The Owls grabbed a thrilling, 44-40 decision over North Texas this past season and now have won all six matchups against the Mean Green.

The 2010 campaign has gotten off to a rough start for coach Todd Dodge and his Mean Green. North Texas has dropped its first three matchups this year and dating back to last season, they have suffered seven consecutive losses. North Texas opened the year with a 35-10 loss on the road against Clemson, and followed that with a heartbreaking, 32-31 setback to Rice at home. It got worse this past weekend, as the Mean Green were blanked by Army, 24-0.

The Owls were not in action this past weekend, but so far Florida Atlantic has performed well. In the team's opener, the Owls went to UAB and left with a thrilling, 32-31 victory. In their second contest, the Owls traveled to Detroit to take on Michigan State at Ford Field. FAU fought hard, but by the final whistle, the Owls were on the wrong end of a 30-17 decision.

The winless start for North Texas has plenty to do with the ineffectiveness of an offense that is posting just 13.7 ppg. This unit after three games has posted just five touchdowns, but has committed seven turnovers.

The quarterback position has been a revolving door, with three different players seeing action. Nathan Tune, who was the best of the three, dislocated his hip against Rice and will miss the remainder of the season.

Without Tune the Mean Green went with Riley Dodge and Derek Thompson against Army, but neither were effective, as Dodge completed less than 50.0 percent of his throws for just 63 yards, while Thompson was worse finishing with 43 yards and one interceptions.

The ground game was not much better in the loss to the Black Knights, as coach Todd Dodge's guys posted just 95 yards. Lance Dunbar, who grabbed five passes for 44 yards, also led the ground game with 42 yards on 12 totes. Through three games, Dunbar has been the main source of production out of the backfield, as the tailback is leading the way with 263 yards on 5.1 ypc.

On top of the lack of success offensively, the Mean Green have also endured plenty of problems on the defensive side of the ball. The main problem coach Dodge's defense has to address is its inability to stop the run.

After surrendering close to 200 yards per game a year ago, the front line for North Texas is having problems again, as teams are gashing this unit for 214.7 ypg. Now the last game for North Texas came against Army, which is primarily a running team, so the Mean Green had little chance to stop the run, and proceeded to allow 292 yards and three scores.

However, stopping the run was not the only problem for North Texas against Army, as the defense did not force a turnover or record a sack, and also allowed the Black Knights to convert on 4-of-5 red zone chances.

The Owls went down 20-7 at halftime against Michigan State and were unable to recover, en route to a loss, but the passing attack showed plenty of promise in the setback.

Jeff VanCamp was efficient against a tough Big Ten defense, completing 23- of-35 passes for 215 yards and one score. It is still very early in the season, but the quarterback for coach Howard Schnellenberger's Owls has performed well, completing over 60 percent of his throws, which has led to 469 yards and four touchdowns.

Lester Jean has proven to be a big time target for VanCamp, and is leading the team in receptions (15), yards (263) and touchdowns (2). In the loss to Michigan State, Jean hauled in six passes for 99 yards, but was held out of the end zone.

What hurt FAU's chances against Michigan State was its inability to run the rock. The Owls were bottled up for just 45 yards on 34 carries. However, this is nothing new for FAU, which opened the season with a poor showing against UAB.

Last season the Owls were unable to stop the run, and two games into the new campaign it looks like FAU will have similar problems in that area.

In two games the Owls have been clobbered for 285.0 ypg on the ground and have already allowed five rushing touchdowns. Two of those rushing TDs came against Michigan State in the team's last matchup, as the Owls also surrendered 225 yards on 7.5 yards per contest.

Defending the pass has been a different story for this defense, which held Michigan State to just 142 yards via the pass. However, that could have a lot to do with the opposition choosing to run the ball. Regardless of the reasoning though FAU has defended the pass well, and on top of that the Owls also made some big plays against the Spartans, holding Michigan State to just 1-of-7 on third down attempts, while also forcing two turnovers.

Florida Atlantic is likely to struggle against the run throughout the season, but the one way to keep offenses from pounding the ball is by scoring early and often. That won't be easy for FAU in every game, but this offense can definitely light up the scoreboard this weekend and will likely do so against a weak North Texas squad.