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Army-North Texas Preview (Dec 27, 2016)
There will be a lot of familiarities at this year's Heart of Dallas Bowl, including the fact that Army and North Texas, the two teams squaring off on Dec. 27 at venerable Cotton Bowl Stadium on the grounds of the State Fair of Texas, have played already this season.
The Mean Green thumped Army 35-18 on Oct. 22 at West Point in a game in which the Black Knights committed seven turnovers, a dubious mark that tied for the most by any FBS team in one game this season.
North Texas, under first-year coach Sean Littrell, went 5-7 in the regular season but earned a berth in the bowl game on the strength of its Academic Progress Rate when there were not enough 6-6 or better teams eligible for the postseason. Of the 128 Football Bowl Subdivision schools, North Texas ranked 10th in APR and was second among non-eligible teams with 5-7 records.
The Mean Green will be making their first bowl appearance in three years and just their second since 2005. The last bowl game for North Texas was on Jan. 1, 2014 (after the 2013 season) when the Mean Green beat UNLV 36-14 in this bowl game (another familiarity thing).
North Texas' campus in Denton is just 48 miles from the State Fairgrounds, assuring the bowl of a hearty green-and-white-clad contingent in the stands.
The five wins for the Mean Green are their most since 2013 and mark only the third time in the last 13 seasons that North Texas has won five or more games (2004, 2013 and 2016). The Mean Green were 1-11 in 2015.
North Texas' chance to play in the Heart of Dallas Bowl is a credit to both the team's improvement on the field and the players' work in the classroom.
"We set a goal of winning a bowl game early on in our work last spring and we are fortunate to have this opportunity," Littrell said. "We didn't feel like we could get in this way, but we did -- and we will take it. It gives us another great opportunity to really accomplish the mission."
North Texas improved both its offensive scoring average and defensive scoring average this season. The season before Littrell and his staff arrived, the Mean Green scored an average of 15.2 points per game and allowed an average of 41.2 points per game, a difference of 26.0 points per game. This season North Texas averaged 24.2 points on offense and allowed 32.2 points on defense, a difference of just 8.0 points per game.
The Mean Green's offense scored 109 more points than last year's team while the defense surrendered 109 fewer points than the 2015 squad.
Army (7-5) also enjoyed a resurgence in 2016, posting its best record in six years. Its regular season was capped by a win against Navy that snapped a 14-game losing streak to the Midshipmen. The Heart of Dallas Bowl will be the Black Knights' first postseason appearance since 2010.
Army won just six games in 2014 and 2015 combined, but the Black Knights won its first three games this season, including a season-opening triumph over eventual American Athletic Conference champion Temple. Army's seven victories are its most in six seasons, and a win against North Texas would mean at least eight wins for the first time in 20 years.
"For anybody who plays football at this level playing in a bowl game is kind of a measure of success and our kids are just thrilled with the sense of accomplishment," said Army's third-year coach Jeff Monken. "Each of the teams I have been a part of here has had a bowl game as a goal, and I am so glad for our guys that they were able to earn this opportunity."
Things will have to change from the first time North Texas and Army played for the Black Knight to have a chance in the bowl game. But Army is riding a crest of momentum, and Monken was sure to say the loss to the Mean Green earlier this season was a low point for his team.
"We turned the ball over far too many times to win a football game," he said. "If we're going to have a chance to win, we're going to have do a better job of executing and correct some of those mistakes."
