Mean Green Lose Late At Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – North Texas led Saturday's game at Charlotte for all but 59 minutes, 42 seconds, but with 18 ticks remaining, a 34-yard touchdown pass for Charlotte spoiled what was an explosive offensive day for the Mean Green, as North Texas fell 39-38 at Jerry Richardson Stadium.

Senior quarterback Mason Fine threw for a new career high of five touchdown passes on 25-of-36 passing and 384 yards, and the Mean Green had two 100-yard receivers and a 100-yard rusher, but the Mean Green couldn't hold off a fourth-quarter rally that saw Charlotte outscore UNT 18-3 in the fourth quarter as the 49ers outgained UNT 589-539.

"Overall, you've got to give Charlotte a lot of credit," UNT head coach Seth Littrell said. "Their kids continued to fight hard. During the second half, they played extremely well and we didn't make enough stops. We couldn't get off the field. Score 32 points in the second half, and it's hard to beat people."

Fine wasn't the only offensive player filling the stat sheet for North Texas, as redshirt freshman wide receiver Jyaire Shorter had three catches – all touchdowns – for 111 yards and three touchdowns for his first multi-touchdown game. Junior wide receiver Jaelon Darden also continued his hot play, as of late, and had five grabs for 104 yards, including a 64-yard scoring strike from Fine to open the game's scoring. Redshirt sophomore Tre Siggers carried the ball 17 times for 131 yards and had his third 100-yard rushing performance of the year.

"He's a powerful runner, and he's been making a lot of plays for us," Littrell said, after Siggers missed last week's win over Middle Tennessee with an injury and was a game-time decision on Saturday.

Shorter now has 17 catches on the season with seven of those going for touchdowns in his last six games.

The Mean Green (3-5, 2-2 Conference USA) will look to regroup and get back in the win column when they host UTEP next Saturday, Nov. 2, at Apogee Stadium for homecoming at 2:30 p.m.

"We've got to stick together and find out ways to improve and get better," Littrell said. "We've got to, you know, man up on whatever we have to as players, as coaches and try to figure out how to win these games because that's very disappointing. That should never happen. Ultimately, it's on me. I'm the leader of this group. We've got to step up and everybody has to be manning up to lift themselves. We've got to do better."

QUICK HITS

The meeting was the first between the Conference USA foes, and Charlotte now leads the all-time series 1-0.
- North Texas is now 3-1 when leading at the half this season.
Senior QB Mason Fine (Peggs, Oklahoma) finished 26-for-38 passing for 394 yards and five touchdown passes.
- Fine's 64-yard touchdown pass to Jaelon Darden with 4:48 to play in the first quarter moved Fine past Mitch Maher (1991-94) for the program's all-time lead in career touchdowns responsible for with 86.
- Fine completed his first eight pass attempts, and by the time he had his first incompletion he had racked up 156 passing yards and two touchdowns.
- With his 34-yard touchdown pass to senior WR Michael Lawrence (Sweetwater, Texas), Fine set a new career high for touchdown passes in a game with five.
- Fine extended his program records for career completions (968), career touchdown passes (84), career passing yards (11,694) and career 300-yard passing games (17).
- With Fine's 14-yard scoring strike to Jyaire Shorter midway through the third quarter, he tied his career- and season-high for touchdown passes in a game with four. He threw four touchdown passes in the season-opening win over Abilene Christian, and on three other occasions in his North Texas career.
- With Georgia on bye this week, Fine tied Georgia QB Jake Fromm for consecutive starts by an FBS quarterback with 35.
- Fine completed passes to nine different receivers.
Junior WR Jaelon Darden (Houston) had five catches on the day for 104 yards and a touchdown.
- His 64-yard touchdown reception with 4:48 remaining in the first quarter was his eighth of the year.
- That catch moved Darden into a tie for eighth place all-time for career touchdown receptions with 15. He tied Jalen Guyton (2017-18) and George Marshall (1999-2002).
Redshirt freshman Jyaire Shorter (Killeen, Texas) hauled in three catches (all touchdowns) for a career-high 111 yards and three touchdowns – his first multi-touchdown game. Shorter had touchdowns of 40, 57 and 14 yards and tallied his first career 100-yard receiving day.
- Shorter now has seven touchdown receptions in his last six games on just 17 receptions.
With Darden and Shorter each eclipsing 100 yards receiving, it marked the first time since Oct. 20, 2018, that two UNT receivers have hit the century mark in a game (Darden and Rico Bussey, Jr., at UAB).
Redshirt sophomore RB Tre Siggers (Duncanville, Texas) carried the ball 17 times for 131 yards for his third 100-yard rushing game of the year.
Redshirt senior TE Kelvin Smith (Spring, Texas) had season highs in both catches (four) and yards (29).
Senior safety Khairi Muhammad (DeSoto, Texas), tied his career high with 13 tackles, matching his total from a game at Iowa in 2017.

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Players Mentioned

Rico Bussey, Jr.

Jaelon Darden

Mason Fine

Jalen Guyton

Michael Lawrence

Khairi Muhammad

Jyaire Shorter

Tre Siggers

Kelvin Smith