Comeback Effort Falls Short in Loss at Cal

Harry · September 15, 2019

BERKELEY, Calif. – After digging itself into a seemingly insurmountable 20-point, first-quarter deficit, North Texas fell just short in a second-half comeback effort and saw senior quarterback Mason Fine add to his decorated list of accomplishments in a 23-17 loss to California on Saturday afternoon at California Memorial Stadium.

With a 68-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Jaelon Darden, Fine moved into the all-time program lead for career touchdown passes with 14:05 left in the third quarter. The touchdown pass gave Fine 70 in his career, passing Steve Ramsey (1967-69) for the all-time lead. He added his 71^st touchdown strike later in the game. He also had an 8-yard completion to fellow senior Michael Lawrence in the second quarter to give him 10,000 career yards and extend his lead on the field as the active leading passer in FBS.

With just 2:31 remaining in the first quarter, California went up 20-0 as the Golden Bears (3-0) amassed 129 total yards in the opening stanza, but from that point, the Mean Green defense played with a purpose and held California to three points and 149 yards over the final three quarters.

"We just executed better (in the second half)," UNT head coach Seth Littrell said. "We got in a rhythm on offense and defensively, we just settled in. We have to understand to just take it one play at time and do your job and don't let emotions of the early game get you down. As we got more comfortable, we attacked better."

The defensive effort was led by sophomore linebacker KD Davis, who had a career-high 13 tackles with two tackles for-loss and a sack. Junior defensive lineman Dion Novil had a career-high eight tackles and three tackles for-loss with a sack.

The offense also showed life in the second half, as the unit racked up 229 second-half yards after totaling just 100 in the first half. Fine finished with 210 yards through the air and two touchdowns, while redshirt freshman receiver Jyaire Shorter had career highs in both catches (five) and yards (68), as well as his first career touchdown reception to pull the Mean Green within six with under three minutes to play.

Shorter and redshirt junior Deion Hair-Griffin stepped up in the absence of leading receiver Rico Bussey, Jr., who left the game early on with an injury.

"He did a nice job and stepped up," Littrell said of Shorter. "Deion made a couple of huge catches to help us move the chains. When one guy goes down, the next guy has to step up and so does the team. It's not about one guy. It's about the totality of everyone. We'll get guys to step up and hopefully we'll get Rico back healthy."

The Mean Green (1-2) return home to Apogee Stadium next Saturday to face UT San Antonio in their Conference USA opener.

"We have to get back on Sunday and correct our mistakes and make sure we have a great week of preparation," Littrell said.

QUICK HITS

QB Mason Fine (Peggs, Oklahoma) spread the ball around to nine different receivers on Saturday.
Junior WR Jaelon Darden (Houston) eclipsed the 1,000-yard plateau for career receiving yards on his 68-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter. It was also a career-long reception for Darden.
Redshirt sophomore RB Tre Siggers (Duncanville, Texas) carried 18 times for 88 yards Saturday in just his second career game at running back.
Redshirt junior WR Deion Hair-Griffin (Arlington) made - three catches on Saturday, after entering the game with one career reception.
Sophomore linebacker KD Davis (Ennis, Texas) had a career-high 13 tackles. His previous high was 10, set last week at SMU. He now has the team lead on the season with 32 stops.
Redshirt freshman WR Jyaire Shorter (Killeen, Texas) had career highs in both catches (5) and yards (68) and added his first career touchdown – an 18-yarder – with 2:59 remaining to cut California's lead to 23-17
Redshirt junior LB Joe Ozougwu (Alief, Texas) had his first sack of the season early in the fourth quarter.
Junior DL Dion Novil (Abilene, Texas) had a career-high eight tackles and tied his career high for tackles for loss with three.
Junior LB Tyreke Davis (Denton) finished the day with three tackles and had his first career sack on a key third-down stop late in the game.

Danish43 · September 15, 2019

Dog Gone Harry, I turned off live stream at the beginning of the third quarter thinking we were going to be butchered. We did one heck of a job coming back. I will be in Denton next week, Thanks for the update

MrStrange18 · September 15, 2019

I don’t know about you guys... but I feel a little better after this game.

Yes, for the second week in a row we fell too far behind to win... but we never gave up. We beat them the rest of the game against a team much better than SMU.

We will compete in conference and I like our chances against Houston at home.

Now possibly losing Rico. That hurts. More for him personally

GMG

Udomann · September 15, 2019

8 minutes ago, MrStrange18 said:

Now possibly losing Rico. That hurts. More for him personally

GMG

I think that's far more painful than the game loss. This was a breakout year for him to get into draft/undrafted whatever. He would have been picked up. Hope he turns out ok.

