North Texas Loses At San Antonio
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SAN ANTONIO – North Texas mounted a furious second-half rally to erase a 15-point deficit, but couldn’t come up with one more score this year and suffered a heart-breaking, season-ending 34-27 loss to UTSA Saturday at the Alamodome.
“I’m really proud of the way we fought today,” North Texas coach Dan McCarney said. “Our expectation is to win, and that’s what’s so hard right now, and why I feel so bad for these seniors and John Skladany (retiring defensive coordinator). They helped us change the culture and the expectations around here. Losing is unacceptible.
“But from an effort standpoint, anybody who watches his team and believes in North Texas should be really proud of what these guys gave us. We came up a little short, but they gave us everything they had.”
Trailing 27-12, the North Texas defense got key plays from James Jones, Lairamie Lee and Conference USA’s leading tackler, Derek Akunne, to slow the Roadrunners and give the offense a chance to get back in the game, and the Mean Green offense responded. Two second-half touchdowns – made possible by tough running from Jeffrey Wilson and clutch passes from Andrew McNulty to Marcus Smith, Carlos Harris and Darius Terrell – pulled North Texas within two
at 27-25 with 12:12 to play, and a McNulty-to-Terrell two-point conversion pass evened the game at 27-27.
But UTSA, which made one big play after another Saturday, went back on top with a three-play, 54-yard drive highlighted by a 30-yard pass and a 21-yard touchdown run with 4:18 to play.
North Texas could not answer on its ensuing possession, and had one last chance when it forced UTSA to punt with 2:09 to play. The punt was short and bounced backwards to the 50-yard line, but the Mean Green’s Zac Whitfield tried to scoop the ball up. Instead, he bobbled the ball, UTSA recovered the fumble, and ran out the clock.
Wilson, the true freshman running back from Elkhart, Texas, has seen his role in the North Texas offense increase in recent weeks, and he topped the century mark rushing for the first time in his career Saturday, carrying for 105 yards on 19 carries, including a fourth-quarter tote on third and one in which Wilson carried defenders 20 yards to the UTSA one-yard line to set up the game-tying touchdown.
McNulty, meanwhile, had a career-high 287 yards passing and a TD.
The first half was a mix of missed opportunities for North Texas and big plays with big payoffs for UTSA. Four times the Mean Green moved into scoring position – two on long drives and two on UTSA botched punt returns that North Texas recovered. But every NT third-down play in scoring territory failed to pick up a first down, forcing the Mean Green to kick four field goals by Trevor Moore.
UTSA, meanwhile, happily traded NT field goals for Roadrunner touchdowns.
“They were getting touchdowns and we were getting field goals, and, in the end, that was the difference,” McCarney said.
North Texas surrendered a TD on the opponent’s opening drive for the fifth time this season, then fell victim to UTSA plays. A UTSA fourth-and-one play-action pass went for 30 yards to set up its second touchdown, and a 47-yard run followed by a 27-yard pass at the end of a wild scramble by quarterback Tucker Carter set up a third first-half Roadrunner TD for a 20-12 halftime lead.
