WEEK TEN
NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN (3-4, 1-1)
VS.
WEST TEXAS OUTLAWS (4-2, 1-0)
Last week, the Outlaws forced four turnovers against Troy, helping to sway momentum in their team's favor for a 35-14 victory. Perhaps no one was more instrumental in this than second-year freshman Thomas Bray, the team's leader at cornerback, who had a 71-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter. Against the Mean Green, Bray managed to trump his performance from a week ago. In a low-scoring defensive game where every opportunity meant the difference between a win or a loss, Bray recorded eight tackles, two interceptions, and returned one of them 94 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to put the Outlaws up 21-7, and seal the team's third straight victory.
Charles Dickson had a below average performance on Saturday, completing half of his 18 attempted passes for 113 yards and one interception. Naturally, it was DeShaun Sands who led the offensive charge, rushing for 115 yards and a touchdown off 23 carries for an average of five yards per touch, while backup runningback Andrew Brown also reached the endzone. But the biggest story of the day was the defense, who did allow 327 yards of total offense, but limited the Mean Green to fourteen points in four redzone trips, and forced three turnovers in the win. Leading the charge was the aforementioned Thomas Bray (CB), who truly saved the game when he intercepted his second pass of the day on the team's own 6-yard line, and returned it 94 yards for a touchdown to not only kill a North Texas scoring drive, but add another seven points to the scoreboard for the Outlaws. Bray's performance on Saturday set a new school record for most interceptions in a season with five, and he is also the first player in school history to score two defensive touchdowns in a single season. Bray was a member of the Outlaws' first recruiting class in the spring of 2012 as a three-star prospect out of Deer Park, Texas. He redshirted in his first year only to be handed the starting job in 2013 as the only cornerback on the roster with any amount of collegiate experience.
On the other side of the ball, senior quarterback Derek Thompson continued to struggle with his decision-making, completing 10 of 18 passes for just 77 yards and two interceptions. In the absence of a solid passing game, senior runningback Brandin Byrd carried the team with 189 yards and two touchdowns off 37 carries, but simply could not overcome the Mean Green's three offensive turnovers. North Texas' defense did all they could, recording two sacks, one interception, and limiting the Outlaws to 14 offensive points, but it simply wasn't enough in the end.
After suffering back-to-back conference losses that have all but knocked them out of the running for the Sun Belt title, the Mean Green will face off against lowly Texas State (1-6, 0-2) next week to wrap up their four-week road stretch before returning home to end their season against Troy, Mid Tenn State, and Arkansas State. Meanwhile, the Outlaws have their sights set on the first conference championship in school history, and hope to continue their run next week when they host feisty Arkansas State (3-4, 2-1).
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><link href="http://dynasties.operationsports.com/css/osdyn.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></head><body><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" class="osdyn" width="575"><tr class="masthead"><td align="center" colspan="6">North Texas Mean Green at West Texas Outlaws</td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td width="48%">Oct 26, 2013</td><td align="right" width="10%">1ST</td><td align="right" width="10%">2ND</td><td align="right" width="10%">3RD</td><td align="right" width="10%">4TH</td><td align="right" width="12%">SCORE</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>North Texas Mean Green (3-5, 1-2)</td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">7</td><td align="right">7</td><td align="right" class="active">14</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>West Texas Outlaws (5-2, 2-0)</td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">7</td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">14</td><td align="right" class="active">21</td></tr></table><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" class="osdyn spacer" width="575"><tr class="masthead"><td colspan="3">Team Stats Comparison</td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td width="60%"></td><td align="center" width="20%">UNT</td><td align="center" width="20%">WTU</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center">Total Offense</td><td align="center">327</td><td align="center">251</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center">Rushing Yards</td><td align="center">250</td><td align="center">138</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center">Passing Yards</td><td align="center">77</td><td align="center">113</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center">First Downs</td><td align="center">24</td><td align="center">14</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center">Punt Return Yards</td><td align="center">22</td><td align="center">30</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center">Kick Return Yards</td><td align="center">48</td><td align="center">45</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center">Total Yards</td><td align="center">397</td><td align="center">326</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center">Turnovers</td><td align="center">3</td><td align="center">1</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center">3rd Down Converstion</td><td align="center">7-13 (53%)</td><td align="center">8-14 (57%)</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center">4th Down Conversion</td><td align="center">1-1 (100%)</td><td align="center">0-0 (0%)</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center">2-Point Conversion</td><td align="center">0-0 (0%)</td><td align="center">0-0 (0%)</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center">Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals</td><td align="center">4-2-0 (50%)</td><td align="center">3-2-0 (66%)</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center">Penalties</td><td align="center">6-53</td><td align="center">4-30</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center">Posession Time</td><td align="center">33:25</td><td align="center">26:35</td></tr></table><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" class="osdyn spacer" width="575"><tr class="masthead"><td colspan="4">Scoring Summary</td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td colspan="2">SECOND QUARTER SCORING</td><td align="right" width="10%">UNT</td><td align="right" width="10%">WTU</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center" width="10%">2:55</td><td width="70%">(WTU) TD: Andrew Brown, 6 yard run</td><td align="right">0</td><td align="right">7</td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td colspan="2">THIRD QUARTER SCORING</td><td align="right" width="10%">UNT</td><td align="right" width="10%">WTU</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center" width="10%">5:32</td><td width="70%">(UNT) TD: Brandin Byrd, 5 yard run</td><td align="right">7</td><td align="right">7</td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td colspan="2">FOURTH QUARTER SCORING</td><td align="right" width="10%">UNT</td><td align="right" width="10%">WTU</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center" width="10%">14:00</td><td width="70%">(WTU) TD: DeShaun Sands, 9 yard run</td><td align="right">7</td><td align="right">14</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td align="center" width="10%">6:50</td><td width="70%">(WTU) TD: Thomas Bray, returned interception 94 yards</td><td align="right">7</td><td align="right">21</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td align="center" width="10%">0:43</td><td width="70%">(UNT) TD: Brandin Byrd, 13 yard run</td><td align="right">14</td><td align="right">21</td></tr></table></body></html>