Saturday, November 21
Denton
1 p.m.
University of North Texas
3-3 , 2-2
27
vs
17
Rice
1-2 , 1-2
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Rice
10
0
0
7
17
North Texas
0
14
3
10
27
Photo by: Manny Flores
Novil Headlines Strong Outing For Defense In Win
11/21/2020 5:25:00 PM | Football
DENTON – Not playing a game for five weeks in the middle of the season is certainly far from an ideal situation for any football team.
But, in a way, North Texas made the most of the situation on Saturday in a 27-17 home win over Rice – the Mean Green's first game since a 52-35 win over Middle Tennessee on the road back on Oct. 17.
After having its fair share of struggles defensively under first-year defensive coordinator Clint Bowen, the five weeks might've served for some lost time to make up for the lack of spring football for Bowen to install his defense after it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saturday's performance was easily the most dominant for the Mean Green defense, even after North Texas fell into a 10-0 hole after the first quarter of play.
"You're gonna be rusty after not playing for 35 days," senior nose tackle Dion Novil said. "That just comes with it. But we all knew that and once we got through that first quarter, we knocked that rust off and everyone started to play good. That first quarter was a wakeup call. We had some unforced errors and made adjustments and started to make plays.
"Coach Bowen told us how good we can be if we stop the mistakes and we minimized mistakes today, and it showed," Novil added.
There was no bigger defensive star on Saturday than the 6-foot-4, 330-pound senior from Abilene.
Novil was a one-man wrecking crew in the first half, as he went into halftime with five tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. He finished the day with a season-high eight tackles, including seven solo stops, the five tackles for loss and a sack, despite being double- and sometimes triple-teamed in the second half.
"Rice prides themselves on being physical and wanting to run the ball, and we wanted to challenge ourselves to stop that, and we did," Novil said.
UNT head coach Seth Littrell praised Novil for his performance and said he, and his teammates, are starting to become more acclimated to the Mean Green's defensive overhaul. UNT finished the day with seven sacks and forced two turnovers – the first time the Mean Green have won the turnover margin since Sept. 21, 2019, in a win over UT San Antonio.
"It's all gonna start up front," Littrell said. "Dion really started clicking last game – 35 days ago – about how he's supposed to play the position in this defense. We want him on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Big body like that, he's big and strong and hard to block, and if they have to double him, you're freeing up linebackers. I think that light bulb went off. The last two games, he's played as good as he has in his time here."
A key turning point in the game for North Texas (3-3, 2-2 Conference USA) came just before halftime when Alex Morris recovered a muffed Rice punt at the Owls' 38-yard line with 3:09 to play in the half.
Exactly two minutes later, redshirt sophomore quarterback Jason Bean found senior wide receiver Jaelon Darden for a 25-yard scoring strike to send UNT into the halftime break with a 14-10 lead. That came five minutes after UNT found the scoreboard for the first time with a 66-yard run from Bean to cut Rice's lead to 10-7.
North Texas finished with 389 total yards – just more than 200 yards below its season average, but its defense stood tall going almost the final three quarters without allowing a point before Rice scored with eight seconds remaining in the game.
"I was proud of the way our guys competed," Littrell said. "It wasn't always clean. I told them you're gonna have to win games like that. They're not always going to be perfect in all three phases. When we got settled defensively, our coaches did a great job with run fits and when they did that they completely dominated the game."
Senior safety Makyle Sanders said he can feel the defense clicking more and more with each passing day, and it was nice to see it come to fruition against another team after the long layoff.
"We were all on the same page communicating and doing our job," Sanders said. "Everyone on the field was on the same page. I thought we did a great job on defense other than the 10-0 start. We were a little rusty, so after that first quarter, we came out and knew what we had to do. We've had this 35 days to work together as a unit. That really showed today. Just coming out and playing together and playing good, that was big-time."
QUICK HITS
HC SETH LITTRELL POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
DL DION NOVIL, RB DEANDRE TORREY AND S MAKYLE SANDERS POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
But, in a way, North Texas made the most of the situation on Saturday in a 27-17 home win over Rice – the Mean Green's first game since a 52-35 win over Middle Tennessee on the road back on Oct. 17.
