Saturday, November 6
Hattiesburg, MS
2:00 p.m.
University of North Texas
3-6 , 2-3
38
at
14
Southern Miss
1-8 , 0-5
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
North Texas
0
7
21
10
38
Southern Miss.
14
0
0
0
14
Photo by: Manny Flores
Defense, Ground Game Carry UNT to Road Win
11/6/2021 6:06:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Less than eight minutes into Saturday's game against Southern Miss, it looked like North Texas might be in for another long day at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
An easy touchdown drive for the Golden Eagles on their first possession of the day and a quick pick-six put the Mean Green in a 14-point hole, but then things started to go as planned.
The Mean Green reeled off 38 unanswered points and used dominant efforts on defense and in the ground game to pound Southern Miss into submission en route to a 38-14 win – UNT's second straight road win in Conference USA play.
"I knew our guys would continue to fight hard," UNT head coach Seth Littrell said. "They've proven that in every game. We've faced adversity, and I knew it'd just be a matter of time. I knew if we stuck together we could do what we did in the second half. Two in a row, man. That's called a win streak."
Southern Miss (1-8, 0-5) found the scoreboard five minutes into the game, and then less than three minutes later took a 14-0 lead on a 55-yard interception return. But after that first Southern Miss drive that covered 66 yards, the Golden Eagles gained just 163 the rest of the day as the Mean Green defense forced four three-and-outs, forced six straight punts and scored twice on fumble return touchdowns by Grayson Murphy to make it 28-14 late in the third quarter, and KD Davis for the final margin late in the fourth quarter.
"A soon as I saw the ball on the ground, I picked it up, gave a stiff-arm and I knew I was going to the house," Davis said.
Davis was one of many stars for the defense, which was led by a pair of nine-tackle performances from Tyreke Davis and Kevin Wood, while KD Davis finished the day with eight stops.
"They did a heck of a job other than that first drive," Littrell said of defensive coordinator Phil Bennett and his unit. "The guys played hard and got to ball-carriers and just played really good defense."
While the defense put on a physical showing, the offense wasn't to be outdone, leaning heavily on a punishing ground game to dominate the Golden Eagles to the tune of a season-high 537 total yards, including 321 on the ground – the most this year against an FBS team and the most against a C-USA opponent since putting up 462 at Middle Tennessee last season.
And the Mean Green did all of that without starting running back DeAndre Torrey, who left the game early in the second quarter with an injury after picking up 40 yards on 11 carries. That meant a trio of freshmen had to carry the load, and did they ever.
Isaiah Johnson led the way with 17 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown, while Ikaika Ragsdale had 15 rushes for 112 yards and two scores including a 44-yarder midway through the third quarter to give the Mean Green their first lead of the day. A minute and 17 seconds later, UNT led 28-14 after Murphy's 37-yard fumble return for a score. Another freshman, Ayo Adeyi, had 12 carries for 46 yards to give the team four players with at least 11 carries.
"I'll tell you what, they stick together and fight for each other," Littrell said of his running back room. "When one goes down, the next steps up. It's an awesome room with the way they root for each other and pick up the slack. I'm extremely proud of them."
The Mean Green will look to make it three in a row when they return to Apogee Stadium to host UTEP on Nov. 13 at 3 p.m., in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN+.
QUICK HITS
An easy touchdown drive for the Golden Eagles on their first possession of the day and a quick pick-six put the Mean Green in a 14-point hole, but then things started to go as planned.
The Mean Green reeled off 38 unanswered points and used dominant efforts on defense and in the ground game to pound Southern Miss into submission en route to a 38-14 win – UNT's second straight road win in Conference USA play.
"I knew our guys would continue to fight hard," UNT head coach Seth Littrell said. "They've proven that in every game. We've faced adversity, and I knew it'd just be a matter of time. I knew if we stuck together we could do what we did in the second half. Two in a row, man. That's called a win streak."
Southern Miss (1-8, 0-5) found the scoreboard five minutes into the game, and then less than three minutes later took a 14-0 lead on a 55-yard interception return. But after that first Southern Miss drive that covered 66 yards, the Golden Eagles gained just 163 the rest of the day as the Mean Green defense forced four three-and-outs, forced six straight punts and scored twice on fumble return touchdowns by Grayson Murphy to make it 28-14 late in the third quarter, and KD Davis for the final margin late in the fourth quarter.
