FAYETTEVILLE — It’s not the hours that have been tough on North Texas Coach Todd Dodge. He got used to working 15-hour days long ago.

It’s not the challenge of implementing a hurry-up, Spread offense on the Division I level. Dodge has installed his philosophy just fine as the Mean Green’s 442. 0 yards per game average suggests.

It’s the lack of scoring and not, coincidentally, the lack of winning that has really worn on the former high school coach four weeks into his first season at the helm of North Texas (0-3 ). The Mean Green faces Arkansas (1-2 ) on Saturday, and it looks to improve a scoring offense that ranks among the bottom third of Bowl Subdivision teams.

So far, the Todd Dodge experiment has yielded mixed results in Denton, Texas. Dodge brought increased expectations and fan interest with him from nearby Southlake Carroll High School.

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What Dodge, 43, hasn’t brought just yet is the success he enjoyed during a five-year run at the prep football factory. Dodge compiled a 79-1 record and four state championships before making the jump to Division I football. He was hired Dec. 12, 2006, to replace Darrell Dickey.

“It’s been a good transition,” said Dodge, a former University of Texas quarterback. “We’re not winning as many football games as we’d like to, but I see us improving.”

Where Dodge, a former offensive coordinator at North Texas, would like to see immediate improvement is on the scoreboard. North Texas ranks 34 th nationally in total offense, but 97 th in scoring at 20. 3 points per game entering Saturday’s 6 p. m. contest at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

How a team can move the ball so effectively without winding up in the end zone is not a mystery to Dodge. North Texas ranks 113 out of 119 teams in turnover margin, giving up two more turnovers per game than it gets.

Florida Atlantic survived 466 yards of Mean Green offense last weekend by taking advantage of North Texas mistakes. Two passes were intercepted inside the end zone and Florida Atlantic blocked two punts to set up scoring opportunities in the 30-20 victory.

On five trips inside the 20-yard line, North Texas came up empty twice. There was an interception in the end zone and a missed field goal that could have made a 10-point margin disappear.

Those sort of mistakes have put a strain on the defense. North Texas is allowing 51. 3 points per game.

“It’s been turnovers,” Dodge said. “That’s a big, big part of it.... We point out to the players that if we take care of the football and make better decisions, it’s a different ballgame. Our goal on offense is to outscore the opponent. We’re not doing that right now.”

North Texas is moving the football, though. After faltering badly in a 79-10 loss at Oklahoma in the season-opener, North Texas followed with a recordsetting performance in a 45-31 loss at SMU.

That game confirmed the Mean Green have the personnel to run what Dodge wants. Quarterback Daniel Meager threw for a school-record 601 yards, and receiver Casey Fitzgerald caught 18 passes for 327 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Meager ranks 11 th nationally with 339. 3 yards per game, though he’s thrown just 4 touchdowns against 7 interceptions. Adding a dimension to the Mean Green offense is running back Jamario Thomas. He led the nation in rushing as a freshman (180. 1 ) before hamstring problems limited his production the past two seasons. Thomas is averaging 40. 3 yards rushing per game and is also seeing time out wide when the Mean Green go into five-wide receiver Spread sets.

“We know they can be explosive on offense and play hard on defense,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “[The Spread is ] the philosophy he believes in. They’re selling that to his team. They execute, and they’re getting better at it.”

Dodge has liked the way his team has executed game plan-specific plays. Where the Mean Green have struggled is deviating from what they’ve installed for a particular week, but Dodge is willing to be patient with his team since the bulk of the Mean Green’s Sun Belt Conference schedule remains.

There are no plans to change the offense. Dodge came in determined to run the Spread, no-huddle offense that led to so much success in high school and does not plan to deviate from that philosophy.

Eventually, the players will get there, he said.

“That’s the maturing of the offense,” Dodge said. “We’re really not running it any differently than we have in the past at our last job.”

So far, only the results have changed for Dodge.