by HOUSTON – Saturday’s game at Rice Stadium may go down as the night head coach Seth Littrell’s first-year program and his true-freshman quarterback began to grow up.
A dreadful, mistake-riddled first quarter plunged the Mean Green into a 17-0 hole – the same deficit North Texas faced in the season opener. This time, however, North Texas came back and kept coming back, and got the big plays needed to complete the rally.
The Mean Green got a career-best 224 yards passing, a touchdown pass and a 15-yard scramble to set up another score from freshman QB Mason Fine (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), three touchdowns and a career-best 157 yards rushing from junior running back Jeffrey Wilson, and three touchdowns from junior running back Willie Ivery, including the game-winner, and three turnover from its defense.
But it wasn’t until North Texas defensive end Jareid Combs stuffed Rice running back Darik Dillard and threw him back for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-one from the NT 16 that the Mean Green emerged with a 42-35 double-overtime victory over the Owls.
Rice had converted two fourth downs earlier in the game, hammering North Texas with Dillard, who also had a pair of short touchdown runs. But on the final fourth-and-one in the second OT, Combs smashed Dillard in the backfield.
“I’m extremely proud of the way our young men grinded,” Littrell said. “It was never perfect, but I was very proud of the way they continued to fight.
“I felt good about the way we’ve fought all year,” he added. “It shows you what a great week of preparation does for you. You believe you’ll find a way to win, and tonight we did that.”
The win snaps North Texas’ 14-game road losing streak, levels the Mean Green’s season record at 2-2, and makes NT 1-0 in Conference USA play.
North Texas has made a habit out of slow starts in the last few seasons, but Saturday’s was one for the books, a molasses-in-wintertime kind of start. The Mean Green offense ran six plays – a pair of three-and-outs – for -17 yards, while the defense surrendered 157 yards and two scoring drives in the first period.
Which makes the second-quarter turnaround all the more stunning. Down 17-0 and showing no pulse, the Mean Green suddenly reanimated. North Texas mounted a 75-yard scoring drive in which Fine, after getting sacked twice and fumbling once in the opening period, threw his first career touchdown pass, a 16-yard toss to a diving Ivery in the end zone.
The North Texas defense awoke as well, stopping the last four Rice possessions, forcing three turnovers and setting up another Mean Green scoring drive, this one highlighted by a 75-yard catch-and-run by Kenny Buyers and finished by a one-yard sweep by Wilson.
In the second half, Wilson swept around the left side and burst 75 yards to put North Texas up, 21-20.
North Texas was up 28-20 when Rice scored with 2:34 to play and converted a two-point conversion to force overtime. Rice scored first in OT, but a Wilson touchdown tied the game, and Ivery’s TD on the first possession of the second OT period put the Mean Green on top and set the stage for the defense to close out the victory.
“We got a long way to go,” Littrell said, “but we’re growing up and develping and getting more mature as a football team,”
There’s a new excitement around Mean Green football this year. New coaching staff, new attitude, and of course Mason Fine. Mason has so much talent, snd is such a humble and mature young man. As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation with a citizen son who is a senior at UNT, I could not be happier that Mason landed at UNT. #GoMesnGreen