Photo Courtesy: jmcstrav
By DaVince “Dino” Wright
Game Info
University of North Texas Mean Green vs Southern Methodist University Mustangs
Saturday – September 11 – 6:00 p.m.
TV: ESPN+
Gerald J. Ford Stadium – Dallas, TX
Records Before the Game
UNT Mean Green (1-0)
SMU Mustangs (1-0)
Both teams are 1-0! North Texas beat a decent Northwestern State last week by 30 points. SMU opened their 2021 season with a blow out win over Abilene Christian by 47 points. Questions are looming over both teams’ “cake walk” victories over two smaller schools. This week SMU will have their hands full with North Texas coming to Dallas looking for their second win of the season. Let’s take a look at both team and keys to victory.
UNT Mean Green
Last week UNT’s QB Jace Ruder played a pretty nice game under center for the Mean Green. He had 131 passing yards and a touchdown. He threw two interceptions in key points of the game which allowed NW State to score easy points deep into UNT’s end zone. Look for running back Deandre Torrey to get at least 20-25 carries on the road. Last week he carried the ball 25 times and racked up 244 yards and three touchdowns averaging, 9.8 yards a carry. Wide out Roderic Burns caught six passes for 114 yards and a touchdown. This team is dangerous on both sides of the ball.
SMU Mustangs
SMU spanked Abilene Christian last week! The Mustangs came out running the ball and ACU didn’t have an answer on defense. I’m not the guy to belittle a team just because they lost big, but they have talented players. SMU has more talent in key positions. Junior QB Tanner Mordecai for example proved that he can get the ball down the field. Last week he passed for 317 yards and 7 touchdowns. His QBR was 92.9 and he’s just getting started. UNT’s defense struggled last year against mobile quarterbacks. He will be key this week. The Mustang defense has to play stingy because UNT’s offense looked really good last week.
Prediction
ESPN has the Mustangs with a 85.6% chance of winning at home. The over/under is 73.5 so take the under. This week both teams’ defense will have to prove that they can stop the opposition especially in the red zone. I’m taking SMU by 10!
Final Score
SMU – 31
UNT – 21
