North Texas Daily

Alex Lessard | Staff Writer

@alexlikechexmix

“One of the great things in life is when you can accomplish things that no one thinks you can.”

Head coach Dan McCarney stayed positive and encouraging at the third radio show of the year Monday Night at Rudy’s BBQ. For those who couldn’t listen in, here are the main points McCarney and company stressed after losing 38-24 against Rice University on Saturday.

The turnover battle

Excessive turnovers made it difficult for the Mean Green to have success once again in its second game of the season. The team fumbled the ball away to the Owls twice and threw one interception, raising its turnover total to seven on the season.

“If you don’t take care of the football, we can’t win football games,” McCarney said. “When you turn it over seven times in two games, it’s got to stop.”

On the other side of the ball, Chris Cosh’s defense failed to force a turnover for the second straight week. The unit struggled to stop the Rice offense on third down, allowing the Owls to have possession for nearly 42 minutes and put up 562 yards of offense.

“To play two games and have not intercepted a pass yet, it’s unacceptable. It’s not how we play the game,” McCarney said. “Each one of our guys should take that personal.”

The offense

After putting up only 240 yards of offense against SMU, the Mean Green offense doubled its total and had success in both the running and passing game against Rice. Leading the way was senior wide receiver Carlos Harris, who led the team with eight receptions for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

Harris and senior quarterback Andrew McNulty each stopped by for a segment of the show Monday night but didn’t get too excited about one good performance.

“You can’t get too far ahead of yourself. You have to stay humble,” Harris said. “It’s great to have successful games like I had last week, but you’ve got to continue to build and move forward.”

McNulty finished the game with 303 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 93-yard bomb to Harris in the fourth quarter. McNulty said his chemistry with Harris has been something that’s been building for a long time.

“I feel really comfortable with him out there,” McNulty said. “I have a great understanding of what he’s going to do and he’s got a good understanding of where I like to put the ball for him.”

McCarney said the offense looked much more like it did throughout training camp and practices this week, but it needs to continue to focus on fundamentals.

“It still goes back to execution, carrying to the game field what you were doing in practice,” McCarney said. “We were able to do much more of that this past Saturday, and hopefully it’s a sign of what we can do in the future.”

Preparing for Iowa

The Mean Green are faced with a tough challenge in its next game Sept. 27 on the road at the University of Iowa (3-0), the first and only matchup with a Big-10 opponent this season. The game will be a homecoming of sorts for McCarney, who began his coaching career at Iowa and was head coach at Iowa State for 13 years.

“To go up there and have a chance to defy the odds and have a chance to win a football game and put a great plan together, these are the opportunities you cherish in college football,” McCarney said.

Although North Texas will likely not be favored to win, McCarney remained hopeful that the Mean Green can battle through in a tough environment.

“All that matters is this game, this matchup, the next play, and finding a way to go win a football game,” McCarney said. “Every Saturday, wild things happen in college football.”

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