NCAAF 2020 Week 15 North Texas vs UTEP

some early afternoon showers have come and gone making way for a perfect december night for football in denton texas tonight the mean green of north texas close out the 2020 regular season with a much awaited in-state bout with the utep miners as we welcome you to apogee stadium and espn's coverage of college football here on a friday night alongside the former mean green linebacker hekma harrison i'm kyle yeomans bringing you a game that was originally scheduled heckman for october but tonight as we move into december it holds just as much postseason wait yeah there are some major ramifications for utep who has to get a victory here to qualify for a bold birth and all of that is going to come on the arm of gavin hardison this guy has a big arm it's not enough to say it this kid has a hollister and when we talked to coach dimmel about his co his sophomore redshirt quarterback he said it's all about him grasping the complexity of the miners offense and them implementing each week plays that he's able to execute on game day well he's talked about the football iq at the quarterback position even for a young guy is very high the footwork is something to work on but his arm kind of gets him out of trouble yeah mechanics is there and when we talk to him one-on-one he said he admitted hey i rely on my arm strength a lot and sometimes that gets me in trouble i have to be better today they're looking for their first pole birth since 2014 they'll have to do so against the top 10 offense and one of the biggest weapons is jalen darden jalen darden is the name that you have to circle underline and highlight because he is a special talent here in north texas and i mean to tell you it's not enough to talk about his skill and ability but he is a distinguished route runner when i say kyle distinguished i mean like leather patches on a smoking jacket just distinguished he is that dude and he has done everything the right way here in denton had a big week as well off the field as he was named a balitnikov award semi finalist one of 11 semifinalists across the country including guys from every conference the sec big 12 and above and it's because of the numbers he's put up in just eight games yeah you have to keep that in context he's done that in eight games and that just makes it so much more special especially with the ball club they've had to deal with so many cancellations but again jalen darden is so special and you'll see that tonight a top 10 offense from north texas taking on utap it's the 29th all-time meeting between the miners and the mean green kickoff is next on espn a beautiful night here in denton texas apogee stadium hosting conference usa football in what is now week 15 of the 2020 season a 2020 season full of unpredictability and that continues even until tonight as utep moments before kickoff here in denton had the news that gavin hardison is ineligible for the game today due to coven 19 contract tracing so they go with calvin brownholtz the sophomore out of california just 11 career pass attempts for the miners 59 yards a long completion of 11 yards he had not run with the ones heckman harrison but he's back as a one here tonight this is the most 20 20 thing that happened to us right before kickoff we get this news but based off of those stats that you just gave me kyle i'm going to go out on a limb here and say that calvin brown holtz has his personal best today ready for action here from denton texas 2-3 win teams and bowl eligibility on the line tonight all the way back to his own goal line is don jr on the return he shakes a man and he comes to the near side where he is tripped up at the 25-yard line north texas wearing the all-whites today because they are the road team even in their own stadium utep is technically supposed to have this as a home game this was moved from el paso to denton this week due to coven 19 concerns so north texas won the toss because they got to call the toss so we'll have an early opportunity to see calvin brown holds under center yeah both of these teams are chomping at the bit to get this game underway it's been canceled rescheduled a few times now so for both of these teams and especially again for utep this is a special night brown holtz has seen action in seven games this season he starts out in the pistol turns things around to the starting tailback as we'll look at some of the starters on this utep offense dion hankins aka hank the tank gets his first carry the redshirt freshman out of north little rock arkansas and that is an old school type of back for the miners and coach dimmel this weekend actually compared him to one former dfw star and emmitt smith he did and i thought that was some wow that's some high praise uh to put on your run on your redshirt freshman running back and he just talked about the wide base that he runs with and he's a guy that's north and south and always falling forward utap offensively 109th in terms of the rushing yards per game this season they give it again to hankins and he gets about three yards makes it third down and short here on the first drive of the ball game north texas defensively though they've had their fair share of problems this season in the bottom five and both rushing yards allowed per game and in total yardage allowed per game this season this is a defense that hasn't been fully together this season no when you have a top 10 offense and then a defense that's struggling the way that mean green has it's been the achilles heel of this team short yardage situation on third and one they get it to hankins again he maneuvers his way past the first down marker in an early conversion on third down for utep an offense that has struggled on third down this season 41 of 95 just 43 for the miners but they do move the chains here and a big reason for that is the short yardage situation with dion hankins and this is a guy who earned that hank to take moniker from really his running style i mean the physicality old-school back like we talked about but also a guy who has eclipsed three or excuse me eclipsed 100 yards in three of his six games this season two receivers out wide to the right for brown holds back in the shotgun has not attempted a pass just yet they give it on the carry and there's the first opportunity for the senior joshua fields yeah the football joshua feels is that he's that thunder and lightning to these two backs he's a change of patient especially when you talk about what hankins does and he's just old school i mean he's not gonna not a lot of wiggle to him at all but when it comes down to joshua fields the the senior he's more of a jump cutter k.d davis the junior linebacker down for the mean green the flag flew in late after that play and with 13 minutes left here in the first quarter got an injury timeout here from apogee stadium utep driving for the personal fouls we take another look yeah bobby tojaro comes in at the last minute just uncalled for the referee season he's gonna throw a flag on that every time north texas sideline erupted whenever that play happened and for good reason it was obvious daharo called for the personal foul one of the guys that gavin hardinson when we talked to the sophomore quarterback earlier this week asked him who's this guy who do you run behind naharo was the first name out of his mouth but now artisan is not the quarterback kudaharo is blocking for instead it's brownholtz and he's backed up an extra 15 yards second down and 22. north texas with a very stout defensive front we'll get to that coming up here in just a moment handoff up the middle again to fields and there is nowhere to go and once again it's that defensive front from north texas very good against the run from time to time this season but just got to keep the consistency along the way yeah it's all about the consistency but when you talk about a guy in dion noble and what he does up front he is going to make sure that he creates a power in there as you see right there he's a big part of the success that north texas will have tonight if they have any dayton leblanc the redshirt sophomore credited with the tackle named the conference all freshman team a year ago third down and 20 after a gain of two utap's gonna send trips receivers out wide to the right one down to the bottom of the formation they put a man in motion it's cowan and they flip him back out to the trips formation back to throw as brown holds he looks over the middle that one's tipped up in the air and it falls incomplete great coverage there from north texas john davis was the one that got a hand on the football and it's fourth down yeah those obvious passing situations for the north texas defense gonna make it really simple to play off of this quarterback that doesn't have any experience and so they get out there and they double team their guys out in the zone so they won't have any first downs for sure that was that was a third in long jordan so north texas has an opportunity here they get a stop on the offense or on the defensive side and then following this punt and as an end over in kick to jalen darden who's all the way at his own 30 doesn't get to him though this one craters in at about 37 takes a north texas bounce to the 39 and that's where the mean green will take things over a top 10 offense for north texas in the meet green this season up over 518 yards per game that is good enough for eighth in the country and that man right there jalen darden a big part of how successful that offense has been this season but jason being at quarterback really in a quarterback battle all year long with austin ani has taken over that quarterback battle because of the numbers there yeah since this game in middle tennessee stayed in all of the yards that he had you know he's come on and coach seth latrell said he had to give this guy an opportunity to make an impact and a long try there to jalen darden on the first play not wasting any time attacking a very thin secondary for utep this week and you look at the miners secondary it's a complete makeover for coach mike cox the defensive coordinator and coach dimmel in that one bean puts this one on the turf and the miners are gonna get the football back he turned to throw into the flats as darden was in in motion and he just left the football behind and that one's recovered by amahuli yeah that guy praised him is such such an electric player and it looked like the ball just slipped right out of bean's hand i you know look dope it hadn't it rained earlier today but still that's one of those ones and you look back it's just a mental aerial mental era for being on that plate he turned around and just left the football on the turf first fumble recovery for amihuuli he's usually the one forcing the fumble but instead he just brought the pressure off the edge and it gives great field position for the second drive of this first quarter for calvin brownholtz in this utep offense one thing working to brown holds favor is he does have a bevy of weapons to work with justin carrots up at the top of the screen but they give it again to hankins nothing going a gain of about one on the play another nice tackle there from katie davis who's back up after he had the injury timeout a couple moments ago now they're going with dayton leblanc and again dave leblanc looks a lot like the uh novel down there he's doing a really good job of gobbling up those blocks they have to continue that if they want to have any success against this zone running attack from the miners noble has had a couple of lingering issues throughout the year a lower body injury that he's been dealing with since the game against middle tennessee state another handoff here to hankins has some extra room off to the right side of the formation before he is met by larry nixon the third the redshirt sophomore who coach seth latrell is very happy to have in the middle of that mean green defense and it sets up third down again yeah zuri henry right tackle on the right side he's literally just one of those guys that's going to pile drive anyone in front of him although that's just a minor gain for the miners look look for them to come back to that because they know what they have and hank the tank third down and five north texas trying to force a second stop on the defensive side utep already with 23 rushing yards haven't completed a pass just yet here's the quarterback keeper from brownholtz and he stopped short of the marker gets to about the 24 and a half yard line needed the 23. and it's fourth down again for the second time today yeah that's a good hold for these guys and like coach jeff latrell said defensively these guys are going to mix it up and you saw them right there they went zero coverage they didn't have a center fielder for the defense in on that play gavin beckley the junior place kicker for utep actually a mckinney high school graduate mckinney just down the road here from denton he's left on the sideline offense back out there for utep two receivers out wide heavy package in for the miners and they might have jumped early north texas certainly thinks so on the defensive side of the football utep arguing that it was a north texas defender that forced the movement yeah i believe that they are going to call this on the defense [Music] and circle that one early in this ball game on a fourth down opportunity with a backup quarterback you give it a free first down for the miners yeah we definitely don't have to worry about crowd noise even though north texas is the visitors in their own home that was another look at the stop that fourth fourth down but now as the chains move into the red zone for the first time are the utep minor offense here goes brown holds trying to find an edge and it's daddy's met with dayton leblanc mentioned the all-freshman team a year ago product out of brokerage louisiana but actually attended denton ryan high school down the road here from apogee stadium as a junior son of former mean green defensive line coach derrick leblanc and he has already made an impact early against the run game a couple tackles here in this first quarter second down and eight on the way underneath 8 45 to play and counting here in this first quarter here's hankids bounces off the left guard continues forward turning the legs before he gets to the 14-yard line yeah that's hankins game i mean he's going to go he's going to get what he can get very patient runner and just runs very explosive behind his pads but very patient uses his vision picks up a three a couple yards and it's going to bring up an important third and four for the miners utap has only attempted the one pass here in their first two drives of the ball game not relying a whole lot on the arm of brown holds he's run it a couple times but really to no avail [Music] and it's actually james tupo in the backfield before a timeout is called so utep wants to talk things over here before this third down and four they continue to drive here from denton no score from apogee stadium mom and dad bought a sweet new ride with a great low rate thanks to a gecu auto loan mom got to drive it [Music] dad got to drive it [Music] even my sister got to drive it when is it going to be my turn [Music] what you're letting him drive oh come on get pre-approved for your low rate auto loan or refinance today but hurry sale ends january 5th still your best friend and now your co-pilot still a father but now a friend still an electric car just more electrifying still a night out but everything fits in still hard work just a little easier still a legend just more legendary chevrolet making life's journey just better how they're gonna pay for this they will but with accident forgiveness allstate won't raise your rates just because of an accident so good no you were talking about allstate and i just accident forgiveness from allstate click or call for a quote today the oscar arietta agency is proud to support the utep athletic program peter pete is in good hands with allstate are you go miners call us for your free insurance proposal today [Music] [Applause] [Music] a dozen total plays for utep so far in the ball game and only one of them has been a pass play from that man calvin brownholtz the backup quarterback thrusted into starting duties today and he's already faced with his fourth third down of the first quarter in his first two drives he's only converted on one of those he's got the full back to his right and james tupo the junior out of allen high school third down and four got to get to the 10. it's brownholtz on the keeper hurdle's a man he's pushed forward and there is a late flag but he is short of the marker that's just power football heckler harrison just go at it with your big time six foot two 210 pound quarterback that's what you do you got to go big on big and for the for me green what they're doing is just daring them to throw the ball they don't respect the arm of brown holes at all they're not even playing with a safety [Music] [Applause] stephen hubbard and junior out of houston was the one called on the chop block looking for another look here yeah one of the things they're not going to allow us for two men to be engaged in one to take the line the legs out of the defender they just got caught on that replaying third down but backing utap all the way up to their own 29 yard line north texas defensively couple substitutions as mcrae comes off the field got that three-man front out there for north texas four wide outs for you town three to the near side here goes brown holds tucks it and runs he's got some space all the way to the 15-yard line he shakes a tackle and he's going to take it into the end zone it's a 29 yard touchdown run for utep and the backup quarterback calvin brownholtz finds paydirt [Applause] calvin sets this up perfectly it's just a read option once he keeps his eyes up the field and he takes off with it once he sees there's no safety there there's no one back there to stop him and you can see the passion the excitement i mean this is an opportunity for a redshirt sophomore to take advantage in his one opportunity this season to start his first career start after he debuted earlier this year against steven f austin beckley back on for the extra point as u10 will send this one through the uprights and it's a seven to nothing lead the miners strike first here from apogee stadium behind their backup quarterback calvin brownholtz his second rushing touchdown of 2020 and miners up early utep and the miners up early in this one seven to nothing they scored on their second drive of the night and that's fitting because number two is a sacred number around the utep football program luke laufenberg passed away in august of 2019 former son and or excuse me former minor but son of nfl quarterback babe laufenberg and they continue to pay tribute to luke and his foundation along the way that's justin garrett wearing the number two jersey with the laufenberg nameplate still on the back they all missed luke we would miss luke and he was a light in their lives