UNT Falls In Heartbreaking Fashion At UTSA

SAN ANTONIO – Every time UTSA took the lead in the second half of Saturday's clash between Conference USA unbeatens at the Alamodome, UNT immediately responded, and when the Mean Green capped a 50-second scoring drive with a go-ahead 1-yard touchdown pass with 1:38 to play, it seemed they'd leave the Alamo City as the lone unbeaten team in the league.

But UTSA re-claimed the lead 1:23 later and left UNT with just 15 seconds to work with to score a 31-27 victory over UNT to snap the Mean Green's eight-game conference winning streak dating back to last season.

Junior quarterback Austin Aune threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns on a day when the Mean Green's rushing attack that ranks sixth in the nation managed just 22 yards. It was Aune's third 300-yard passing day of the year and the seventh of his career.

Junior wide receiver Roderic Burns led UNT with six grabs for 139 yards – the highest receving total for a UNT wide receiver this season.

UNT led the game 6-3 at halftime before the scoring opened up in the fourth quarter, when the teams combined to score five touchdowns in the final 13 minutes. Senior linebacker KD Davis led the defensive effort with 12 tackles and now has 41 stops over the past three games. Junior linebacker Mazin Richards also had a standout game with 11 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for-loss.

The Mean Green (4-4, 3-1 C-USA) will look to bounce back next Saturday with another road test at Western Kentucky, which is set to kick at 2:30 p.m.

