North Texas Loses At Tulane
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NEW ORLEANS – North Texas overcame a tidal surge of adversity – much of it self-inflicted – to rally from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit, only to lose on a 27-yard field goal on the last play of the game in its Conference USA debut Saturday night against Tulane, 24-21.
The Mean Green scored with less than four minutes to play on a 62-yard pass from Derek Thompson – who was leveled as he threw – to Darnell Smith to tie the game. But Tulane, after being shut down the entire second half, put together its only sustained drive of the half, burning up the clock and North Texas timeouts to set up the game-winner.
“You see the resolve of this team, the fight of this team,” North Texas coach Dan McCarney said. “But it just wasn’t enough. It’s a game we wanted. We’ll digest this and it will hurt for 24 hours, then we’ve got to get ready for Middle Tennessee.”
The North Texas defense allowed a season-low 227 yards, but penalties kept Tulane first-half drives alive, a field goal that would have put North Texas ahead was blocked and returned for a touchdown, and two pass interceptions – one returned for a touchdown – put the Mean Green in a 21-7 hole in the fourth quarter. For the game, North Texas had 11 penalties for 105 yards.
For the fifth game in a row, North Texas got off to a slow start. The Mean Green generated just 71 yards in the first half, their lowest output in a half this year. But the defense kept the Mean Green in the game, holding Tulane to just 131 yards in the first half, getting a fumble recovery from James Jones to turn back the Green Wave at the North Texas 10-yard line, and putting
heavy pressure on Tulane quarterback Nick Montana.
North Texas opened second half with a 90-yard scoring drive to pull even at 7-7. Thompson was five-for-five passing on the march, connecting with Brelan Chancellor and Carlos Harris. The touchdown came on a Thompson quarterback draw, although he fumbled at the one and offensive lineman Mason Y’Barbo recovered for the score.
A few minutes later, North Texas was ready to take the lead with a field goal, but the kick was blocked and returned 62 yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 deficit. Later in the third, a tipped pass was returned by Tulane 59 yards for another score.
