NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN NOTES:
STORY LINES
• Coming off a loss in the C-USA Championship game against UTSA, North Texas returns to the field in the Frisco Bowl to take on Boise State Saturday night inside nearby Toyota Stadium.
• It is the sixth bowl appearance in the last seven years for the Mean Green dating back to the 2016 Heart of Dallas Bowl. UNT will be looking for its first bowl win since defeating UNLV 36-14 in the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl.
• It is the second straight bowl game in Frisco for UNT after playing in the Frisco Football Classic in 2021.
• The Mean Green made their second-ever Conference USA Championship appearance and first since 2017.
• UNT is 3-10 all-time in bowl games and will be appearing in the Frisco Bowl for the first time in its history.
• North Texas ranks 15th nationally in yards per play (6.76). That mark is the best in North Texas program history and the top four have all been recorded since 2017.
• The Mean Green are the least penalized team in C-USA with an average of only 5.2 per game (No. 31, FBS).
• At 463.8 ypg, the UNT offense this season under OC Mike Bloesch is on track to be the second-best in program history.
• The Mean Green are playing in their sixth bowl all-time in the state of Texas after trips to the 1946 Optimist Bowl (Houston), 1959 Sun Bowl (El Paso) plus visits to the Heart of Dallas Bowl in 2014, 2016 and last year.
• UNT has had a number of different players step up this season with 15 different players recording a reception and 12 different players recording at least one receiving touchdown, tied for the second-most in FBS.
• Wide receivers Jyaire Shorter (27.0) and Ja’Mori Maclin (24.7) rank 1-2 nationally in yards per catch.
• UNT junior quarterback Austin Aune leads the nation in yards per pass completion at 15.39 and is eighth with 32 touchdown passes. His 32 TD passes the most in a single season in program history.
• The Mean Green are 7-16 all-time in the month of December with the last win a 45-43 victory over UTEP in 2020
MORE QUICK HITTERS
• Team captain Manase Mose made his 61st straight start up front in the contest against UTSA to extend his active FBS consecutive starts lead and program record. He can set the FBS record on Saturday vs. Boise St.
• UNT running backs have 14 career 100-yd games including six from Ikaika Ragsdale, five by Oscar Adaway, two by Ayo Adeyi and one from Isaiah Johnson.
• The 2022-23 academic year is UNT’s final season of competition in Conference USA. The Mean Green will transition to The American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2023.
• UNT’s 2022 roster features 27 student-athletes that have already earned undergraduate degrees.
• The Mean Green are very experienced along the offensive line with a total of 167 career games played, a figure that ranks in the top 10 nationally.
• The Mean Green have had eight different players return a punt for a touchdown since 2012, tied for the second-most nationally behind only Alabama (12).
• This is the second time Interim Head Coach Phil Bennett has taken over to coach a bowl game. The first was in 2010 when he coached Pittsburgh to a 27-10 win over Kentucky in the BBVA Compass Bowl.
• UNT’s five quarterbacks have made 45 collegiate starts led by 25 from Austin Aune. Other totals include Stone Earle (8), Grant Gunnell (7), Jace Ruder (5) and JD Head (2).
BOISE STATE SERIES HISTORY
• Saturday’s match up between UNT and Boise State will be the seventh all-time between the programs with each team having won three contests.
• The two teams have not played since Oct. 21, 2000 when the Broncos took home a 59-0 win at home.
• The Mean Green and the Broncos played each other every year from 1994-2000 with the exception of the 2005 season which makes up the entirety of the series.
• Boise State has won 129 consecutive games on their home turf when leading after the third quarter with the last loss coming against North Texas on Oct. 10, 1998.
UNT BY THE NUMBERS
• As a team, UNT leads C-USA in passing yards per completion (15.35), sacks allowed per game (0.85), fewest penalties (5.23),and penalty yards per game (42.4).
• In CUSA games this season, the UNT offense ranked inside the top four in scoring offense, rushing offense and total offense.
• This season, the Mean Green rank in the Top 30 in FBS in rushing offense (24th), total offense (20th), sacks allowed (9th), passing efficiency (30th), scoring offense (29th) and passing yards per completion (4th).
• Additionally, UNT ranks second nationally with 19 passes of 40 or more yards.
