Self inflicted mistakes define football’s 49-21 loss versus Marshall Friday night
The UNT losing streak sits at five straight now, as Marshall took down the Mean Green by a score of 49-21 on Friday night.
Marshall (4-3, 2-1 Conference USA) launched an offensive assault on North Texas (1-5, 0-3 C-USA) led by quarterback Grant Wells, who threw for 323 yards through the air and five total touchdowns. Wells completed 18 passes in a row to break Marshall’s consecutive completed pass record.
North Texas struggled to get the offense rolling, with sophomore quarterback Austin Aune throwing for 181 yards and two interceptions. Senior running back DeAndre Torrey led the Mean Green offense, rushing for 179 yards on 20 carries, with two touchdowns on the night. Freshman running back Ayo Adeyi scored the first touchdown of his career in the fourth quarter to end North Texas’ scoring for the night.
Head coach Seth Littrell says that his team is not playing up to their potential.
“It’s frustrating not playing the way you want, and the way you can,” Littrell said. “There’s only one way to do it, get back and grind, trying to fix the mistakes.”
Another storyline for the Mean Green was their struggles with penalties throughout the night, with the team compiling 17 penalties for 161 yards.
“I think it’s just some guys doing their own thing,” running back DeAndre Torrey said about his team’s struggle with penalties. “Just not being disciplined.”
Among the penalties were four blindside blocks, four personal fouls and two holds by the offensive line.
Early North Texas miscues allowed Marshall to take control early after a three-and-out in their first drive. Behind the arm of Wells, the Thundering Herd offense scored two touchdowns to bloat the score to an early 14-0 after the first quarter. Marshall scored 42 points in the first half compared to North Texas’ seven–which came via a 75-yard rushing touchdown by senior running back DeAndre Torrey in the second quarter. Marshall’s 42 points were scored in six consecutive drives.
The scoring slowed down in the second half, with neither team finding the endzone in the third quarter. The fourth quarter, however, saw the Mean Green score twice on Torrey’s second – a 49-yard rush, and an Adeyi 33-yard rush. Wells added his third rushing touchdown of the night to extend the game to its final score, 49 to 21.
The North Texas loss comes on a two-week span in which the team had two players removed – one by choice and the other from criminal activity. Senior defensive lineman Dion Novil insisted that these events had no effect on their play.
“I think we’re doing a pretty good job,” Novil said about his team’s ability to ignore the distractions. “Obviously this game doesn’t show this, but we still come to practice and meetings as if there [are] no outside issues.”
North Texas plays Liberty University at home next Saturday in their final non-conference game of the season.
Featured Image: Sophomore quarterback Jace Ruder prepares to throw the ball against the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Sept. 18, 2021. Photo by Zachary Thomas
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