RECAP: Football defeats Texas-El Paso 31-13 in season opener
Football began its 2022 season with a 31-13 victory over the University of Texas-El Paso on Saturday. The win was North Texas’ sixth consecutive win over the Miners.
“It’s a good start,” head coach Seth Littrell said. “We made some mistakes there in the first half that we haven’t been making — little undisciplined.”
Both teams made unforced errors at the start of the game, with the Mean Green (1-0, 1-0 Conference USA) getting flagged for two quick offsides penalties and Texas-El Paso (0-1, 0-1 C-USA) failing to score on early opportunities.
The Miners’ first two drives ended in a missed 41-yard field goal and an errant snap on fourth and goal from North Texas’ one-yard line. Miners quarterback redshirt junior Gavin Hardison hit sophomore receiver Tyrin Smith on the Miners’ next trip down the field for a 32-yard touchdown grab.
The Mean Green looked toward the run as sophomore running back Ayo Adeyi and the rest of the North Texas running backs led an 88-yard drive. The drive was capped by a touchdown pass from junior quarterback Austin Aune to sophomore tight end Jake Roberts. Roberts led the Mean Green in receptions with four for 54 yards in the contest.
“[Roberts has] done a great job […] we have a solid tight end group,” Littrell said. “That’s something we’ve really been working on this offseason — to get them a little more involved in the offense.”
Aune spread the ball around and hit eight different pass-catchers over the course of the game. His 236 yards earned him the eighth most career passing yards in North Texas football history, surpassing Jason Mills, a quarterback from 1995 to 1997.
After North Texas put together another successful drive to go up 14-10, Smith dropped what would have been a go-ahead touchdown for the Miners with 47 seconds left in the half and forced a punt.
The Mean Green got the ball on the nine-yard line with 32 seconds left and opted to run a play rather than kneel the rest of the half out. Sophomore running back Ikaika Ragsdale fumbled, which the Miners recovered at the North Texas nine. Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett’s defense held Texas-El Paso to a field goal, which cut the North Texas lead down to 14-13 at halftime.
After giving up a touchdown and two field goals in the second quarter, North Texas shut out the Miners in the second half — racking up a sack and a forced fumble. Hardison’s completion percentage dropped after halftime, finishing 21-48 for 293 yards and a touchdown. Aune finished the game with third quarter touchdown passes to Roberts and sophomore running back Isaiah Johnson, giving him three for the game.
The Miners outgained the Mean Green 400 yards to 399 and racked up more yards through the air with 293 to North Texas’ 236. The Mean Green out-rushed Texas-El Paso 163 yards to 107 on the ground.
The stats were balanced for both teams — except for the final score and third and fourth down conversion rate. North Texas completed half of its third downs, as well as a crucial fourth and one in the fourth quarter to keep the clock moving. Texas-El Paso went 7-of-18 on third down and 2-of-6 on fourth down.
A matchup with DFW rival Southern Methodist University (0-0, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) looms for the Mean Green in week one following the team’s week zero victory. North Texas has lost its last four matchups against the Mustangs and has not defeated the team since 2018.
“There’s a lot of things all of us need to clean up,” Littrell said. “Game one — it’s always about settling in and trying to play as clean as possible […] the biggest thing [is] to see [improvement] from game one to two.”
There are no comments at the moment, do you want to add one?
Write a comment