here's dionne hair griffin on a return a all-conference return for north texas the first opportunity he's had to reel in a kick and he takes it all the way to the 40-plus yard line before he's escorted out of bounds that's really been his specialty since he got on campus his return kicks and do it at a high high efficiency rate absolutely i mean and they called him preach on this team he is the because of kovit he is the chaplain he is the guy that pretty much is you know the ring leader of making sure these guys need to be where they need to be he is a great asset to this mean green team new quarterback in for north texas austin auney takes his first snap and he connects outside to austin august and austin ahi originally the back backup are listed as the backup and we were told by seth latrell earlier this week that don't expect to go back and forth between these quarterbacks it was going to be jason bean the majority of the way should anything crazy or barring anything crazy happen but austin annie gets a couple snaps early on and a quick couple completions out to the outside as well as there's asher albertine reeling that one in for a first down so you mean the coach didn't give you his strategy beforehand and saying that he was going to play both of his backs today a former minor league baseball prospect drafted in the second round by the new york yankees in 2012 played six seasons in the yankees spent the last two seasons of his career on the baseball diamond at high a tampa and he brings that cannon to the football gridiron yeah coach seth latrell talked about getting both of these guys the experience and the reps that they needed both of them young guys and they have to capitalize on the reps that they get 43-yard line working inward there's ani on the run sends this one just a tad bit high to deontay simpson the sophomore could not reel that one in on the sideline third down on the way here for the mean green yeah look for guys like praise amala ule uh and the pressure that he's going to bring from the outside and also number 54 keenan stewart for the miners man he is a breaker and the offensive line breaker the kind of guy that if you don't put a hat on him he will get to your quarterback in a harry trey zigger's in the backfield as the tailback to the right of any play action audi having the flush out right now instead he steps forward has a man downfield into the back of the end zone and it's dropped a huge opportunity for the mean green to connect for six and a gooberkin could not get both mitts on it and it just felt as though that ball stayed in the air so long i mean he was open for about five steps and just completely overthrown there but you got to have to have that patience and austin he gets a good throw off right at the right spot but just not where the receiver can catch you see the arm strength from ani on the run able to throw that about 45 yards plus downfield really just with the flick of a wrist but the accuracy has certainly been a problem for the redshirt sophomores this one's booted away by rodriguez and it takes a hop into the green coated end zone and it'll come out to the 25-yard line so you utep an opportunity here to grow their lead they scored on their last drive via a rushing touchdown from calvin brownholtz and the defense holds strong and holds this top 10 offense of north texas to a goose egg we're still in the first quarter 7-0 in a year full of unpredictability a year full of strides here in 2020 as well two trailblazing programs meet again for the 29th time heckman but really you go back into the history of both of these programs and trailblazing the way for african-americans absolutely man and so it's not enough to be said about first for everything but the great abner haines from south dallas lincoln high school alumnus and man it's so awesome to be associated with him in that way him being the first african-american athlete here at the university of north texas and you've got lincoln and north texas kind of both you know i had to squeeze that in there come on now come on now harrison i'm kyle yeomans here in the first quarter of this conference usa matchup quick completion on first down for calvin brownholtz that's the first completion of the ball game he did have that rushing touchdown from 29 yards out and that's the difference so far but he found justin garrett out into the flats and it was a gain of six on first down handoff here going nowhere close to the first down marker first carry of the game for awhile redshirt junior from ludwig friendship high school coming off a 2019 season where he had a season ending injury in camp and he has found his way on 28 carries 120 yards and three touchdowns this season for the miners he's back in at tailback [Music] three receivers out wide to the right as brownholtz is back in the shotgun chest ties snap and they give it to aywat again this one's bobbled around and that ball still is loose looks like he might have been able to get both mitts on it and reel it back in on the fumble but now as they sift through the pile we'll see if north texas came up with the football utep believes they still have it hey he took the handoff and all of a sudden whoop it pops right up in the air hopefully he got a hand but it came out of there at the last minute so it'd be interesting to see you got a hold of it gabriel murphy was the one that came up with the football but our officiating crew said that he was not the one that actually recovered the fumble yeah there's probably a lot of dirty things going on under that scrum so may not want to know how he got that ball back our head referee kevin randall saying this is still utep football second down and one and off to hankins who's back in the ball game and he carries forward for a first down all the way to the yard line before he's up yeah what dion does to a defense is after a while just the attrition and him just wearing on you and i think a lot of these guys have figured out that you got to get to him early and if you don't you better get him from the knees to the ankles to get him on the ground and another thing he does is he allows a backup quarterback like brownholtz to find a bit of rhythm with the ones and kind of get that confidence and build that confidence certainly has that after the touchdown earlier tupo is the fullback he's offset to the right after a bobbled snap now brownholtz fires this one over the middle and it's incomplete sails high and there's a extremely late flag crosby was in coverage [Music] jacob cowing wanted a flag but he didn't get it initially it took about five seconds before the back judge actually threw it [Applause] definitely not the way that jacob cowan thought that that play was going to go as you see he runs just a quick slant or out here and has a bit of a push off uh coming back inside it's just could have gone either way really there was a lot of back and forth contact well the ref thought about it for sure you say five seconds afterwards he had to figure out who he was going to throw that on gowing now back at the bottom of the screen in the bottom of the formation fields in a tailback they hand it to him off the right tackle and he is just shouldered by dayton leblanc didn't really go anywhere before he ran into the two or the 290 pound defensive tackle yeah leblanc just basically told fields you will be stopping right here with just a shoulder tackle second down and 24. second down 24. well one of the things you got to credit the mean green on they are switching up their coverages before they were going with zero coverage now they've gone back to a cover two look field straight back behind brownholtz another bobbled snap he looks over to his right trying to direct traffic now he is in trouble he has to get rid of this one throwing to the right side and i believe that's picked off in the secondary north texas makes a huge play as desean gaddy came flying over to make the interception gaddy's just reading him from the safety position he sees the quarterback in trouble and as brown holds his is trying to get to the outside and elude uh getting a sack he just throws it into an area where the safety deshawn gaddy can make a play on it and he breaks on this ball perfectly and gets the ball back for the main green an easy call for the official on the far side as gaddy definitely had that left foot down in bounds as murphy is down following the play he was the one pressuring brown holes brown holtz really didn't have anywhere else to throw that football you see his brother and gabriel murphy staying out there with him as grayson murphy limps off to the near sideline but brown holt's just rolling out trying to find somebody he had one orange jersey in the middle of three white yeah that's one of those situations when you have a guy in that doesn't have the experience he definitely should just throw this ball away you see him scrambling and murphy has him but he he turns on him and he tries to get the ball out to the sideline but man just one of those bad throws and he should learn from that and not replicate that effort austin ani back in at quarterback play action as he looks over the middle going long down the near sideline he's got a man it's caught touchdown north texas deontay simpson for the fourth time this year deontay simpson just is on a goal route and he makes it look simple getting behind the db uh to his side i mean there's no way that deontay was going to be stopped on that but you gotta credit the quarterback for putting that on the money because the last pass that he had that way he overthrew it calmed down a little bit but he definitely put enough on it to deliver a perfect strike and so that's that's a great throw for the redshirt southmoor from argyle austin arun and aunty on the money on that throw and it's a point after up and good north texas ties things up off of the touchdown throw 46 yards from austin ani to deontay simpson the sophomore reels it in simpson with the fourth touchdown of the season you talk about a guy who plays bigger than his side i mean this is a guy who just has the speed has the side size that you want at the wide receiver position yeah absolutely i mean and once he it was determined that he was by himself instead of raising his arm he continues to drive through the football and ani delivers a strike ninth touchdown pass from austin ani this season i mean this is not a guy who's your normal backup quarterback and this isn't your normal offense either when you talk about two guys jason bean austin annie who have flipped back and forth all season long bean has 880 yards but is listed as the starter then austin aunty comes in he actually leads the team in passing with over 1400 yards now yeah of the two he is the more accurate and you can see that his arm strength is there as well and so mechanics all of that so that he can deliver a great ball i mean that's something that they they need to stay with because he's making some strides here's don jr from the goal line waiting for blocks to develop and now he explodes through the hole shakes a tackle stays on his feet and he's finally tripped up by dion hair griffin at the 31 yard line so a nice return there from another veteran return man their normal return man and darron lowe who actually had a 100 plus yard kickoff return for a touchdown in their last game against louisiana attack actually opted out of the remainder of the season but walter don jr who had been the on and off go-to kick returner for the miners since his freshman year in 2016. sends up the miners with solid field position and that's a major patience that he showed on the kickoff as well i was wondering if they had blown it dead but that was just him just playing a game of cat and mouse with the return team now here's the response for brownholtz in this utep offense and they're going to attack with the run game hank the tank carries this one all the way down to the 50-yard line stopped just shy of it after the tackle from jordan brown the stud freshman linebacker for north texas but another nice carry there for hankins yeah that's something that's just got to drive defensive coordinator clint bowen crazy because it's just the zone run and dion hankins is able to get on the outside and outflank him two receivers to the right heavy package again that 12 personnel we've seen so much hankins again on the carry and this one keeps the clock running as he stays in bounds but he stops short of the line to gain yeah that was the same play and he came right back to it and a little bit of the same result he's just one yard away from getting the first down but for the min green defense they have to go back to mixing it up because as you stated before that turnover they were trying to get into a little bit of a rhythm and the miners had all of the momentum tupo the full back straight back behind the right tackle play action brown holds looking to throw throws this one over the middle it's bobbled and dropped trying to find it into the hands of jacob cowing it's incomplete and it's third down in short cowan is a guy that does not drop a lot of balls and you can tell with the mean green they are stacking that box and daring uh brownholtz to throw the ball and once he delivers this ball it's a strike i mean he delivers that he has a gun a gun as well i mean but just for for cowan that's the catch that he has to come down with brown holds now one of four for six yards that was the first drop of the day for the miners wide receiving core handoff back behind the line of scrimmage easy does it for dawn excuse me that's a watt on the carry and utep moves the chains to keep the drive alive but you're exactly right i mean these are a pair of wide receivers that are normally used to getting the football downfield i mean it's cowan who's had 300-plus yard games in the last four weeks justin garrett who wears the number two with the laufenberg title plate on the back who was a conference on honorable mention a year ago and continues to be a lunch pail guy [Music] for coach dimmel and company first down from the 36 and off to aywa straight up the middle and he is met with a wall of mean green defenders yeah and that's going to happen simply because the mean green is stacking the box and daring these guys to run but they're having some success and when we talk to gavin hartson who's out of this game and we asked him about his offensive line he said man i can't just tell you one guy all five of these guys are pretty awesome they've got a stable of talent most of it coming back next year coach dimmel was really excited about the possibilities of these seniors returning to el paso in 2021 they give it to hankins on second down and long he bounces to the outside and finally he's tripped up at the 31-yard line it's the final play of the first quarter not as high scoring as we originally anticipated it's 7-7 north texas able to answer after utep struck first but it was a 46-yard touchdown bomb from austin ani to close out the first quarter we're tied up after one here in denton [Music] big third down on the way for the miners offense as we start the second quarter of action from apogee stadium in denton glad you're with us here on friday night coverage of espn college football two receivers out wide to the right as the backup quarterback and calvin brownholtz back in for utep filling in for gavin hardison who just moments before tonight's game ruled out of consideration handoff going nowhere no it's not it's it's a carry from brownholtz he takes it all the way down to the one yard line the entire defense including myself up in the booth was completely full you can't tell me that's a backup quarterback move that's a veteran pull now look at that shirt sophomore they go on the read option and brown holds once he gets through the line of scrimmage there is no one because the closest guy to that side is michael sanders who is on the strong side literally there isn't a safety over the top they're daring uh brown holtz to beat him with his arm and he beats him with his legs he is the leading rusher at the moment for utep now knocking on the door again trying to retake the lead here's hankins straight up the gut and he powers his way through it's a touchdown for utep rushing score number eight on the season for the red shirt freshman out of north little rock and the miners take a 13-7 lead yeah they're making it look easy right now just loading up that side on the inside zone run and hank the tank with a one yard to gain he's gonna get it i don't think there's any way you're gonna really slow down that man six foot 195 pounds in short yardage situations and you saw it again there as he made it look easy got a good push from the left side of that miner's offensive line and it's enough for his eighth rushing touchdown of the game or excuse me of the season the second one of the game for the miners offense as beckley kicks this one up and through the uprights utep offensively finding a bit of rhythm on the ground they take a 14-7 lead over north texas on the road here in denton well you lose your starting quarterback moments before your final game of the regular season but no match for dama dana demo his third season as the head coach for the utep miners former head coach at wyoming and houston multiple stints at his alma mater as the offensive coordinator at kansas state and he recruited one guy back in 1993 that's standing to my right mr heckman harrison man four scorer and minnie moon ago dana timmel came to south dallas to get give me a scholarship uh in south dallas to kansas state university love this guy one of the nicest people you ever want to meet loves this program loves these kids i mean and he treats all of them like they're his son and you can tell that and really the passion in talking with him this week he was talking about 20 20 he said he hated it he really did and he hates not being around his student athletes hates not being able to really coach them in life along the way even though there are plenty of lessons to be learned in this crazy year this is by far one that he uh definitely would not want to do over again well he's doing quite the job on that far sideline coaching up his miners but there's a connection austin ani to that man jalen darden he goes one play 75 yards to the house and just like that the north texas offense answers the bell when i said circle underline and highlight highlight this guy jayla darden he shows you just on a simple slant route he can take it to the house really quickly 16 touchdowns this season for jalen darden now all alone atop the ncaa leaderboards and he continues to just break records along the way he needed just seven receptions entering the day to break the unt career receptions needed 109 yards while he took a big chunk out of that there didn't he to get the career receiving yards record from johnny quinn and he ties his career-long reception with 75 yards to the house on one play this drive that's beautiful and he just takes that slant route just come right down the sleeve