CSJ’s 2018 Week 3 Game Preview: North Texas at Arkansas
North Texas at Arkansas
When: Saturday, September 15, 3:00 PM CDT
Where: Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, AR
TV/Streaming: SEC Network Alternate
North Texas Mean Green (2-0, 0-0 C-USA) – Week 2 W 58-16 vs. Incarnate Word
North Texas scored the most points in its first two games in program history, registered consecutive 400-yard passing games by a quarterback for the first time, and is 2-0 for the first time since 1994.
The two coaches in this one have played against each other and the Mean Green’s Coach Seth Littrell is 0-2 against Arkansas’ Chad Morris, who came to Arkansas from SMU. The Mustangs beat North Texas 34-21 in Denton, Texas, on Sept. 13, 2016, in Littrell’s head coaching debut. Last year’s game in Dallas was a shootout, with the Mustangs taking a 54-32 victory.
Key Player: QB Mason Fine has already thrown for 872 yards and seven touchdowns with just one interception. He will need to avoid the picks and the team will need to be turnover free to win this one at home.
Fantasy Bonus Baby: Fine should see some very good numbers and may have to throw it a lot to keep up with an angry Razorbacks squad.
Arkansas Razorbacks (1-1, 0-0 SEC) – Week 2 – L 34-27 at Colorado State
The Hogs are coming off a road loss to Colorado State where Arkansas gave up a late score to succumb to its first loss to sit at 1-1 overall.
Arkansas is 9-0 all-time against the Mean Green in a series that dates back to a 12-0 victory in Little Rock in 1947. The two teams have not met since 2007 when the Arkansas rolled 66-7.
Key Player: RB Devwah Whaley is coming off the best performance of his career after running for 165 yards on 26 carries and scoring a touchdown for the eighth consecutive game. Look for the ground game to keep the high scoring Mean Green offense off the field.
Fantasy Bonus Baby: Whaley will be the workhorse for the Hogs in this one and should get over 100 yards in what should be a high scoring game.
Fearless Prediction: Losing to a 0-2 Colorado State team gives little confidence in Arkansas coming into this game. North Texas is averaging 52 points a game and more than 450 yards passing. The Mean Green also blew out Chad Morris’ former SMU team in Week 1. While 52 points might not be what they get in this one, UNT should have enough to pull off the upset on the road. North Texas 38, Arkansas 31
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
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