"A soon as I saw the ball on the ground, I picked it up, gave a stiff-arm and I knew I was going to the house," Davis said.
Davis was one of many stars for the defense, which was led by a pair of nine-tackle performances from Tyreke Davis and Kevin Wood, while KD Davis finished the day with eight stops.
"They did a heck of a job other than that first drive," Littrell said of defensive coordinator Phil Bennett and his unit. "The guys played hard and got to ball-carriers and just played really good defense."
While the defense put on a physical showing, the offense wasn't to be outdone, leaning heavily on a punishing ground game to dominate the Golden Eagles to the tune of a season-high 537 total yards, including 321 on the ground – the most this year against an FBS team and the most against a C-USA opponent since putting up 462 at Middle Tennessee last season.
And the Mean Green did all of that without starting running back DeAndre Torrey, who left the game early in the second quarter with an injury after picking up 40 yards on 11 carries. That meant a trio of freshmen had to carry the load, and did they ever.
Isaiah Johnson led the way with 17 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown, while Ikaika Ragsdale had 15 rushes for 112 yards and two scores including a 44-yarder midway through the third quarter to give the Mean Green their first lead of the day. A minute and 17 seconds later, UNT led 28-14 after Murphy's 37-yard fumble return for a score. Another freshman, Ayo Adeyi, had 12 carries for 46 yards to give the team four players with at least 11 carries.
"I'll tell you what, they stick together and fight for each other," Littrell said of his running back room. "When one goes down, the next steps up. It's an awesome room with the way they root for each other and pick up the slack. I'm extremely proud of them."
The Mean Green will look to make it three in a row when they return to Apogee Stadium to host UTEP on Nov. 13 at 3 p.m., in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN+.
QUICK HITS
- The Mean Green win extends the all-time series over Southern Miss to 9-7, with the first meeting coming in 1954.
- The win puts head coach Seth Littrell at 34-37 in his Mean Green tenure, and he is in sixth place on the program's all-time wins list – behind fifth-place Hayden Fry (40). He moves to 4-2 in his career against Southern Miss.
- The second consecutive road win marked the first time the Mean Green have won consecutive road games since Sept. 22, 2018 at Liberty (47-7) and Oct. 6, 2018 at UTEP (27-24).
- The 537 total yards was the most for the Mean Green this season, eclipsing the previous best of 527 in the season-opening win over Northwestern State.
- The 321 rushing yards for the Mean Green was the most against an FBS team this season and the most against a C-USA opponent since 462 against Middle Tennessee on Oct. 17, 2020.
- The 229 yards allowed by the Mean Green defense was the first time the team has allowed fewer than 250 total yards since UTEP gained 231 on Nov. 11, 2017.
- Sophomore QB Austin Aune (Argyle, Texas) made his fifth start of the season and finished 16-for-30 for 216 yards.
- Aune completed passes to six different receivers.
- The Mean Green had two players rush for 100 yards or more for the first time since having three players hit the mark against Middle Tennessee on Oct. 17, 2020.
- Senior RB DeAndre Torrey (Gautier, Mississippi) had 40 rushing yards on 11 carries before leaving the game early in the second quarter with an injury.
- His 40 rushing yards puts him at 936 for the season, tying him for 21st on the single-season rushing list with Jeffery Wilson (2016).
- Freshman RB Isaiah Johnson (Lubbock, Texas) finished with a career-high 17 carries for a career-high 119 yards and a touchdown.
- His 8-yard touchdown run with 5:38 to play in the first half was his fourth of the season and fifth of his career.
- Johnson's 119 yards marked the first time in his career he's eclipsed the century mark on the ground.
- Freshman RB Ikaika Ragsdale (Las Vegas) finished with a career-high 15 carries for a career-high 112 yards and two touchdowns and had the first multi-touchdown game of his career.
- Ragsdale's 44-yard touchdown run with 6:01 left in the third quarter gave the Mean Green their first lead of the day at 21-14 and was the longest rush of his career.