the seam and it's man-to-man which is hard for me to believe that with all of the trouble that the miners are having with you know the guys leaving in the transfer portal that they would allow for one of their young guys to be man on man with darden and he made them pay unbelievable and just when we thought the defenses were going to have some luck here on this friday night in denton the offenses explode for 14 points in the span of 49 seconds here in the second quarter remember this was a 7-7 game in the middle of the quarter break we've seen back to back here over the last couple of moments yeah you got to credit austin awning with that quick strike you know we talk about his baseball uh background and just dealing with some accuracy issues but he hit that one right on the money this one backing don jr up to the one-yard line once again showing off the patience but he's going to go nowhere nice play on special teams from north texas as david chappelle comes straight in to lay down the hit on dawn and it is the worst starting field position of the night so far for utap from inside their own 20-yard line got a dave chappelle siding out here huh look at the time of possession that's not a typo ladies and gentlemen that's through the first quarter well now it's not a typo that's through the first quarter of action 13 and a half minutes well plus 13 and a half minutes for utap just over two minutes for north texas through one quarter of action and we're tied up at 14. how about quick strike ability from the offense i kind of think that's the definition of it do you think so yeah i think so as well three receivers out wide including the fullback that's out wide to the left as brownholtz continues to stay back in the shotgun and utap trying to show off a quick strike of their own as they hand the football off to aywat he gets nine yards on a jump play on first down a little extra curricular after the fact as the helmet pops off of quinn whitlock he has to sit out of play has got to the second level before he even was touched and so again for however you're mixing up these defenses you know doesn't look like either team can stop either you know either one of these guys can stop each other so definitely north texas is going to have to clamp down on defense and get some stops still haven't seen dion novel for an extended period of time in this football game he was listed as a starter early but really has yet to see the field it's mostly been leblanc in the middle of that mean green defense utep has been taking advantage via the run game here's aywat again untouched off the left tackle and it's a gain of seven making things look easy and that's what utep has done today it hasn't necessarily been the big play like north texas but it's junk yardage when you need it and continuing to move the sticks down the field absolutely they found something and if it ain't broke don't fix it and you know those murphy twins the one thing about them is these guys are playing out of position they're a lot lighter uh outside linebackers than you want right and so coach seth latrell talked about that they're tough but what ends up happening is if they get a bigger guy out on them they can move them pretty easily well you're talking about guys that converted to edge rushers they were linebackers and now they're up front on that line of scrimmage they'll back them up into coverage from time to time as well brown holds back to throw let's this one fly trying to go downfield for cowan they dive and that one is incomplete mikhail sanders back in coverage he was there over the top as well was keeling crosby but a nice throw from the redshirt sophomore quarterback almost found his sophomore receiver wait a minute now brown hoax has a bit of an arm as well and so look jacob cowan can come down with this it hits him right on the hands but he gets the drop he drops it boy but i tell you jacob cowan won't drop many of those and coach demille talked about this guy being in the same vein as a jalen darden that is a high praise from anybody in the conference usa here's fields with the carry gets a couple here on second down he's taken down from behind by caleb colville redshirt senior out of oklahoma significant part of the rotation off the edge of that defense over the last three years battled injury issues throughout his career and found a way back into the lineup tonight has the tackle there yeah caleb kovan does a really good job of making sure that they don't get around that edge so good job by setting it third down and six got to get to the 45-yard line north texas showing pressure off the edge brownholtz checks at the line of scrimmage three-step drop looking to his right has a man on the out route it's complete and out of bounds walter don jr was the one with the reception it is enough to move the chains the utep sideline wanted a penalty flag for a late hit but this is great execution from the sophomore quarterback yeah it is i mean just an out route to to don jr he catches it perfectly but that's one of the things that mixing up their coverage is they're playing off a little bit as well because they see that brown hoax does have an arm and he's capable reception number 18 on the season for don jr just the second completion for brownholtz he's now two of six first down and ten from just outside north texas territory as this one's a bit short on the far side again trying to find cowan cowan still has not had a reception yet the only receivers with a reception justin garrett one for six yards and then that last 10-yard gainer to don jr cowan's just had some tough success or excuse me tough breaks rather on the verge of success though dropped pass another one down the field just off his fingertips and then that one a little bit short second down and 10. once again north texas showing pressure off the edge with the linebackers and they continue to run the football as the miners plunge straight into the line of scrimmage not a whole lot going there gain of about one yeah they have so many formations coach demo runs the ball from multiple formations in that time they set hankins up in a pistol formation but again he runs right into that defense but look for them to come back to that because i think that is going to have some success for the miners you think that may be one of the toughest challenges tonight is having to shorten the playbook from this offensive staff without their normal starting quarterback and gavin hardison but brownholtz has done a nice job of directing the offense and managing the game there you see that coaching staff on the far sideline brown holds back in the shotgun looks to his left lets this one fly he has a man downfield and it's dropped by don jr it would have been a first down as he had crosby beat beyond the markers by quite a bit and it's fourth down gosh that's one that i'm sure walter don jr redshirt senior is going to wish that he had back because brown host delivers a strike to him right in his hands and he drops it couldn't get any easier than that kyle that was a great throw from brown hold put it right in the bread basket like you said that is not something that happens too often as that one's blocked north texas brings the pressure and they get a hand on it luckily for utep that ball goes all the way down to the 24 yard line when have you seen that a blocked punt that ends up going about 34 yards downfield that's about as interesting as it gets we take another look as we go to break north texas an opportunity to take the lead here from apogee [Music] north texas back on the offensive side of things as they complete this one outside to jalen darden the last time jalen darden had the football he went 75 yards to the house there's seth latrell on the near sideline fifth year as the head coach for the maine green took over a one-win program in 2016 and has since gone to three bowl games in a conference usa championship game in just four seasons this being number five 30 and 30 overall record and what a job he has done here in denton really building a winning mentality and a different type of culture than anybody has seen in denton [Music] yeah we talked to him and about the ebb and flows that he's had in this program in the last five years and 2020 to him he said he cannot wait for this to be over with but he knows the opportunities are there for his team that might have been the first time we've really seen jalen darden bottled up by not just utep but really anybody jalen van or excuse me jason van hook the redshirt senior linebacker came straight up to make the play and it was a loss of three third down on the way now for north texas but i like that play do anything you can to get your dog the ball whistles blow and a flag flies from the near sideline [Music] the guilty party on the fall start austin annie since entering in that second drive of the ball gamer excuse me third drive for the ball game went five of eight 145 yards and two touchdowns already one of those a 75 yard strike to jalen darden he's faced with third down and 18 here following the false start lets this one fly downfield trying to find simpson and is batted around and incomplete you see the athleticism from deontay simpson this is a guy who has a 4-6-40 6-foot 190 pounds and he went up over a defender and almost came down with this football well you got to credit also josh caldwell and his coverage there if the ball is a little under thrown a little bit more out there for simpson and he just runs straight away for a touchdown but you got to talk about the miners and what they're doing on this 335 defense they're switching it up on north texas as well and that secondary definitely faced with quite a bit of a challenge with four guys opting out and one unavailable today as this punt takes the north texas bounce goes inside the 30-yard line a nice job off of the foot of bernardo rodriguez the redshirt junior pushes utep backwards flips the field as the miners head back out on the offensive side all knotted up at 14 here on friday night time game here from apogee stadium in denton texas there's mean joe green the one that really kind of paved the way for all great student athletes here at north texas and the one that you call uncle hechma harrison yeah i may know that guy you know just a little bit yeah you one of the best defensive lineman to ever play the game of football just so happens to be my uncle and i'm proud uh to say that i'm a part of that legacy especially here at the university of north texas and i know my aunt agnes lucille craft green is smiling down today and you know he is watching from home we can confirm mean joe green is as he always has continues to support the mean green nice tackle there on the first play of the drive as coming out of the woodworks was grayson murphy he came out of the ball game earlier via an injury timeout but he is back in and playing opposite of his brother and gabriel murphy on that defensive line second down and 10. back to the pistol here for utap two receivers out wide and there's some movement up front and the miners will be backing this one up the guilty party out of riley texas junior six five 300 pounds and somebody who has started in five of the seven games he's appeared in this season at right tackle playing over on the left side of that offensive line though six five 300 pounds you make one slight move everybody in the stadium is going to see it that's exactly what happened there second and long play action brownholtz gonna unleash this one again and now he's got cowing downfield and it's just overthrown man jacob cowing cannot catch a break he has had opportunity after opportunity he had two north texas defenders beat on that one yeah he is running by and past these eagle defending north texas defenders and they have got to do a better job in that you know the two-headed monster that they have in the receivers so you got to make sure that you bottle these guys up and he's double covered and he runs past these guys but again dealing with calvin brown holds he has to just calm down i'm sure his nerves are on a thousand right now one of those is gonna connect at some point oh yeah and it'll be for a big gain third down and 15 utep needs a big gain here under pressure and he's gonna go down for a sack north texas sends gabriel murphy off the edge and it's a loss of about 13 on the play and it's fourth down the north texas defense stands strong deep in enemy territory now you talk about gabriel murphy being an undersized rusher but he does a really good job of disposing of that right tackle and getting a sack i'm surprised that they didn't get this the quarterback four intentional down in that but i guess not fourth sack of the season for gabriel murphy took over that starting job against utsa and he continues to do work as this punt has blown dead before jalen darden who just let that one come to him and almost kicked so from the ten to the five and utep continues to back up further in their own territory now this is dangerous territory uh for utep because the last time they were out to punt we heard that double thud uh off of the leg of the punter so this would be the wrong time to have that happen joshua sloane all the way at the back of his own end zone north texas doesn't bring as much pressure jalen darden standing at the 50. tries to clear everybody out and this one will trickle off to the side and settle in just past midfield and that's where north texas will take things over a sack from gabriel murphy the red shirt freshman comes straight off the edge takes down brown holtz and gets that north texas offense back on the field tied at 14. [Music] normally friday nights in texas means high school football but tonight it has certainly opened up what has been a fun collegiate battle between two in-state rivals in the conference usa quick completion out wide to the right as roger burns reels it in but we're tied up at 14 here from apogee stadium in denton and back out on offense are the main green austin ani been dealing since he entered the game and there one of the few positive rush attempts that north texas has had deandre torrey who has really been a non-factor in this game so far north texas before that minus 10 in russian yards yeah and it's all because of this front seven of the miners they have been all over this running game and you know how they like to attack north texas does with their three-headed monster and torrey attaway and zigger's but they are having none of it and utep really had a lot of confidence when it came to that front four kelton moss keenan stewart praise amahuli those three by themselves are enough to challenge any run game now ani lets this one fly and it's connected with on the far sideline again it's simpson that reels it in there's a banged up minor in the secondary but another nice reception from deante simpson and the sophomore reels it in for his second grab of the ball game yeah i'm liking simpson man he is a smooth operator and he gets in between those two db's but austin arnie he delivers a strike to him as well that's a kid that's getting into a rhythm right now call him a kid he's 27 years old somebody want to watch that justin price the red shirt junior is the one down that was in coverage of simpson but he took a lick here yeah he did bryce was one that laid down the hammer and he was the one that ended up getting the brute force of his own making yeah that's a shoulder injury he gets into the back of a guy and that's just taking all of his power right into your shoulder uh but again i mean that's just a great throw to simpson there on the far at the sideline simpson 21 receptions entering the night close to 20 yards per catch his fourth touchdown grab earlier he was the team's second leading receiver behind jalen darden there you see the coaching staff having a conversation with austin ani on the near sideline as they wait for justin prince to clear the field he breaks the huddle oscar attaway the fab freshman running back red shirt freshman who broke out against houston baptist in the season opener is off to the left they fake it to him play action on he lost this one to the end zone trying to find roderick burns richard sophomore out of houston just didn't see it didn't see it he just threw it behind him but they're bringing a lot of pressure uh from the from the outside utep is they're not just sitting back in coverage anymore they realize and coach demo said this they have to circumvent with pressure up front for what's going on on the backside of their young db's bruce attaway not going to go very far before he's wrapped up from behind by breon hayward hayward with his first tackle of the evening and sets up third down and eight into the red zone are the mean green again team that has had some success in the red zone this year 21 of 28 17 touchdowns for the mean green inside the 20-yard line big third down on the way for this miners defense to try and hold strong against the top 10 offense in the country ani steps up into the pocket takes it himself he runs and stutter steps his way a bit of hesitation keeps him short of the line to gain picked up eight but not enough for the first down so austin he's mobile but he is of the two quarterbacks he's probably not the most mobile one but he realizes pretty much a coverage sack here he wants to slide at first he thinks about it and then he goes ahead and lays down austin i thought you played baseball my friend he did played six years in the yankees organization he wasn't a pitcher i'll tell you that much did not have the baseball slide or the baseball esque slide that in time it brings on east ethan mooney junior out of fort worth with a quick chip shot field goal and this one is up and good from 24 yards out of north texas takes the lead 17-14 their first lead of the evening that's a huge credit to utep really down five guys in the secondary down their starting quarterback they were able to hold off the mean green from taking a lead until late here in the second quarter but ultimately if you're utep you have to answer before the halftime break north texas gets the ball to start the third well defensively for the miners it getting down in the red zone it was a blessing for him because then austin arnie he runs out of field to throw on so they makes the coverage really easy because they play the back of the end zone as an extra defender keeping those guys in front of them and they know what they want to do they want to get the ball off out to dart and so covering these guys up playing a little bit of cloud coverage down here to make sure that they don't give up a touchdown ethan mooney capping off that drive with field goal number seven on the year he's now seven for 12. he's made six of his last seven attempts after an oh for three day against charlotte utep going to get the football back here with 443 left in the second quarter utah still trying to find a rhythm in the passing game as brown holtz has had a couple more opportunities to actually throw the football since those first couple