Quick Reaction: North Texas 53 UAB 24

North Texas is 9-1, destiny in hand

First of all, I want to acknowledge and apologize for the “missing” week before the UAB game. Your humble newsletter producer was busy with the day-job, children, household tasks, and the various things that prevent a person from writing or podcasting.

That this week was otherwise uninteresting had something to do with things. In the draft preview (unpublished) of this week’s matchup, we were mentioning the importance of treating UAB, Rice, and Temple like the college football playoff games they are. The opponents are weak, or have giant gaps in their armor. That is no matter, as each is perfectly capable of stealing a game. They play the games for a reason, and we see every week an upset that blows our expectations out of the water.

But no one was really worried about losing to UAB. However possible, it was very unlikely.

The task set before the program was to make things even more boring. Take care of business against an overmatched opponent with an interim head coach and you set yourself up for some end-of-year tiebreakers. As it happened, fortune smiled on the Mean Green. Navy upset USF¹and that puts North Texas in a superb position ahead of two very winnable games.

There was a time where this UAB matchup was one that was circled. UAB used to be good and formidable and is now a laughing stock. This game was played in front of basically no one. We should enjoy the moments while we have them.

Let’s go through some quick thoughts:

1. Caleb Hawkins Dominated

Normally you give the offensive line a lot of credit. They do get some credit, but the advanced numbers say the Mean Green offensive line is average-to-good. The run-after-contact is way above average. That pretty much explains Caleb Hawkins. On this day, he didn’t have to break too many tackles, but when he wanted to, he could walk through UAB’s defense.

Hawkins broke the program record for touchdowns in a game (Cobbs) and has helped transform this offense from a good one, to an historically great one. The offense is efficient when it can turn red zone trips to touchdowns and Caleb Hawkins has been tremendous in so doing.

Notes from the program:

Freshman RB Caleb Hawkins (Shawnee, Okla.) finished the day with 27 carries for 189 yards and a program-record five touchdowns and added a catch for 21 yards.

• Hawkins’ five rushing touchdowns is the most in a single game in UNT history.

  • Hawkins is the second FBS player this season to have five rushing touchdowns in a game (Jonah Coleman, Washington, vs. UC Davis on Sept. 6).

  • Hawkins is the eighth player in American Conference history to have 5+ rushing touchdowns in a game.

• Hawkins, with his third game of 4+ rushing touchdowns this season, joins nine other players who have accomplished that feat since 1995.

• Hawkins is the only player in the nation to have four games this season with 3+ touchdowns.

• Hawkins’ 16 rushing touchdowns put him in a tie for the FBS lead coming out of Saturday’s game.

• Hawkins joins Lance Dunbar (2 games) as the only UNT players with multiple games with 4+ rushing touchdowns in a career.

• For the fifth time this season, Hawkins had multiple touchdowns in a game, and it marked the fourth time he has had multiple rushing scores in a game.

• Hawkins eclipsed 100 rushing yards for the fourth time this season.

• Hawkins became the first UNT rusher to eclipse 100 yards in consecutive games since both Ayo Adeyi and Oscar Adaway III did so on Nov. 18-25, 2023.

• With his 16th rushing touchdown of the season, Hawkins tied Jeffery Wilson (2017) for the fourth-most in a single season in program history.

• With his 19th overall touchdown of the season, Hawkins tied Jaelon Darden (2020) and Lance Dunbar (2009) for second-most in a single season in program history – two short of the program record of 21, held by UNT running backs coach Patrick Cobbs (2003).

• His 19th overall touchdown broke the program record for a freshman, which was previously held by Jamario Thomas (17 in 2004).

  • He also broke Thomas’ points scored by a freshman program record of 102, as Hawkins now sits at 132.

• Hawkins’ 30 points responsible for is tied for the third-most in UNT history with Casey Fitzgerald (Navy, Nov. 10, 2007).

• Of the seven 4-rushing touchdown performances in program history, Hawkins is now the only player to do it one half.

• For the second straight game, Hawkins had three rushing touchdowns in a half – a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since DeAndre Torrey against UTSA in 2021.

• Hawkins’ 1-yard touchdown run with 8:48 left in the first quarter was his 12th of the year and his 15th overall touchdown.

• Hawkins’ 4-yard touchdown run with 4:15 left in the first quarter was his 13th of the year and his 16th overall touchdown.

• Hawkins’ 11-yard touchdown run with 3:11 left in the first quarter was his 14th of the year and his 17th overall touchdown.

• Hawkins’ 9-yard touchdown run with 11:07 left in the second quarter was his 15th of the year and his 18th overall touchdown.

• Hawkins’ 5-yard touchdown run with 3:26 left in the third quarter was his 16th of the year and his 19th overall touchdown.

• Hawkins’ 51-yard rush midway through the fourth quarter was the longest of his season and career.

2. Hey That Defense?

UAB’s offense has been sneakily okay, and they came into this game thinking they could move the ball against an untested NT pass defense. After North Texas went up by 21 early, the defense started to look porous. Was it a “prevent” thing? Was it just being vanilla? I don’t know. I didn’t like it. The defense allowed 478 yards and there were too many broken contain moments.

3. North Texas Took Care of Business

It is fun to complain about the minor things. The Chat was saying Mestemaker was throwing a little too aggressively. He missed a guy or two. He scrambled a bit. NT punted. These are minor complaints in light of 53 points, 506 yards. Oh the QB threw for 298 and 2 scores on 18 of 25 throwing. That’s great quarterbacking.

The Mean Green came out hot, put up a bunch of points and while they allowed UAB some points, the team was never in real danger. The closest UAB came was 31-15, which is not very close at all.

NT walked down the field and scored whenever they wanted to. The game and the moment was in full control.

4. North Texas Is Ready For Their Moment

We lamented the loss to UAB as missing a chance to make the most of a big moment. The truth has always been that North Texas has had an outstanding season. Mestemaker’s story is incredible, and every week he adds another building block to it. He threw for 608 yards and has been on all the college football shows.

Even this Saturday, as I was finishing up coaching my daughter’s basketball game a father came up and asked about UNT’s QB. This is in St. Louis, MO, mind you. North Texas has made a name for itself.

The squad should be ranked for the first time in decades this week. USF lost, Memphis lost, a few Top 25 squads lost. North Texas won in blowout fashion. All week the graphics have been showing UNT and the big percentage indicating the likelihood of making both the CFB playoff and the American Championship Game.

You build a brand with many moments of recognition. You can take the big doses of attention, but it is sustained with the small moments: the Gruden video, the Hawkins play, the Morris QB story, the Mestemaker tale, the Sam Houston connection, but most of all the wins. Nine wins on the season are what is driving this story.

We knew at the beginning of the season that the Mean Green had a relatively easy schedule. We knew they had the talent and scheme in the right places to take advantage. So far, so good.

GMG

1. In a thriller. USF’s defense was always a little iffy, and they were sliced up by Navy’s option offense even with the backup QB in there to do damage. Most remarkable was Navy’s stifling defense doing well vs USF early. They got in a bit of a track meet in the second half, but Navy handled business by executing late.