FremontBear · September 15, 2019

Good game, Mean Green. It was an ugly win, but I'll take it. Really impressed with Mason Fine and your RB Siggers. Good luck rest of the way, and see in Denton a couple of years from now.

MeanGreenTexan · September 15, 2019

49 minutes ago, FremontBear said:

Good game, Mean Green. It was an ugly win, but I'll take it. Really impressed with Mason Fine and your RB Siggers. Good luck rest of the way, and see in Denton a couple of years from now.

I feel bad for y’all thinking about how good you could be with a real QB.

Amazing defense. Weaver is as-advertised... just wow.

Ill be pulling for Cal the rest of the way... y’all have been great guests here on GMG.com.

UNTLifer · September 15, 2019

Yep, their fans have made me a fan of their program.

FirefightnRick · September 15, 2019

7 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Yep, their fans have made me a fan of their program.

Their fans on campus are extremely nice too. A great place to visit.

Rick

DeepGreen · September 15, 2019

55 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Their fans on campus are extremely nice too. A great place to visit.

Rick

And the cheerleader babes? We’re the cheerleader babes nice too?

Matt from A700 · September 15, 2019

3 hours ago, FremontBear said:

Good game, Mean Green. It was an ugly win, but I'll take it. Really impressed with Mason Fine and your RB Siggers. Good luck rest of the way, and see in Denton a couple of years from now.

We look forward to seeing a lot of navy and gold in Denton.

Mean Green Matt · September 15, 2019

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Yep, their fans have made me a fan of their program.

Completely agree. The Cal fans were awesome today. Before, during and after.

UNT 90 Grad · September 15, 2019

(partially for you, @ntsumgspe)

Edited September 15, 2019 by UNT 90 Grad

FremontBear · September 15, 2019

11 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

And the cheerleader babes? We’re the cheerleader babes nice too?

I really hate to say this, but we have a propensity for a touch of PC cheer-leading squads/dance teams. They're all very talented cheerers and dancers, but not necessarily candidates for inclusion in Vogue.

Got5onIt · September 15, 2019

12 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Their fans on campus are extremely nice too. A great place to visit.

Rick

Did they refer to you as he/him ?

FirefightnRick · September 15, 2019

8 minutes ago, Got5onIt said:

Did they refer to you as he/him ?

You know what the most shocking thing I saw/heard while in Berkeley? How many of their alumns wanted to talk politics. And sadly....their message was shocking to say the least. Great people, bless their hearts.

Not what I expected AT ALL.

Rick

Edited September 15, 2019 by FirefightnRick

jacksondf · September 15, 2019

The fans were really cool. The stadium-not so much. Port a potties for restrooms at. pac 12 stadium was a surprise.

Christopher Walker · September 15, 2019

1 hour ago, jacksondf said:

The fans were really cool. The stadium-not so much. Port a potties for restrooms at. pac 12 stadium was a surprise.

Where were you where that was the case?

South side of the stadium the restrooms were on-par with Apogee and even had sunscreen dispensers. That last bit was a life saver.

jacksondf · September 15, 2019

20 minutes ago, Christopher Walker said:

Where were you where that was the case?

South side of the stadium the restrooms were on-par with Apogee and even had sunscreen dispensers. That last bit was a life saver.

The line started around the 25 yard line on the band side toward the end zone where the green fans sat. I wish I had known about that. I could have used the sun block.

FirefightnRick · September 16, 2019

1 hour ago, jacksondf said:

The line started around the 25 yard line on the band side toward the end zone where the green fans sat. I wish I had known about that. I could have used the sun block.

It was great to meet y’all btw. Hope you got home safe.

Rick

Edited September 16, 2019 by FirefightnRick

Pavlovs Eagle · September 16, 2019

4 hours ago, Christopher Walker said:

and even had sunscreen dispensers. That last bit was a life saver.

My currently red tinted face could have benefited from this tidbit of knowledge. Not sure why, but that sun in the Bay Area even at 75 degrees felt measures hotter on my skin than a 95 degree Texas afternoon... maybe the lack of humidity?

Fans were super nice, with the exception of one Freshman looking guy who was saying "you suck" as we left the stadium. Felt like the uphill to the visiting team Will Call was never going to end, that was a bit of low key torture.

My biggest beef with the gameday experience was that they stop selling beer at the end of half-time. That got a Texas-Sized "Wut in Tarnation" from me.

To all the Mean Green fans I saw that I didn't reveal my online identity to... Nice to meet you, and see y'all at Apogee next week!