By Craig Fields
…And just like that, the Mean Green are sent crashing back down to Earth by the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs who beat them 56-13. La Tech running back Kenneth Dixon ran wild against the porous Mean Green defense, and the Bulldogs made beating the Mean Green look entirely too easy.
Dixon carried the ball 22 times for 195 yards and six touchdowns. If you just read that, there is no need to adjust your computer screen. I promise you there is nothing wrong. The North Texas defense let the man find the end zone six times.
He was breaking tackles and running over people all night long. The Bulldogs offensive lineman size and strength was too much for the undersized line of of the Mean Green. One of the main things that North Texas will need to address in the upcoming offseason is their lack of size up front so performances like these don’t happen.
At any rate, highly talented quarterback Jeff Driskel did not really have a good game but did not really need to. He completed 17 of his 26 passes for 296 yards and an interception. Wide receiver Carlos Henderson caught five of those passes for 162 yards and a 32.4 yards per catch average.
Driskel and Henderson spread the field when they needed to in order to give Dixon some room up front to continue running and gashing the defense. North Texas’ offense on the other was shut down until the fourth quarter.
Quarterback DaMarcus Smith completed 25 of 45 passes for 234 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Those are OK numbers when you look at the box score, but watching the game, there were some throws that he should have been able to complete at the start of the game that might have helped to keep it close in the early stages.
The score was 49-0 before Smith managed to get the team on the board in the fourth quarter. Wide receiver Carlos Harris, Smith’s favorite target so far this year, managed to find the end zone for the fourth game this season to bring his total to seven on the year.
Harris and running back Jeffrey Wilson have been bright spots in what has been a very disappointing season for UNT. Their next game against the Tennessee Volunteers is another road contest.