drives but he's two of nine for 16 yards and an interception so far in this one line drive kick to the goal line it'll be don jr who reels it in at his own one-yard line rolls out to his left and he's going nowhere again for the second straight return great coverage from north texas on special teams and a huge credit to that north texas special teams coordinator mike eckler the tackle was made by edward barista and let me tell you man i played with mike eckler also at kansas state university so this is a this is a family homecoming it's a family affair tonight but also walter dunn jr and the first couple of kickoffs he kind of moseyed up to the line before he actually accelerated what you see the north texas do is they are accelerated coming down the field and getting after him so when he does decide to go full speed he's at the 15 20 yard line he's taking losses there all the way back to the 16 is where utep will take over they put a man in motion to the top of the formation brownholtz hands it off nowhere to go this is a north texas defense like we mentioned earlier in the broadcast really the bottom five bottom 10 of every statistical category in the nation not just a conference in the entire ncaa 126th in total yardage there's only 127 teams 120th in rushing yards per game and 112th in passing yards allowed per game yeah they got they've have they have some holes and you from what i can tell is they have a really small uh front and even though they try and play together when they come up against a offensive line like this they get outpowered a lot there's the first completion to cowan it took a couple tries throughout the ball game there had been some different targets his direction just could not reel one in and he finally does get one and it's a good enough for a gain of 14 and a first down i think that's a personal best for him isn't it but it is a personal benefit for calvin brownholtz told you it's a record-breaking day for the redshirt sophomore down to three of ten throwing the football as well first down from the third he looks out wide to the left and has to just throw this one to the ground and that may be intentional grounding he was not out of the pocket there was not an intended target even though the officials are pointing at justin garrett [Music] so they call it an eligible receiver in garrett within the vicinity and utep catches a huge break here yeah i believe they do but that's one of the most interesting things that i'm seeing right now is that you know north texas is crowding the line of scrimmage i think in this last one they had eight men in the box and when they do that they're just playing it without a safety over the top so once you get to the second level there's nobody handoff going nowhere how about that pressure off the edge kevin wood conference all freshman team a year ago well he is not a freshman anymore the sophomore out of converse judgment comes flying in for the tackle for loss yeah kevin wood he reads this perfectly even though they're faking as though this is a read option he sees him put that ball in the belly of that running back and he breaks on it gets in there perfectly and makes that tackle uh from behind that's a great job by number 14. the freshman the red shirt the red shirt sophomore kevin wood third down and ten three receivers all to the left for brownholtz and a timeout is called utep didn't like the look on the defensive side of the football and they want to talk things over 2 41 left here in the second quarter it's been a fun one so far here from denton i mean north texas giving up the early touchdown run to calvin brownholtz utap took an early lead but north texas has struck twice from beyond the 50-yard line and it's been enough to really propel them to a three-point lead here but if you're north texas you're not happy with a three-point lead against the team that is so depleted so thin in utep at the moment true north texas and seth latrell you really want to try and distance yourself over the next couple of moments yeah they have to and you see right now with with calvin uh brown holds he's making some throws and they're trying to get in back into the rhythm that they had in the first quarter but what's happening now is that the north texas defense they've made some adjustments as well they definitely have gave up close to 140 yards in the first quarter alone that has since been really held in check here in the second another opportunity to get off the field and with the timeout plenty of opportunity and plenty of time for that north texas offense to strike should the defense force a stop here texas only brings three brown hole steps up into the pocket and it's intercepted at the 40-yard line it's the second pick for north texas defensively and it's that man again kevin woods his first interception of his career and north texas gets the ball back in enemy territory yeah this is easy as it comes as far as an interception for kevin woods they have these guys zoned off although they're faking the blitz they pull the safety out at the last minute and they trick him and and brownholtz thinks he has a guy open out on the flat but he does not he had only person he has over there is kevin wood kavon cooper trying to turn into a defender there and get in front of wood but wood read that like a book stepped right in front of the receiver and brought it down now from the 40-yard line stacked receivers to the near side including jalen darden who enters this drive just 24 yards shy of tying the receiving record for receiving yards at north texas johnny quinn originally held that honor excuse me still holds that honor with 2 700 receiving yards this one out wide and that one incomplete and in a blink of an eye north texas is already facing a third down here but i like what they're doing they're immediately going to tempo not allowing for the miners to make any substitutions they know they're thin in the secondary so this is a great strategy for seth latrell annie seven of 12 passing 174 yards and a couple of touchdowns siegers excuse me it's torrey in the backfield and this goes off of the hands and incomplete ogumakin the redshirt sophomore couldn't reel it in and it's a quick three and out seemingly for north texas but the offense is going to stay on the field yeah that's a dangerous throw by the quarterback bounces off of the hands just too far behind him and you see a lot of those balls when they get tipped like that they get intercepted fourth down and five north texas going forward on fourth down for the first time today on the season there's seven of 17. under pressure on he has to step up and he's going to be taken down from behind he got back to the line of scrimmage and gained a couple yards but nowhere close to the marker as utep sends their man off the edge and amahuli makes the play yeah amahuli he is the guy that has multiple moves and just an electric guy as a rusher he gets up the field and as soon as austin tries to come back he comes off of his guy and gets a great tackle and a stop uh for the miners just a great play by our guy praise mama i'm a hooligan remember the name because that was a heck of a play to shed the blocker and to get off by the way just a fantastic story for amihuuli grew up in nigeria lost his mother at the age of nine moved to the states and has made a name for himself in el paso loved around the program and around the city as brownholtz not wasting any time letting this one fly and it bounces around and incomplete again cowling was the intended target one of these times calvin brownholtz is going to make a connection to one of his receivers and this time instead of overthrowing the receiver he under throws it hits him in the hands but again he's trying to look past the defender and make that catch as well because he has guys running wide open and one name we haven't called is garrett garrett just the one reception early in the ball game only got six yards on it cowing just a single reception for 12 yards brown holds down three of 13 but utep you're not gonna win this game if you don't throw the football efficiently they're trying to find a rhythm for the redshirt sophomore quarterback here's brownholtz has a man this time fits it into the hole and it's don junior with his second reception and a little extra attitude after he makes the grab moving the chains oh walter don jr should just get back to the huddle because he's the same guy that dropped the ball on his side right there i mean i understand you know you want to put a little pepper on it but at the same time man that's the throw and catch that you're supposed to make there's a huge hole in that north texas defense might have been some miscommunication on that side of the football first and ten from inside mean green territory brown holtz on the quarterback draw keeps it himself already has one rushing touchdown in this one was the leading ball carrier earlier in the ball game he might have just taken over that title again actually he's about two yards shy of dion hankins for that title of leading rusher for the miners three receivers left brown holds again takes it and runs he's got the first down trying to get to the edge and get out of bounds but he's escorted out instead yeah he knows where the marker is he has to get a first down at this you know looking at this i don't understand what he's thinking because again he has an opportunity to get positive yardage but as soon as he sees the defender he starts dancing with him now here it is of the replay i mean he has no one in front of him and so once he sees the safety step up mixing he just slows it down and not get to the to the marker i think he was trying to get out of bounds utap only has one timeout remaining and i know and coach dimmel would not be happy to use that on the drive they would like to use it just in case they need to set up a field goal attempt well i understand now they put it in his head look we got to save some time on his clock if we can get it you know tie this up get it in field goal position utep's ready to run a play but the entire crew of officials is gathered within five yards so they reset the game clock to 111. it seems close to 15 seconds here for utep on this final drive of the second quarter some more confusion and the marine green burned their second timeout with 111 left here in the half utep driving with an opportunity to tie or take the lead going into the break down but not out for utep whenever it comes to the thin secondary they've had to deal with against a high-powered attack they've done a nice job of combating that but now that you've got to just find a rhythm on the offensive side yeah and they have it and it it's unfortunate but calvin brownholtz has done a really fantastic job filling in here on less than 24 hours notice and so we we know uh that they definitely have a qualified backup now but kid has a great arm he's had some opportunities to create with his legs as well but you talked about it man that uh this the secondary they're thin and just back to that throw by brown holds getting it also again walter dunn jr just saying hey get off of me but this is the one of the weirdest plays and i understand it now because maybe they were out of timeouts but he's just trying to get down and get out of bounds inexperienced quarterback had not started a game before today his first career start native carmichael california filling in for gavin hardison stepping back to throw here lets this one fly its underthrown again and coming back to the football and almost making the grab was cooper there is a flag back at the line of scrimmage [Music] mcrae with a crucial penalty called against him and as we take another look at the incomplete pass but it results in 15 yards heading the other direction for this north texas defense oh that's going to drive your coaches crazy when you do that that's just a mental error especially when you guys are battling so hard you talked about where they're ranked defensively they can't afford to give up these kind of penalties all the way at the 23-yard line garrett all by himself at the bottom of the formation cooper cowing and don junior at the top handoff in the backfield it's another run this time from aywat and aywa has another first down north texas giving up chunk yardage on a crucial drive in this football game now you're talking about a team that was just looking to get a field goal now they're thinking score getting out of the bat out of bounds on the near side with 59 seconds remaining plenty of time for this miners offense hayward stays in the game and tailback same formation as the previous play brown holds to ay shakes off a tackle at the line of scrimmage and then falls forward to about the six [Applause] and they're looking to conserve some time right now but i love what north texas is doing they're trying uh to confuse brown holds they're faking the pressure on the outside the last time when he threw the interception to kevin wood it was they faked the blitz and then they dropped back out into those coverages and so that's a great job by the defensive coordinator just trying to give this guy different looks utap in the red zone this season 114th in the country in terms of red zone touchdowns 14 touchdowns on 24 attempts he lost his helmet under a minute with clock running that qualifies for a two second run utep has declined that runoff the clock will start on the snap it's a little housekeeping from our officials when it comes to the time management here from utap in a potential runoff brownholtz trying to lead his third touchdown drive for the ball game each of them had been on the ground one for him and one for dion hankins hankins in the backfield they give it to him hank the tank hurdles a defender and he finds the end zone the miners go all the way down the field in a two-minute drill and they retake the lead here in denton now what did i tell you about hankins lining up in that pistol formation he does and i tell you they come back to it again it's going to be there for because once they get past the first wave of defenders there's no one there to stop the tank it is so tough to stop that man a man like that should not be able to hurdle a defender that easily and then just waltz his way into the end zone didn't even have to reach for the pylon didn't have to dive over anybody easy score for utep their third scoring drive for the ball game and the kick is good from gavin beckley utep with mr hank the tank on the touchdown run this is too easy yeah it is and they're just digging those guys out of there look at big number 79 elijah klein and he does a really good job of getting this guy on the ground and again from the pistol formation when he's behind brown holds he's gonna be tough because it's almost like lining a guy like this up in an eye formation i know that's old school football but i'm telling you it works so with 43 seconds remaining for those of you just joining us at home that does not mean this half is over by any means oh no north texas will receive the third quarter kickoff as they won the toss and deferred to the second half but north texas with the high flying ability of jalen darden of austin awning at quarterback have more than the ample opportunity with 43 seconds to put points on the board before the second quarter comes to a close deon hair griffin back to return deandre torre back there as well this one goes shaded toward hair griffin he reels it in at his own goal line goes straight up the gut and nowhere to go that time great coverage from utep as he had nowhere to run the football and another nice play from breon hayward we've called his name a couple times tonight and it's not the ample field position for north texas to get that offense going yeah you better be careful with haye griffin continue to kick those to him he will take those to the house in a hurry man but you know this time of possession right now for utep and the way that they're doing this i mean look if with 40 to 38 seconds left if north texas is able to score again that would be the definition of quick strike offense north texas going long initially trying to find jalen darden it's bounced around in the secondary of utep tyreke james filling in for broderick harrell at the safety position got a hand on it and almost had a chance at the interception yeah he breaks on it pretty clean but only he's able to get a fingertip on it that was just enough because if he doesn't do that north texas scores north texas has only had the ball for six minutes and 50 seconds of game clock as his quick completion to torrey gets him out of bounds a couple extra yards closer to the first down marker first downs not necessarily a huge concern for seth latrell's offense at this moment trying to gain as many chunk yards as you can toward the end of the half and sets you up for a shot at the end zone stacked receivers to the top of the formation as both darden and simpson are out wide trying to find the tight end that's jake roberts the freshman out of norman oklahoma just didn't see it didn't turn his head enough and with 21 seconds left north texas is forced to punt this football away yeah that's just an errant throw he throws it at the legs of his tight end who may have an opportunity to make a play if he puts him in the right position because they have it blocked up pretty well but again i mean there's a fourth down still 21 seconds for the miners left on the clock [Music] rodriguez back to throw this one away and you got a hand on it again this one will take a north texas bounce all the way to the 35 yard line but the miners did tip that football off the leg of rodriguez we've seen north texas do it once and now utap blocks a punt but it still continues for extra yardage well is it actually a block button if it rolls if it still ends up looking like it looks like a point we heard the double thud before but then it rolled all the way to the 25-yard line didn't look like much of a block punt before so i mean this is the weirdest thing we've seen two block punts that we're not looks like utap is more than happy to take this one into the halftime break with a four-point lead the miners come on the road quote-unquote they are technically the home team but in a road stadium here in denton texas and leave the first two quarters with the advantage north texas will receive the second half kickoff but behind a back up quarterback and calvin brownholtz the redshirt sophomore has held north texas or excuse me held utep to a halftime lead 21-17 our score from denton we're halfway through this one we'll be back with more halftime stats right after this downtown denton texas where north texas continues to trail utep 21-7 the miners having a four-point lead into the halftime break here from apogee stadium in denton texas alongside hekma harrison i'm kyle yeomans and really heckman when you talk about that first half it had to go with the running game of utep early on that was the difference was getting the ball to dion hankins letting brownholtz run the football