MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (11/23/02) North Texas assured itself of a winning record this season and capped off a perfect run through the Sun Belt Conference by knocking off Middle Tennessee State, 30-20, on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Sun Belt champion Mean Green clinched a winning record the first in head coach Darrell Dickey’s five-year tenure and the school’s first since 1994 regardless of the outcome of the NT’s upcoming appearance in the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 17.
The win improved North Texas (7-5 overall) to a perfect 6-0 in Sun Belt play this season. North Texas has now won 11 consecutive conference games dating back to last season, the Sun Belt’s first to sponsor football. It’s the first time since 1967 that North Texas has gone through conference play undefeated.
A couple of touchdown passes by redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Smith and two touchdowns from Ja’Mel Branch sparked the win, which wasn’t locked down until NT linebacker Chris Hurd’s recovery of a MTSU fumble was converted into the Mean Green’s final TD midway through the fourth quarter.
Smith, who threw for a career-high 206 yards on 14-of-19 passing, completed touchdown passes of 45 and 40 yards, hitting Branch early in the second quarter for the 45-yarder and connecting on a flea-flicker play with a diving Kevin Howard at the goalline with the 40-yarder early in the third quarter.
Branch, meanwhile, bounced back from getting rocked on two punt reception interference plays to score twice: on a six-yard run on the game’s opening series and then on the pass play from Smith in the second quarter.
But it was a three-yard TD run by sophomore Patrick Cobbs with 7:28 left in the game that secured the victory. After NT gained possession following Hurd’s fumble recovery at the Raiders’ 46-yard line, the Mean Green marched the distance in nine plays to build their lead to 30-14.
MTSU scored it’s final TD on its next possession and then had a final scoring opportunity thwarted by Mean Green defensive tackle Brandon Kennedy with 0:34 left when Kennedy sacked quarterback Andrico Hines and stole the ball from him at the same time at the NT 30.
A last-second field goal at the end of the first half helped ease the pain of two costly North Texas mistakes that paved the way for both MTSU scores and lift the Mean Green to a 15-14 lead at halftime.
In the final minute of the second period, the Mean Green drove down to the Blue Raiders’ 27-yard line with five seconds left on the clock. Nick Bazaldua came on and redeemed himself he had two earlier PAT kick attempts blocked -- by successfully booting a 44-yard field goal as time ran out.
MSU had taken a 14-12 lead earlier in the second period after blocking a North Texas punt attempt and recovering it at the Mean Green 22-yard line. From there the Blue Raiders drove down to the four-yard line before Hines ran it in for the TD with 7:19 on the clock.
At the start of the second quarter, North Texas had taken a 12-7 lead in the game when Smith hooked up with Branch for a 45-yard touchdown pass play down the right sideline. For the second time in the game, Kadlubar’s point-after kick was low and blocked at the line of scrimmage.
A fumble by Kevin Galbreath inside the North Texas red zone set up Middle Tennessee’s first score of the game that resulted the Raiders staking a 7-6 first quarter lead. Galbreath’s fumble was recovered at the Mean Green eight-yard line and MTSU scored on its first offensive play, on an end around reverse run with 8:14 left in the period.
North Texas posted an early lead in the game by taking the game’s opening kickoff and driving 80 yards in a 10-play series that was capped off by Branch’s six-yard pitch run for a touchdown. The PAT kick was blocked to give the Mean Green a 6-0 lead.
