Andrew McNulty will enter North Texas’ bye week atop the depth chart, but he won’t be the only quarterback who will see time for the Mean Green when they face Florida Atlantic on Nov. 8.
UNT coach Dan McCarney said during his radio show this week that Dajon Williams will receive some playing time as the Mean Green look to break out of a late-season slide.
UNT dropped its fourth straight game Saturday at Rice when McNulty threw for 186 yards and a touchdown. He also threw an interception that Ryan Pollard returned 60 yards for a touchdown that helped Rice rally from a seven-point halftime deficit for a 41-21 win.
“We will do anything we can do to get our offense going, score more points, be more consistent and finish games,” McCarney said. “If that is playing one quarterback or two of them, we are going to do it.”
McCarney emphasized that he has seen a lot of positives in McNulty’s play since he became the third quarterback to start for UNT this season. UNT used Josh Greer for three games and Williams for three before turning to McNulty.
UNT asked the junior to avoid turnovers while making enough plays to get the Mean Green rolling. McNulty responded by throwing for 287 yards without turning the ball over in a loss to Southern Mississippi.
The Iowa native showed signs of building on that performance against Rice, including thowing a 51-yard touchdown pass to Carlos Harris, but also struggled at times while completing just 15 of 33 pass attempts.
The loss to Rice sent UNT back to the drawing board and left the Mean Green with their bowl hopes nearly extinguished at 2-6.
“The rest of the season, we are going to have to take it one game at a time and try to get a win,” McNulty said.
McCarney says that McNulty can help the Mean Green reach that goal.
“Andrew did some really good things,” McCarney said. “We were ahead of a team that was having a lot of success at home. We had the lead at halftime, and it was still a three-point game going into the fourth quarter.”
While McNulty has come on of late, McCarney isn’t ready to close the door on Williams, an intriguing talent who has shown flashes of potential.
“Dajon is getting better,” McCarney said. “He’s learning. The maturity factor is hard to describe sometimes when you talk about a young man and how it relates to football. Dajon is really maturing and coming on.”
The latest sign came when McNulty was drilled by Rice defensive end Graysen Schantz, a former Lake Dallas standout. Williams came in and broke free on a 20-yard run before completing a 4-yard pass to Darvin Kidsy.
McNulty quickly returned and played the rest of the game.
UNT could look at a similar scenario the rest of the season while getting both quarterbacks in games.
“There are different ways you can do it,” McCarney said. “You can look at putting Dajon on in specific situations or say we will do it on this end of the field or say this is the package, much like Chris Leak and Tim Tebow did at Florida. When one guy goes into the game, the package might be limited.”
Bye week could help players recover
The bye week could be coming at a perfect time for UNT, which has several players battling injuries.
Safety Sheldon Wade and defensive tackle Austin Orr played against Rice despite seeing very little practice time leading up to the game. Defensive end Daryl Mason also played at less than 100 percent and was UNT’s defensive MVP after finishing with seven tackles and a sack while forcing a fumble.
Wade added six tackles, while Orr posted one stop.
UNT could be close to getting key special teams contributor Rex Rollins back from a broken collarbone. Rollins saw a team doctor Monday.
Soccer
UNT aims for outright title
UNT wrapped up at least a share of the Conference USA title last week when it ran its winning streak to three with victories over Charlotte and Old Dominion.
The No. 1 seed in the conference tournament is also in the bag for the Mean Green, who have a 7-1-1 record in league play and all the tiebreakers over the Rice and UTEP, which are both a game back at 6-2-1.
The only goal left for UNT is to win the regular-season title outright, which will provide the Mean Green (13-4-1) plenty of motivation when they face Western Kentucky on Friday night in the final game of the season.
“They don’t want to share the title, and it’s senior night,” UNT coach John Hedlund said. “All the motivation is there. They also wanted to go uneaten at home in conference play.”
UNT again received a vote this week in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.
“We want it all to ourselves and don’t want to share it with Rice or anyone else,” UNT forward Rachel Holden said. “We want to win this last game for our seniors.”
Volleyball
UNT on a roll
UNT will enter a three-match road trip this weekend having won its last three matches, a run coach Andrew Palileo attributed largely to the Mean Green recovering from the tragic death of Tina Reese, the mother of setter Camille Cherry.
Reese died when a car in front of her ran over portion of a leaf spring on Fort Worth Drive, causing the metal object to bounce up and go through Reese’s windshield, striking her in the head Oct. 3.
“The last week we have emotionally gotten back into practice,” Palileo said. “We had a good set of practices. That showed over the weekend. The girls seem a little more relaxed and back into the everyday grind of playing.”
UNT (15-9) beat Florida Atlantic and Florida International to improve to 6-5 in league play will will travel to Middle Tennessee on Friday and UAB on Sunday.
