No. 18: The Miracle In The Desert
8/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
No. 18 - The Miracle In The Desert
With the chance at winning a Sun Belt Conference championship hinging on the Mean Green's ability to win out in conference play, North Texas entered the desert of Las Cruces, New Mexico on Nov. 3, 2001, needing to win to stay alive.
NT was 2-5 overall on the year entering the game, but held a 2-1 record in conference, having defeated Middle Tennessee and Arkansas State the previous weeks.
The Mean Green controlled the score board in the first quarter plus, but were only able to tally three Jason Ball field goals to hold a 9-0 lead over the Aggies.
NMSU finally punched one in with 10:19 left to go in the second quarter to narrow the NT lead to two points in a 9-7 game at halftime.
Scott Hall hooked up with George Marshall for a 53-yard score with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter to bring the Mean Green lead back to nine at 16-7.
The Aggies refused to go away though, notching two Kenton Keith TD's in the fourth quarter to take the lead 20-16.
Hall would have to save the day for North Texas to have a chance at an SBC title and he came through in the clutch. Scott found George Marshall for the second time in the game, this time from 32-yards out, with just 18 seconds to spare in the game to put NT on top for good 22-20.
Marshall would finish the game with four catches for 112 yards and two monumental scores as the Mean Green elevated their record to 3-5 overall and 3-1 in SBC play. As you know, North Texaws would end up winning the SBC title and participating in the program's first bowl game in 52 years.
| 100 | 100-yd fumble return for TD | 75- | "Mean Joe" Greene | 50- | Gross and Washington | 25- | Conference Titles |
| 99 | Fitzgerald Goes The Distance | 74- | NT Downs No. 20 SDSU | 49- | Keith Chapman FGs | 24- | Talking About Willis |
| 98 | Sears Woods' Stuns Knoxville | 73- | Fry & the new Mean Green | 48- | Cody Spencer | 23- | Rev. Maher Dominates Southland |
| 97- | NT Blows Out Decatur Baptist | 72- | Yaege's Stellar Season | 47- | First Homecoming | 22- | Walker Passes Rice |
| 96- | 96 Years Of Football | 71- | Steve Ramsey's TDs | 46- | Meager Against SMU | 21- | Cobbs 100-Yard Games |
| 95- | The Jump To Division I-A | 70- | Little's 1970 Season | 45- | Cobb Scores 45 | 20- | Fouts Arrives In Denton |
| 94- | Optimist Bowl Offense | 69- | 7 All-Conference in '69 | 44- | Not A Day To Rush | 19- | Haynes Scores 19 TDs |
| 93- | Michael High KR Yards | 68- | A Consensus All-American | 43- | Patrick Cobbs | 18- | Miracle In the Desert |
| 92- | Gowin 92-Yard Punt | 67- | Armour Anchors NT Offense | 42- | Craig Robertson | 17- | Wednesday, August 24 |
| 91- | Chancellor Saves The MGRN | 66- | Love Tops 1,000 Yds | 41- | Erric Pegram | 16- | Thursday, August 25 |
| 90- | Renfro/Haynes Tally 90 pts. | 65- | St. Clair's Win Pct | 40- | Fry Win Total | 15- | Friday, August 26 |
| 89- | Redwine Bursts Onto Scene | 64- | Spider's Special Season | 39- | Jack Sisco and 1939 | 14- | Saturday, August 27 |
| 88- | Mean Green Robbed | 63- | NT & Navy Light Up The Scoreboard | 38- | 2002 NMSU Win | 13- | Sunday, August 28 |
| 87- | Fitzgerald Fries Competition | 62- | Khoury's 62-yd FG | 37- | Dunbar TDs (so far) | 12- | Monday, August 29 |
| 86- | Mean Green 86 The Toads | 61- | Kennedy's 61 TFL | 36- | What A Rush | 11- | Tuesday, August 30 |
| 85- | Adrian Awasom | 60- | Fouts Field | 35- | Galbreath Seals NO Bowl Win | 10- | Wednesday, August 31 |
| 84- | Brown Delivers For NT | 59- | The '59 Sun Bowl Squad | 34- | Ja'Quay Wilburn | 9- | Thursday, September 1 |
| 83- | 83 All-Conference Selections | 58- | Mitchell Claims COY | 33- | Ray Renfro | 8- | Friday, September 2 |
| 82- | Corky Nelson | 57- | Thomas Scampers For 57 | 32- | The First All-American | 7- | Saturday, September 3 |
| 81- | One Of The Greats | 56- | Scott Davis Completion Pct | 31- | 31 NT All-Americans | 6- | Sunday, September 4 |
| 80- | Cedric The Sack- Getter | 55- | Gill, NT's First Retired Number | 30- | Former NCAA Record 30 TDs | 5- | Monday, September 5 |
| 79- | "Blow George, Blow!" | 54- | Pair's Punts | 29- | 29,473 Fans | 4 | Tuesday, September 6 |
| 78- | J.T. Smith Joins the NFL | 53- | OSU's 53 Passing Yards | 28- | Abner Haynes | 3- | Wednesday, September 7 |
| 77- | North Texas Goes 10- 1 | 52- | Fouts Field Opens | 27- | Maher Destroys Passing TD Mark | 2- | Thursday, September 8 |
| 76- | Blizzard Battle With FSU | 51- | Bahnsen Named All-American | 26- | Consecutive SBC Wins | 1- | Friday, September 9 |