UNT Rolls Up 607 Total Yards To Beat Texas Southern

DENTON – North Texas used a second-quarter flurry to quickly turn a one-score game into a 59-27 rout of Texas Southern on Saturday night at Apogee Stadium.

The Mean Green (2-1, 1-0 C-USA) rolled up 607 yards of offense, including 348 on the ground, as a host of running backs found consistent daylight in the Tigers' defense, led by sophomore Ayo Adeyi's 135 yards on just 10 carries, highlighted by his 59-yard touchdown run.

UNT averaged 7.3 yards per carry, as sophomore Oscar Adaway had the most volume with 17 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns, and freshman Preston Landis had eight carries for 60 yards in the second half in his Mean Green debut, adding a 10-yard touchdown run. BK Jackson and Qualon Farrar also had carries.

"It doesn't matter who's back there," said senior center Manase Mose, who started his 51st consecutive game to set a new program record. "It all starts up front. No matter what running back is in, the trenches have to be able to provide for the backs to get those yards for us."

Junior quarterback Austin Aune was 11-for-20 for 218 yards and four touchdowns, giving him 30 passing touchdowns in his career and seven on the season.

Despite the lopsided box score, UNT head coach Seth Littrell said there are always areas to improve, and that will be important heading into next week's road game at UNLV on Saturday at 2 p.m.

"The biggest thing I'm focused on is each week after Sundays is to make sure we go make the right corrections and know what we did well and make sure each player takes coaching well and is mature enough to handle it and go get better," he said. "It's about 1-0 weeks. That's college football. You can't look behind and you can't look ahead, and that's what we're trying to accomplish. Hopefully we can do that again next week."

Junior linebacker Larry Nixon III had a career-high 15 tackles to pace the defense, while senior linebacker KD Davis added 10 stops.

After pulling to within 24-17 with 9:34 left in the first half, Texas Southern went just more than a quarter of game time without scoring, while UNT reeled off 28 straight points to break the game open.

"Defensively, we just slowed the game down," Nixon said, speaking of the Tigers' early, frenetic pace. "We knew they'd come out with a fast pace and we knew we had to slow things down, and once we could do that things got better for us."

