DENTON – The largest crowd in school history gathered at North Texas’ Apogee Stadium to witness what was once a highly anticipated game featuring two of the country’s best quarterbacks.
As it turned out, the Little D got a big letdown.
One of the quarterbacks, Houston’s D’Eriq King, was a no-show after announcing this week that he planned to take advantage of the modified redshirt rule and sit out the rest of the season.
Secondly, and most troubling, the home team that showed up was that one-legged man in the ass kicking contest.
Nothing went according to plan for the Mean Green, overwhelmed from the start by a faster and stronger Houston team and unable to cover for repeated unforced errors in a 46-25 victory on Saturday.
The Cougars gashed North Texas with big play after big play, scoring on a 68-yard touchdown run by Patrick Carr, the first of his three scoring plays, an 82-yard kickoff return and a 60-yard punt return – the first time Houston has returned kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns since Nixon, 1973.
It was, head coach Seth Littrell said, a “soul-searching” defeat.
“It’s always tough to swallow, especially with some of the catastrophic mistakes we had,” Littrell said. “Every time we got something going, we got put back behind the chains. Once one phase got going, we had another letdown.
“There’s plenty of blame to go around that room. We can’t make the mistakes we made tonight and expect to beat a good football team.”
The Cougars looked anything but a team coming apart at the seams. Having entered the game 1-3 and this week announcing that its best player would sit the rest of the season, Houston seemed ripe.
Many even accused the Cougars and coach Dana Holgorsen of “tanking.” Put those assumptions to bed. Rather than Jeb Bush low energy, the Cougars played with a contagious enthusiasm.
King’s replacement was very good.
Clayton Tune came home to give North Texas a little what-fer. Before starring at Carrollton Hebron, Tune was a freshman quarterback at Denton Ryan sharing time Spencer Sanders, now the starter at Oklahoma State.
Denton wasn’t big enough for the two of them. That’s not to say Tune transferred for athletic purposes, that intent as rare as a winning lottery ticket. (Insert sarcasm emoticon here.)
Tune was efficient, going 16 for 20 for 124 yards. He also rushed for 105 yards with a long of 55. He left late in the game with an apparent injury near the hamstring area suffered on a run that would have resulted in a touchdown. No one was catching him until he came up lame and crumbled to the Houston sideline.
Tune epitomized the now-tired cliché of “next man up.” King was forgotten mere minutes into the game. That’s not to say they won’t miss as the season moves along at its pace.
Preparing for Tune had to have presented a challenge, considering there was very little tape on him, but no one was willing to use that defense.
“If the quarterback goes down, the routes don’t change, the linemen don’t change,” said senior safety Khairi Muhammad. “The quarterback did a great job. He was a field general. He was composed.”
Said Littrell: “Tune played a great game tonight. He’s athletic, he can run, he can throw the ball. He managed the game well tonight. We don’t have any excuses on that. We just have to play better.”
Fine registered his typical 353 yards on 35-of-55 passing and two touchdowns, to Jason Pirtle and Jyaire Shorter, but he earned every inch of ground gained. The senior was under constant harassment.
“We were mentally locked in like any other game,” Fine said before locking in on the “but.”
“If one person busts, typically your play isn’t going to be very good. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Not making the routine play, a mental bust, a guy not lined up [where he should be]. All it takes is one guy. It seemed like every play there was one guy who didn’t get the signal or busted. We’ve got to clean it up. That’s on us.”
Not all was lost for North Texas, which can use to its advantage perspective. There is good news.
Even at 2-3, the season’s ultimate goal, a Conference USA championship, is still in front of them. And it’s a very gettable goal in a conference that is down a bit.
A much-needed bye week awaits the Mean Green before a trip to Hattiesburg and an important game with Southern Miss. North Texas has a week off to prepare.
The big crowd last night should come back. This season is not yet in Abraham’s bosom.
“We have a chance to have a really good football team,” Littrell said. “This loss hurts. They all do. We have high expectations, but there will be a lot of soul searching in the next couple of days to make sure we’re doing the necessary things to be where I feel like we should. We had a big crowd, the energy was great. I wish we could’ve performed better for them tonight.
“We’ve got a lot of things to work on. The mistakes, they’re really magnified when you play a good team like that.”
(Photo: North Texas Athletics)
