North Texas football (1-1) suffered their first loss to Southern Methodist (2-0) in their annual rivalry game by a score of 49-27. The Mean Green haven’t won a game in Dallas since 1933.
“They outplayed us,” head coach Seth Littrell said. “The biggest thing is that it starts with me as the leader of this team. I got to make sure I look in the mirror and correct any mistakes that we’ve made this week.”
Southern Methodist drew first blood after senior quarterback Shane Buechele hooked up with junior wideout Reggie Roberson Jr. The Mean Green stalled on offense throughout the first quarter and spent the majority of the time playing defense. Southern Methodist scored two more times before the conclusion of the first quarter with rushing touchdowns by senior running backs Xavier Jones and Ke’Mon Freeman.
North Texas got on the board in the second quarter with a one-yard dash from redshirt sophomore Tre Siggers — his first career touchdown. The Mustangs answered back with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Buechele to Roberson Jr. North Texas closed out the first half with an eight-yard touchdown catch from Fine to senior wide receiver Michael Lawrence.
For Fine, this was his 69th career touchdown pass, which tied him with Steve Ramsey (1967-69) for the all-time record.
“We just had too many mistakes and penalties in the first half,” senior defensive end LaDarius Hamilton said. “They were a little more excited to play than we were in the beginning. We’ve got to come in with a little more enthusiasm and be more physical.”
At the end of the first half, Siggers led the team in rushes (9) and rushing yards (124) and had one rushing score. Fine had gone 6-for-15 with 46 yards, an interception and a passing touchdown. For the Mustangs, Buechele went 14-for-21 and throwing for 199 yards and two passing touchdowns.
North Texas received the ball at the start of the second half and with a 28-14 deficit, tried to make amends. The Mean Green settled for a 26-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Ethan Mooney. The Mustangs continued to pound the rock as Jones scampered into the endzone for a 10-yard score. North Texas answered back with a 36-yard field goal as they struggled to get the ball moving against Southern Methodist’s defense.
The Mustangs ended the scoring for the third quarter with a 51-yard touchdown run from Jones.
Southern Methodist opened up the fourth quarter with another passing touchdown from Buechele to senior wideout James Proche for an 11-yard score. With the score being 49-20, North Texas pulled Fine and let freshman quarterback Jason Bean run the offense for the remainder of the game. Bean led his first career touchdown drive that ended with him connecting with junior wide receiver Jaelon Darden for a five-yard catch and score.
Southern Methodist produced 503 yards of offense against the Mean Green — making this the first time a team has amassed over 500 yards of offense against North Texas since the 2017 Conference USA Championship against Florida Atlantic.
Regarding the performance of the defense for the last two weeks, Hamilton said he was confident they will bounce back.
“I’m not concerned at all,” Hamilton said. “We got a good group of leaders, we’re going to make sure we regroup and come back stronger next week.”
North Texas will look to make a comeback this week as they go on the road once more to face off against Cal-Berkeley Golden Bears.
“One game isn’t going to make or break your season,” Littrell said. “But at the same time, we got a lot of things we’ve got to clean up.”
UP NEXT: North Texas plays Cal in Oakland, California for their first Power 5 matchup this season. The game will be played on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 3:15 p.m. CST.
Featured Image: Junior running back Deandre Torrey runs from a Mustang defender at the game against Southern Methodist at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Sept. 7, 2019. Image by Jordan Collard