DENTON – North Texas senior Jaelon Darden further cemented his place in the Mean Green record books on Saturday night, but his record-setting night wasn't enough to lift North Texas to victory as the Mean Green fell, 42-31, to Louisiana Tech.
 
Darden caught eight balls for 135 and three touchdowns – his third three-touchdown game of the season – and now has 15 touchdown catches on the season, which is a new single-season program record. He also broke a first-place tie atop the career touchdown receptions list with Ron Shanklin (1967-69), who finished his career with 31 touchdown grabs. Darden now has 34.
 
"Darden's a dude. He goes out there and competes. Every week, everyone in the stadium knows where the ball's going and they still can't stop him," UNT head coach Seth Littrell said. "He's a phenomenal player and a phenomenal person. You wouldn't believe the amount of work he puts into being great. At times, we have to tell him to stop working for a bit. I get worried about his legs sometimes. He knows his body and his limitations. He's been a special guy to coach."
 
The game started off positively for the Mean Green (3-5, 2-4 C-USA), who led 14-7 after the first quarter – the first time since the season-opening win over Houston Baptist that UNT led an opponent after the first quarter.
 
But costly penalties and an inability to get off the field, defensively, on third and fourth downs doomed the Mean Green, particularly on a key, final drive of the first half by the Bulldogs (5-3, 4-2).
 
After an Ethan Mooney field goal cut the Bulldogs' lead to 21-17 with 3:05 to play, Louisiana Tech went 64 yards on nine plays and scored with 13 seconds left in the half to go up 28-17, thanks in large part to two key personal foul penalties on North Texas and a third-and-18 conversion on a halfback draw that seemed bottled up in the backfield before the runner escaped and ran for a first down.
 
"It was big," Littrell said of the pivotal scoring drive. "We had the late hit on the quarterback that was crucial and got them in third-and-18 and they hit a draw after missed a couple of tackles. Then, we maybe have them held to a field goal and we have another personal foul. We beat ourselves there."
 
That came after the Bulldogs took a 21-14 lead after the Mean Green went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 36-yard line and were stopped for no gain, giving the Bulldogs a short field to capitalize upon.
 
On the night, UNT had 11 penalties for 82 yards and allowed the Bulldogs to convert 8 of 17 third-down tries and go 3-for-3 on fourth downs.
 
"We had our opportunities offensively and defensively to win that game, but we have to make them," Littrell said. "It's more than just playing hard. You have to play smart. Penalties killed us tonight. Couldn't get off the field on third and fourth down. You're not going to beat a team like that if you make those type of mistakes."
 
Now, with one game remaining on the schedule at UTEP next Saturday, North Texas fans will wait and see if Darden can leave North Texas as the career leader in just about every meaningful statistical category.
 
Darden, who is now just seven catches shy of Casey Fitzgerald (2005-08) for the all-time receptions lead and 109 yards shy of tying Johnny Quinn (2003-06) for the all-time lead in career receiving yards, also notched his first 1,000-yard season and just the eighth in program history.
 
But he doesn't pay much attention to his individual accomplishments and said he just wants to help his team win.
 
"I'm more focused on winning and helping my team the best way I can. If I did that, that's good, but all I care about is wins."

QUICK HITS

• The Mean Green loss puts Louisiana Tech's all-time series lead at 12-7. The loss was the third straight against the Bulldogs as the Mean Green's last win in the series came in Ruston with a 24-23 win in 2017.
• The Mean Green led 14-7 after the first quarter, which was the first time they have held a lead after the opening quarter since the Sept. 5 opener against Houston Baptist and the first time they've scored 14 points in an opening quarter since that season opener.
• Redshirt sophomore QB Jason Bean (Mansfield, Texas) finished the day with 231 yards on 17-of-30 passing with three touchdowns and an interception.
• Senior WR Jaelon Darden (Houston) had eight catches on the day for 135 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 15 touchdown receptions through eight games this season – the most in all of FBS after he entered the game with 12 and tied with two other players for the national lead.
  • Darden entered the game with 214 career receptions, and his eight catches puts him at 222 for his career. He is in second place on the program's all-time receptions list and trails the all-time leader, Casey Fitzgerald (2005-08), by seven catches after he finished his decorated career with 229 catches.
  • The 135-yard performance was Darden's fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season and the seventh of his career.
  • His three touchdowns on the night marked his fifth career three-touchdown game (and third this season) and his eighth career multi-touchdown game.
  • His 10-yard touchdown reception with 10:37 left in the third quarter was his 15th of the season and the 34th of his career. It was his 35th career touchdown (rushing/receiving/returns). He now trails current running backs coach Patrick Cobbs (2001-05) by three total touchdowns for second on the program's all-time list.
  • His 33-yard touchdown reception with 4:24 left in the third quarter was his 14th of the season, putting him alone in first place on the program's all-time, single-season receiving touchdown list. It was his 33rd career receiving touchdown and his 34th career touchdown (rushing/receiving/returns).
  • That 33-yard touchdown grab also put Darden in second place on the program's all-time list for career receiving yards, passing Troy Redwine (1992-96), who finished his career with 2,567. Darden, who ended the game with 2,609 career receiving yards now trails all-time receiving yards leader Johnny Quinn (2003-06) by 109 yards after Quinn finished his career with 2,718 yards.
  • That 33-yard touchdown reception put him at 1,000 yards receiving on the season – the first time in his career he's broken the 1,000-yard mark. He is the seventh player in program history to accomplish the feat (Casey Fitzgerald did it twice, in 2007 and 2008). He's the second player in the Seth Littrell era to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards (Rico Bussey, Jr. did it in 2018 with 1,017).
  • His 13-yard touchdown reception with 7:41 left in the first quarter was the 32nd of his career, putting him alone in first on the program's all-time career list, passing Ron Shanklin (1967-69). It was also his 13th of the season, which ties Shanklin's single-season program record set 1967. It also was a new career-high for touchdowns in a season for Darden, eclipsing his 2019 total of 12.
  • That 13-yard touchdown catch was also the 33rd career touchdown (rushing/receiving/returns) for Darden, putting him alone in third place on the program's all-time list, passing Jeffery Wilson (2014-17), who finished with 32.
• Redshirt senior RB Nic Smith (Fort Worth) finished the day with 16 carries for 96 yards.
• Senior RB DeAndre Torrey (Gautier, Mississippi) had 36 yards on nine carries and one catch for four yards to go with nine kickoff return yards.
  • Torrey's 49 all-purpose yards on the night puts him at 3,304 for his career and moves him into ninth place on the program's all-time list – passing Ja'Quay Wilburn (1997-2000).
  • Torrey's 1-yard touchdown run with 4:45 left in the first quarter was the 27th career touchdown (rushing/receiving/returns) of his career, moving him into a tie for eighth on the program's all-time list with Jamario Thomas (2004-07).
• Junior LB KD Davis (Ennis, Texas) finished the day with 11 tackles, including seven solo stops.
• Senior LB Tyreke Davis (Denton, Texas) finished the day with 10 tackles, including six solo stops and one tackle for-loss.
• Senior safety Makyle Sanders (Tyler, Texas) finished the day with eight tackles, including six solo stops, and an interception.
• Freshman linebacker Jordan Brown (Huntsville, Texas) tallied his first career sack early in the third quarter.

  HEAD COACH SETH LITTRELL'S POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE



SENIOR WR JAELON DARDEN AND JUNIOR LB KD DAVIS' POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE