FRISCO – A Conference USA program from the state of Texas lost a bowl game at Toyota Stadium for the second time in three days when North Texas (6-7) fell to Miami (Ohio) 27-14 in the first edition of the Frisco Classic. UTSA lost to San Diego State on Tuesday night in the Frisco Bowl. The state of Texas is now 0-3 to start the bowl season with UTEP losing last weekend. 

North Texas led 14-13 with 6:52 left in the game after an Austin Aune rushing touchdown. The two-first half rushing touchdowns by the Mean Green moved the season total to 32, which is the second-most rushing touchdowns by North Texas in program history. The 1951 squad rushed for 33 touchdowns. 

Aune would throw one of his two interception on the next drive. Miami turned that mistake into a touchdown, and North Texas never led again. The Redhawks took the opening possession of the second half for a score, and that proved to be enough points to hold off a North Texas squad that was missing star running back Deandre Torrey. 

THREE OBSERVATIONS

North Texas requires an upgrade at QB: The Seth Littrell era at North Texas is six years old. He’s 37-38 in that span following the bowl loss. His tenure can be divided into two parts: Mason Fine and without Mason Fine. North Texas was 27-25 from 2016 to 2019, including nine-win seasons in 2018 and 2019. The Mean Green are 14-21 since. 

Fine passed for more than 3,000 yards in each of his final three seasons. He threw 93 touchdowns to 34 interceptions. Littrell’s offense flourished, and his name was mentioned for some big job openings. The star was rising in Denton. That star is harder to see now, and the poor and inconsistent play at quarterback is the main reason. The defense improved in 2021. The passing game did not. 

Aune and Jace Rudder started the season in a quarterback battle. Aune eventually won out, but it was the running game and an improved defense that led the Mean Green to a five-game winning streak to close out the season and reach bowl eligibility. Aune entered the contest with 1,763 passing yards and nine touchdowns to seven interceptions. He only completed 51.7 percent of his passes. Fine completed 62.8 percent of his passes in a four-year career in the same offense. 

Aune was 15 of 32 for 228 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions in the loss. 

North Texas can contend in Conference USA, and even in the eventual move to the AAC, but it’ll require more consistent play from its quarterback. Aune and Rudder are only sophomores, but Littrell needs new blood. The Mean Green landed Louisiana Tech transfer, and Pearland native, JD Head, but he’s a young and unproven quarterback in college. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Littrell go after a grad transfer to start the 2022 season while Head grows into the offense and eventually takes over in 2023.  

The Murphy twins are dominant: No team improved defensively from 2020 to 2021 than North Texas. Littrell hired Phil Bennett to turnaround the Mean Green defense, and the longtime assistant did just that. His defense allowed 143.9 yards fewer in 2021 than 2020, which led the nation. The unit allowed 121 fewer rushing yards than last season. The improvements were noticeable during the five-game winning streak to close the season. In the first seven games, North Texas allowed 35 points per game during an 1-6 start. The group only allowed 17 points over the final five games. 

The group is headlined by linebacker KD Davis, who led the team with 15 stops, but the future stars are Grayson and Gabriel Murphy. The twins out of Bishop Dunne High School in the 2020 class made big differences as redshirt freshman. Grayson recorded 7.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss, while Gabriel added six sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss. The duo lines up on opposite sides of the defensive line and contends to meet at the quarterback on every pass play. They were disruptive again on Thursday afternoon in a loss. Gabriel ended the game with eight tackles, including 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss. Grayson added five tackles, including a sack. 

A new runner must emerge: North Texas received a sneak peek into life without Torrey in the backfield when he was a late scratch against Miami. The Mean Green struggled to manufacture offense without a player who amassed 1,215 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns in 12 regular season games. Torrey averaged 4.9 yards a carry and 101.25 rushing yards a game as a senior.

North Texas ran the ball 32 times for 82 yards in the loss for an average of 2.8 yards a carry. Aune led the way with 28 yards. The running backs combined for 61 yards on 23 carries. The longest run was 12 yards.