University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Blanked, 27-0, By No. 3 Longhorns
8/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Austin (8/31/02) Scoring all of their points in the first half, the No. 3-ranked Texas Longhorns posted a 27-0 shutout victory over North Texas here Saturday night in the season opener for both teams.
The Mean Green struggled offensively most of the game, which was played before a crowd of 83,051 the largest ever for a North Texas game -- at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium. North Texas was held to 145 yards, its lowest output since gaining just 129 against TCU in last year’s season opener.
North Texas’ defense, however, shined against the nationally-ranked Longhorns. The Mean Green held Texas scoreless in the second half and recorded eight quarterback sacks the most since a five-sack performance last year against Idaho.
North Texas also held UT’s rushing attack in check, holding Cedric Benson to 49 yards on 18 carries and allowing the Horns just 28 net rushing yards after the sacks.
Junior quarterback Scott Hall completed just 4 of 13 passes for 35 yards before being replaced at the start of the fourth quarter by redshirt freshman Andrew Smith. In the first action of his collegiate career, Smith completed 2 of 6 passes for 20 yards.
On the ground, North Texas rushed for 90 yards on 38 carries, with sophomore Patrick Cobbs gaining a team-high 38 yards on 11 rushes. Senior Kevin Galbreath ended with a career-low 18 yards on 11 tries. Redshirt freshman Roy Bishop, seeing the first action of his college career, picked up 12 yards on his only rush in the game.
Scoring points on six of their seven possessions in the opening half, the Longhorns powered their way to a 27-0 lead by halftime. A pair of Dusty Mangrum field goals, TD runs by Benson and quarterback Chris Simms and a Simms-to-Brock Edward’s touchdown pass accounted for the Longhorns’ halftime margin.
The Mean Green didn’t help themselves by committing a pair of miscues that led to Texas scores. A Patrick Cobbs fumble at midfield on the Mean Green’s second series was recovered by Texas and resulted in Simms’ one-yard TD sneak to give Texas a 14-0 lead at 3:05 in the first quarter.
Late in the second quarter, North Texas punter Brad Kadlubar’s kick was blocked and recovered by the Longhorns at the Mean Green 20-yard line. Six plays later, Mangrum connected on a 27-yard field goal to up UT’s lead to 27-0 with seven seconds left in the first half.
Texas scored on his first series of the game after a 24-yard Kadlubar punt set the Longhorns up at the North Texas 39-yard line. Benson rushed on four of the six plays in the drive and scored on a two-yard run over left tackle to give UT a 7-0 led with 9:31 left.
Following Simms’ TD run, Texas went up 21-0 when Simms hit Edwards in the right corner of the end zone on a 15-yard touchdown pass play at the 7:04 mark of the second quarter.
After the Mean Green’s next drive stalled, Kadlubar got off a 53-yard punt that was returned 41 yards to the North Texas 28 by the Horn’s Nathan Vasher. From there, the Longhorns drove to the four-yard line before Mangum hit a 21-yard field goal.
