If the rest of the Sun Belt Conference is serious about catching up with North Texas, it will have to do as the Mean Green has done.

It will have to get serious about playing defense.

In a league where stopping the other guy is not the highest priority, the one team making defense its meal ticket has now had its ticket punched for a second straight New Orleans Bowl. North Texas has won 11 straight league games over the two-year history of the Sun Belt, and it has done so by not surrendering more than 28 points to a league opponent.

North Texas has allowed 14.4 points per game this year. Next best in the league: runner-up New Mexico State at 27.3. Seven of the 12 conference Defensive Players of the Week suit up for the Mean Green. Darrell Dickey's team has given up just seven touchdown passes all year.

It might not be coincidence that the Sun Belt school making the biggest step forward from 2001 to 2002 was Arkansas State, which espoused a similar, ball-control, defensive-minded approach under first-year coach Steve Roberts.

Sun Belt teams can continue trying to win games 35-31 if they want. But if they want to win the league, they must get better at tackling, covering and rushing the passer.

It's the North Texas Way, and that way leads to bowl games.

MVP: At 5 feet 10, North Texas defensive tackle Brandon Kennedy might not be a walking NFL prototype. But with 310 pounds packed into that frame, he's almost square -- and almost impossible to move. Kennedy tied for the league lead in sacks with nine and led the league in tackles for loss with 24, and also forced and recovered three fumbles.

Coach of the Year: Dickey has mastered the midseason turnaround. Last year the Mean Green started off 0-5, then won five straight. This year the start was 1-5, followed by a six-game winning streak. Despite losses in the early money games against big-name opponents, he clearly knows how to keep his team together and focused on the league race.

Newcomer of the Year: New Mexico State had a quality quarterback in sophomore Buck Pierce. Then it found a better one in freshman Paul Dombrowski. After starting the year as a backup, Dombrowski finished with 2,195 yards total offense and accounted for 19 touchdowns.

Biggest Surprise: Arkansas State had won a total of three games the previous two years, then doubled that total this year. Despite playing 13 straight Saturdays, the Indians toughed it out and nearly wound up with their first winning record since 1995.

Biggest Disappointment: Middle Tennessee State was expected to battle North Texas all year long, but wound up out of the race in short order. Competitive losses to Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky were followed by disappointing upset losses to Southeast Missouri State and Arkansas State. An 0-5 start knocked Andy McCollum's name off a lot of Hot Coach lists.

Arkansas State
Roberts was fortunate enough to inherit a veteran team that was willing to buy into his new systems. After an opening debacle against Virginia Tech, the Indians began showing immediate improvement, opening a few eyes by beating Tulsa in the third week. Arkansas State was competitive with everyone in the league, a step up from being blown out by North Texas and Middle Tennessee the previous year.

MVP: Running back Danny Smith set league records for rushing yards (1,390) and rushing touchdowns (14). The 14 touchdowns was the most by an Arkansas State runner since 1968.

Biggest Disappointment: Despite the improvements, Arkansas State was crushed by the two biggest names on the schedule, surrendering 60-plus to Virginia Tech and 50-plus to Illinois.

Did You Know: Turnover margin is the quickest way to a turnaround season. Arkansas State was a minus-5 in going 2-9 last year; it was a league-leading plus-7 in going 6-7 this year.

Idaho
The Vandals finally found some defense, but it was seven games into the season and the jig was up by then. Idaho's streak of surrendering 33 or more points reached 20 straight games -- and it's hard to have much success trying to constantly outscore everyone. A brutal opening run -- at Boise State, at Washington State, and Oregon, all bowl teams -- softened up the Vandals for the rest of the year.

MVP: Quarterback Josh Lindgren threw for 2,763 yards and 19 touchdowns, with an efficiency rating of 134.8. He was knocked out before season's end with an injury, but not before establishing himself as the league's most prolific passer.

Biggest Disappointment: Idaho was a minus-14 in turnover margin, last in the league. A shaky defense was put in difficult spots too often, and couldn't produce enough takeaways of its own.

Did You Know: Junior Lindgren's backup, redshirt freshman Michael Harrington, is the younger bother of Joey, Heisman Trophy finalist at Oregon and now a promising rookie with the Detroit Lions. Michael Harrington showed promise of his own in the season finale at New Mexico State, completing 20 of 35 passes.