and they're 242 total yards not surprising but you look at just 47 through the air and that's how they have the lead here well when you have a new quarterback that comes in on the 24-hour notice i think you probably want to rely on what got you here and that is the running game and when they call a guy hank the tank it's not because they bring you down easy and you've seen from those runs that he's had he is a load to bring down and right now the north texas defense has their hands full 15 yards 15 rushes for 70 yards and two touchdowns and yeah this is just in one half and so they had a trio of running backs for the miners that have come in and it hadn't just been hankins but he is the guy that's getting it into the end zone he's already had the two rushing touchdowns tonight he had three rushing touchdowns against ulm in week four he was the first freshman in program history to have three scores since john harvey did it back in 1985's he's only one time a pay dirt away from tying that mark as dion hankins continues to run all over the conference usa 21-17 our score from denton utep with the lead when we come back we'll hear about jalen darden the semi-finalist for the belinda cop award two three win teams here in denton utep holds a four point advantage over the mean green as the miners come on the road for the fifth straight game and they are not necessarily any strangers to some road action and they have the advantage over the mean green here in denton but the ming green have had a 75 yard touchdown score from jalen darden the senior receiver a semifinalist for the belinda cough award and 16 touchdowns this season he sits just 24 yards from breaking the career record and here's what he had to say about his journey to north texas making someone miss is like waking up in the morning and brushing my teeth i got to do it every day uh darden's footwork is something to behold [Music] coming out of routes just really gifted jd has the ability to move at a lightning speed that can go from zero to a hundred really quick i think he is really elite in a thing called twitch it's unbelievable obviously it's very fast now he's quick twitched loses a couple of defenders find some room up the seam across midfield oh yeah slow feed don't eat and he's gonna take this one off when i was younger my older brother he played football i kind of followed his footsteps with the receiver he had me out there doing a lot of drills at like six years old so after that i started just picking it up i kind of took pride in that and ever since then i just ripped his repetition it was more so me running routes getting my expectations of my routes down and now i feel like that's why i'm here today coming into trav high school jd was the jovial enthusiastic you know kind of guy that's dancing out there and you know making his moves you know when he's not practicing and watching him grow over the last four years um his maturity level of wanting of wanting to be great the longer he's around the more comfortable he's gotten you know he's a he's a fun guy to be around he's very competitive he's one of those guys that's again like so many other great ones he's always played with a chip on his shoulder because everybody's told him you know he wasn't going to be able to do something because of his size it started at a young age a lot of people have been saying i'm too short i can't do this i'm not gonna be able to do that so i already knew that i was smaller than everybody so i had to separate myself some way somehow so honestly i just put it on my shoulder and just run with it i take it as motivation he always understands how to find that leverage and that separation he understands when you have to be tied on a defender to make a break to get your separation and then he also understands how to avoid people not get touched and play fast he's got a great understanding of who he is and how to use his abilities his size to his advantage in his route running you know he's got a great understanding of leverage so someone wants to wall and put their hands on him maybe get him to change direction he's got a great understanding of how to get his pads lower than the hands or where to stem them lean in stem so they can't get their hands on them i don't like getting touched so however i have to not get touched and get vertical that's that's the move i'm going with i don't care what it is it's just a natural instinct 21-17 our score here from denton as north texas trails by four but we've seen some high-flying offense from the mean green all season long that has certainly continued to tonight however utep has combated that both quarterbacks going back and forth but really for utap hekma it's been mostly on the ground for brownholtz in reserve duty filling in for gavin hardison at the quarterback spot but calvin brownholtz has done a really nice job yes he has and you talk about what they're doing on the on the ground and i think that's all for coach dana demo to get these guys and some get some kind of balance going right and and it's all about some of those missed opportunities from brown holes i mean he comes in again on 24 hours notice but there are a couple of plays that he's made and a lot of them have been with his legs but the ones with his arm he's just been a pitch short on some of his throws but the achilles heel of the north texas defense is that mobile quarterback and he's giving them all they can handle when he goes when he decides to run along with the 27-yard rushing touchdown he had earlier in the game he has seven carries for 73 yards and that like we said that one touchdown early on he's almost nine yards per carry he's made a couple mistakes couple interceptions in the game where north texas is definitely taking advantage but overall he's done a nice job of managing the offense and putting utep in a solid place to make some plays but on the other side have been austin ani came in after the initial drive belonged to jason bean ani comes in and has thrown the ball pretty well eight of 17 for 180 yards completed a 75-yard touchdown throw to jalen darden and then this one to simpson for one of the two touchdowns but what have you thought about ani's first half i think he's been perfect i mean he's had some miscues and that's baseball uh mentality of those quick flick throws but man he has been quick to get scores as well especially when he gets it into the hands of his play makers and you know who that is and that's one jalen darden on that one that slant he made it look easy it's going to show 180 yards but he got a good 70 of that on one play and that offense really kind of came to a screeching halt in the back half of that second quarter will be interesting to see how north texas turns things around the start of the second half on the way next here from denton on to the second half we go here from denton texas utep with a 21-17 lead over north texas it's only the eighth time that the miners have led at the half under dana dimmel but that's really kind of saying something demo taking over a winless program whenever he took over the miners three seasons ago looking for win number six in el paso and this would be a big one putting them into bowl eligibility at four and four both teams with three wins north texas trying to stay in that hunt as well with a victory north texas will receive the opening kickoff here of the third quarter it's dion hair griffin backed up into his own end zone doesn't get very far out of it though as darius baptist comes in for the tackle and it's out to the 21-yard line and that's where north texas in their offense led by austin ani will take back over there were some questions up here in the booth on whether or not it would be ani to start the third quarter hekma harrison or jason beam but of course ani is back out there he had the two throwing touchdowns in that first half but really left a couple on the table yeah he's earned it though i mean he's made the throws he's gotten them out of some situations you know as far as those quick scores it's all been on his arm so yeah definitely seth patrell just riding the hot hand here's tori on the opening play of the second half and a nice gain of about seven on first down torrey like we said really a non-factor in that first half three carries for seven yards in the ball game as he already works his way off to the near side and that's really kind of what we've seen from the stable of backs in the backfield for north texas now deandre tori with the carry and he has enough for the first down yeah that's that's oscar attaway the freshman and he gets a great run to get a mean green first down but you know this offensive line uh for north texas this is what they do man once you get these big uglies getting up on the field they want to lean on this defensive front for the miners you've got deandre torre oscar attaway the third tre siggers the trio of backs that north texas likes to rotate into the backfield they didn't have a ton of rushing yards in that first half still only have 12 in the ball game second down at seven and away again explosive through the hole gains about five and it sets up third and manageable it's really kind of the future feature back for this north texas program oh absolutely and all three of these guys do something absolutely different from one another and you talk about oscar ataway he is just he really has all of the tools of all these guys he catches well out of the backfield he's a great blocker and again just the quintessential running back if you look him up in the western dictionary there's oscar attaway on the running back a lot of whistles after this stop williams came in to make the tackle and stopped attaway short of the line to gain on third down north texas keeps the offense back out there though toward midfield decision time for trump no longer a decision for seth latrell and coach dana demille does not like it he is giving the referee closest to his sideline an earful because he did not agree with that penalty fresh set hook down says the chains move on the far side play action any rolls out to his right tucks it and gets back to the line of scrimmage nothing more as the pursuit there was from stephen forrester the redshirt senior out of dallas christian high school yeah they're going to continue to bring that pressure and they and they do it with those three guys and again when you talk about the miners and the strength of their team it's their front seven and they've relied on these guys heavily and you see what they did to that running game in the first half and off to siggers and it's forrester again combined with keenan stewart but now siegers pushes the pile no whistle initially the play was not dead and what looked to be a no gain on the carry ends up being a gain of six that turned into a bit of a rugby scrum and i think his knee was down they kept it going they just didn't call it here's three receivers to the near side as ani checks at the line of scrimmage jake roberts the tight end he's in the slot he's got jalen jordan outside of him and then gummican at the very bottom of the formation there's some confusion here [Music] i'm not exactly sure where the review would be here because isn't it a judgment call in terms of when a player should be down or whether or not it was the knee well before they started moving the pile his knee went down they just didn't see it and so so maybe that's why because look i mean as soon as the cigarette gets the ball he gets called up and there they believe that he was down that is a good eye he was down right around the 49-yard line this will be a great look as well it should be right at the 49. official booth review for the first time tonight here from denton [Music] closer from that angle it's close and you had a guy in the way but i'm telling you what anytime you had number 73 cole brown pitch pushing the pow it's gonna move so this is the difference between third down and four and what would be third and nine for this north texas offense just 221 yards in the ball game at the moment 180 through the air for the mean green they've only had 36 yards on the ground seth latrell ever since he took over in north texas has revamped the offense a big part of that was around quarterback mason fine for four seasons and then once fine graduated last year it's been the running game that has kind of continued that momentum and helped the main green reach 30 points per game again this season yeah and a lot of it's been the balance that they found in the running game and i like what they're doing here in the second half and getting attaway and torrey and ciggers involved just in the first half they had no flow to this offense and that's indicative of the amount of time that they had possession time you know they were quick strike all the way through and again utep was just getting those quality stops against this offense and so finding that rhythm here in the second half is going to be imperative for the mean green this review taking some extra moments to talk things over once again this is a difference of five yards they're reviewing whether or not trey zigger's knee hit the ground we'll take another look at it here see if we can find it right at the 40. right there looked like the shin or the knee was down 81 constitutes the end of the play yeah you know like the offensive line they're definitely going to sell it they're going to keep pushing the foul because they want to get that extra yardage but it was down back yeah right there yeah before that that's the look that the officials should be able to look at and say hey it's down right there they may be looking at a clock issue there's a lot of different factors that go into this they're still looking at it that high end zone cam look was probably the best that you're gonna get has to be indisputable video evidence [Music] so i almost want to bet that it was the clock that they were looking at they put almost 40 seconds back up on the clock following backing up north texas five yards yeah well you know at least they got that right because they didn't blow the play dead at least and that's what a lot of referees are doing they're just letting it play out and then go back and review it so that was a great review for these by these officials third down and nine for north texas first drive of the second half down by four you've got jalen darden in the slot all by himself and there was a bit miscommunication there from the utep defense they didn't have anybody on him ani's gonna look that direction darden is wide open and that throw is but it is caught and it's past the first down marker or right at it [Applause] the back judge comes forward and they're saying that that was an incomplete pass even though every other official on the field said it was a catch yeah we were trying to figure out what defense the miners were in because [Applause] it looked like it hit the ground got underneath him on that so they're going to rule that an incomplete pass but again we were trying to figure out what defense the miners were in because they had jalen darden out in the slot uncovered at the last minute they put a guy over the top of him but needless to say 15 yards off the ball and jalen darden wants to go for it thought he might have had a look there and instead seth latrell elects to send bernardo rodriguez in the punting unit out onto the field here on fourth down and nine and that's one where if you're austin aunty you want that one back you had a man wide open that could have gone for extra yardage after the fact as well yeah you got to make that completion line drive kick off the leg of rodriguez and it settles in at about the 12 yard line where deon hair griffin downs this one so here's utep for the first time in the third quarter we mentioned quite a bit the success that they had running the football still just 47 yards through the air 4 15 passing for calvin brownholtz but a magnificent job of coming in in a tough situation you lose your starting quarterback just 24 hours ago and gavin hardison and brownholtz has come in and really done a magnificent job of not just fixing up the offense and surviving but actually leading them to a four-point lead after that first half yeah and i'm sure when they went into half they were talking to him about connecting with jason with jacob cowan because he missed his receiver twice on wide-open throws they try and get that running game again jump started trying to get back to the efficiency they had in the first half dion hankins with his first carry of the third yeah hank it's just strong again falling forward anytime he gets that first contact it's like he just powers through it and you're going to need about two or three north texas defenders to bring this guy down [Music] only got three yards there but it still looked easy from hankins no texas showing a four-man front they bring a little added pressure from the linebackers brown holtz takes this one and he connects with cowing on the far sideline who tiptoes his way out of bounds may have had some extra yards after contact as he shook off a north texas defender but it's a first down on the throw and and north texas will gladly give brownholtz these throws he's just got to connect on them and the way that they're playing back off of these receivers they're just doing everything to load up to stop the run north texas didn't even have a safety back for the majority of that first half but now they have to put somebody back there just in case brownholtz let it fly he did that a couple times in the first two quarters as well here's hankins on the carry he's wrapped up initially but still pushes the pile quite a bit to the enjoyment of the far sideline tackle made there by jonathan pickett yeah that's just that's just big on big and that is big boy yardage right there by dion hankins and my goodness you know you're talking about on first down picking up six yards and a quarterback that doesn't have a lot of experience but it makes it real easy when it's second and four [Music] look to the far sideline awot in at the tailback position shift him back behind brownholtz here he goes huge hole to run through but that's closed up by katie davis but now ayotte continues to run the football and push the pile again it's time for a first down doesn't matter if it's hankins or awot these utep tailbacks have some moxie to them and they copycat the rugby scrum uh to get a first down but you're right a watt hank it doesn't matter who it is both of these guys are capable but they are strong runners that's k.d davis the junior out of ns texas honorable mention all-conference usa selection a year ago and they're picking up that yardage and look at what north texas is doing they are loading up that box to stop the run they are daring brown holds to beat him with it with his arm and they're going to try and beat him with the legs instead but nowhere to go as it is a sack loss of two on the play mikhail sanders and gabriel murphy were the ones in on the stop yeah senior mikhail sanders is saying