By DaVince “Dino” Wright
American Athletic Conference Snapshot
With all of the teams across the country switching conferences over the past three seasons, the American Athletic conference been affected like all of the other conferences. Some universities are jumping to new conferences in hopes of gaining more television exposure every Saturday. The AAC is an excellent conference (not a power 5 conference though) which has some tough competition in it every year. It seems like Army, Navy, UNT and Eastern Carolina are schools that play in bowl games every year. This week UNT is playing FAU on the road in Florida. A win for the Mean Green will elevate UNT into 3rd place right behind Army and Navy. UNT is currently in 4th place in conference right behind Charlotte. UNT is also on the verge of becoming bowl eligible with 6 wins.
What to watch for
Both teams are currently on a winning streak. UNT has nice wins over Tulsa and Wyoming, while the Owls beat Wagner 41-10 last at home. There are 14 schools that make up the ACC and being at the top of the conference will be a tough task for every school. UNT is on the right track to play for a conference title and represent the conference in a bowl game in December.
Game Info
North Texas Mean Green vs Florida Atlantic Owls
Saturday – October 12 – 6:00 p.m.
TV: ESPN 2
FAU Stadium – Boca Roton, FL
North Texas Mean Green (4-1, 1-0 Conference)
UNT blasted the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 52-20. The Mean Green scored 24 points in the 2nd quarter and never looked back. Quarterback Chandler Morris passed for 439 yards on 22/34 tossing 5 touchdowns in the win. When he’s on UNT is hard to beat. Wide out Blair Conwright led all receivers with 2 receptions for 115 yards and 1 touchdown. This week the Mean Green will need to create turnovers and convert them to points. Players to watch: RB Damashja Harris, WR DT Sheffield, S Jayden Hill and S Evan Jackson.
Florida Atlantic University (2-3, 0-1 Conference)
The Owls are looking to turn the corner with a win against UNT this weekend. The Owls are led by Junior quarterback Cam Fancher. He has 707 yards passing with 2 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He’s dangerous running the ball and handing the ball off to Junior running back Zuberi Mobley makes the FAU running attack extremely difficult to stop. Don’t let their record fool you, FAU is a good team! Players to watch for: WR Omari Hayes, S CJ Heard and Phillip Dunnam.
Prediction
ESPN has the Mean Green with a 54.1% chance of winning on the road. The over/under is 58.5, take the over in this one. The line is: UNT -6.5. I’m taking UNT by 10! Right now they are the better team across the board.
Final Score
Mean Green – 34
Owls – 24