Defense Soars With A Complete Team Effort In Rout

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The North Texas football team played the game its head coach had been waiting to see all season, as a complete team effort paved the way to a 40-13 road rout of a Western Kentucky team, with which the Mean Green entered the game with an identical 3-1 conference record.

The win puts the Mean Green (5-4, 4-1 C-USA) in sole possession of second place - one game back of UTSA - and in the driver's seat to earn a spot in the conference championship game on Dec. 2.

UNT put on a clinic by holding the league's top scoring offense to just 13 points, including a second-half shutout, and the Mean Green put up 536 yards of total offense and played a clean game with no turnovers and just five penalties for 40 yards.

"I'm extremely proud of all three phases," UNT head coach Seth Littrell said. "We did a lot of great things together. That's something we really haven't done yet is put it together all three in the same game. You don't come to a game like this and beat a team like this at their place unless you are playing extremely well."

The defensive effort was led by the Mean Green secondary, as Logan Wilson, DeShawn Gaddie, Ridge Texada and Quinn Whitlock all had big games in the back end, as did a defensive line that featured a lot of rotation to keep players fresh.

"You have to give our defense a lot of credit," Littrell said. "To hold these men to 13 points is unbelievable. They have a really explosive offense. You have to give a ton of credit to the defensive staff for adjustments they made to shut it down in the second half."

Offensively, UNT was led by junior quarterback Austin Aune, who had one of the best games of his career with 317 yards on 68% passing and no turnovers, finding 10 different receivers, with three touchdown passes to give him 23 on the season - the most for a UNT quarterback since Mason Fine's 29 in 2019. It was also Aune's seventh straight game with multiple touchdown passes and his eighth career 300-yard passing game - the second-most in program history behind Fine.

The Mean Green will return to action next Saturday back at Apogee Stadium with their homecoming game against FIU, set for 3 p.m. A win will give the Mean Green bowl eligibility as they will look to play in a bowl game for the sixth time in Littrell's seven seasons.

"Today's all about enjoying this victory and getting on that plane and going home," Littrell said. "There will still be corrections to be made and some resetting to do, but we'll focus on going 1-0 again next week."

