North Texas Daily

Brett Medeiros / Senior Staff Writer

In the second match-up of the season, the Mean Green football team will be tested against the University of Ohio for the first away game of the year.

Since 2009, the Bobcats (0-1) are 20-5 at home and have not lost a home opener. Ohio won bowl games each of the last two seasons, but started off the 2013 season with a massive 49-7 loss against a nationally-ranked Louisville team.

“When a team loses like Ohio lost [last week], that team is going to come out extra hungry,” senior wide receiver Darnell Smith said. “For us to have the same success as last week, we’re going to have to be on top of our game and then some.”

Last Saturday, UNT (1-0) beat the University of Idaho by 34 points. However, the players are not becoming overly confident despite the big win.

“We are not going to take any opponents lightly,” freshman center Kayden Kirby said. “Ohio is a very good team, so we’re going in to the game knowing we can be physical with them. It’s going to be a good game.”

The biggest threat for the Mean Green will be to contain the Ohio passing attack led by senior quarterback Tyler Tettleton.

In 2011, Tettleton rewrote the Bobcats record book, setting 12 different single-season school records on his way to 3306 passing yards and a combined 38 rushing and passing touchdowns.

“Ohio is a prolific offense. This is an offense that knows how to put up a lot of points and a lot of yards,” head coach Dan McCarney said. “The two main guys that have been doing it for the last few years are back again and will be there in this Saturday’s game.”

Although the two schools have only faced each other once, it was a memorable showdown. In 2009, these two teams played a double overtime thriller at Fouts Field that ended in a 31-30 Ohio victory.

However, the head coaches do have a longer history. McCarney coached Iowa State University and Ohio head coach Frank Solich ran the football team at the University of Nebraska while both schools were in the Big 12 Conference. The two have faced off seven times as head coaches over the years.

Kickoff will be tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Peden Stadium. The game will be streamed live online at espn.go.com.

Feature photo by Aidan Barrett / Senior Staff Photographer