QUICK HITS

The Mean Green loss evens the all-time series 5-5, after North Texas entered the game having won four of the previous five meetings against the Roadrunners.
The loss puts head coach Seth Littrell at 41-42 in his Mean Green tenure.
UNT's captains for the game were Ayo Adeyi, Mazin Richards, Manase Mose and KD Davis.
The loss snapped the Mean Green's eight-game winning streak against Conference USA opponents, dating back to last season.
The Mean Green entered the game with a 37-3 record when leading after three quarters in the Seth Littrell era. They led 13-10 after three quarters before falling 31-27 to fall to 37-4.
After rushing for a program record 475 yards last week, North Texas rushed for 22 yards as a team in the loss.
Since 2000, the Mean Green are 0-29 in games where they failed to rush for 50 yards.
North Texas has 16 touchdown-scoring drives of less than two minutes this season, including two on Saturday.
Junior QB Austin Aune (Argyle, Texas) finished 15 for 31 for 325 yards and three touchdowns.
- Aune's 325 passing yards gives him 6,030 in his career and he is in sixth place on the program's all-time passing yardage list.
- Aune's 325 passing yards marked his third 300-yard passing day of the season and seventh of his career.
- Aune completed passes to seven different receivers.
- Aune now has six straight games of multiple touchdown passes, a feat he's accomplished in all but one game this year.
- His 1-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Johnson with 1:38 to play was the 43rd of his career and 20th of the season, putting him alone in fifth place on the career touchdown list and ninth on the single-season list.
- His 44-yard touchdown pass Var'Keyes Gumms with 9:35 left to play put UNT up 20-17 and was the 42nd of his career and 19th of the season, tying him for fifth on the career touchdown list with Derek Thompson (2009-13) and tying him for ninth on the single-season touchdown list.
- His 19-yard touchdown pass to Jake Roberts with 8:06 left in the third quarter was the 41st of his career and 18th of the season, tying him for sixth on the career touchdown list with Scott Davis (1987-90) and putting him alone in 10th on the single-season touchdown list.
Sophomore RB Isaiah Johnson (Lubbock, Texas) had one catch for 1 yards and a touchdown.
- His 1-yard touchdown reception with 1:38 to play was the 10th touchdown of his career and put UNT up 27-24.
Junior WR Jyaire Shorter (Killeen, Texas) finished with a catch for 58 yards.
- His 58-yard reception late in the first quarter set up the second Ethan Mooney field goal to give the Mean Green a 6-0 lead at the end of the quarter and was the longest reception of Shorter's career.
Junior WR Roderic Burns (Houston) had six catches for 139 yards.
- The 139 yards gave Burns his first 100-yard receiving day of the season, fourth of his career and first since last year's meeting at FIU.
- His 139 yards is the most for a UNT receiver this season.
Redshirt freshman TE Var'Keyes Gumms (Houston) had three catches for 92 yards and added a touchdown.
- His 44-yard touchdown reception with 9:35 to play was his fourth of the season and second in as many games.
- His 92 receiving yards was a new career high, besting his 71 yards at UNLV earlier this season.
Sophomore TE Jake Roberts (Norman, Okla.) finished with one catch for 19 yards and a touchdown.
- His 19-yard touchdown reception with 8:06 left in the third quarter was his second of the season and of his career.
Senior OL Manase Mose (Euless, Texas) made his 56th straight start and is the program's all-time leader for most career starts at North Texas. The center has started every game of his career and is in his fifth season with the Mean Green.
The UNT defense on the road this season has not allowed the opponent to get out of the gate quickly. The Mean Green have only allowed 15 total points in the first quarter of their four road games, an average of just 3.8 points.
The three points UTSA scored in the first half was the fewest scored at home in the Jeff Traylor era (2020-present).
- The last time UTSA was held to three points or fewer in the first half at the Alamodome was Nov. 23, 2019, against FAU, a 40-26 loss.
The UTSA touchdown with 9:26 left in the second quarter was the first touchdown UNT's defense had allowed in nearly 50 minutes of game action. The last touchdown allowed prior to that one was with 1:19 left in the third quarter in last week's win over LA Tech.
The 13 points UTSA scored through the three quarters was the fewest points the Roadrunners have scored through three quarters since scoring 13 in the first three quarters last season against UNT.
Senior LB KD Davis (Ennis, Texas) finished the day with 12 tackles, including six solo stops, a half-sack and a half-tackle for-loss.
- Davis now has 373 career tackles to move him into third on the program's all-time list past Brad Kassell (1998-01) and Lester Harper (1980-83). He is now eight tackles shy of tying Craig Robertson (2006-10) for second all-time with 381.
- Davis now has 177 career solo tackles – putting him for third all-time on the program list and 17 behind Craig Robertson (2006-10) for second all-time with 194.
- Davis now has 41 tackles over the past three games.
Junior LB Kevin Wood (Converse, Texas) finished with 11 tackles, including three solo stops.
Junior LB Mazin Richards (Burleson, Texas) finished with 11 tackles, including seven solo stops, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for-loss.
- Richards' 11 tackles set a new career high, the second straight game he's achieved a new career high.
- Richards now has 27.5 career sacks, which is top-5 nationally among active players, and entered Saturday's game as the FBS leader in career sacks per game.
- He has 7.0 TFL in last four games.
Senior DB Sean-Thomas Faulkner (Easley, S.C.) finished with nine tackles, including six solo stops and a tackle for-loss.
Junior DB Keelan Crosby (Anna, Texas) finished the day with nine tackles, including six solo stops.
- Crosby's nine tackles are a new career-high, breaking his previous mark of six against SMU earlier this season.
Sophomore DB Ridge Texada (Frisco, Texas) finished the day with six tackles, including five solo stops, two pass breakups and an interception.
- Texada's first-quarter interception was his third of the season, making him the first UNT player with 3 or more interceptions in a season since 2018 when Nate Brooks (6), Kemon Hall (5) and Khairi Muhammad (4) all had at least three.
- Texada entered the game with 12 pass breakups on the season, which led the nation.
Sophomore DB Logan Wilson (Dallas) finished the day with eight tackles, including four solo stops.
- Wilson's eight tackles are a new career high, his second straight week to achieve a new career high in tackles.
Sophomore DL Roderick Brown (Forney, Texas) finished with six tackles, including a solo stop.
Senior kicker Ethan Mooney (Fort Worth) went 2-for-2 on field goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra points.
- Mooney's two field goals give him 46 career made field goals.
- Mooney's three made extra points gives him 133 consecutive made extra points, dating back to Oct. 12, 2019 at Southern Miss when he had a kick blocked. He is now 153-for-154 in his career.

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Team Stats

Austin Aune

Players Mentioned

Ayo Adeyi

Austin Aune

Roderick Brown

Roderic Burns

Keelan Crosby

KD Davis

Sean-Thomas Faulkner

Var'Keyes Gumms

Isaiah Johnson

Ethan Mooney

Manase Mose

Mazin Richards

Jake Roberts

Jyaire Shorter

Ridge Texada

Logan Wilson

Kevin Wood

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