QUICK HITS

The Mean Green win gives them a 5-4 nod in the all-time series, and it's the first UNT win in the last five meetings between the schools.
The win puts head coach Seth Littrell at 42-42 in his Mean Green tenure.
UNT's captains for the game were Roderic Burns, Kortlin Rausaw, Manase Mose and KD Davis.
The Mean Green are now 31-7 when leading at the half and 38-4 when leading after three quarters in the Seth Littrell era.
The Mean Green moved to 27-0 in the Seth Littrell era when scoring at least 40 points and 16-0 when holding the opponent to less than 20 points.
North Texas has 18 touchdown-scoring drives of less than two minutes this season, including two on Saturday.
Junior QB Austin Aune (Argyle, Texas) finished 19 for 28 for 317 yards and three touchdowns.
- Aune's 317 passing yards gives him 6,347 in his career and he is in sixth place on the program's all-time passing yardage list.
- Aune's 317 passing yards marked his fourth 300-yard passing day of the season and eighth of his career.
- His eight 300-yard passing days moves him into second on the program's all-time list ahead of Derek Thompson (2009-13), trailing only Mason Fine (18).
- Aune completed passes to 10 different receivers.
- Aune now has 23 touchdowns on the season, which is the most for a UNT quarterback since Mason Fine had 29 in 2019.
- Aune now has seven straight games of multiple touchdown passes, a feat he's accomplished in all but one game this year.
- His 5-yard touchdown pass to Ikaika Ragsdale with 14:11 to play was the 46th of his career and 23rd of the season.
- His 56-yard touchdown pass to Damon Ward Jr., with 8:24 left in the first quarter was the 45th of his career and 22nd of the season, putting him alone in eighth place on the all-time single-season list.
- His 28-yard touchdown pass to Kaylon Horton with 11:39 left in the first quarter was the 44th of his career and 21st of the season, tying him with Steve Ramsey (1967) for eighth on the all-time single-season list.
Sophomore RB Ikaika Ragsdale (Las Vegas, Nevada) had 11 carries for 61 yards, a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown.
- His 11-yard touchdown run with 2:08 to play was his third of the season.
- His 5-yard touchdown reception with 14:11 to play was the first receiving touchdown of his career and put UNT up 26-13.
- He is the 11th different player with a touchdown reception for UNT this season.
Sophomore RB Ayo Adeyi (Mansfield, Texas) has 10 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown.
- His 39-yard touchdown run with 8:57 to play was his third of the season and the ninth of his career.
Sophomore WR Damon Ward Jr. (Beaumont, Texas) finished with 4 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown.
- His 56-yard touchdown reception with 8:24 left in the first quarter was his second of the season and fourth of his career.
- His 56-yard touchdown reception was a season-long catch.
- His 101 yards marked the first 100-yard receiving game of his career and the second 100-yard receiving game of the year for the Mean Green.
Junior AP Kaylon Horton (Houston) had three catches for 40 yards and a touchdown.
- Horton's 28-yard touchdown reception with 11:39 left in the first quarter was the first receiving touchdown of his career and his seventh career overall touchdown.
Sophomore TE Jake Roberts (Norman, Okla.) finished with a team-high five catches for 47 yards.
- His five catches is a new career-high, breaking his previous of four, set in the season-opening win at UTEP.
Senior OL Manase Mose (Euless, Texas) made his 57th 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 22 total points in the first quarter of their five road games, an average of just 4.4 points.
The 13 points WKU scored through the three quarters was the fewest points the Hilltoppers have scored through three quarters all season. They scored 14 through three quarters against UTSA.
Senior LB KD Davis (Ennis, Texas) finished the day with six tackles, including three solo stops.
- Davis now has 379 career tackles and is in third on the program's all-time. He is now two tackles shy of tying Craig Robertson (2006-10) for second all-time with 381.
- Davis now has 180 career solo tackles in third all-time on the program list and 14 behind Craig Robertson (2006-10) for second all-time with 194.
Junior LB Kevin Wood (Converse, Texas) finished with six tackles, including three solo stops and a QB hurry.
Junior LB Mazin Richards (Burleson, Texas) finished with nine tackles, including six solo stops.
Junior DL Kadren Johnson (Lewisville, Texas) finished with three tackles, including three solo stops, two sacks and a forced fumble.
- Johnson's two sacks marked a career high.
Senior DB Sean-Thomas Faulkner (Easley, S.C.) finished with six tackles, including three solo stops.
Senior DB Quinn Whitlock (Pinola, Miss.) finished the day with eight tackles, including five solo stops, a pass breakup and a tackle for-loss.
Sophomore DB Ridge Texada (Frisco, Texas) finished the day with three tackles, including three solo stops, two pass breakups and a tackle for-loss.
Junior DB DeShawn Gaddie (Arlington, Texas) finished the day with five tackles, including four solo stops, and three pass breakups.
Junior LB Larry Nixon III (North Richland Hills, Texas) finished the day five tackles, including four solo stops, and two QB hurries.
Sophomore DB Logan Wilson (Dallas) finished the day with five tackles, including three solo stops, an interception and two pass breakups.
- Wilson's first career interception with 11:54 to play came in the red zone and ended a potential scoring drive.
Senior kicker Ethan Mooney (Fort Worth) went 2-for-2 on field goal attempts and 4-for-5 on extra points.
- Mooney's two field goals give him 48 career made field goals.
- Mooney's made extra point streak went to 135 consecutive made extra points, dating back to Oct. 12, 2019 at Southern Miss when he had a kick blocked, before an extra point in the third quarter was blocked. He is now 157-for-159 in his career.
- His final extra point of the day with just over two minutes to play gave him 300 career points.
- His 39-yard field goal with 1:30 to play in the first quarter moved him Lance Dunbar (2008-11) for second all-time on the program's scoring list – 19 points shy of Trevor Moore's 313 career points.

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Team Stats

Austin Aune

Stone Earle

Players Mentioned

Ayo Adeyi

Austin Aune

Roderic Burns

KD Davis

Sean-Thomas Faulkner

DeShawn Gaddie

Kaylon Horton

Kadren Johnson

Ethan Mooney

Manase Mose

Larry Nixon III

Ikaika Ragsdale

Kortlin Rausaw

Mazin Richards

Jake Roberts

Ridge Texada

Damon Ward Jr.

Quinn Whitlock

Logan Wilson

Kevin Wood

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