Mean Green football look for five straight wins at homecoming game
Brett Medeiros / Senior Staff Writer
Now bowl eligible and winners of four straight games, the Mean Green football team will welcome the University of Texas-El Paso to Denton on Saturday looking for a homecoming victory for the second time in nine years.
The matchup between UNT (6-3, 4-1) and UTEP (1-7, 0-4) will be the first meeting since 1980. The Mean Green led the all-time series between the two teams 13-5-2 and won the previous six meetings.
UNT looks to stay unbeaten at home this season – where the team is currently 4-0 – and is on pace to have the most points scored in a season since 1969. This team is also the first one in program history to score 21 or more points the first nine games of the season.
“We are undefeated at home right now and we really want to keep that going,” senior safety Marcus Trice said. “We are battling an in-state opponent so we definitely want to win this game here in front of our fans.”
Sophomore quarterback Blaire Sullivan will make the start for UTEP against the Mean Green after starting junior quarterback Jameill Showers went down with an injury in a loss to Texas A&M University last week.
UTEP has one of the top running backs in the country in freshman Aaron Jones, who ranks 24th in the nation and leads all freshmen with 100.6 rushing yards per game.
On the other side of the ball, UTEP is one of the worst rushing defenses in the country, giving up 247 yards per game on the ground. That stat ranks 121 out of 125 Division-I teams in the country.
“I am not fooled. They have good players and they have had some tough losses but they are playing really hard right now,” head coach Dan McCarney said. “You see that on tape and you see that as they played Texas A&M and jumped out in front of them to start the game.”
When the Mean Green rushes for more than 150 yards in a single game this season, the team has yet to lose.
“We are still in the driver’s seat,” senior quarterback Derek Thompson said. “We just have to do our part and we are not looking at anything past UTEP right now. They still have some real athletes on the team so we have to come out and play well.”
The team will wear the black uniforms debuted in the Halloween win against Rice, after McCarney said he let the seniors vote on it.
Homecoming festivities are going on all week, such as the 2013 Zeke Martin Homecoming Golf Classic, hosted by the Lettermen’s Association.
Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Apogee Stadium.
Feature photo: Sophomore running back Antoinee Jimmerson runs the ball while escaping the grasp of a Rice opponent during a home game on Oct. 31. Photo by Ryan Vance / Staff Photographer
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