-1 |
| UTEP | 0-2 | 0-6 |
UTSA Vitals (3-1 0-1)
| First season | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Frank Wilson 2nd season, 9–7 (.563) |
| Location | San Antonio, Texas |
| Conference | Conference USA |
| Division | West |
| All-time record | 32–38 (.457) |
| Bowl record | 0–1 (.000) |
University of North Texas Vitals (3-2 2-0)
| First season | 1913 |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Seth Littrell 2nd season, 7–10 (.412) |
| Stadium | Apogee Stadium (Capacity: 30,850) |
| Year built | 2011 |
| Field surface | Field Turf |
| Location | Denton, Texas |
| Conference | Conference USA |
| Division | West |
| All-time record | 493–490–33 (.501) |
| Bowl record | 3–6 (.333) |
| Conference titles | 24 |
Offense
Advantage: North Texas. The Mean Green sport an offense that leads Conference USA in many offensive statistical categories (Points per Game, Scoring Offense, Average Total Yards per Game, Average Passing Yards per Game, and Passing Touchdowns). If the North Texas offense isn’t first, more often than not, they are in the top 5. The UTSA defense will have a tough game ahead of themselves as North Texas has proven if you attempt to focus on one play-maker, another play-maker steps up.
UTSA has a good offense as well and but many of those stats come against not so good teams. USM out rushed UTSA (246-102) while UTSA had more passing yards (367-212). The Mean Green secondary will be tested early and often by the the Sturm/Stewart combination who accounted for 101 yards and a touchdown.
Mason More Than Fine
Mason Fine currently sits with a total of 3,014 passing yards in his career. To make the Top 10, he only needs 26 yards to supplant Ken Washington, which he can possibly get in his first pass completion against the UTSA Road Runners. In fact, Fine could easily move into 9th place or perhaps even 8th place if he throws for 225 or more yards against the Runners. It will be interesting to see where he finishes the season as it relates to the All Time Top 10 in Career Passing Yards.
| Career Passing Yards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Seasons | Total Yards |
| 1 | Mitch Maher | 1991-94 | 8,519 |
| 2 | Derek Thompson | 2009-13 | 7,447 |
| 3 | Steve Ramsey | 1967-69 | 7,076 |
| 4 | Scott Davis | 1987-90 | 6,923 |
| 5 | Scott Hall | 2000-04 | 5,975 |
| 6 | Giovanni Vizza | 2007-08 | 5,146 |
| 7 | Jason Mills | 1994-97 | 3,981 |
| 8 | Vidal Carlin | 1965-66 | 3,233 |
| 9 | Riley Dodge | 2008-10 | 3,187 |
| 10 | Ken Washington | 1974-77 | 3,040 |
Defense
Advantage: UTSA. UTSA has a solid defense but was exposed by Southern Miss to not be as good as advertised due to a weaker schedule. Regardless, they will have their work cut out for themselves against one of the top offenses in the conference with a balanced North Texas rushing and passing attack. Jeffery Wilson is likely licking his chops after the fact that UTSA gave up 246 rushing yards to USM, with 178 yards going to Senior Ito Smith.
The Mean Green secondary is the weakest unit in the defense and has gotten torched several times resulting in long touchdowns. The run defense has been pretty stout and will be working to keep the UTSA leading rusher, Jalen Rhodes (91.5 YPG/3 TDs), under control. Sturm is a solid passer and has numerous receivers to spread the ball around to.
Special Teams
Advantage: Push. Both teams have decent Special Teams units. Trevor “Mr. Reliable” Moore is perfect on his career in PAT kicks and is 9 of 10 on field goal attempts (48 yds long) this season.
UTSA’s Jared Sackett is 7 out of 7 on field goal attempts and 13 of 14 on PAT attempts for the season.
Both teams have decent kickoff and punting units and have posted about the same numbers. North Texas has two muffed punts on the stat sheet but has shown improvement since then. North Texas did have an amazing return by Evan Johnson that helped set up the game winning field goal against the UAB Blazers.
Media
TV: 
Radio: KNTU 88.1, KHYI 95.3 FM, KGAF 1580 AM, and TuneIn Radio
Stats: Mean Green Sports