North Texas Daily

1) Deja Vu

Down 20-0 in Boca Raton, the Mean Green found themselves in an almost identical place as six weeks ago. Florida Atlantic University scored early, North Texas looked shell-shocked and never really recovered. Last time, the excuse was the Mean Green were overly confident and underprepared. This time the Owls simply overmatched them. The only difference was the fact FAU took their foot off the gas in the second half, letting North Texas a little momentum and false sense of hope.

2) Offensive line struggles

The offense in general struggled all game but it started with the offensive line. Sophomore quarterback Mason Fine was sacked nine times in the game and constantly found himself running for his life or throwing it away. Their run blocking was not much better, as North Texas was never able to establish its ground game. Junior left tackle Jordan Murray struggled with the edge rush of junior defensive end Hunter Snyder who was in Fine’s face virtually all afternoon.

3) Kiffin’s offense made it look easy

FAU running back Devin Singletary single-handedly shattered the hopes of the Mean Green defense early and often. Singletary finished with 164 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. However, the Owls passing game was even more productive than their rushing game. Junior quarterback Jason Driskel amassed 269 yards and one touchdown on just 15-of-27 passing. They sprinkled in some trick plays and plenty of wildcat formations with Singletary at quarterback, all of which seemed to work, especially in the first half.

4) Wilson!

While senior running back Jeffery Wilson might not have made the difference between winning and losing, his presence on the field would have at least had a calming presence on the offense. We know what Wilson can do with the ball, but his blocking could have helped even more against the FAU pass rush. Freshman Nic Smith had a decent outing with 50 yards on 14 carries, but Wilson’s explosiveness and strength was missed by this struggling offense.

5) It could have been worse

Lane Kiffin said that it should have been 40-0 at halftime instead of 20-0 and he was probably right. The Owls dismantled North Texas in the first half and never trailed in the game. Last time we said the 69-31 score was closer than it should have been and the same is true this time around. North Texas had some chances to cut the deficit to two possessions in the second half, but was never able to get over the hump. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.