North Texas @ Middle Tennessee

Scouting Report for North Texas Mean Green (3-4) vs. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders(4-3)
October 27, 2012- Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, Murfreesboro, TN

North Texas: The Mean Green passed their first tough test against Louisiana-Lafayette last week. The Ragin' Cajuns had a 20-6 advantage in the 3rd quarter, but North Texas woke up and rallied to win the game 30-23 in Denton.

Antoinne Jimmerson caught only 2 passes. However, both of those catches led to touchdowns. The first reception gave UNT it's first touchdown (28 YDs in the 3rd) and the second was the go ahead score late in the 4th (78 YDs). Brelan Chancellor recorded 105 all purpose yards, including a 10 yard rush that tied the game at 20. Brandin Byrd and Jeremy Brown combined for 160 yards on the ground on 33 carries. Derek Thompson (17-28, 282 YDS and 2 TD) found Ivan Delgado 5 times for 84 yards.

The defense held it's own. With exception to Terrence Broadway's rushing for 84 yards on the ground (including 75 yard TD run in the second quarter), the rest of the Cajun running game had 22 yards. Louisiana had two turnovers courtesy of Zach Orr (early 2nd quarter) and a Effrem Reed fumble to seal the game.

Middle Tennessee: The Blue Raiders were hoping for another upset on the road (beat Georgia Tech 49-28 in Atlanta). Through the first half, Middle Tennssee kept the score to a one possesion game at 10-3. But with 9:30 to go in the 3rd quarter, Mississippi State's offense woke up and scored 21 points. The Bulldogs added another 2 touchdowns to take down Middle Tennessee 45-3.

Their only score came when Mississippi State's Devon Walker missed a 35 yard field goal with 9:46 remaining. The Blue Raiders took 4:40 off the clock and added a Carlos Lopez field goal from 32 yards out. Logan Kilgore had a pretty good outing (16-25, 159 YDS) until the Bulldog defense picked him off (Jonathan Banks).After the interception (led to a touchdown pass from Tyler Russell to Chris Smith), they forced Kilgore to lose a fumble which resulted in another Russell touchdown pass (this time to Robert Johnson). Jordan Parker and Reggie Whatley combined for 114 yards on 19 carries. Anthony Amos had 6 catches for 93 yards.

Mississippi State's O-Line just pushed the Blue Raider defense arond all game long. The secondary gave up 215 yards in the air and the D-Line gave up 231 yards on the ground. One bright spot was Shubert Bastien. Bastien had a sack and forced fumble on Russell early in the game (recovered by the Bulldogs).

What to watch for: North Texas' defensive line will need to maintain their physical style against the run game. It might be easier said than done with Middle Tennessee running back Benny Cunningham (600 yards on 97 carries for 11 touchdowns)out for the season with a knee injury. Also, the offense will need to be a lot more disciplined. All 5 of the Mean Green's penalties came off their side of the ball.

Conclusion: After getting blown out in Starkville, the Blue Raiders will be reeling. Which means that they are going to be much more physical when they play North Texas. The Mean Green can play tough, but if they have a game like they did against the Ragin' Cajuns, that could spell a loss. With that said, this game has a chance to be close. However, if North Texas doesn't treat Middle Tennessee like a team that has a wounded animal mentality, then the Mean Green will be 1-4 on the road.

Prediction: North Texas by 9.

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