Louisiana-Lafayette
In their first year under Rickey Bustle, the Ragin' Cajuns made some significant progress for a while in November, beating Idaho and Arkansas State back-to-back and then losing to SEC heavy Arkansas by only seven. But the bottom fell out in the season finale, a 24-point loss to instate rival Louisiana-Monroe. Thus a season that began with 10 turnovers against Texas A&M ended in similarly inglorious fashion.

MVP: Wide receiver Fred Stamps hauled in 54 passes for 1,002 yards and eight touchdowns. A junior who has played extensively for three years, he's primed to take over the UL-L record book next year.

Biggest Disappointment: On Sept. 21, Louisiana-Lafayette shocked a lot of people by ripping UAB 34-0. But the Ragin' Cajuns had a bye week after that and lost whatever momentum could have been gained -- and dropped their next four games as well.

Did You Know: Bustle, a former assistant to Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, must have made his old boss proud this year. His team blocked seven kicks, showing that he's a chip off Beamer's special-teams block.

Louisiana-Monroe
A season that began in upheaval ended upbeat. Coach Bobby Keasler resigned after an 0-3 start, and assistant Mike Collins stepped in and saved the day. Saved it well enough, in fact, that he was named the full-time head coach before season's end. UL-M's 3-9 record equaled the victory total of the previous two years combined.

MVP: True freshman quarterback Steven Jyles was turned loose by Collins and became a blossoming star. He threw for 2,317 yards and 17 touchdowns, and produced 495 yards of total offense in a win over Utah State.

Biggest Disappointment: Despite the improvements begun by Collins, the defense has a long way to go. The Indians were last in the league in points allowed.

Did You Know: Receiver Mack Vincent set school records for receptions (79) and yardage (1,198). The records had been held by current Chicago Bear Marty Booker.

Middle Tennessee State
The Blue Raiders got a little too ambitious in their scheduling. Opening up with three straight SEC opponents led to a fairly predictable 0-3 start, but it also banged up Middle and bruised some confidence as well. The Raiders never seemed to get over it, even after upsetting Vanderbilt for the second straight season.

MVP: Running back Dwone Hicks began the season with a web site flacking for him for the Heisman Trophy. That quickly became a joke, but Hicks quietly had another solid year. He came back from nagging injuries to finish with five straight 100-yard games and rushed for more than 1,000 yards on the year.

Biggest Disappointment: Middle lost by just five points to open the season at Alabama, and McCollum believed some questionable officiating hurt his team's chances down the stretch. That seemed to set a tone that could not be countered until too late, when Middle was out of the league race.

Did You Know: Middle Tennessee did better on the road in the SEC (1-3) than Mississippi, Mississippi State or Vanderbilt (all 0-4).

New Mexico State
The Aggies came agonizingly close to ending the longest active Division I streak without a bowl game (42 years and counting) but fell short in the fourth quarter of the showdown game against North Texas. Otherwise it was a strong season, 7-5 and highlighted by big wins over local rivals New Mexico and UTEP.

MVP: Dombrowski ran coach Tony Samuel's option-based offense with terrific aplomb for a freshman, rushing for 868 yards and throwing for 1,300 more despite sharing the position at times.

Biggest Disappointment: After constructing a fine season, the Aggies lost a couple of leads and a couple of big turnovers in the big game at North Texas. They couldn't quite close the deal against a team that had been there before.

Did You Know: Don't trust anyone over 30. New Mexico State was 6-0 when holding opponents to less than 30 points, 1-5 when allowing more than 30.

North Texas
The season looked especially bleak when starting quarterback Scott Hall went down for the year with an injury in the season opener at Texas. But the aforementioned defense and the strong running of Kevin Galbreath helped give backup Andrew Smith the necessary cushion to grow into the job. By season's end, Smith was making big plays to keep the Mean Green's repeat quest on track.

MVP: Kennedy is the top talent on the top unit on the top team in the conference - though he has a lot of help.

Biggest Disappointment: North Texas let excellent upset opportunities get away on consecutive weeks against TCU and Arizona, then came back with a flat effort against South Florida to fall to 1-5. Win just one of those three games and the Mean Green is garnering more respect right now.

Did You Know: After ending the regular season 7-5, North Texas got a vote in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. That's progress for the Sun Belt.

Pat Forde covers college football for the Louisville Courier-Journal.