no what we won't do is allow you to beat us with your legs he is out there not only him but also larry nixon iii who appears first to slow this running game down larry nixon the third has really had a nice game redshirt sophomore coach latrell very excited about what he brings to denton two receivers to the top of the formation as both cowing and cooper are out there justin garrett to the bottom of the screen grounding her ground holds look that direction now still looking downfield and that one is intercepted again [Applause] it's the third pick for the north texas defense this time it's keelan crosby his first interception of the season [Applause] brown hopes has to do a better job right there and that's where he gets in trouble when he's trying to create he's avoiding the sack and he throws into the zone don't know if this hits the ground and they will come back and review this because i think it does but that's where he gets in trouble and he's trying to make a play the call on the field is an interception so if it were a booth review it would have to be with no doubt have hitting the ground in order to change possession again from that top view it didn't necessarily look like it would have been enough to turn it over and north texas is back out on the field offensively does not look like the booth will take a look at it austin annie back in at quarterback and they hand it off to oscar attaway and he picks up five yards on first down yeah that's a good pick up uh by attaway and so he you know look it's getting to the point with the mean green in their offensive line as guys start going with this quick tempo and getting behind this running game is going to be tough for utep at away again late flag flies he's got enough for the first down forward progress takes him to the 34-yard line we'll see what the penalty is [Applause] [Music] look at kiss chris cassidy that's called for the hold yeah chris just gets a handful of jersey here and then it makes it really easy for the referees to call holding on especially when he's off into the second level north texas has the football after the interception from keelan crosby filling in for cam johnson at safety gotta really credit north texas defensively three interceptions in this ball game and a handoff up the middle and just when you thought the penalty pushed him further back oscar attaway gets it back in one chunk carry yeah that's just an inside reed for attaway and the green green they do a good job of get creating that space for their running backs why not give it to him again now this time he attacks the right side of that offensive line continues to push the pile and the running game get going again here for north texas and there is a little pushing and shoving after the play down at the bottom of the formation you won't see it here though heck yeah they they're fine they found something over there on the right side and they keep coming back to it so whatever it is it's working there's a little pushing between ogumakin and justin prince in the secondary off the side of the screen austin ani has a man downfield that started it's caught into the end zone there's a new record holder in the north texas program's history in career receiving yards and there's a new leader in this ball game [Music] just make it look easy mr darden why don't you justin out and austin ahne he puts it on the numbers to him man that is a great throw and catch jalen darden with touchdown grab number 17 of his illustrious north texas career excuse me season he has more in his career that's number 36 here in denton the point after is good from ethan mooney north texas back up on top as the long strength to jalen darden puts the main green up by three jalen darden on the sideline the new record holder for career receiving yards in north texas program history 2726 yards through the air to mr darden passing johnny quinn the olympian 2 700 yards and 18 for johnny quinn that record stood since 2006 and in his 48th career game jalen darden did it and he did it in jalen darden fashion on a 32-yard touchdown reception he is just rare and special and the kind of guy that defensive coordinator should never match up man-to-man and with a depleted secondary like the miners have they have got to stop that big hit out of bounds as don jr was escorted out by that north texas special teams utep trailing by three now after the answer from the mean green they have the ball back at the 30-yard line after a quick timeout we'll be back as the miners have the football again here from apogee stadium it was an uphill battle for calvin brownholtz coming in in last second duty as the starting quarterback tonight for the utap miners he's now thrown three interceptions on five of 17 passing and as they try and get the run game going they hand it off to awot to start off this drive but heckman when it comes to brown hults he was managing the game in the first half then they kind of let him loose a little bit it'll be interesting to see what offensive coordinator mike canales will draw up for the redshirt sophomore here in the third and fourth quarter well you know he's going to have to make a play with his arm at some point that's dangerous territory for the miners but still he have to get he has to get behind this running game and every time that he's gotten in trouble it's been because he's tried to create on his own just play within yourself and when you get in those situations it's okay to throw it away another handoff to awot he bounces off of leblanc and it's finished up on the tackle by larry nixon the third leblanc shaken up on the play though as now he'll go to the ground as we take another look at this he was in the backfield really before things got started then and pulled up oh you don't like to see that a guy pull up and he doesn't have anyone engaged with him so hope he's okay but he grabbed it that he grabbed at that knee immediately and we talked about dion novel at the start of this broadcast and we haven't seen novel throughout much of this football game we were told he was good to go we were told that even though he had been dealing with a bit of a leg injury that noble all-conference usa sort of player and really one of the leaders on this north texas defense was going to be available but instead it's been mostly dayton leblanc and now leblanc hobbles off to the near sideline and we hope the best for him moving forward but north texas defensively has had to stop the run that's where utep has really found their strength today 219 yards on the ground compared to just 61 through the air yeah and they have had some success and it's been because of what leblanc has done in the middle but him going out is not a good sign especially with them being already thin at the position i believe they're going to go to a freshman uh tayshawn johnson number 90. johnson another big body in there for the mean green 6-1 288 pounds out of colleen high school the former kangaroo down in the super syntax region of texas high school football he's back in there for north texas second down and 11 after the loss of one on first down and the carried to aywa brown holds back to throw has plenty of time steps up in the pocket he's going to tuck it and run as he slides his way forward to the 44 yard line once again good coverage over the top from north texas and closing in kevin wood who had an interception earlier in the game came up and made the stop yeah they just got to shadow this guy because they know even with that read option that he still has an opportunity within if there's any coverage uh you know they cover these guys up he's going to look to create with his legs and so they want to stop that and so that's why you see wood in there who's able to corral him and not allow him to get a big gain we said no novel we talked about cam johnson tyreke davis another stout member of that linebacking corps for north texas not available as well wood has stuffed up admirably third down and six brown holds back to throw looking way down field he's gonna let this one fly deep into the secondary it's undercut and it is intercepted [Applause] by north texas desean gaddy comes forward and makes the pick fielded it like a center fielder in baseball and reeled it in for the interception fourth of the game oh that's the second one for gaddy he's looking unstoppable right now these balls are just floating to him so another turnover forced by this north texas defense as desean gaddy the sophomore out of arlington lamar has his second interception of the season and of the ball game talking about one of the more athletic players on the field at any given point a 4-4 40 and he had to go really nowhere for that one came right to him second interception for him fourth of the ball game for north texas they're back on offense up by three deshawn gaddy with a second interception of the night fourth for this north texas defense that in their first eight games of the season had just three interceptions as a ball club and he has two tonight deshawn gaddy the sophomore really finding a rhythm at the safety position no cam johnson tonight who had one of those three interceptions entering this matchup but both safeties have a pick two for gaddy one for crosby and north texas has the football back in their own territory from the 21-yard line here on second down and eight yeah gaddy is just a rare athlete you talk about that four four speed and his special abilities but man you know brown holes has just been throwing the ball to him so it's not like he's had to break on any balls or anything like that just making those special plays that was a special play on the far side as ani connects again with deontay simpson simpson finding a way to be physical on the edge his third reception of the game is now he's up over 80 yards quickly back up to the line of scrimmage is that north texas offense they go stacked receivers to the top of the formation and they run it straight up the gut for no gain excuse me gain of about three on the play right to midfield yeah this awning just throws a great pass to simpson and simpson's been lighting it up all night he's finding those little zone little soft spots in the zone and sitting down and on it's fine tory to the left of ani back in the shotgun here from midfield here's torrey trying to bounce his way to the edge he turns a field and he dies for the marker but they say he stepped out of bounds at about the 46-yard line i believe that's the first time that we've seen the north texas offense test this defense laterally everything they've been doing is pretty much north and and it just takes a deandre torre to try and bend one defensively they've been playing sound all night the third down and there is a little contact to say at least and we'll see who jumped first but i believe this is going to be on utep well that's really easy offsides right there when you have your one tech just push the center over [Music] freshman play from the defensive tackle tonga hula just came right up and knocked over vanessa moshe at the line of scrimmage like you said pretty easy to call that one from the 41. you made it look easy because those two names to combine i was not going to even trying to tempt down what's up way to go kyle very much i appreciate it second down and four excuse me six after a gain of four north texas starting to get that running game going again still not to 100 yards just yet but the trio of siegers torrey and attaway have gotten them up to 75 yards now they complete it outside the darden and he takes a heavy hit as the hammers laid down on the edge by deshawn trotter excuse me he's not trying to that is robert corner the third robert corner playing the corner position comes up and makes a really good tackle on darden it's tough to do especially on first contact [Applause] as oscar attaway carries this one for about a yard and it's fourth down again now from this position it would be about a 50-yard field goal the long this season for ethan mooney was 49 so he could kick it from this distance but instead vortex is going to go for it on fourth and three over the middle wide open is jalen darden he had the first half step backwards and has to fight his way back past the stakes but he does just that making the entire north texas sideline nervous you know when we were talking to jaylen uh darden and we asked him man who does your game who did you who do you curtail your game after and he pulled out a bunch of names man that all were similar to his style he said digs but one of the things that he said that i thought was really impressive he said i don't trust anyone i'm gonna bet on myself if i'm one-on-one with anybody that's exactly what he did here and he looked like he was short of the markers here had it there but then went backwards for a little bit he still was able to beat the man to the outside yeah that's just wonderful and that just shows his sudden explosiveness and him trusting his abilities uh to get to the marker second down and ten handoff up the middle little extra speed and an extra burst from trey siegers and the duncanville prospect gets inside the 15-yard line for a first down scamper yeah siegers is just that change of pace that these guys they start with torrey give them a little bit of attaway and let ciggers put the cherry on top they give it to him again he continues to explode another game of about 10. he's just shy of the marker but they're going to give it to him instead it's a north texas first down inside the four yard line the meet green trying to extend their lead play action to siggers ani rolling out right has some room and he burst forward for the touchdown north texas and a rushing score for austin annie here in the third that's a good job by austin ani he said he needed one of those drives to kind of put his staple or his dna on this game and he did that and this run is a perfect example of it instead of handing it off to his running back he takes it himself and gets a touchdown for north texas fourth touchdown for any today three through the air one on the ground just his second rushing touchdown of the season it is his longest rushing touchdown of the campaign and north texas all of a sudden up by 10 taking advantage of turnovers 14 points off of two interceptions here in the third quarter alone yeah you can't have too many of those and again that's what happens and you know the miners have done a really good job of anytime they have one of those one of those turnovers they mask it really well they've come back they've tried to play defense but then you have these offensive miscues like they've been having and finally north texas is able to take advantage of north texas has had a lot of success in the third quarter this season you look at games like middle tennessee 21 to nothing 21-7 against houston baptist back on september 5th whenever they've had success in the third quarter they've ultimately had success winning the football game on the other side utep has not had success in the third quarter all season long they've been outscored in this frame 37-3 they've mustered three points in the third quarter all season long through their first seven games they have not scored here in the third tonight it's a short pooch kick and utap takes it to about the 31. yeah that stat is really tough to blame on your backup quarterback because they've had some type of mental let down here in the third quarter i understand the turnovers it takes all of the error or momentum out of your defense but again it should not automatically mean that the the opposing team gets points and you have this stingy defense that now all of a sudden are giving up points and they held north texas to 17 through the first two quarters it's good to see that man back in the ball game as leblanc who left earlier with a bit of a stinger in his right leg is back out on the defensive side of the football for the main green you know they're happy about that they're happy about the run defense and how they have stood strong today in the second half they do so again there's leblanc makes a play yeah they've done a really good job when they want to again they put so many guys down in the block in the box because they know that utep the only thing they have is the ability to run brown holds tucks in and runs and he goes forward to about the 37. makes it third down and manageable in a situation like this offensively canales just wants to get this guy some confidence and so getting him some easy throws is going to be imperative for texas player down after the play i believe that's katie davis being attended to at the 25-yard line it's actually caleb colvin who is down 31-21 our score still plenty of game left to play here [Music] and the mean green with a 10 point lead 14 unanswered here in this third frame alone austin any now up to 12 of 23 passing for 244 yards and three touchdowns he has put it on the money for north texas offensively and that north texas defense is held strong with a couple of interceptions of brownholtz as you see caleb colvin walk off on his own power mentioned how he's battled some injury issues all the way back to the start of his collegiate career even back into high school a little bit [Music] third down on the way here for utep back in the shotgun is brown holds following the injury timeout aywada is the [Music] [Applause] tailback [Applause] cooper along with cowing up at the top of the formation they give it to ayotte he has the first down past the 45-yard line before mikhail sanders takes him to the turf yeah this thing is getting a little chippy on the outside these guys are barking at each other and it's typically the usual suspects and this is jacob cowan and justin garrett these guys are chirping a lot out there and the referees have to get a hold on this but that is just a big big boy run right there for ayotte you know it's going to be frustrating for some of those receivers of utep just the five completions to three different men don jr has a pair for 29 yards jacob cowing has two receptions for 26 and justin garrett just that one for six yards earlier in the ball game two receivers left offset tied in it's the fullback in tupo to the right of the formation here's brownholtz five-step drop looks up over the middle trying to find his man cowan going back to the football and he couldn't get there in coverage was crosby and larry nixon the third not a terrible throw from brownholtz but once again when he was overthrowing his receivers in the first half now he's been underthrown yeah and again we talk about canales getting him an easy throw this isn't it so it's a straight goal route and not able to complete those and those have been the ones that he's barely missing on getting that connection with his receivers they need to stay with this running game they still have enough time to have another quarter to go they should not abandon it you see the numbers for brown holds his first career start tucks and runs here has plenty of space up through the middle of the hash marks explodes forward in