Troy expects North Texas to put up a fight

TROY — North Texas enters Saturday’s game at Troy in a familiar place — at the bottom of the Sun Belt standings.

But this Mean Green team is different, Trojan players say. Instead of being blown out in league games, UNT has lost two heartbreakers in the last two weeks to Florida Atlantic and UL-Lafayette. UNT held late leads in both games.

UNT (1-5, 0-3 Sun Belt) comes to Troy (4-2, 3-0) Saturday at 2:30 p.m. It’s the third year under head coach Todd Dodge, and while the Mean Green have won just one league game in that span, the results this year have been better. UNT opened the year with a win at Ball State, but has lost five straight.

“They believe they can win and their mentality has changed,” Troy linebacker Bear Woods said. “They’re so close to breaking through and winning some games. We’re not going to allow them to come in here and figure out how to win against us.

“It’s going to be a lot like the FIU game. They’re a team that’s very capable of beating us, but if we play like we’re supposed to play, we should maintain (our success).”

Lance Dunbar, who leads the Sun Belt in rushing at 103.8 yards per game, has been a machine lately, running for 238 yards in a 44-40 loss to FAU and 187 in a 38-34 loss at ULL. UNT’s quarterbacking situation is uncertain, as freshman Riley Dodge (coach’s son) was knocked out of the FAU game with an ankle injury and is day-to-day, Todd Dodge said on the Sun Belt teleconference.

If he can’t go, 6-foot-4 junior Nathan Tune would start. Tune has thrown for 324 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Dodge, who is smaller at 6-feet and 193 pounds, has thrown for 972 yards, three touchdowns and seven interceptions while running for 209 yards.

It doesn’t matter, both of them are good,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. “Riley Dodge is good and 6 (Nathan Tune) is good. I think their front is better and No. 5 (Dunbar), their running back, is good.

“We’ve got to make sure we bring the defense to the field. They can move the football with anybody.”

‘    Blakeney said the UNT offensive line has been the key to success, giving Troy’s talented front seven a challenge. The last time UNT came to Troy, in 2007, Troy sacked UNT’s quarterback seven times.

“Our defense, we show up on big games,” Woods said. “We show up against good offenses. You’re right, they haven’t played our defense. It’ll be a great challenge for them and another challenge for us to go against them.

“If (quarterbacks) ever try to run the ball, we’re going to hit them or let them know we’re coming.”

Defensively, UNT will likely key on Jerrel Jernigan, who caught nine passes for 123 yards in last year’s game before leaving with a knee injury. Jernigan showed he’s recovered from that last week, as he had 97 yards receiving and a highlight-reel touchdown catch in the first half of a 42-33 win at FIU.

“Jerrel’s a pretty noted figure around here and on everyone else’s bulletin board,” Blakeney said. “He’s been dinged up and fought his way through it. He’s a pretty courageous guy. He had a lot of explosive plays for us.”

With that, Jernigan expects to see a lot of green jerseys around him Saturday.

“If they watch the film on me from last week, this week I’ll probably have two or three guys on me, so I’ll be looking forward to it,” he said.