North Texas: Are The Mean Green Who We Thought They Were?

The Mean Green is two games in,  with two completely different results. A drubbing by Texas in the opener, and an absolute blowout of SMU leaves us wondering: How good is this 2014 edition of North Texas football actually?

With the BYU blowout of Texas, there's even more question for this team. Make no mistake, SMU is heading for an 0-12 season. But Texas could be at anywhere from 5-7 to 9-3, which makes one wonder how good the Mean Green actually are, due to the fact that the same Texas D who allowed 28 points in the 3rd quarter to the Cougars, forced North Texas QB's into a negative quarterback rating.

Some observations:

• Josh Greer looked a lot more comfortable against SMU. Nine for 12 passing for 86 yards is still not a great game, but Greer looked a lot more comfortable in the pocket, including tossing a great TD pass to Darvin Kidsy that was called back. Greer won't become any sort of game changer , but he could ascend to the level Derek Thompson performed at last year.
• Reggie Pegram is back. After an ACL injury left him sidelined for most of the year last year, Pegram has returned with a vengeance, capping it off with touchdown run in the first quarter against the Ponies, where three SMU defenders were on his back. His 81 yards were a big factor in UNT controlling the clock (and the game) in the blowout.
• Deion Sanders Jr. walks and dresses just like his dad. Nothing more to see here, other than Junior Prime Time was the only one wearing Under Armour, and walks with that same swagger that daddy did at FSU. He only gained 75 yards of total offense, but keep a lookout for this kid.
• North Texas will go as far as the defense takes it. The O doesn't inspire much, but you can see the intensity that the North Texas D plays with, and how they set the tone for the entire game. The offense isn't going to scare anyone, but the North Texas D hasn't lost a step despite losing Marcus Trice and Zach Orr, as well as the entire defensive line from last season.
• UNT/SMU will grow into a rivalry, soon. Count me as someone who thinks UNT/UTSA will become a bigger rivalry for UNT than UNT/SMU, just based on the trajectory of the football programs. You don't spend 10 pages on a message board stewing about a loss to a team that you don't consider a rival, right?

So what do we think of UNT after two games? 6-6? 4-8? 10-2?