the north texas territory all the way down to the 32-yard line and all of a sudden utep has the running game going again from their quarterback and that's got to be the most frustrating thing for this utep team is because they realize the looks that they're getting if they had their their starting quarterback they would be able to capitalize but they just hadn't been able to get the ball there into the third quarter utep outscored 14 to nothing in that frame but they are driving in an opportunity to bring it back within a single possession it's 31-21 here from north texas plenty to come here on espn 10-point game into the fourth quarter here from apogee stadium north texas up 31-21 each team up over 300 yards rushing yards for utep 92 from brownholtz 88 from hankins and 72 from awot they run it here on first down and a gain of five from hank the tank dion hankins and that's really kind of how utep is within 10 points here heck was the ability to stay on the ground yeah and that's where they have to stay is on the ground what they're trying to do and what they have i mean i understand it they have to keep this defense honest and they're trying to show them that look we are willing to try and stretch the field on you because they are stacking the box now the north texas player cramping up on the far sideline we have seen a number of mean green defenders go down with a couple injury timeouts that's jonathan pickett down there for the moment deshawn gaddy in the secondary though two interceptions in the ball game this north texas team whenever utep has elected to go to the air have taken advantage with four picks two of which from gaddy and he's almost to the point of the entire north texas defense through their first seven games of the season when they had just three picks yeah and that's been the difference on this north texas defense is their inability to get those turnovers and you when you don't do that as a defense it just makes these long methodical drives even longer when you can't get a stop get a strip sack fumble things like that that changes the momentum and complexity and switches field position in the game utep had a four point lead at halftime and then 14 points all off of turnovers in the third quarter is how north taxes gain the lead brown holds letting this one fly has cowing in the end zone it's caught for the touchdown just a second touchdown grab of 2020 for jacob cowing and it's been itching all game long to be successful it finally hit for the miners yeah when jacob cowing has been chomping at the bit to get one of these balls he has run so many goal routes it did this one man he comes all the way across the field and for you know what brown holds he founds it he finds him on the kind of back shoulder fade don't know if that was underthrown or not just based off the balls that we've seen all night but that is a great catch by jacob cowart career touchdown pass for calvin brownholtz he had a touchdown on the ground earlier but now he has one through the air for the miners and the point after is up and good and it's back to a three-point game here in the fourth quarter utep and the miners will just not go away they get rid of their third quarter woes and into the fourth quarter a touchdown pass makes this a ball game 29th all-time meeting between north texas and utep and utep has had a significant outpour from jacob cowing just with the three receptions that long 28 yard touchdown reception good enough for his ninth catch of over 20 yards and his first reception of over 20 yards that goes for a score here in 2020 he had been close on a couple of them early on hekma harrison but he finally connected and north texas on the return has a bit of steam as dionne hare griffin reeled that one in it takes it all the way to the 38-yard line so north texas with good field position but not until after that 28 yard touchdown pass from brownholtz to cowan yeah that was one of those throws that brown holt's had to make and he got it to his big play receiver and jacob cowan and we talked to dana dimmle about him and again he said high praise for his sophomore uh wide receiver that he reminded him a lot of jalen darden and you can see that in the way that he accelerates and is able to catch the ball that was perfect for these guys and again that's just giving this backup quarterback more confidence that's just a second touchdown grab of the season it was a big one though that brought utap back within three quick completion here from austin ani out to the edge as he finds deontay simpson simpson been the most active north texas receiver in terms of grabs outside of jalen darden as that's his fourth as he's now over 100 yards quick carry up the middle for a first down texas gets back to midfield yeah defensively for utep they're going to have to stay in this cover two look and it's keeping them safe i mean one of the things that they're not doing is not giving up those guys plays in the run but again where they're losing is with those plays with when any time that arnie is able to connect with one of his receivers hayward came in and laid down a lick on oscar attaway attaway the leading ball carrier for north texas today there you see just 111 yards on the ground and majority of those have come from attaway as he's up to 59. second down at six play action ani looking for simpson simpson was held and there's the late flag plenty of contact plenty of jersey craft right on that near sideline from the utep defender in corner the third and that'll go for 15 yards robert corner i am not mad at you because if you don't hold simpson right there he's going to take that for six and so he does what he has to do because he realized he's beaten number eight you're exactly right but that was a great read from austin ani at the quarterback spot he saw his man had man coverage on the edge and had a couple steps on his defender and elected to throw it up it results in 15 yards north texas much like they have all season moving the ball at ease here's trey ciggers almost had the ball ripped down from underneath him but he gains about five yeah i got to tell you that for the miners man and defensive coordinator mike cox he has a lot a ton of belief in his guys i mean he's leaving them already depleted secondary man-to-man versus these really good wide receivers from north texas deep into enemy territory north texas up to 370 yards of total offense are going to have more here here's trey siegers one man to meet behind him he does get caught at the six yard line but he bursts it open his longest run of the night just when you say they don't give up those big gas plays trey sicker say what did you say he busts one for a ton of yards zigger's in the backfield again they give it to him he has a hole but it's closed up quickly and he reaches forward to about the five-yard line it was forced her in on the tackle able to plug that b-gap pretty fast [Music] counter play and they bring that guy across and man they make it look really easy because once seekers gets to the second level he's gone play action to singers back of the end zone trying to find simpson did he get a foot down no he did not out of bounds as he knocked over the pylon with his right foot but it wasn't enough to get it into the green turf oh i like to have a look at this one because it looks like it that he has an opportunity to come down with it but now no he comes down out of bounds he kicks the pile off just out of reach a couple inches from his second touchdown grab of the night darden has two simpson has one north texas on their five-yard line third down over the middle and that one's knocked away trying to find darden in a late flag flies in you thought it was great coverage from the miners austin ani of course pleading his case for a flag we'll see which side this is on it could have been offensive pass interference on garden because there was some contact i really thought josh caldwell made a good play on the ball uh didn't look early at all looked like the contact got there simultaneously where the ball was so i don't know that's just a tough break for for utep redshirt senior josh caldwell just a bit early they put darden in motion now they send him back out wide they get it to him in the flat he has all the room in the world and he waltzes into the end zone it's his third touchdown grab of the night number 18 on the season number 37 of his incredible mean green career that's easy work for jalen dart i mean 101 on the outside just what you know look like he said i will bet of myself a hundred times out of a hundred and you see it right here he gets out there and there's no way possible for anyone to get a hand on him and corner tried to but it's just an easy easy touchdown mooney remains perfect on the season on his point afters in north texas back up by double digits 38-28 our score jalen darden doing jalen darden things here in denton north texas up by 10 here in the fourth quarter alongside hekma harrison i'm kyle yeomans here for espn's college football little friday night action here from apogee stadium temperature dropping now underneath 55 degrees at the moment under the lights it was a beautiful day to start getting a little chilly as the sun set north texas has certainly been heating up on the offensive side of things as the kick will go into the back of the end zone and utep will bring it out to the 25-yard line but jalen darden semifinalist for the belinda cough award six receptions tonight 125 yards and three touchdowns in three games against utep he has nine total touchdowns heckman i think he loves playing against the miners and i'm telling you he makes it look so simple on this one where he catches it on the outside and guys are trying to get his hands on he wears number one but he throws up two fingers and says peace out that's one of the things about darden he's not the biggest receiver on the edge five 974 pounds but he's elusive he's a film junkie and he's somebody who knows how to find the holes in an opposing defense and it's not just the miners that he has all the success against he has 18 touchdown grabs this season most in the country lofted ball from brownholtz and a late opportunity from john davis to maybe get his first interception of the night it would have been number five for this north texas defense but brownholtz sailed it and there's a late flag could this be intentional grounding [Music] there's not an orange jersey in the vicinity i thought it was just a miscommunication yeah it looked like it it looked like it was but we're going to get them here illegal substitution formation look at it but 12 men in the formation was the call and trouble with the substitutions and don't retry it on first down but five yards backwards that's the second time that they've caught the miners that way with the illegal substitution and so right now they're just trying to get it uh get their offense going but going back to dark man he's you know when we interviewed him man he's such a charismatic and charming guy and you just pulled for a guy like that you know he's smart he talked about the game slowing down for him because of all of the film study that he does he wants to know how defenses are trying to strategize and stop him anytime you go man-to-man on a guy like him he's going to take it to the house every time and he has done that three times tonight dion hankins has two touchdowns of his own he gets the carry here vortex is defensively really kind of putting the clamps down on utep here in the second half utep had 21 points at the halftime breaking just the seven at the start of this fourth quarter and that's all they've been able to muster since the teams went to the locker rooms yeah they're playing it a lot better now you see what nixon iii is doing he's slowing it down especially with this zone run and he's staying in those running lanes he and k.d davis just not allowing for hankins to get that easy cut back yardage like he was getting in the first half hankins still five yards from triple digits is now brownholtz tries to get out of the pocket and he can't do that again it's wood we keep calling his name tonight the sophomore more than doubled his numbers from last year in the first seven games of the year well he's continuing to hike those numbers up in his sophomore campaign i tell you whether a kid out of converse justin and you know he comes from a solid program he's a solid tackler that's for sure named conference usa freshman of the year and we've called his name quite a bit today because he's making big plays just like that on that all-conference freshman team a year ago and man he is as good as they come and as versatile as they come on that defensive side of the football pressure comes here from north texas looks like a screen but once again miscommunication between quarterback and tailback a watt was the intended target but the ball falls to the turf and it's fourth down utep has no choice but to punt this one away yeah that is the first time that they've tried an attempted a screen they had it blocked up pretty well but just the inability of brown holds to deliver just a simple throw to his running back and brings up fourth down and they have to punt joshua sloane to boot this one away the freshman out of melbourne australia three punts of over 50 plus yards this season he's got a strong leg he's kicking this one away to jalen darden darden backing his way up this one takes one hop and just throws on the brakes right at the 35-yard line north texas and the offense back out on their side of things over 400 yards already from a top 10 offense in the country they'll have more right after this [Music] 254 yards on 14 of 26 passing four touchdowns for that man right there austin ani the red shirt sophomore quarterback came in following the first drive turnover of the mean green back in the first quarter he hasn't really looked back at all heckman harrison he's thrown the ball extremely well yeah it's all about that balance you see what they did in the second half coming out trying to get this running game established with torrey attaway and sigrs and i think that's made the difference in getting him that confidence and balance in this offense so that he can confidently make those throws trey siegers who has been the feature back here in the second half for north texas the mean green have him lead the way on the rushing category up to 72 yards oscar attaway behind him with 59 and then torrey has 20. that's what you see it's every week it's a different player in the backfield for north texas offensively that brings the numbers here's annie tries to fit that one in a tight window looking for darden on the far sideline and it falls incomplete yeah that's a good job by utah utep making sure that they get a safety over the top of jaylen darden so that he doesn't escape for another one of those massive touchdowns darden three touchdowns tonight having some words with james off to the side after that incomplete pass handoff to siggers he takes it past midfield this is a north texas offense that has over 500 yards per game they're currently sitting at about 420. currently eighth in the country in terms of yards per game for 4 100 yards entering the day they're now up over 450 yards or excuse me 4 500 yards on the season there you see some of the numbers tonight six and a half yards per play that's pretty much right on average for the mean green and this one's complete as well jalen darted off to the races four touchdowns for the military awards semi finalist [Applause] [Music] jalen said you want some mom will give you some more hit the play he dropped that one and they were chirping at him he said you know what i'ma call my play again he gets it and he breaks that thing right back inside man this guy is so smooth in his ability in open field to just run by guys i mean that is all jaylen darden man wonderful job by this guy man he is as advertised it's really pretty incredible he had four three receiving touchdown games of his career a new career high for austin ani with his fifth touchdown pass in north texas breaking things open here in the fourth [Music] stop me if you've heard this before jalen darden touchdown reception and north texas extends their lead 44-28 receiving touchdown number four for mr darden we'll take a look at some of his numbers following this kickoff from zane gonzalez but really it has been sensational what he has brought his entire career here at the university of north texas but even more so tonight a career night for jalen darden and that's saying something as there's a big hit on the near sideline kyla powell comes out of nowhere and lays down the wood the redshirt senior out of argyll just comes flying out of nowhere to lay the head that's one of those get down to lay down hits right there man don't be tiptoeing to the sideline you see jalen darden's numbers tonight seven receptions buck 75 through the air and oh yeah by the way four touchdowns it's the sixth time in his career he's had at least three touchdowns the fourth time in 2020 and now he's up to 19 touchdowns on the season in a little bit under nine games nine games by the end of this one anybody talking about this guy's height or size or anything like that just don't know football he is a football player and his ability in open field is just uncanny some of the things that he does with the ball in his hands i mean you go man to man he'll beat you you go safety over the top he'll beat you i believe you put triple team this guy he's going to beat you that's why he is the record setter here in north texas best receiver maybe in the history of north texas football that's a pretty easy argument you can have between mean green faithful here in denton in terms of what he's done on the field it has been pretty much unmatched now the career leader in receiving yards touchdowns and he continues to just put on a show wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being a finalist for the bulitnikov award whenever things come down to it lots of competition there with guys like kyle pitts from florida the tight end and devonta smith from alabama but ultimately jalen darden is right in that mix and he should be for what he brings to the table utep on the other hand offensively it's kind of grinded to a halt here in the second half they put together one really nice drive toward the end of the third quarter and capped it off with a touchdown to start the fourth quarter hekma but the run game just hasn't been there from a chunk yardage perspective like it was in that first half yeah utep is they're handicapped and they're playing with their a guy that you know hadn't had any first team reps at all now he looks downfield looking for cowing and that one is caught and just when you think utap might be laying down they get back up and they find a big time completion it's the tenth time this season a catch over 20 yards for mr jacob cowan yeah jacob cowan is still in this game and he is a deep ball threat and that's just a good way to lay it out and let