Every team has that one game during the season which they would like to forget. That game happened last Saturday in Florida for North Texas.
The bottom line is this – The Mean Green got trounced by Florida Atlantic. After it was all said and done, the scoreboard read 69-31, with North Texas on the losing side. Needless to say, the players were not happy with the outcome.
“It was an embarrassment,” said running back Jeffery Wilson. “I feel like we let a lot of people down. To have that happen, it was a tough one. I feel like it’s going to be a good wake up call for us at the end of the day.”
The loss dropped the Mean Green to 4-3 on the season. However, they are still hold on to first place in the Conference USA West Division with a 3-1 record. North Texas holds the tiebreaker with Southern Miss (also 3-1 in conference play) due to their win over the Golden Eagles last month.
“It was a tough loss but we have to learn from it,” said head coach Seth Littrell. “Everybody has to look in the mirror and make sure we do self-evaluation. Our team goals are still out in front of us. Being undefeated at home is one of the goals for our team. Make sure we win our bowl game is one of our missions. Giving up on your goals is like slashing the other three tires off of one flat. We’ve got to move forward. “
LIGHTING THE FIRE: The loss was an eye-opener for the Mean Green, who went to the Sunshine State riding a three-game winning streak. They were overwhelmed by the Owls, who jumped out to a 41-7 lead in the first half, scoring on all seven of its possessions in that opening half.
“We are not good like that,” said linebacker Brandon Garner. “Honestly, that’s how I took it. We’ve got to come in and be the most excited team to play. No teams are going to roll over for us. We just have to go into every game and take what’s ours.”
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The good news is North Texas still controls its own destiny in the race for the division title. The Mean Green are also two wins away from becoming bowl eligible with five games left on the regular season schedule.
“It’s the fact you’ve got to come in focused and prepared for all games,” Wilson said. “You can’t relax at any time, especially when you are a top dog, a top team in a division because there are going to be people gunning for you. Every game is beginning to be like a championship game from here on out. That’s how we have to prepare.”
DIFFERNECE BETWEEN BEING COCKY AND CONFIDENT: That was a topic during Tuesday’s media session in Denton. North Texas was on a roll and the excitement was building around the football program. One bad loss doesn’t seem to change any of that.
However, the million dollar question was whether the Mean Green got a little too cocky or overconfident going into the game against FAU and where is the line between being cocky or confident?
“That’s a very thin line,” said Garner. “Going into the FAU game, I guess we were cocky and it showed. We got beat and we got beat bad so we just got to bounce back.”
“There’s a fine line between being confident and cocky,” Littrell added. “You start getting cocky, bad things are fixing to happen. It never fails. I think we had a little too much confidence last week. We’ve got to continue to grow and get better.”
NEXT UP: The Mean Green are back on home turf Saturday against Old Dominion. The Monarchs are 2-5 overall and winless in conference play, sitting in last place in the C-USA East Division.
Dating back to last season, North Texas has won their last four games at Apogee Stadium. The Mean Green are 6-3 at home during the past two seasons under Littrell.
Kick-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in Denton.
“We know what we have to do,” Wilson added.
