North Texas has been looking for a way to get something going ever since its season-opening win over Ball State.

The Mean Green is hoping that its 68-49 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday at Fouts Field was just what it needed. The victory not only snapped a 15-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak and a six-game slide overall, it also gave the Mean Green two wins on the year, matching the top total under head coach Todd Dodge, who is in his third season with the Mean Green.

There is nowhere to go but up for UNT, which has four games left in the season.

The Mean Green (2-6, 1-4) would have to win out, but there is still a chance UNT could finish with a .500 record.

“We have four games left and I really feel like this could give us the momentum to get on a run,” said Dodge, whose team finished 2-10 in his first season with the Mean Green in 2007. “There is no doubt that we feel like we are better than our record shows and we have four more games to prove it.”

UNT will take on Louisiana-Monroe at home next week and also has a home game with Army left this season.

The Mean Green will enter the stretch run of the season off its best performance of the season offensively. UNT racked up 583 yards of total offense behind quarterback Riley Dodge and running back Lance Dunbar.

Dodge finished with 262 passing yards and rushed for an additional 70 yards on a night he accounted for seven touchdowns, one short of the school record set by Giovanni Vizza in 2007. Dunbar rushed for 227 yards.

“This feels great,” Dunbar said. “It’s been a while since we’ve come out and played really well like this. I think we showed what we can do.”

UNT still owns WKU

UNT has struggled over the last three seasons, but always seems to be at its best when it plays WKU.

The Mean Green had knocked off the Hilltoppers in dramatic fashion in each of the last two years before blowing WKU out on Saturday.

UNT beat WKU last season when linebacker Tobe Nwigwe returned an interception 97 yards for a game-clinching touchdown. The Mean Green won two years ago, thanks in large part to a field goal WKU missed late in the fourth quarter.

The Mean Green is now 3-0 against the Hilltoppers with all of those wins coming in the Todd Dodge era.

Dodge is 5-27 overall with three of those wins coming against WKU. The Mean Green is 2-17 in Sun Belt play under Dodge with one of those wins coming against the Hilltoppers, who are a full member of the league for the first time this season.

Hamilton scores first TD of season

James Hamilton scored his first touchdown of the season in UNT’s game against WKU out of the “Saints Formation,” the Mean Green’s version of the wildcat offense.

UNT lined up at the 2-yard line with Hamilton in the shotgun. The sophomore ran straight through the middle of the Hilltoppers’ defense for the touchdown.

UNT named its wildcat offense after New Orleans native Darius Carey, a freshman wide receiver who had played quarterback in the formation earlier in the season.

UNT gives up rare sack

UNT came into its game against WKU ranked second nationally with an average of 0.5 sacks allowed per game.

The Mean Green had given up just four sacks on the season before giving up a costly fifth sack in the first quarter against the Hilltoppers.

UNT had picked up a first down at its own 38-yard line with the score tied 14-14 when defensive back Kareem Peterson drug Riley Dodge down for a 12-yard loss.

UNT punted two plays later to end its third series of the first half. The Mean Green scored on its first two possessions.

The sack was the only one UNT allowed the entire game.

Owusu-Hemeng misses WKU game

Backup defensive end Sam Owusu-Hemeng did not dress out for UNT’s game against WKU.

The junior started the first five games of the season before being replaced by freshman K.C. Obi.

Hemeng has 10 tackles on the year, including three for losses. Obi posted two tackles for loss in the Mean Green’s game against Troy last week and has been one of the team’s most productive defensive linemen.

Obi had 13 tackles on the season heading into UNT’s game against WKU. He finished with three against the Hilltoppers, including one for a loss of three yards, and also forced a fumble.