Quick Reaction: North Texas 56 Rice 24
Record Setting Day for the 10-1 North Texas Mean Green
Take care of business.
That was the plan. Beating Rice would not win the league, nor would it immediately put NT in the CFP. Losing to Rice, however, would eliminate both possibilities.
Rice has the kind of offense, and the situation was set up for an upset. North Texas started the game buy spotting Rice 14 points on the strength of two long Rice triple option drives, sandwiched around a North Texas three-and-out.
From then on it was the Wyatt Young show, aided by one Drew Mestemaker. Young sliced up the Rice defense for a 74-yard touchdown, and then later an 84-yard catch-and-run that must be seen to be appreciated. He added some other nice grabs to finish with 295 on 8 grabs. For those keeping track, he is now 2nd on the single-game North Texas record list, surpassing Jaelon Darden’s 244 in 2020 vs Charlotte. The record is 327 by Casey Fitzgerald. Young could have surely passed the mark if he stayed on, but by the time NT had the ball in the 4th quarters again the game was decidedly over.
Here are some thoughts:
1. 10-1
Hell yeah!
This is the record that matters the most. North Texas hit the tenth win of the season, the first time in program history that wasn’t aided by some NCAA record-adjustments. The squad had a soft schedule and none of that really matters. No one reading this newsletter remembers a North Texas 10-win season.
These are easy games to lose and I can rattle off a number of solid North Texas teams that had “easy” games and didn’t win. They definitely didn’t win like this tonight, and so we should appreciate a great moment in program history. This squad puts up points like nothing, and the defense gets the ball back often enough to let the offense do their thing. That literally was the plan and the hope before this season and we have seen it happen.
2. Wyatt Young
295 and 2 scores. He’s now at 1,076 yards for the year. We asked in pre-season who would step up into the void left by our previous number one guy. Wyatt Young and Cam Dorner have been 1-2 in that spot for a bit, with Young making a name for himself in recent weeks.
Remember that last year DT Sheffield didn’t have 1000+ yards, finishing with 822.
Young has been a vertical threat over the top, but also tonight displayed some catch-and-run ability. We saw last year vs Texas Tech that he could scoot — but that was on a wideout arc play. Here, we saw the kind of run after catch stuff that NFL guys will raise their eyebrows at.
3. Caleb Hawkins
Let’s not forget the freshman sensation going over 1,000 yards as well, and adding 3 more scores to the total. He broke Patrick Cobbs’ single-game record, and now holds the single-season record as well. He’s taken a ton of pressure off of Drew Mestemaker having to make things happen in the red zone, and been the most dangerous player in the game more than not.
4. The Defense Stepped Up
Eric Morris said “we were down to 3s and 4s there” and it should be noted that that’s not an excuse. The defense was challenged early, gettin worked over and pushed back on the dive plays. After that they shut down the Rice offense until it very much didn’t matter any more.
Downs, punt, punt, punt, punt. That’s winning football, folks. Ethan Wesloski had 17 tackles (10 solo) and 1.5 tackles for loss. There is plenty to worry about for Cassity as the games get tougher (AAC title game) but for Rice, the team took care of business and got the stops needed to allow Mestemaker and crew to do their thing.
5. There Is One More
This stretch of games was about mental preparedness more than anything. Temple after Thanksgiving presents its own set of challenges. Unlike Rice or UAB, Temple is a solid squad, and Kasey Keeler once employed Skyler Cassity on his Sam Houston staff. The weird games are the ones you have to worry about and this one will be weird.
It is also an opportunity to celebrate and enjoy the team in person one more time in Denton (pending any situation changes regarding the American title game.) I don’t even mean like “the important guys are leaving” but that this team is leaving. A large number of guys from the 2013 team returned in 2014 and it wasn’t the same. Nothing is the same. We’ll be cheering on North Texas next year, but it will be a different team even if it has a lot of the same faces and so we should appreciate what we have while we have it.
Next up: Temple in DATCU.
GMG!
10-1!