UNT Falls to Unbeaten, 25th-Ranked Army

DENTON – For just the second time in the Eric Morris era, UNT was held to less than 300 yards of total offense and Army held the ball for 41 minutes, 45 seconds in a methodical 14-3 win over the Mean Green on Saturday at DATCU Stadium.

Army remained undefeated days after entering the first college football playoff rankings at No. 25, as the Black Knights rushed for 293 yards behind quarterback Bryson Daily's 153 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

UNT's prolific passing game could never find a rhythm in its limited possessions, and star quarterback Chandler Morris threw a pair of interceptions in the end zone to end red-zone trips. UNT got its lone points on a Kali Nguma field goal on its opening drive of the game, and then had three more red-zone trips come up empty handed.

"We knew coming in we'd have to finish drives with points," UNT head coach Eric Morris said. "I called some bad plays and put us in bad situations, and we had some squandered opportunities where we were in position to score and had some guys make some mistakes."

Army held the ball for 14:18 in the third quarter and ran 21 plays, while UNT had the ball for three plays and 38 seconds, and managed one yard. Army also held the ball for the first 3:16 of the fourth quarter on a drive that culminated with a touchdown to give Army the final winning margin.

Morris said he was proud of his defense for holding the nation's top rushing attack and an unbeaten, ranked team to a season-low 14 points.

"I'm super proud of our defense for how fast and physical they played with a top-20 team and one of the top rushing attacks in the nation," Morris said.

UNT (5-4, 2-3 AAC) will have a short week with a date in San Antonio on Friday night against UTSA.

QUICK HITS

The Mean Green loss extends Army's series advantage to 6-2 all-time.
UNT's captains for the game were Landon Peterson, Chandler Morris, Jaylen Smith and Jordan Brown.
The announced attendance of 28,519 is the fifth-largest crowd in the history of DATCU Stadium, and the largest since 2019 (Houston on Sept. 28, 2019).
The game lasted 3 hours, 5 minutes, which was the fastest UNT game since a 3 hour, 1 minute game against Rice in 2022.
The Mean Green entered the season with 77 newcomers, which is the most in all of FBS. Thirty-six of the 77 newcomers are transfers.
The Mean Green's starting offensive line of Braydon Nelson, Leke Asenuga, Jett Duncan, Johnny Dickson III and Landon Peterson was their seventh different starting combination up front this season.
UNT is now 3-10 under Eric Morris when trailing at the half and 2-11 when trailing after three quarters.
UNT's 18-play, 62-yard scoring drive to open the game took 6:50 off the clock, making it the second-longest scoring drive of the season and Eric Morris era, in terms of plays, after a 19-play drive in UNT's last game against Tulane.
Army scored a touchdown on its opening drive, continuing a streak of scoring on the opening drive in every game this season, and it was the 14th time in the last 16 games that UNT has allowed its opponent to score on its opening drive.
Army led 7-3 at halftime, marking the second-fewest points allowed in a first half this season for UNT, behind the 3 points the Mean Green allowed in the first half against Tulsa. The 3 points UNT scored in the first half was the fewest since being shut out in the first half by Tulane last season.
Army's 64 rushing attempts is tied for the fourth most by a UNT opponent since 2001.
Army threw an interception and lost a fumble in the game – the first time the Black Knights have had multiple turnovers in a game.
With Kali Nguma's 31-yard field goal on UNT's opening drive, Army trailed in a game for the first time this season – and first time in 384 days.
Junior QB Chandler Morris (Dallas, Texas) finished 24 for 37 for 214 yards through the air.
- Morris made the ninth start of his UNT career and the 18th of his collegiate career.
- Morris now has 3,087 yards passing this season, putting him in seventh on the single-season list – one yard shy of Mason Fine's total of 3,088 in 2019.
- Morris' 3,087 yards puts him in 13th on the program's all-time career list behind Riley Dodge (2008-10), who threw for 3,187.
Junior WR DT Sheffield (Corinth, Miss.) finished with four catches for 31 yards.
Senior WR Damon Ward Jr. (Beaumont, Texas), finished with four catches for 63 yards.
- Ward's 63 yards gives him 1,638 in his career, which puts him in 17th on the program's all-time list behind James Russell (1965-67).
- Ward's four catches puts him at 112 in his career, which moves him into 18th place on the program's all-time list and four back of Brelan Chancellor (2010-13).
Junior RB Shane Porter (Friendswood, Texas) finished the day with six carries for 33 yards and had four catches for 18 yards.
Senior DB Jayden Hill (Gahanna, Ohio) finished the day with 12 tackles, including seven solo stops.
- Hill's 12 tackles was a new season high and the most for a UNT player in a game this season.
Senior LB Jaylen Smith (Hamilton, Ontario) finished the day with 10 tackles, including four solo stops and a QB hurry.
Sophomore DB Evan Jackson (Houston, Texas) finished the day with eight tackles, including three solo stops.
Senior LB Jordan Brown (Huntsville, Texas) finished the day with eight tackles, including six solo stops and a tackle for-loss.
Redshirt freshman DB Brian Nelson II (Pearland, Texas) finished the day with six tackles – all solo – an interception and a fumble recovery.
- His interception early in the third quarter was the second of his career and was the first interception thrown by Army this season (second turnover of the season).
- His fumble recovery in the final five minutes of the game was the first of his career.
Senior DL Roderick Brown (Forney, Texas) finished the day with five tackles, including three solo stops, a tackle for-loss and a sack.
- His second-quarter sack gave him 4.5 on the season and 11.5 for his career.
- That second-quarter sack also helped Brown into the top-10 on the career list for most sack yards in program history with 81, passing Evan Cardwell (2001-04), who finished with 12.5 sacks for 75 yards.
Sophomore DB BJ Allen Jr. (Aledo, Texas) finished the day with three tackles, including two solo stops, and a forced fumble.
- His forced fumble with less than five minutes to play was the first of his career.
Redshirt freshman K Kali Nguma (Mission, Texas) finished was 1 for 1 on field goal attempts.
- His 31-yard field goal in the first quarter opened UNT's scoring and gave him nine straight made field goals, which tied him with Trevor Moore (2017, twice) and Jason Ball (1999) for the fourth-longest streak of made field goals in the FBS era.

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Team Stats

Chandler Morris

Players Mentioned

BJ Allen Jr.

Leke Asenuga

Jordan Brown

Roderick Brown

Johnny Dickson III

Jett Duncan

Jayden Hill

Evan Jackson

Chandler Morris

Braydon Nelson

Brian Nelson II

Kali Nguma

Landon Peterson

Shane Porter

DT Sheffield

Jaylen Smith

Damon Ward Jr.

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