After having its fair share of struggles defensively under first-year defensive coordinator Clint Bowen, the five weeks might've served for some lost time to make up for the lack of spring football for Bowen to install his defense after it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saturday's performance was easily the most dominant for the Mean Green defense, even after North Texas fell into a 10-0 hole after the first quarter of play.
"You're gonna be rusty after not playing for 35 days," senior nose tackle Dion Novil said. "That just comes with it. But we all knew that and once we got through that first quarter, we knocked that rust off and everyone started to play good. That first quarter was a wakeup call. We had some unforced errors and made adjustments and started to make plays.
"Coach Bowen told us how good we can be if we stop the mistakes and we minimized mistakes today, and it showed," Novil added.
There was no bigger defensive star on Saturday than the 6-foot-4, 330-pound senior from Abilene.
Novil was a one-man wrecking crew in the first half, as he went into halftime with five tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. He finished the day with a season-high eight tackles, including seven solo stops, the five tackles for loss and a sack, despite being double- and sometimes triple-teamed in the second half.
"Rice prides themselves on being physical and wanting to run the ball, and we wanted to challenge ourselves to stop that, and we did," Novil said.
UNT head coach Seth Littrell praised Novil for his performance and said he, and his teammates, are starting to become more acclimated to the Mean Green's defensive overhaul. UNT finished the day with seven sacks and forced two turnovers – the first time the Mean Green have won the turnover margin since Sept. 21, 2019, in a win over UT San Antonio.
"It's all gonna start up front," Littrell said. "Dion really started clicking last game – 35 days ago – about how he's supposed to play the position in this defense. We want him on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Big body like that, he's big and strong and hard to block, and if they have to double him, you're freeing up linebackers. I think that light bulb went off. The last two games, he's played as good as he has in his time here."
A key turning point in the game for North Texas (3-3, 2-2 Conference USA) came just before halftime when Alex Morris recovered a muffed Rice punt at the Owls' 38-yard line with 3:09 to play in the half.
Exactly two minutes later, redshirt sophomore quarterback Jason Bean found senior wide receiver Jaelon Darden for a 25-yard scoring strike to send UNT into the halftime break with a 14-10 lead. That came five minutes after UNT found the scoreboard for the first time with a 66-yard run from Bean to cut Rice's lead to 10-7.
North Texas finished with 389 total yards – just more than 200 yards below its season average, but its defense stood tall going almost the final three quarters without allowing a point before Rice scored with eight seconds remaining in the game.
"I was proud of the way our guys competed," Littrell said. "It wasn't always clean. I told them you're gonna have to win games like that. They're not always going to be perfect in all three phases. When we got settled defensively, our coaches did a great job with run fits and when they did that they completely dominated the game."
Senior safety Makyle Sanders said he can feel the defense clicking more and more with each passing day, and it was nice to see it come to fruition against another team after the long layoff.
"We were all on the same page communicating and doing our job," Sanders said. "Everyone on the field was on the same page. I thought we did a great job on defense other than the 10-0 start. We were a little rusty, so after that first quarter, we came out and knew what we had to do. We've had this 35 days to work together as a unit. That really showed today. Just coming out and playing together and playing good, that was big-time."
QUICK HITS
- The Mean Green win gives them a 6-5 series advantage all-time against the Owls and breaks the series tie. It was the second consecutive win for the Mean Green over Rice at Apogee Stadium after a 41-17 win in Denton in 2018.
- The Mean Green win puts the program record at 20-9 in Apogee Stadium under head coach Seth Littrell, who is now 4-1 in his career against Rice. The Mean Green are 2-3 at home this season.
- The win puts head coach Seth Littrell at 30-28 in his Mean Green tenure, moving him into sixth place on the program's all-time wins list.
- Redshirt sophomore QB Jason Bean (Mansfield, Texas) finished the day with 120 yards on 9 of 20 passing with a touchdown while rushing for 94 yards and a score on five carries.
- Bean's 66-yard touchdown with 6:56 remaining in the second quarter was a new career-long rush. His previous high went for 48 yards.
- Senior WR Jaelon Darden (Houston) had four catches on the day for 50 yards and a touchdown, giving him 11 touchdown receptions through six games this season.
- Darden entered the game with 202 career receptions, and his four catches puts him at 206 for his career. He is in second place on the program's all-time receptions list and trails the all-time leader, Casey Fitzgerald (2005-08), by 23 catches after he finished his decorated career with 229 catches.
