Football: One-horse town

[Harry]

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/...0.843f7aab.html

Football: One-horse town

UNT slams rival SMU in 24-6 victory

12:07 AM CDT on Sunday, September 10, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

North Texas finally got SMU where it wanted on Saturday. It wasn’t a Safeway parking lot, but that didn’t seem to matter to the Mean Green.

Quarterback Woody Wilson had what amounted to his coming-out party at UNT and the Mean Green’s defense looked like the dominant units of old. The combination proved to be more than enough in a 24-6 win, one UNT has been waiting for since former Mean Green coach Matt Simon challenged the Mustangs to a game anywhere SMU wanted to play, including that Safeway parking lot, in 1994.

DRC/Gary Payne

North Texas head coach Darrell Dickey celebrates the Mean Green's 24-6 win over SMU with the student section on Saturday at Fouts Field.

“This was an important game for us,” UNT wide receiver Johnny Quinn said. “It was our first home game, so we really wanted to win. It’s a great feeling to have. A win against SMU is great. … We take a lot of pride in that.”

Those feelings were based in large part on SMU’s dominance in the series, and the way some feel the private school in Dallas looks down on the public institution to the north.

SMU (0-2) and UNT (1-1) had not played since 1992. The Mustangs lead the overall series 27-4-1 and play in Conference USA, a league UNT made a bid to join just a few years ago.

The Mean Green came into the game as the underdog, despite playing on its home field.

None of that mattered to UNT, which dominated behind Wilson and a defense that controlled the Mustangs and Justin Willis, the former Ryan quarterback who was making his return to Denton.

Wilson proved to be the difference for the Mean Green in front of a crowd of 25,231 -- the third-largest crowd for a UNT game in Fouts Field history.

The former Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College standout came off the bench for the second straight game in relief of starter Matt Phillips and got the Mean Green’s offense on track.

Wilson came into the game in the second quarter and immediately provided the Mean Green’s offense a spark that paid off after SMU cut an early 7-0 deficit to 7-6 on a 12-yard pass from Willis to wide receiver Columbus Givens.

UNT responded with an eight-play, 80-yard drive behind Wilson, who kept the drive alive with a 15-yard run on third-and-9 from the 39-yard line and then scored on a 33-yard run to give UNT a 14-6 lead. Wilson finished with 103 yards passing and 74 yards rushing. Quinn added 132 receiving yards.

“It was supposed to be a pass play, but the protection broke down,” Wilson said. “There was a crease and I was able to get through it.”

Wilson was at the helm when the Mean Green extended their lead midway through the fourth quarter on a 15-play, 90-yard drive that ended with Denis Hopovac’s 22-yard field goal that gave UNT a 17-6 lead with 9:23 left in the game.

SMU would get no closer the rest of the way, thanks in part to the Mean Green’s defense that resembled the UNT units that once ranked among the best in the Sun Belt Conference and beyond.

SMU managed just 270 yards and didn’t score in the first half, when the game was still close.

“Everybody came out today with fire in their eyes with one goal in mind,” said junior linebacker Maurice Holman, who finished with a game-high 11 tackles on his 22nd birthday. “We felt like we had something to prove. We played as hard as we could. It was a big win.”

UNT’s defense kept the Mean Green in the game in the first half, when their offense struggled to build on an early lead provided by Evan Robertson.

The redshirt freshman running back came untouched off the edge of the line and blocked a punt from SMU’s Thomas Morstead before falling on the ball in the end zone in the first quarter.

“I went outside and tried to get around the corner so I could get a chance at blocking it,” Robertson said. “Nobody touched me. It was a big play and got everyone excited.”

UNT squandered a few chances to extend the lead before halftime. The most costly came after the Mean Green drove to the SMU 19-yard line in the second quarter.

UNT appeared as if it had picked up a first down inside the Mustangs’ 10-yard line when freshman tight end Bryant Seidle caught a pass from Wilson. Seidle made it to SMU’s 9-yard line before he fumbled after being flipped in the air.

Mustangs defensive end Cory Muse recovered the ball at the SMU 9-yard line. UNT also missed out on a scoring chance after defensive lineman Sky Pruitt intercepted a pass from Justin Willis at the SMU 39-yard line in the second quarter.

“Adversity is going to happen in a game,” Dickey said. “What you have to do is be ready to get a stop on defense and come back. I was proud of the way we handled it.”

The Mean Green’s ability to respond resulted in one of UNT’s biggest non-conference wins in recent years.

“This is a real big win for this team,” Wilson said. “It’s big for recruiting and because they are right down the road.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

[untbowler]

now if we can just schedule those Horny Toads and beat them for the metroplex championship.