QUICK HITS

The Mean Green win extends their lead in the all-time series with Texas Southern to 2-0, with the only other meeting between the programs coming back on Sept. 8, 2012 in Denton.
The win puts head coach Seth Littrell at 39-39 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).
The 59 points scored marked the most for the Mean Green since scoring 77 points against Nicholls State on Sept. 20, 2014.
The Mean Green's 607 yards marked the first time since Nov. 20 of last season the team has amassed 600 yards of total offense (611 in a win at FIU).
The Mean Green's 348 rushing yards marked the first time UNT has rushed for more than 300 yards since gaining 340 on the ground in a win over then-No. 15 UTSA on Nov. 27, 2021.
The 59 points marked the 24th time in the Seth Littrell era the Mean Green have scored at least 40 points.
The 45 points scored in the first half was the most for the Mean Green since scoring 49 points in the first half in a win over Nicholls State on Sept. 20, 2014.
Junior QB Austin Aune (Argyle, Texas) finished 11-for-20 for 218 yards and four touchdowns.
- Aune's 218 passing yards gives him 4,653 in his career and he is in eighth place on the program's all-time passing yardage list.
- Aune's 14-yard touchdown pass to Var'Keyes Gumms with 9:24 left in the third quarter put UNT up 52-17 and marked the 30th touchdown pass of his career.
- Aune's 70-yard touchdown pass to Roderic Burns with 8:48 to play in the second quarter was the 29th touchdown pass of his career and the longest play for the Mean Green this season.
- Aune's 26-yard touchdown pass to Jyaire Shorter with 11:57 to play in the second quarter was the 28th touchdown pass of his career.
Sophomore RB Ayo Adeyi (Mansfield, Texas) had 10 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown.
- Adeyi's 135 yards marked the first 100-yard rushing day of his career.
- Adeyi's 59-yard touchdown run with 6:37 left in the first quarter was a new career-long run. It was his seventh career touchdown.
Sophomore RB Oscar Adaway (North Little Rock, Ark.) had 17 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
- Adaway's two touchdown runs tied his career high for touchdowns in a game.
- Adaway's 1-yard touchdown plunge with 0:32 left in the first half put the Mean Green up 44-17 and was his fourth touchdown of the season and seventh of his career.
- Adaway's 3-yard touchdown run with 5:19 left in the first half gave the Mean Green a 38-17 lead and was his third touchdown of the season and sixth of his career.
Freshman RB Preston Landis (Rockwall, Texas) had eight carries for 60 yards and a touchdown in his Mean Green debut.
- His 10-yard touchdown run with 9:05 to play gave the Mean Green a 59-24 lead and marked the first touchdown of his career.
Redshirt freshman TE Var'Keyes Gumms (Houston) finished with three catches for 28 yards and a touchdown.
- Gumms' 14-yard touchdown reception with 9:24 left in the third quarter was the first of his career.
Junior WR Jyaire Shorter (Killeen, Texas) finished with two catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.
- His 26-yard touchdown reception with 11:57 to play in the second quarter was the 10th of his career and his first since Nov. 30, 2019, in a loss to UAB.
Sophomore WR Damon Ward, Jr., had three catches for 37 yards.
Junior WR Roderic Burns (Houston) had a catch for 70 yards and a touchdown.
- His 70-yard touchdown reception with 8:48 to play in the second quarter was the fifth of his career and was the longest play of the season for the Mean Green.
- The 70-yard touchdown reception was also the longest play of his career.
- He has now gone 19 consecutive games with at least one reception.
Redshirt freshman WR Ja'Mori Maclin (Kirkwood, Mo.) had three catches for a team-high 80 yards.
- His 35-yard touchdown reception early in the second quarter was the first of his career.
Senior OL Manase Mose (Euless, Texas) made his 51st straight start to move into the solo lead 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.
- Mose passed Andy Brewster (2001-04), who started 50 career games.
Senior LB KD Davis (Ennis, Texas) finished the day with 10 tackles, including six solo stops and a QB hurry.
- Davis' 10 tackles are a new season high.
- Davis now has 314 career tackles to move him into ninth on the program's all-time list ahead of Derek Akunne (2011-14) and Taylor Casey (2000-03).
- Davis now has 144 career solo tackles to move him out of a tie with EJ Ejiya (2016-18) and into eight place alone on the program's all-time list.
Junior LB Larry Nixon III (North Richland Hills, Texas) finished with a team-high 15 tackles, including six solo stops and a half-sack.
- Nixon's 15 tackles set a new career high.
Junior DB Deshawn Gaddie (Arlington, Texas) finished with five tackles, including two solo stops, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
- Gaddie's forced fumble late in the first half to set up a Mean Green touchdown was the third forced fumble of his career.
Sophomore LB Jordan Brown (Huntsville, Texas) had nine tackles, including two solo stops, and a tackle for-loss.
- Brown's nine tackles set a new career-high, besting his previous best of eight in last year's win over FIU.
Senior DB Sean-Thomas Faulkner (Easley, S.C.) finished the day with six tackles, including three solo stops.
Junior DE Mazin Richards (Burleson, Texas) finished the day with five tackles, including four solo stops, a sack, a tackle for-loss and two QB hurries.
- Richards recorded his solo sack with the Mean Green and tied his season-high of five tackles.
Redshirt freshman LB Sifa Leota (Euless, Texas) finished with three tackles and a half-sack in his first career start.
- His three tackles and half-sack were the first of his career.
Senior kicker Ethan Mooney (Fort Worth) went 1-for-1 on field goal attempts and 8-for-8 on extra points.
- Mooney's 43-yard field goal in the first quarter was the 37th career made field goal and now sits in second place all-time on the program's career kicking points list with 245 behind only Trevor Moore (2014-17), who finished with 313.
- Mooney's eight made extra points gives him 114 consecutive made extra points, dating back to Oct. 12, 2019 at Southern Miss when he had a kick blocked.

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Team Stats

Austin Aune

Grant Gunnell

Players Mentioned

Ayo Adeyi

Austin Aune

Jordan Brown

Roderic Burns

KD Davis

Qualon Farrar

Sean-Thomas Faulkner

Var'Keyes Gumms

BK Jackson

Preston Landis

Sifa Leota

Ja'Mori Maclin

Ethan Mooney

Manase Mose

Larry Nixon III

Mazin Richards

Jyaire Shorter

Damon Ward Jr.

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