Vito Recap

Harry · September 11, 2005

11:43 PM CDT on Saturday, September 10, 2005

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee had North Texas on the ropes Saturday.

The Mean Green was struggling to get its offense going and appeared to be on the way to its first loss in Sun Belt Conference play since 2001 in the second half at Floyd Stadium.

That was when Maurice Holman came up with the big play that turned the Mean Green's fortunes in a 14-7 win in its season and Sun Belt opener.

MTSU (0-2, 0-1) was up 7-0 and drove to UNT's 7-yard line in the third quarter when the sophomore linebacker stepped in front of a Clint Marks pass on third-and-2 and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. That mistake was one of several UNT capitalized on while extending its winning streak in Sun Belt play to 26 games, a run that is tied with Boise State of the WAC for the nation's longest conference winning streak.

"I cannot tell you how proud I am of our entire team," UNT coach Darrell Dickey said. "Our style is to hang in there and keep battling. If we do that at some point we will make a play. Maurice came up with a huge one."

MTSU had plenty of opportunities to make a similar play and put the Mean Green away but turned the ball over five times and squandered several scoring chances.

No MTSU mistake was more costly than the interception Holman returned for a touchdown to turn the momentum.

"I was at the right place at the right time," Holman said. "I read his eyes, he threw it and I made a play. It was just the spark we needed to get going."

MTSU had controlled the game up to that point but only led 7-0 on a 6-yard touchdown run by Eugene Gross.

The Blue Raiders drove into Mean Green territory six times without scoring against UNT's defense, which turned in one of its best performances during the winning streak.

The Mean Green took advantage of just enough of the opportunities MTSU provided.

UNT defensive end Jeremiah Chapman recovered a fumble by Marks at the MTSU 46-yard line in the third quarter. Redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Meager threw a 42-yard pass to wide receiver Johnny Quinn on the next play to set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Patrick Cobbs that gave UNT a 14-0 lead.

How Cobbs would play was one of several questions UNT was looking to answer heading into the game. The senior ran for 103 yards in his first game since spending last year as a redshirt because of a knee injury.

Cobbs and fellow former national rushing champion Jamario Thomas split time. Thomas ran 10 times for 58 yards.

UNT was also trying to break in a new quarterback against MTSU. Dickey planned to juggle quarterbacks but stuck with Meager who threw for 122 yards in his first start.

"We expected a little change of pace because we had not had a game yet," Cobbs said. "We got one today because of our defense."

Briefly: Johnny Quinn has caught a pass in 26 straight games. ... Maurice Holman's 99-yard interception return was the longest for a UNT player since J.T. Smith returned one 100 yards in 1976 against Louisiana Tech. ... UNT is 5-0 against MTSU.