Defense Leads North Texas To 30-7 Win

Harry · October 14, 2018

DENTON - Saturday's game at Apogee Stadium bordered on an elimination game for the Mean Green in Conference USA's West Division. Lose and they'd be two games back of multiple teams, including the day's opponent, Southern Miss.

In a meeting of two of the top-scoring offenses in C-USA, it was the North Texas defense that vaulted the Mean Green back into the thick of the division battle, highlighted by defensive back Khairi Muhammad ripping the ball from the grasp of a Golden Eagles receiver at the North Texas 11-yard line when Southern Miss was driving for the lead in the second half.

The Mean Green defense forced turnovers in their own red zone, forced a turnover on downs with stops on third and fourth and 1 of USM's brace of bruising 240-plus-pound running backs, got two sacks each from E.J. Ejiya and LaDarius Hamilton, two pass breakups apiece from Jameel Moore and Cam Johnson, and held Southern Miss 25 points below their season-scoring average to lead the Mean Green to a 30-7 victory.

"They have a tough, physical defense," North Texas coach Seth Littrell said of the Golden Eagles. "It was our mentality all week to challenge our defense this week. They heard a lot about their defense, and we have a great pride in what we do. When we play with all 11 focused, we've got a very special defense as well.

"It starts up front," he added. "We did a great job of dominating the line of scrimmage, and that makes it hard to run the football. That makes it challenging when an offense gets behind the chains. We had some huge turnovers, some huge stops. It allowed our offense to regroup, and they were able to wear them down."

The North Texas offense struggled for consistency but came up with big plays of its own to hand Southern Miss its first C-USA loss. Quarterback Mason Fine threw for 292 yards, running back DeAndre Torrey rushed for 95 yards and three touchdowns, and Jalen Guyton, who torched the Golden Eagles a year ago for 14 catches and 211 yards, again tormented USM with seven receptions for 124 yards and the Mean Green's first touchdown of the game.

North Texas amassed 457 yards, the most Southern Miss (2-3, 1-1) has allowed all year.

"We haven't reached our potential yet," Fine said. "Our defense has had our back. It's time for the offense to step up."

The win lifts North Texas to 6-1, but more importantly it makes the Mean Green 2-1 in C-USA play, with the division's remaining undefeated leaders still ahead on the schedule.

After a scoreless opening quarter, both teams struck on big plays. North Texas went up 7-0 when Fine rolled to his right and found Guyton behind the USM defense. Guyton stretched out for the pass and snared a 53-yard touchdown, the longest UNT completion of the season.

But Southern Miss struck back on its next possession. Golden Eagle wide receiver Quez Watkins took a pass over the middle and wove his way back and forth through the UNT secondary, shedding would-be tacklers for a 44-yard score and a 7-7 game.

From there, each team made penetrations across midfield, but North Texas made two big plays to take a 10-7 lead to halftime. Guyton hauled in a pass from Fine and escaped a tackler up the sidelines for 32 yards on second and 18, which led to a 41-yard field goal from Cole Hedlund, his 13th of the season.

Southern Miss responded with a drive to the edge of scoring territory, where it faced third and one from the North Texas 44. Ejiya and Tyreke Davis stopped a third-down run for no gain, then Ejiya stuffed a fourth-down plunge for a one-yard loss to turn the ball over on downs.

The Mean Green defense kept swarming the Golden Eagles coming out of halftime, holding them to 125 yards in the second half. But despite its offensive struggles, Southern Miss had a chance to take the lead in the third quarter when it drove deep into North Texas territory. Trailing 10-7, USM was about the go in for a touchdown when it hit a pass at the North Texas 11-yard line. But Muhammad, not satisfied with making the tackle, ripped the ball from the receiver's hands.

"When he caught it, it was on his shoulder," Muhammad said. "I thought I could get my hand on the ball, and I just stripped it out. It was just trying to make a play."

"That was a huge momentum play," Littrell said.

The takeaway snuffed out the last Southern Miss' last scoring threat, while North Texas got its offense moving the rest of the half. Michael Lawrence pulled in a 33-yard pass to ignite a drive late in the third quarter, and Torrey capped the march with 6-yard run, squirming through the middle of the Golden Eagle defense for a 16-7 lead.

North Texas finished off the win with a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives, finished off by Torrey TDs.

"He ran the ball very hard today," Littrell said. "They load the box, so running backs have to run through tackles."

The win makes North Texas bowl eligible with six wins, not that the Mean Green - having been to a bowl two-straight years and with significantly elevated goals this year - were particularly interested in that little nugget.

"I told them congratulations on being bowl eligible," Littrell said. "Not one of them cheered or anything. It's all about being focused and going 1-0 next week."

Quick Hits

The start of Saturday's game was delayed 30 minutes by lightning storms in the Denton area during pre-game.
The Mean Green's 6-1 start is their best since 1988, and it's the 10th time in program history to start 6-1 or better.
Junior defensive end LaDarius Hamilton recorded his third sack of the season in flying fashion. Hamilton dove over a Southern Miss offensive lineman and landed on the back of USM quarterback Jack Abraham, crumpling him for an 11-yard loss. Hamilton had two sacks Saturday, his second multi-sack game of the year.
Junior defensive back Khairi Muhammad's theft of a pass from the hands of a USM receiver was his first forced fumble of the season and second of his career.
Redshirt junior wide receiver Jalen Guyton's 53-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter was the Mean Green's longest pass of the season.
Redshirt junior defensive back Taylor Robinson stopped a USM drive late in the first half with his second interception of the season.
Junior quarterback Mason Fine (Peggs, Okla.) became UNT's all-time leader in completions, slipping past Derek Thompson (2009-13) and Mitch Maher (1991-94). Fine has 653 career completions.
The gap between Fine and Maher for the all-time career passing lead is down to 685 yards. Maher finished his career with 8,519 yards and Fine is at 7,834.
Fine also took over third place in career pass attempts with 1053, moving ahead of Steve Ramsey (1967-69).
Fine's 292-yard performance Saturday ties him for the most 200-yard passing games in his career. Fine and Maher each have 23.
The senior linebacking duo of E.J. Ejiya (Blaine, Minn.) and Brandon Garner (Mansfield, Texas) continue to climb the school record book in tackles for loss. Ejiya had three tackles for loss, giving him 29.5 for his career and moving him into fourth place all-time at North Texas ahead of Brandon Akpunku (2008-11). Ejiya has 14.0 for the season, tied for fifth best in program history with Adrian Awasom (2004).
Garner, meanwhile, had a tackle for loss to lift his career total to 26.0, tying him with Corbin Montgomery (1996-99) for sixth on the all-time list.
Sophomore running back DeAndre Torrey (Gautier, Miss.) has two games this year with three touchdowns - but without rushing for 100 yards in either game. He had 95 Saturday.
Junior wide receiver Michael Lawrence topped 1,000 receiving yards for his career. Lawrence had two catches for 44 yards Saturday.
Junior wide receiver Rico Bussey, Jr. (Lawton, Okla.) had his 100th career reception.
Redshirt junior tight end Caleb Chumley had his first reception of the season, a 5-yard catch on the Mean Green's opening possession of the game.
This was the first game this year in which neither team scored in the opening period.