Wednesday, December 01, 2021

North Texas spoils UTSA's bid for a perfect season

The University of Texas at San Antonio was one of three undefeated football teams in FBS heading into the last weekend of the regular season; in order to secure a perfect season, all they had to do was notch a win over a 5-6 North Texas team in Denton. It didn't go well.

No. 15 UTSA’s undefeated season ended in a blowout as North Texas running backs DeAndre Torrey and Ikaika Ragsdale combined for five touchdowns in a 45-23 rout of the Roadrunners on Saturday.

Quarterback Frank Harris had two of UTSA’s three lost fumbles among six overall before sitting the second half at UNT’s rain-soaked Apogee Stadium, a 10-year-old facility where a Top 25 team had never played.

UTSA (11-1, 7-1 Conference USA), which never started with more than five consecutive wins in the program’s first nine seasons, is still hosting the conference championship game Friday night against Western Kentucky. No. 1 Georgia and fourth-ranked Cincinnati are the remaining undefeated FBS teams.

The Roadrunners, ranked 10th nationally in rushing defense, had given up six touchdowns on the ground all season. The Mean Green (6-6, 5-3) matched that late in the third quarter of their fifth consecutive victory that followed a six-game losing streak as UNT earned bowl eligibility.

Playing in cold and wet conditions, the Mean Green took advantage of UTSA miscues as well as a ground attack that gashed the Roadrunners for 340 rushing yards and six touchdowns. North Texas outgained UTSA by almost 100 yards and dominated time of possession. 

After the game UNT head coach Seth Littrell described the win as "the biggest win I've had and we've had as a program." He's got a point: going into this game, North Texas was 1-47 all-time (!) against ranked teams.

While the Roadrunners were never in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth, an undefeated season could have sent them to a New Year's Six bowl, depending on how other conference championships played out. Aside from that, an perfect season would have been a tremendous accomplishment in its own right for UTSA's relatively young program. 

Alas. USTA's streak was ended - they're no longer even ranked in the AP top 25 - while a North Texas program which had been left for dead earlier in the season extended its own winning streak to five games and is now bowl eligible. It's a truly remarkable end to UNT's regular season, and a stinging loss for the Roadrunners. 

Both schools are currently members of Conference USA but will continue to play each other when they both join the American in a couple of years.

Underdog Dynasty and the Denton Record Chronicle's Brett Vito have more. 

Incidentally, the UH Cougars open the 2022 season at UTSA.


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