North Texas Crushes UNLV In Heart Of Dallas Bowl, 36-14

[Harry]

DALLAS - For the first time in eleven years and the first time on New Year's Day in program history, the North Texas football team is a bowl champion.

In a game that epitomized the 2013-14 North Texas season, the Mean Green fell behind early but showed its boundless resiliency, methodically taking control of the game, battering the UNLV offense into submission, getting an efficient performance from senior quarterback Derek Thompson, and scoring a Heart of Dallas bowl-record 22 fourth-quarter points to roll to a 36-14 victory

Wednesday afternoon at the Cotton Bowl.

"Really proud of my football team," North Texas coach Dan McCarney said. "I dreamed of day these seniors could go to a bowl game and win a bowl game."

Thompson completed 21-of-30 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions, and earned the game's Most Valuable Player award, while Brelan Chancellor scored two touchdowns on reverses, both in the fourth-quarter assault that sealed the win.

"We knew if we picked up the tempo that we could do some things and move the football," Thompson said. "We just made plays. I wasn't anything special that we did. We just executed. The defense did the rest."

There were a number of negative streaks facing the Mean Green coming into the game. North Texas had never won on New Year's Day (0-1), had never won at the Cotton Bowl (0-3) and had never beaten UNLV (0-4), and the Rebels had never lost a bowl game (3-0). But before a crowd of 38,380 - almost entirely outfitted in North Texas green - the Mean Green put all those streaks to rest.

Early on, however, UNLV's read-option offense sorely tested the Mean Green defense. The Rebels came into the game averaging 31 points and 423 yards a game, and backed up those stats on their opening drive with a 95-yard scoring march for a 7-0 lead.

But the North Texas defense adjusted quickly and reined in the Rebel attack. A pair of big losses - on a tackle by Will Wright and a sack by James Jones - marked the beginning of a relentless, merciless pounding of UNLV quarterback Caleb Herring. North Texas sacked Herring five times and hit him countless other times, forcing errant throws. North Texas also broke up six passes. After completing his first nine passes, Herring completed just six of his next 24 throws and was intercepted for just the fifth time this year.

Read more: http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/010114aab.html