Sunday, September 7, 2008

DFW Football Follow-up: UNT drops home opener to Tulsa

By Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

In a battle of high flying offenses at Fouts Field in Denton, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane exploded for 28 points in the second quarter cruising to a 56 to 26 victory over the University of North Texas Mean Green football team. After scoring just six points against Kansas State last week, UNT did not look like they would score any more against Tulsa in its home opener. However, with just two seconds remaining in the first half, Junior College transfer Jeremy Knox booted a 47 yard field goal to give UNT 10 points at half time. The Mean Green trailed 42 to 10 at the end of the first half.

Highlights in the first half for the Mean Green included the playing time of highly recruited freshman quarterback and Coach Todd Dodge's son Riley at receiver and freshman running back Lance Dunbar who scored a touchdown in the first quarter. Despite a fumbled kick off return, Dunbar finished the night as UNT's leading rusher with 72 yards on 10 carries. Dodge also added 31 yards on two carries and five catches for 25 yards. The freshmen duo seemed to give the Mean Green offense a spark.

The second half was better as UNT held Tulsa to 14 points while scoring 16 of their own. Quarterback Giovanni Vizza finished the night 30 of 45 for 247 yards passing and two touchdowns. Mean Green receiver Casey Fitzgerald had seven catches for 87 yards and a touchdown. For Tulsa, Senior quarterback David Johnson had 455 yards passing on 25 of 33 attempts and six touchdown passes. In what may be a sign that Defensive Coordinator Gary DeLoach is improving the UNT defense, UNT only gave up 135 yards rushing on 35 attempts. UNT, however, rushed for 203 total yards. Next week, UNT goes to Baton Rouge, LA to face the seventh ranked Louisiana State University Tigers.

TCU

In other DFW college football games, the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs drilled the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 67 to seven in their home opener at Amon G Carter Stadium in Fort Worth. Doak Walker Award candidate Joseph Turner scored three touchdowns in the first half as TCU raced out to a 42 to seven halftime lead. The Frogs converted 12 of 15 3rd downs and rolled up 525 total yards with 320 yards coming on the ground. The Frog defense held the Lumberjacks to 143 total yards of offense. Next Saturday the Frogs will host the Stanford University Cardinals in Fort Worth.

SMU

The Southern Methodist University Mustangs picked up their first win of the season over the Texas State University Bobcats 47 to 36 in their home opener at Ford Stadium in Dallas. Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell passed for 370 yards and five touchdowns for the Ponies helping new head coach June Jones get his first win as a Mustang coach. Receiver Aldrick Robinson caught eight passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns while Emmanuel Sanders caught eight passes for 138 yards and three touchdowns. Next Saturday, SMU travels to Lubbock, TX to take on the twelfth ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Pegasus News content partner - College Football Top Ten

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com

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