Portland State Routs North Texas
DENTON – North Texas slid to 0-5 on the year and incurred the first home losing streak in the era of head coach Dan McCarney with its first-ever loss to an FCS opponent Saturday at Apogee Stadium, a shocking 66-7 homecoming defeat to Portland State.
The Vikings, ranked No. 25 in the nation in the Football Championship Subdivision, claimed their second FBS scalp of the season by dismantling the Mean Green in the biggest margin of victory by an FCS team over a Football Bowl Subdivision team in NCAA history.
The Vikings, who upset Washington State in their season opener this year, brought its bag of tricks to Apogee, pulling out three trick plays in the first half. Deception, however, was unnecessary. The Vikings rolled up single-game season-highs in passing yards, total yards and points, and did so before halftime.
The Mean Green, meanwhile, didn’t crossed the Portland State 30-yard line until the final minutes of the game, converted just three of 18 third downs and generated a season low 198 yards total offense. The North Texas running game, which had topped 175 yards in its last three games, disappeared and managed just 76 yards.
North Texas avoided a shutout with a touchdown with a minute to play, engineered by quarterback DaMarcus Smith, who connected with Carlos Harris from nine yards out for the score.
