North Texas Daily

Coming off a 59-27 victory over Texas Southern University, football looks to stay above .500 against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Saturday afternoon. 

“To come out against Texas Southern and actually finish in the red zone, score some points — it was big for us,” junior quarterback Austin Aune said. “We want to keep that momentum going and see where it takes us.”

Senior offensive lineman Manase Mose broke the school record for most games started by playing in his 51st game last week. The Trinity High School product helped sophomore running back Ayo Adeyi and the rest of the North Texas offense (2-1, 1-0 C-USA) rush for 353 of their 607 total yards. 

“His nickname’s ‘The Boss’ for a reason,” Aune said. “We lean on him [and] he drives this offense. It’s an honor to play behind him because he’s such a special player.”

Aune threw 20 passes for 218 yards and four touchdowns in the contest. Junior receiver Jyaire Shorter received one of those connections — his first time catching a touchdown since 2019 due to injuries.

“I tell him every day ‘welcome back [Jyaire], we missed you,’” junior receiver Roderic Burns said. “If he’s out there they have to respect it because he’ll run by you — he’s going to make his plays, and he’s a good receiver. It’s been lovely to have [Jyaire] back.”

Nevada-Las Vegas (1-1, 0-0 Mountain West Conference) comes into Saturday’s game looking to match its wins total from last season when the team went 2-10. Rebels sophomore quarterback Doug Brumfield played in three games last year before being sidelined due to injury.

“He’s going to be challenging,” head coach Seth Littrell said. “He’s a really good player and he has a lot of skill around him as well. They’ve got good receivers that can stretch the field.”

Brumfield started this season throwing for 356 yards and four touchdowns against Idaho State University, leading Nevada-Las Vegas to a 52-21 win over the Bengals. North Texas and the Rebels have both scored 35 points in a second quarter against an FCS team this season. Brumfield followed up that performance via a 206-yard outing with a touchdown and an interception against the University of California-Berkley in a 20-14 loss.

“This is a big week for us,” Littrell said. “[Nevada-Las Vegas] is a very good football team — well coached — coming off a big game versus [California]. Didn’t pull it out but played an exceptional game — it’ll be a dogfight.”

The game will be played at Allegiant Stadium, which both the Rebels and the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders call home. Opened on Aug. 14, 2021, Allegiant seats 65,000 people and cost $750 million to build. 

“I’m very excited,” Burns said. “A lot of people don’t get to play in those NFL stadiums, it’s going to be a huge opportunity and a great experience.”

As a popular entertainment venue, a number of events will coincide with the Mean Green’s contest. Littrell said that the team will need to focus exclusively on football.

“There’s going to be a lot of distraction going out to a place in Vegas […],” Littrell said. “It’s going to be important to make sure we can block out the outside distractions and focus on what we’re really there to do, and that’s win a football game.”

Featured Image: North Texas defensive end Tom Trieb guarded against the Texas Southern Tigers at Apogee Stadium on Sept. 10, 2022. Photo by Maria Crane