KD DAVIS IS ‘THE MAN’ IN THE MIDDLE
• Senior linebacker KD Davis is the anchor of UNT’s defense under interim head coach Phil Bennett. In the C-USA Championship game against UTSA, Davis recorded 14 tackles to pass Byron Gross (1987-90) for the most career tackles in program history (421). He now sits sixth in the C-USA record books for all-time tackle leader and is just three tackles shy of breaking into the top-five.
• The 2022 C-USA Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference selection, Davis leads C-USA defenders this season in both total tackles (132) and solo tackles (68). He ranks fifth in FBS in tackles.
• Davis currently sits fourth in among all Division I players with 421 total tackles in his career.
• Davis recorded 19 tackles in the win over LA Tech, the most for any UNT player since at least 2000. It is the sixth-most by any FBS player in a game this season.
• After recording eight assisted tackles in the win over LA Tech, Davis moved into first place all-time with 190 assisted tackles in his career, passing Craig Robertson (2006-10).
• Davis needs 12 tackles in the bowl game to surpass Trent Touchstone (1989) for the most single-season tackles in UNT history.
OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
• The UNT offense has been dynamic under this season offensive coordinator Mike Bloesch.
• After 13 games, the Mean Green have the second-most yards of total offense (6,030) and the fourth-most passing yards (3,408) and rushing yards (2,622) in a single season in program history.
• Currently, UNT is averaging 33.9 points per game which would be fourth in UNT history while the 441 total points are the third-most in program history.
• In the win over FIU, the Mean Green passed for over 400 yards for the first time since 2018 against Incarnate Word.
• As it stands, UNT will post each of the top five offensive seasons in UNT history in yards per game in the last six seasons (see chart to right).
• Entering 2022, UNT had seven 600+ yard games in school history. The Mean Green have already added three more to that total, including the 623-yard performance against FIU. Eight of UNT’s 10 600+ yard performances have been recorded in the last seven seasons.
• For his efforts, third-year UNT offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Bloesch was nominated for the 2022 Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in the country.
NEVER MISSED A GAME
• Following a redshirt season in 2017, North Texas junior offensive lineman Manase Mose has been a fixture in the Mean Green’s lineup.
• The Euless, Texas native has started all 61 games of his career with time at both guard and center dating back to the 2018 season, setting a program record. With a start in the Frisco Bowl, Mose will set a new NCAA record for consecutive starts with his 62nd breaking a tie with Trey Carter from Coastal Carolina (2017-21).
• Mose’s 61 straight starts is tops on the team, followed by linebacker KD Davis’ 42 career starts.
• The UNT record was previously held by Andy Brewster with 50 from 2001-04.
MAGIC NUMBER
• Over the course of the last seven seasons, North Texas is 28-0 when it scores 40 or more points, including three times in 2021 and five times in 2022.
• In the 13 years prior to 2016, the Mean Green had only scored 40 or more points 16 times total.
BIG PLAY THREATS
• Junior WR Jyaire Shorter and redshirt freshman WR Ja’Mori Maclin have both been big play threats for UNT this season.
• Per PFF, the Mean Green have the top two players in all of FBS in yards per reception. Shorter is first in the country with 27.0 yards per catch while Maclin is second with 24.7 yards per catch.
• In his first season at UNT, Maclin has caught 16 passes for 380 yards and two touchdowns. His performance landed him on the C-USA All-Freshman team.
• After scoring again in the C-USA title game, nine of the last 13 passes Shorter has caught have been touchdowns. The junior has 21 catches in 2022 and 18 of them have gone for either a touchdown or first down. In the last 15 years, Shorter is the only player to have 9+ touchdowns and less than 25 receptions in a season, and Shorter has done it twice. He also did it in 2019 when he had 24 catches and nine touchdowns.
• In his career, 48 of Shorter’s 57 receptions have gone for either a first down or a touchdown. Exactly onethird (33.3 percent) of Shorter’s career receptions have been touchdowns as he leads UNT and is second in C-USA this season with 10 (11th, FBS).
TEXADA ISLAND
• Sophomore DB Ridge Texada has established himself as one of the top defensive backs in the country as he comes in to the contest fourh in FBS with 18 passes defended (INTs + PBUs) this season.
