Five observations from North Texas’ 52-49 win over Army
Mason Fine moves atop the all-time leaderboard
Sophomore quarterback Mason Fine has made one of the most impressive freshman-sophomore jumps across the country and he cemented his place in North Texas history with another big game Saturday night. Fine took over first place for the most passing yards (3,198) and touchdowns (26) in a single-season after he threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns against Army. North Texas will go as far as Fine takes them this season – and the Locust Grove native who once wondered whether he would even get an FBS scholarship offer continues to prove he is one of the best in Conference USA.
Targeting… Or lack thereof
With the Mean Green driving deep in Army territory just before the break, Mason Fine rolled to his right a lofted a pass to Jalen Guyton. The pass was probably ill-advised as Guyton had
defenders around him, but what happened next left the Mean Green without their most explosive players for the remainder of the night. Guyton took a massive shot to the head from a Black Knights’ defender that left him down on the field for several minutes. Targeting was called on the field, but the play was reviewed and eventually overturned.
Guyton walked gingerly off the field but had to be taken to the locker room and didn’t return. Was it targeting? You be the judge:
This was called targeting and then overruled. Not sure how you justify that one.
Jalen Guyton had to be helped to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/hS6YbmObUb— Brady Keane (@BradyKeane) November 19, 2017
Next man up
Two of North Texas’ most explosive offensive weapons, Jeffery Wilson and Jalen Guyton, were forced to the sidelines due to injuries. But fortunately for the Mean Green, both players’ replacements stepped up in a big way down the stretch. For Wilson, it was redshirt freshman Nic Smith, who finished with 35 yards and a late touchdown. Senior Turner Smiley filled in seamlessly for Guyton and finished with 123 yards and two touchdowns – including a massive 68-yard go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter.
Triple-option struggles
It wasn’t much of a secret coming in, but Army’s triple-option offense is pretty tough to stop. North Texas found out the hard way, as quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw torched the defense for 244 yards on the ground in the game. Bradshaw was the Mean Green’s Achilles heel in the Heart of Dallas Bowl last year and he stepped up again Saturday night. The Black Knights threw just three passes, and completed one, but ran for 534 yards with Bradshaw leading the way.
Discipline
If you would have said one of these teams was going to go the entire game without a penalty, the easy money would have been on Army. But North Texas played its cleanest game of the season on both sides of the ball and finished just one penalty for one yard in the game. The Black Knights had six penalties for 65 yards Saturday night, including a couple of untimely personal fouls on Fine that allowed the Mean Green to keep their offense moving.
Featured Image: North Texas celebrates with senior running back Jeffery Wilson after an early touchdown run against Army. Colin Mitchell
Yea, I thought it was a foul (targeting) while at the game Saturday and after watching the video still feel it should not have been overruled.