CHARLOTTE, N.C. (MeanGreenSports.com) North Texas led Charlotte for all but 59 minutes, 42 seconds, on Saturday, Oct. 26, but with 18 ticks remaining, a 34-yard touchdown pass for Charlotte spoiled what was an explosive offensive day for the Mean Green and North Texas fell 39-38 at Jerry Richardson Stadium.
Senior quarterback Mason Fine threw for a new career high of five touchdown passes on 25-of-36 passing and 384 yards, and the Mean Green had two 100-yard receivers and a 100-yard rusher, but the Mean Green couldn’t hold off a fourth-quarter rally when Charlotte outscored UNT 18-3 and the 49ers outgained UNT 589-539.
“Overall, you’ve got to give Charlotte a lot of credit,” UNT head coach Seth Littrell said. “Their kids continued to fight hard. During the second half, they played extremely well and we didn’t make enough stops. We couldn’t get off the field. Score 32 points in the second half, and it’s hard to beat people.”
Fine wasn’t the only offensive player filling the stat sheet for North Texas with redshirt freshman wide receiver Jyaire Shorter making three catches — all touchdowns — for 111 yards and three touchdowns for his first multi-touchdown game. Junior wide receiver Jaelon Darden also continued his hot play making five grabs for 104 yards, including a 64-yard scoring strike from Fine to open the game. Redshirt sophomore Tre Siggers carried the ball 17 times for 131 yards and had his third 100-yard rushing performance of the year.
“He’s a powerful runner, and he’s been making a lot of plays for us,” Littrell said, after Siggers missed the previous week’s win over Middle Tennessee with an injury and was a game-time decision on Saturday.
Shorter now has 17 catches with seven of those going for touchdowns in his last six games.
The Mean Green (3-5, 2-2 Conference USA) hosts UTEP Saturday, Nov. 2, at Apogee Stadium for homecoming at 2:30 p.m.
“We’ve got to stick together and find out ways to improve and get better,” Littrell said. “We’ve got to, you know, man up on whatever we have to as players, as coaches and try to figure out how to win these games because that’s very disappointing. That should never happen. Ultimately, it’s on me. I’m the leader of this group. We’ve got to step up and everybody has to be manning up to lift themselves. We’ve got to do better.”