your playmaker go and get it and he doesn't be keeling crosby there and really this utep offense anytime they've gotten into the red zone they've been able to put points on the board three of three went inside the 20-yard line tonight put hankins in motion in the backfield brown holds back to throw again looks off to his right delivers this one into the end zone and that one's caught and utep trying to claw their way back into it it's the second touchdown grab of the night for jacob cowing and the sophomore keeps you tapping the miners alive and this is on north texas i mean they're going with a a softer coverage and jacob cowan is just making it look easy with his vanilla coverage that he's receiving this is significant because north texas after that last darden touchdown grab missed the extra point so a two-point conversion here would put utep back within a score with plenty of time here chance to make it an eight-point game brown holds back in the shotgun rolling out to his right hand a man in motion has plenty of time to throw they go back the other direction and that one is caught in the end zone by trent thompson the junior tied in found his way open and that was a brilliant play call from mike canales and that offensive staff to make it a one-possession ballgame yeah just getting a little bit of misdirection but this is going back to the jacob cowing uh touchdown and that's just a laser from uh calvin brownhose he puts that thing on the money and so north texas trying to run away with things all of a sudden have themselves right back in the hunt and for some reason they just put up an extra point on the board there's the numbers for cowing tonight five receptions 118 yards and that is something that really could have been higher numbers over the course of the game a couple of them just didn't fall his direction yeah there's been a few uh that have just been miscommunications and overthrows and here we go i mean they utep just won't go away now correct me if i'm wrong the score was 44. it was okay and i think it was a clock operator mistake that actually makes this a nine point game so mooney actually made the extra point that's a guy who hadn't missed all season long so it would have been surprising to see the miss but caught in the hubbub of a jalen darden point at her touchdown grab number four the clock operator missed it i thought i had just missed the the signal from the point after attempt but it is a nine point game so still two possessions here and utep elects to kick this away here's a grab from trey siegers on the return and he is upended at the 30-yard line mentioned the yardage from north texas offensively averaging just under 34 points per game but now up over 40 again and whenever the 40 burger comes to town here in denton it's usually pretty happy for seth latrell and company 19-0 when they hit that 40-point plateau and they've done so again tonight trying to make it 20 and up so you're saying we may as well go to the cars well you thought that before utap scored a touchdown and had the extra two points tacked on at the end of it you know we talked about this this north texas defense at the beginning and just them being the achilles heel of this ball club and the amount of points that they give up and so it's just one of those things that's coming back to revisit them [Applause] almost broke another long run that time shoelace tackle saved what could have been ziggers continuing to run toward the end zone and one man in between him and six instead it's just a gain of seven here on first down and a free play on the way from north texas they try and take advantage but they stop things before darden makes a reception off to the side kelton moss is a huge human being at six two six three fifteen [Applause] very simple for the referees out here you did the right thing just keep going first down if you jump a little bit early just continue forward and don't allow things to compound on its top of itself that was a guy who's just been itching to play football of course utep not playing since week 11 back on november 14th was their last outing and that was against utsa kelton moss tweeting out back in november can we just play a game again well they got an opportunity to play today he makes a tackle here on ciggers another nice gain of five on first down and north texas continues to run the football well with their duncanville product now i like what what utep is doing i mean they've gotten burned so many times on jaylen darden what they're doing now is they're just taking the safety and putting him over the top we're just not gonna allow this to happen again so finally finally i guess after how many more touchdowns do you have to get before you say okay we gotta double team this guy darden is at the top of the formation a career-high four touchdowns could go to five if he wanted to that would be interesting from a record standpoint another nice sickers run to about the 47-yard line it moves the chains and the drive continues here for north texas and each time those chains move it's just more clock turning off for the mean green to try and put this one on ice here in the fourth quarter and i love the way they use these three guys you get cigarettes that comes in for a few a few snaps he gets a few first downs and then they double down back on oscar attaway and when allaway is done they come back with deandre torre so they're always keeping the defense off balance with their rushing attack 425 and counting any back in the shotgun they hand it to oscar attaway and he's going nowhere kind of give a lot of credit to utam the team like i said a moment ago had not played a game in 30 days before taking the field tonight still a lot of uncertainty around this one after it was originally scheduled to be in el paso on halloween and then it's rescheduled to in denton five straight road games for utep they haven't played at the sun bowl since they took on acu back in week three there you see the scheduling woes for nor excuse me for utep north texas finally getting that one rescheduled and played today but it took moving that game to denton in order for it to get played yeah that's tough for your ball club and you talk about the mental health of your team how do you tell these guys to continue to come to practice for games that you don't know that you're going to play so again 30 days later here we are timeout here for you temp as they burn their first here of the second half and really a couple more first downs is all it's going to take for the mean green to improve to four and five on the season north texas two and four here at home they had lost two in a row in conference play but they've won their last three matchups with utep but utep oh and three in conference play about to be owen four should they not muster a comeback here in the next couple of moments but without gavin hardison their quarterback and see some of the series history this one about as unique of a battle out of the 29 meetings between these two teams that you'll ever see yeah this is the one i mean this is the year that both of these ball clubs both head coaches have talked about just being one hell of a year to try and get your squad prepared to play every week so look if if the mean green is able to pull this one out this is going to be a quality victory for this program ani back to pass he is pressured from behind amahuli forcing any out of the pocket and he reaches for the first down at the 37. he does get out of bounds and it does move the chains praise amahuli is going to cry about that because he had a sack and i don't know what he was thinking if he was already counting that one in the bank but he had to actually complete it for it to be a sack i mean it didn't get any closer than that i mean not only that he had an opportunity for a strip sack uh fumble as well he just whiffs on so any able to avoid the sack and he gets first out of play to the near sideline clock continues to run underneath three minutes to play and ani to darden so dangerous whenever he has the ball in his hands doesn't matter if he has space or not he can make space but this time he only gains about one actually lost one on the reception and that's enough for jalen darden to break the career receptions mark casey fitzgerald with 229 step aside it's now 230 career receptions for jalen darden that's a record that has stood since 2008 no longer as darden has the one final play on a night he will never forget i wish there were more people in the stands to so this guy could come out and take a bow he's had one heck of a career here in denver the nfl should be waiting for a man like that and i'm gonna credit seth latrell for picking up jalen darden he was a day before signing day to the north texas roster he was a last-second signee somebody who had it offered a unlv had that taken away and now he's quite possibly the best receiver in program history yeah he talked about that and just talked about how when unlv rescinded that offer how it hurt him you know for no fault of his own he wasn't able to play his senior year but this kid has a quality story and his story is all about you know the the adversity that he's faced he talks about his father passing and how that motivated him and made him just go into just go hard mode and he's showing that he's all of the things that this kid does on the field and off the field for north texas is admirable and i just love the kid and just talking to him about what the future made holds and it's funny you talking to him you just ask who do you model your game after these please hey oh stefan diggs julio jones julio jones i'm saying to myself okay well julio is 6'3 [Laughter] he's a much bigger guy but that's i mean he doesn't see five nine he walks around like he is six three six four he plays that way as well as ani is sacked from amihuuli from behind ball on the turf and it's picked up by north texas as the mean greens cole brown was able to hop on top of that loose football but amahuli forces a fumble on the sack it's sack number eight of the season and for a guy who is sixth in the ncaa third down in sacks for game he has that one taken away be an offside penalty oh my god i mean he had an opportunity he had an opportunity to get a sack strip fumble like that before and he missed but we you talk about a guy with an 82 inch wingspan at 63 240 pounds hey the nfl will be knocking for a guy like that sure will redshirt sophomore plenty of time left in el paso for him to be an all-time program great for the miners still a lot of work to do for dana daimler [Music] three and four about to be three and five and really this one hurts from utap's perspective as a win would have pushed him to 500 and got him to bull eligible but as a timeout called here from utep they force it to fourth down and it's back to the drawing board for the miners and we're trying to find their first bull bid since 2014 and that doesn't certainly look like it's the case at least this season yeah coach jimmy knew that tonight would be tough and he said it you know we're a ten point underdog and we know that we're going into their house into a dog fight and obviously he couldn't have anticipated when he talked to us that he would be without his quarterback but again this is a tough fall battle uh for his team they were just short handed and unt in a lot of ways took advantage of that defensively you know look these guys have got to get more they have more confidence in this game and they have to play a lot better going into next year and seth latrell talked about that getting more confident more confidence for a group that has just been battered and given up a ton of yards and 2020 hasn't done them any favors especially with a new defensive coordinator not able to implement his plan they didn't have any camps they didn't have any of that skinny spring ball and for a team like this those types of opportunities are imperative so north texas actually lining up for a field goal at tim this one from 49 yards out this would tie ethan mooney's long this season made from 49 earlier this year this one has the distance it is up and it is no good off into the left so a chance to make it a 12 point lead for the mean green it remains at nine and mooney now just seven of 13 on the season he had plenty of distance but just hooked yeah a little left but like you said plenty of leg in it now with a minute and 26 seconds left trying to make up a a this nine point lead if you're utep you have to strike quickly really the go-to man to strike quickly is jacob cowan up over 100 yards receiving and two touchdowns tonight brownholtz back to throw has to step up in the pocket has plenty of time and has an open receiver it's caught it's don jr who works around a defender he's up past the 40 to the 35 before he's pushed out of bounds and utep has something cooking clock stopped at 115. yeah north texas in that prevent defense playing off and allowing these guys to run underneath to run through these zones and just got a credit you got to credit the quarterback for brown hopes for finding this guy number 26 walter dawn jr redshirt senior out of mesquite poteet up here in the dfw area home game for him 115 left on the clock play clock down to seven as brownholtz tries to change the play five four running out of time and they snap it with one second on the play clock looking near side that one is complete and a hit but this one continues to run the clock justin garrett with just his second reception of the ball game oh he is lucky he didn't get that one picked off because most of the time what spells for disaster is throwing the ball late and across the body and he got away with one right there brown holtz underneath a minute to play plenty of time to throw it as he now has to rush out of the pocket coverage was there for north texas has some extra space to run he's past the first down marker clock will stop as the change reset yeah they've gotten down here pretty quickly with 42 seconds left in this ball game they're gonna clock it and get a stop on the clock in 39 seconds so down by nine after the missed field goal we need at least a field goal and a touchdown here as you see the long run here from utep do you consider kicking a field goal here hector oh you just make it a one possession game well you have to at some point especially if you can't get into uh getting to the red zone here pretty quickly you got to take your points and and pray for their own side gonna have to have the onside no matter what utep still very much so in this ball game though brownholtz from the 12 yard line second down after the spike rolls out to his left doesn't have a man down field pump fakes tries to get out of bounds and he does just that stopping the clock at 31 seconds and he gains two yards yeah that's a good job by by the mean green defense just keeping these guys in front of them but we may have a costly penalty [Music] it is a costly penalty moving utep closer to the goal line and that's the kind of stuff a coach will just be driven nuts about yeah you get a couple choice words on your walk to the sideline from your coach if you do something like that especially when it's just uncalled for [Music] first down from the five quarterback draw up the middle brownholtz is going to find the end zone and it's a one possession football game and a couple extra words following the score for utep but an onsite kick away from really making this thing interesting yeah they made it interesting now the big thing to look at is how much time they have on the clock they do this and they still have 20 seconds left 26 seconds now they are out of timeouts as we take a look at the touchdown scamper just a qb draw straight up the gun yeah there goes the chirp and he gets a big he runs right over gaddy who has two interceptions on him and i don't know what he says to him other than hey you got me twice and here i got you one time second rushing touchdown of the night for brown holds has two through the air and the point after is good so the two-point football game here with 26 seconds remaining an onside kick could set things up for utep and the miners yeah that's a strong run by brown folks man he goes he goes 6-2 about 230 pounds and he brings it with him so the line to gain for utep should they get this onsite kick they would only need to get to the 30-yard line of north texas gavin beckley the junior kicker like i mentioned earlier originally out of mckinney all-conference honorable mention last season he nailed a 47-yard field goal at texas he's oh of one from 50 plus he did attempt one from over 50 yards but he's two of three from 40 or more [Music] so the onside kick comes first but afterwards you would only need to gain about 35 yards in order to really set things up for what would be a game-winning kick so you're seeing there's a chance there is absolutely a chance but first beckley will have to be the hero on the onside kick hands team on for both sides the ball game comes down to this for utep [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and it's going to be landed on by simpson and north texas will come out victors as they'll survive here from apogee stadium simpson just able to land on the loose football well the defense did everything they could to try and make this interesting at the last minute but simpson saves the day he gets on that ground ball for the hands team and man this is going to be a good victory for the for me and green you know this hurts for utep like i talked about their chance to get back to 500 ripped out from underneath them you'd have to think that if gavin hardison was in the ball game things would be different but utep actually outgained north texas by the end of this one but jalen darden's four touchdown night a career night for him as he now holds all major receiving records for the mean green program and north texas will conclude their season at a four and five mark one final kneel down from austin annie and the mean green will take this one from apogee stadium and improve to four and five as the 2020 regular season comes to an end here from denton seth latrell and company happy in this one and jalen darden just incredible as always yeah that's the story of the game i mean you're going to look at some some statistics that looks way off time possession yardage and things like that don't pay attention to that the only thing you need to look at is the statistics on number one and that's jalen darton who had a fantastic evening it has really been a fun season here from north texas but the mean green survive at apogee stadium so for heck my harrison i'm kyle yeoman saying so long from denton texas where the final score is 45-43 all games airing on the espn networks are streaming live and archived on the espn app thanks for listening this has been a presentation of espn [Music] you

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 10,584

Keywords: North Texas, UTEP

Id: a-DThlfhYmw

Length: 172min 32sec (10352 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2020