UNT hoping to carry over momentum from winning streak last year into opener at UTEP

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This game is currently pickem l couldn’t get an opposing article on UTEP because you need to be a subscriber to view those bastards.


North Texas ended the 2021 regular season a few months ago on quite a run.
The Mean Green rolled off five straight wins in Conference USA play and knocked off UTSA, which was unbeaten and nationally ranked at the time, in both teams’ regular-season finale.
A lot has transpired since. UNT fell to Miami (Ohio) in the Frisco Football Classic. Seth Littrell has shuffled his coaching staff.

The hope as the Mean Green prepare for their season opener on Saturday at UTEP is that the form they found in the closing weeks of last year will remain the same.
UNT shifted its focus away from the passing attack that carried the Mean Green during the height of the Mason Fine era and turned its attention to the running game.
UNT averaged 283 rushing yards per game during its winning streak. What was even more important was the focus the Mean Green showed during that stretch.
UNT didn’t make nearly the same number of mistakes it did early in the season and jelled as a team. The Mean Green have several of the key leaders who helped with that process back, including linebacker KD Davis and quarterback Austin Aune.
Those players have tried to help UNT focus on picking up where it left off. The Mean Green’s run included a thrilling 20-17 win over UTEP on an Ethan Mooney field goal in the closing seconds.

Aune thrilled to make first season-opening start​

Austin Aune has waited a long time to start the opening game of a season.
More than a decade, to be exact.

The UNT quarterback started the opener of his senior season at Argyle in 2011. Aune spent six years playing minor league baseball and made a short stop at Arkansas before landing at UNT.
He has thrown for 3,777 yards and 23 touchdowns while playing in 23 games and starting 12 since.Aune threw for 1,991 yards and nine touchdowns last season. He vowed to work in the spring and summer to become a better player.
UNT is hoping that work will help Aune continue his growth this year, beginning at UTEP. One of Aune’s biggest moments last season came in UNT’s win over the Miners.
Aune hit Detraveon Brown for a 58-yard gain that put the Mean Green in position for Ethan Mooney’s game-winning field goal.

UNT preparing for crowd​

UTEP is on the verge of selling out the Sun Bowl, a venue that seats just short of 46,000, for its season opener against UNT.
The school launched a campaign several weeks ago to promote ticket sales. Those efforts are paying off and will likely have the Mean Green playing in front of a packed house.
The challenge is one UNT’s coaches and players are preparing to face.

UNT hoping to carry over momentum from winning streak last year into opener at UTEP

North Texas ended the 2021 regular season a few months ago on quite a run.

dentonrc.com

 

[Headsterx]

I just clicked to see who in the hell is UNT.

 

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Well their basketball team were 25-7 last year. Kind of put them on the map.

 

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Week 0 of the 2022 NCAA college football season includes a showdown between the North Texas Mean Green and UTEP Miners. North Texas hopes the new campaign starts better than the previous one. While the Mean Green won five of six games to close out the year, a 1-6 start to begin the season put them in too big of a hole to come back from.Meanwhile, it was the opposite for UTEP. The Miners had fans fired up following a 6-1 start to the year, only to go 1-5 down the stretch. With one of those final five losses coming against North Texas in Week 11, you can bet that Dana Dimel's crew is out for revenge.
Much like death and taxes, another guarantee lately has been North Texas having UTEP's number. The Mean Green are a dominant 12-3 in the last 15 meetings with their C-USA rivals. Making matters worse, the Miners haven't beaten the Mean Green since 2016, losing each of the last five head-to-head matchups.

Nevertheless, UTEP has kept things close lately. Three of the last four Mean Green vs. Miners matchups have been decided by either two or three points, showing that things tend to be close even if North Texas tends to emerge as the victor.

 

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I think UNT is the play after reading

UTEP had one of the best years in recent memory, going over .500 for the first time in more than a decade.

Miners had fans fired up following a 6-1 start to the year, only to go 1-5 down the stretch.

Thinking last year was an aberration

 

[Headsterx]

Well their basketball team were 25-7 last year. Kind of put them on the map.

There's a whole land out there outside of Texas.