North Texas’ Stay At Top Is Brief

North Texas entered Saturday’s homecoming football game against Nevada with high hopes and something to prove.

Leading the Big West Conference standings after their league-opening victory against New Mexico State last week, the Eagles were ready to show that they could beat the conference’s top teams. A victory against the defending champions would have helped North Texas prove that point.

But the Wolf Pack (5-3, 2-1) made quick work of the Eagles (3-5, 1-1), cruising to a 40-13 victory before a crowd of 15,734 in Denton.

“We’re a young, growing team, and our lack of poise and maturity showed out there today,” North Texas coach Matt Simon said. “We moved the ball up and down the field between the 20s, but we couldn’t come up with the big play in the red zone when we needed it.”

From the outset, the Eagles’ offense - which might have showed its best balance of the season - took it to the Wolf Pack defense. On the opening drive of the game, the Eagles marched from their 18-yard line to the Nevada 27. But the drive stalled, and Jeff Graham missed a 39-yard field-goal attempt, leaving North Texas with nothing to show for a 12-play, 60-yard drive.

That would be a recurring theme. The Eagles racked up 336 yards, including a season-high 190 yards on the ground, and punted only four times. On four of their first seven possessions, they drove inside the Wolf Pack 35 but scored only three points, on a 40-yard field goal by Graham on their second series.

Through the first three quarters, the Eagles controlled the ball, thanks to the running of Hut Allred, who finished with a career-high 157 yards on 19 carries (8.3 yards per attempt). However, North Texas trailed 27-13 entering the fourth quarter.

“We felt good offensively, but didn’t capitalize on the opportunities when they were there,” said North Texas junior quarterback Jason Mills, who suffered through a miserable day, connecting on only 10 of 31 passes for 146 yards. He threw an interception inside the Nevada 5-yard line to kill one drive, and fumbled inside UNT’s 10, setting up a Wolf Pack touchdown.

“I think I took a step back today, and it really hurt our team, because this was a game that we could have very easily won,” Mills said.

After pulling within 20-13 midway through the third quarter on a 10-yard run by Mills, the Eagles fell apart.

New Mexico St. 52, S. Utah 21

Denvis Manns rushed for 205 yards and scored two touchdowns, leading the Aggies (1-7) over the Thunderbirds (4-5) in Las Cruces, N.M.

For the first time since a 49-23 win over Pacific in 1966, New Mexico State completed a game without punting.

Manns carried 29 times and scored on runs of 1 and 2 yards. NMSU’s Chad Salisbury completed 12 of 20 passes for 253 yards and two TDs without an interception.

Southern Utah came in leading the nation’s I-AA schools with 327 rushing yards per game. The Thunderbirds finished with 406 yards on the ground, but got no closer than 10-7 in the second quarter, when Joe Dupaix, who finished with 203 rushing yards, threw 11 yards to Roosevelt Miller.

Nevada 40, North Texas 13

Nevada 10 10 7 13 - 40 North Texas 3 0 10 0 - 13

UNT-FG Graham 40

Nev-FG Shea 30

Nev-Insley 9 pass from Dutton (Shea kick)

Nev-Noley 14 pass from Dutton (Shea kick)

Nev-FG Shea 19

UNT-Mills 10 run (Graham kick)

UNT-FG Graham 41

Nev-Lemon 1 run (Shea kick)

Nev-FG Shea 38

Nev-FG Shea 32

Nev-Higgin 11 pass from Bennett (Shea kick)

A-15,734.

Nevada NTex First downs 23 17 Rushes-yards 42-173 43-190 Passing 256 146 Comp-Att-Int 24-42-1 10-31-1 Return Yards 12 11 Punts-Avg. 5-40.2 4-43.8 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-2 Penalties-Yards 9-55 9-68 Time of Possession 32:11 27:49

Individual statistics

RUSHING-Nevada, Lemon 29-129, Gresham 4-29, Bennett 2-4, Dutton 6-(minus 3), Wilkins 1-14. North Texas, Allred 19-157, Cromer 7-20, Mills 16-10, Hampton 1-3.

PASSING-Nevada, Dutton 20-37-1-225, Bennett 4-5-0-31. North Texas, Mills 10-31-1-146.

RECEIVING-Nevada, Wilkins 10-63, Noisy 6-112, Insley 3-36, Higgins 2-20, Lemon 2-14, Kelly 1-11. North Texas, Hollie 4-46, Harrison 2-16, Harris 1-40, Grimes 1-28, Boone 1-8, Waters 1-8.