- Darden's 25-yard touchdown reception with 1:09 left in the first half was the 30th of his career, putting him one behind the program's all-time career leader Ron Shanklin (1967-69), who finished his career with 31.
- That 25-yard touchdown catch was also the 31st career touchdown (rushing/receiving/returns) for Darden, tying him for fourth with Shanklin on the program's all-time list.
- Senior RB DeAndre Torrey (Gautier, Mississippi) had 102 yards on 19 carries to go with a touchdown.
- The 100-yard effort was the sixth 100-yard rushing game of Torrey's career.
- Torrey's 1-yard touchdown plunge with 7:27 left to play was his 22nd career rushing touchdown and 26th career touchdown (rushing/receiving/returns), and he ranks seventh and ninth all-time in program history, respectively.
- Torrey's 102 yards on the day puts him at 1,903 for his career, moving him into 13th on the program's all-time list. He passed Antoine Jimmerson (2011-15) and Abner Haynes (1957-59) and is 61 yards behind Hut Allred (1994-98), who's in 12th place.
- UNT won the turnover battle with a margin of 2-0. The last time UNT won the turnover battle was September 21, 2019, against UT San Antonio.
- Senior nose tackle Dion Novil (Abilene, Texas) finished the day with a season-high eight tackles, including seven solo stops. He also had a sack and two forced fumbles.
- His 5.0 tackles for loss catapulted him from 11th on the program's all-time list to seventh with 28 tackles for loss in his career. He trails former teammate LaDarius Hamilton (2016-19) by one-half tackle for loss to move into sixth place.
- His 5.0 tackles for loss were the second-most in a single game in North Texas program history (the stat started being recorded in 2001). Only Brandon Kennedy has had more in a single game, with 6.0 in 2002 against Idaho.
- Senior safety Makyle Sanders (Tyler, Texas) finished the day with seven tackles.
- Sophomore linebacker Kevin Wood (Converse, Texas) finished the day with seven tackles.
- Junior LB KD Davis (Ennis, Texas) finished the day with six tackles and a sack.
- Redshirt freshman edge rusher Grayson Murphy (Dallas) registered his first career sack late in the first quarter. He added another sack early in the fourth quarter.
- North Texas recorded seven sacks in the game against Rice, the most under head coach Seth Littrell and most since a 2014 win over Nicholls, when UNT posted 13.
HC SETH LITTRELL POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
DL DION NOVIL, RB DEANDRE TORREY AND S MAKYLE SANDERS POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Team Stats
RICE
UNT
Total Yards
376
389
Pass Yards
327
120
Rushing Yards
49
269
Penalty Yards
25
42
1st Downs
23
17
3rd Downs
3
7
4th Downs
0
0
TOP
36:25
23:35
1st Quarter
RICE 3, UNT 0
RICE - RICCITELLI, C. 45 yd field goal 8 plays, 48 yards, TOP 3:49
RICE 10, UNT 0
RICE - TRAMMELL, A. 14 yd pass from COLLINS, Mike (RICCITELLI, C. kick) 7 plays, 97 yards, TOP 4:01
2nd Quarter
RICE 10, UNT 7
UNT - BEAN, Jason 66 yd run (MOONEY, Ethan kick), 4 plays, 89 yards, TOP 1:17
RICE 10, UNT 14
UNT - DARDEN, Jaelon 25 yd pass from BEAN, Jason (MOONEY, Ethan kick) 6 plays, 38 yards, TOP 2:00
3rd Quarter
RICE 10, UNT 17
UNT - MOONEY, Ethan 27 yd field goal 13 plays, 55 yards, TOP 5:04
4th Quarter
RICE 10, UNT 20
UNT - MOONEY, Ethan 30 yd field goal 9 plays, 67 yards, TOP 2:40
RICE 10, UNT 27
UNT - TORREY, DeAndre 1 yd run (MOONEY, Ethan kick), 6 plays, 39 yards, TOP 2:43
RICE 17, UNT 27
RICE - BAILEY, Jake 17 yd pass from COLLINS, Mike (RICCITELLI, C. kick) 6 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:18
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
9
TD
1
YDS
120
INT
0
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DE
/ Football
S
/ Football
LB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
S
/ Football
RB
/ Football
LB
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