- Ragsdale's 2-yard touchdown run with 9:53 left in the third quarter tied the game at 14-14 and was the first touchdown of his career.
- Ragsdale finding the end zone marked the fourth UNT player to score a rushing touchdown this year (Torrey, Adeyi, Johnson, Ragsdale).
- Ragsdale's 112 yards marked the first time in his career he's eclipsed the century mark on the ground.
- Ragsdale's 17-yard reception early in the third quarter was a career-long.
- Freshman RB Ayo Adeyi (Mansfield, Texas) had 12 carries for 46 yards.
- Freshman WR Detraveon Brown (Shreveport, La.) finished the day with four catches for 85 yards.
- Brown set new career highs in catches (four), yards (85) and long reception with his 41-yard catch late in the first half.
- Senior TE Jason Pirtle (Locust Grove, Okla.) finished the day with five catches for 48 yards.
- Pirtle tied his season high with five receptions and set a new season high with his 48 receiving yards.
- Junior LB KD Davis (Ennis, Texas) finished the day with eight tackles, including three solo stops, a sack, a tackle for-loss and a fumble return for a touchdown.
- Davis' 43-yard fumble return for a touchdown was the second of the game for the Mean Green and the first touchdown of his collegiate career.
- Senior DL Dion Novil (Abilene, Texas) finished the day with two tackles - both solo stops - a tackle for-loss and a forced fumble – his second in two weeks.
- Redshirt freshman DE Grayson Murphy (Dallas) had a 37-yard fumble return for a touchdown to become the first for a UNT player since Dec. 16, 2017 when Colton McDonald returned one 56 yards for a score against Troy in the New Orleans Bowl.
- Sophomore LB Kevin Wood (Converse, Texas) finished the day with a season-high nine tackles, including six solo stops and a tackle for-loss.
- Wood made his first start since the La Tech loss on Sept. 25.
- Wood's previous season high was eight tackles, which he'd done two times this season in the first two games of the year.
- Senior DB Makyle Sanders (Tyler, Texas) finished the day with three tackles, including two solo stops.
- Freshman LB Jordan Brown (Huntsville, Texas) finished the day with five tackles, including a solo stop.
- Senior LB Tyreke Davis (Denton) finished the day with a season-high nine tackles, including seven solo stops, two tackles for-loss and a QB hurry.
- Davis' 2.0 tackles for-loss tied his season high, which done previously against UAB.
- Freshman DB Ridge Texada (Frisco, Texas) made the start at cornerback – the second of his Mean Green career and second in as many weeks.
- Texada started one game last year at McNeese State.
- Texada had three tackles, including two solo stops.
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Team Stats
UNT
USM
Total Yards
537
229
Pass Yards
216
116
Rushing Yards
321
113
Penalty Yards
99
35
1st Downs
25
11
3rd Downs
12
3
4th Downs
3
0
TOP
34:14
25:46
1st Quarter
UNT 0, USM 7
USM - Brownlee,Jason 17 yd pass from Lange,Jake (Bourgeois,Briggs kick) 5 plays, 66 yards, TOP 01:55
UNT 0, USM 14
USM - Stanley,Jay 55 yd interception (Bourgeois,Briggs kick)
2nd Quarter
UNT 7, USM 14
UNT - Johnson,Isaiah 8 yd run (Mooney,Ethan kick), 11 plays, 83 yards, TOP 04:36
3rd Quarter
UNT 14, USM 14
UNT - Ragsdale,Ikaika 2 yd run (Mooney,Ethan kick), 9 plays, 64 yards, TOP 03:36
UNT 21, USM 14
UNT - Ragsdale,Ikaika 44 yd run (Mooney,Ethan kick), 4 plays, 59 yards, TOP 01:34
UNT 28, USM 14
UNT - Murphy,Grayson 37 yd fumble recovery (Mooney,Ethan kick)
4th Quarter
UNT 31, USM 14
UNT - Mooney,Ethan 28 yd field goal 15 plays, 71 yards, TOP 06:29
UNT 38, USM 14
UNT - Davis,KD 43 yd fumble recovery (Mooney,Ethan kick)
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
16
TD
0
YDS
216
INT
1
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
LB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DE
/ Football
DL
/ Football
TE
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
LB
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