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Chalk one up to the players.
With a season full of heartbreaking near losses that had the fans on the verge of running the coaching staff out of town, the North Texas Mean Green sat on the edge of watching their season collapse into another one win season.
Not wanting to watch another 4th-and-one shotgun QB rollout play, a number of UNT fans opted to prepare for Halloween rather than attend the game. A little over 11,000 were in attendance, robbing the team of much of whatever home field advantage Fouts Field offers. Without the fan's energy, UNT players were flat in the first three quarters.
The mental toughness, and an emerging maturity of the Mean Green players allowed UNT to shut down the Hilltoppers.
Overcoming a flat opening
The Mean Green offense opened the game strongly as offense based teams often do with a nine play, 67 yard drive for a TD, but then allowed an 81 yard kickoff return to the UNT six yard line. WKU took it in on the next play to tie up the game at 7-7.
Riley Dodge drove the team 66 yards in six plays, capped by a 14 yard TD pass to Darius Carey to take a 14-7 lead. A few plays later, WKU's RB Marrell Booker broke away for a 61 yard TD run.
It was pretty clear at that point that defense would be a rare commodity in this game, a distressing thought that quieted those Mean Green fans in the stands.
WKU ran out to 35-21 lead further risking thinning the crowd, but Riley Dodge and the offense responded, coolly taking the team 46 yards in 41 seconds to cut the lead to seven going into the half, and keeping many Mean Green fans in their seats through halftime.
The second half opened with a surprising big play by the UNT defense. Senior DE Eddrick Gillmore and Freshman DE KC Obi got a good outside angles on a pass rush, but there was insufficient push from the center of the line. Gillmore switched to a power rush and drove towards QB Jakes, forcing him out of the pocket and into the path of full speed Obi. Obi steamrolled Jakes and forced a fumble that Gillmore recovered stopping a Hilltoppers drive at the UNT 30 yard line.
Four plays later the UNT running game punched it in to tie the game 35-35.
WKU scored two more TDs in the third, but each time the UNT offense responded. The third quarter ended with the teams tied 49-49.
UNT owns the fourth quarter
The fourth quarter opened with Hilltopper freshman QB Kawaun Jakes getting sacked by UNT's leading sacker DE Brandon Akpunku. It would get no better for the Hilltoppers in a brutal fourth quarter.
On the next play, UNT freshman OLB Jeremy Phillips read Jakes's eyes and stepped in front of a pass taking the ball to the WKU 13 yard line, setting up the game winning score.
WKU had numerous opportunities in the fourth quarter, but UNT's defense was as good in the fourth as it was bad in the first three quarters, and UNT's offense continued to add points.
In the fourth quarter UNT held Jakes to three completions on six attempts, for one yard with no TDs and one interception. They also sacked him twice, including one for a safety by senior DL Eddrick Gilmore. The Mean Green defense yielded 14 total rushing yards in the quarter on five runs.
After surrendering 44 points to FAU, 50 points to Troy, and 412 yards and 49 points in the first three periods to WKU, the much maligned Mean Green D finally stiffened and pitched a shutout quarter, yielding a mere 15 yards.
What this game reveals about the Mean Green
The cynic would say this game reveals nothing more than that UNT is a lousy defensive team, and not much better than WKU.
I say that guy is not looking at this game in perspective.
More signs of an emerging ability to close out games
In front of a small, deflated home crowd, a team on the verge of collapse dug deep and pulled together to dominate the fourth quarter, sealing up the victory.
UNT has not had any problems competing with teams like ULL, Ohio, or FAU, so the issue of whether UNT can compete with the rank and file of the sun belt has already been confirmed.
Closing has been a major problem—they have few senior starters, and a number of new players, and as such have had problems maintaining their confidence and closing out games.
Today, with little help from the home crowd, the Mean Green found that confidence within themselves and they dominated the fourth, outscoring WKU 19-0 to close out the game.
UNT Head Coach Todd Dodge Utilizes short yardage scheme, personnel
What?! That has to be a typo!
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