UNT at Navy* (3:30 p.m., CBSSN) —
North Texas had a bye week and moved up the standings. Memphis fell on Friday night to Tulane on the road, while Navy and UTSA battled in San Antonio. The resulting standings leave UTSA in first place with a 3-0 record, and UNT at second with a 2-0 record. Navy has all but eliminated themselves after leaving San Antonio at 1-3.
Last year the lead up to the game was about two strong programs but we felt confident in the situation. As it was, North Texas came up with a big stop, and won fairly convincingly. The nation was taking notice of the Mean Green. This season? Well we don’t have the same kind of hype coming into the game. North Texas has been a flamethrower on offense and (like last year) is coming off a win vs Charlotte. Navy lost in the final moments against UTSA in game that saw very little defense. Navy had 8.5 yards per play while UTSA had 6.7. It was basically who would have the ball last.
They are still a developmental team, meaning they grow their players. This is the first year post-Blake Horvath, who ran for 1200 yards last year. In steps Jackson Gutierrez and Braxton Woodson, who have shared some duties at QB including some dual-QB sets.
For North Texas this begins the tough part of the schedule. The trip away to Navy followed by a quick turnaround vs FAU in Denton (an improved team) followed by hosting Rice then a trip to San Antonio to play UTSA.
We saw this week in college football that there is no such thing as Destiny. Everyone in the top 10 was vulnerable and it extended down to the American. Memphis lost away. UTSA nearly was upset. North Texas is favored by a couple of points but that doesn’t mean anything. The Academies can beat anyone, anywhere, with a unique style and mentality.
It is a huge test for the Mean Green.
It’s Navy Week, y’all.
GMG
Week 7 Results
Thursday, October 15
UAB 30, East Carolina 17* (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
UAB actually never led in this game until overtime. They took a seven point lead, and intercepted the ECU OT possession and returned it for six, for the very rare 13-point win in OT.
Friday, October 16
Tulane 31, Memphis 17* (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
Memphis turned the ball over seemingly every possession. Tulane sat on some things and it looked like one of those games where a scheme was exposed. That said, the advanced numbers liked Memphis throughout. Will Hall maybe saved his job.
Saturday, October 17
Army 56, Florida Atlantic 24* (Noon, CBSSN)
Army dominated this game.
Charlotte 38, Temple 31* (1 p.m., ESPN+)
Upset! Charlotte are winless no more. This was so embarrassing for Temple that KC Keeler fired his defensive line coach and reassigned defensive play-calling duties.
Tulsa 38, Rice 17* (4:30 p.m., ESPN+)
Rice had a couple of long runs, but didn’t control the game. You can say that about most of their games this season.
South Florida 29, Kent State 2 (7 p.m., ESPN+)
Sure.
UTSA 38, Navy 34* (8 p.m., ESPNU)
Entertaining on the field. Navy jumped out to a 14-point lead, but UTSA used an onside to steal momentum. They went up 21-20 at half. Navy missed an extra-point. It was back-and-forth from then on. Navy hit a couple of long passes including a Navy record 92-yard play-action pass to the TE. In the end the Navy defense couldn’t get the final stop, and Navy ran out of time. Also, Navy had so many false-starts and penalties throughout. Brian Newberry blamed the crowd/arena noise.
The game was seriously marred by the death of a fast-rope military demonstration gone wrong. The service member fell, was helped off the field but the game was not paused or delayed. League officials and team representatives said they were following protocol. LINK
WEEK 8 SCHEDULE
Thursday, October 22
East Carolina at Memphis* (7:30 p.m., ESPN2) — get right game for Memphis
Friday, October 23
Army at Tulsa (8:30 p.m., ESPN2)
Saturday, October 24
Rice at Florida Atlantic* (12 p.m., ESPNU)
UNT at Navy* (3:30 p.m., CBSSN) < — Our guys
UTSA at Tulane* (8 p.m., ESPNU)
Standings
Collision Course for November 14
UTSA 3-0
UNT 2-0
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Still within striking distance, as one of UTSA/UNT will fall
Army 3-1
Memphis 2-1
UAB 2-1
FAU 1-1
ECU 1-1
Tulane 1-1
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Need lots of help
USF 1-2
Tulsa 1-2
Temple. 1-2
Charlotte 1-2
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Pretty much done and dusted
Navy 1-3
Rice 0-3
Notes from the league:
Tulane’s six turnovers forced is the most for the program since forcing eight against Army during the 2003 season (9/20/03).
Tulane improves to 30-4 in conference regular season play since 2022. The .882 percentage is the third-best in the country in that period of time.
Army scored just 22 seconds in the game after the defense forced an INT on their opening drive to get the offense the ball.
Florida Atlantic’s Easton Messer collected 14 passes, one shy of the program’s single-game receptions record that he tied in the previous season.
Charlotte earned their first win of the season and earned Head Coach Tim Albins first win over an FBS team and first American Conference win.
The 49ers ended a 15-game losing streak
Charlotte scored 31 of its 38 points in the second half
UTSA becomes the first American Conference team to be bowl eligible with a 6-1 record through seven games. It is the 7th straight bowl eligible season for the Roadrunners
The Roadrunners improve their record at the Alamodome under Jeff Traylor to 37-6 overall and 27-1 in conference games. They lead all FBS teams with home conference wins since 2020.
Rice had two players with runs of at least 75 yards for the first time since 2004 (Jacurri Brown, 78 yards; Ben Grice, 88 yards)
Tulsa forced one turnover in the game. Tulsa now has forced 15 turnovers on the season, which is top five in the nation.
Temple’s Peter Clarke scored on a 4-yard TD reception to becomes Temple’s all-time TD leader by a tight end (11 career TDs), passing Randy Grossman (1970-73)