• A First Team All-CUSA honoree, Texada needs to defend just two more passes to break Kemon Hall’s program record of 19 set in 2018. His current number of 18 is already the second-most in a season in program history while his career total of 20 is tied for eighth in program history just two seasons into his career.
• After pulling down an interception against UTSA, Texada ranks 28th in the country and fifth in C-USA with three interceptions this season. He is the first UNT player to record at least three interceptions since 2018 when Nate Brooks (6), Kemon Hall (5) and Khairi Muhammad (4) all had at least three.
MOON MAN
• Senior kicker Ethan Mooney, a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, currently ranks third in C-USA and tied for 41st in FBS with 1.31 made field goals per game this season.
• With his first extra point in the win over Rice, Mooney became the program’s all-time scoring leader, passing Trevor Moore (2014-17). Mooney now has 325 points in his collegiate career, 7th-most in C-USA history.
• The Fort Worth native has made 51 field goals in his career, the second most in program history.
• Prior to having an extra point blocked against WKU, Mooney had made 134 straight PATs dating back to Oct. 12, 2019 at Southern Miss when he also had a kick blocked. He has missed just two PATs in his career, both of which were blocked. He’s 172-for-174 in his career.
• His 134 consecutive made PAT’s is the second longest streak in North Texas history behind only Trevor Moore (154 straight, 2014-17). Mooney is the program’s all-time leader in career XPs (172).
MOST POINTS, C-USA HISTORY (KICKERS)
RK. PTS PLAYER TEAM YEARS (FG, PAT)
1. 462 Jonathan Barnes LA Tech 2014-17 (81 FG, 219 PAT)
- 336 Greg Joseph Florida Atlantic 2013-17 (57 FG, 165 PAT)
- 333 Seth Marler Tulane 1999-02 (66 FG, 135 PAT)
- 316 Ethan Mooney North Texas 2018-Present (49 FG, 169 PAT)
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
CAREER LEADERS MINIMUM 25 ATTEMPTED
PLAYER SEASONS FGM FGA PCT
- Trevor Moore 2014-17 53 66 .803
- Ethan Mooney 2018-current 51 67 .761
SIX BOWL GAMES IN SEVEN YEARS
• After reaching the six-win total with a victory over FIU, North Texas has appeared in a bowl game in six of the last seven years
• The 2022 bowl game will be the 14th bowl appearance in the program’s 106-year history.
• The current streak is the only time in program history they’ve reached six bowl games over a seven-year period. UNT went to four straight bowl games from 2001-04 to end a drought that started in 1960.
• The Mean Green are 3-10 all-time in bowl games with the last coming in the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl. UNT scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to rally to a 36-14 win over UNLV in that contest.
HORTON HEARS A WHO
• Junior WR Kaylon Horton returned a kick for a touchdown in the contest against UNLV to become the first UNT player to return a kick for a touchdown since Deion Hair-Griffin in 2019 against Abilene Christian.
• A First Team All-CUSA selection, Horton recorded a 28-yard receiving touchdown against WKU to give him seven touchdowns in his career with two kick return TDs, two rushing, one punt return and two receiving TD.
• Horton, a transfer from Tarleton State, is one of eight active FBS players with 3+ KR/PR touchdowns. He currently ranks 15th in the FBS in combined kick return yards and is the only player in C-USA with a kick return touchdown this season.
FOUR-HEADED MONSTER
• The Mean Green backfield in 2022 features four players who have all experienced success in their collegiate careers with the Mean Green. All four players have started a game at RB for the Mean Green this season.
• The four-headed monster consisting of Ikaika Ragsdale, Oscar Adaway, Ayo Adeyi and Isaiah Johnson owns 14 career 100-yard games including a 100-yard performances from Ragsdale in the title game against UTSA.
• The quartet dominated the running game against LA Tech, setting a new program record with 475 yards rushing. It is the second-most by any FBS team this year behind only Air Force’s 582 vs. Northern Iowa (9/3).
• The Mean Green feature three top-15 rushers in CUSA: Adeyi (6th, 740 yards), Ragsdale (11th, 661 yards and Adaway (14th, 583 yards).
• Adeyi leads C-USA in yards per carry (7.5) and had a 92-yard touchdown run against LA Tech, tied for the second-longest rushing play in FBS this season. He ranks 27th in program history with 1,236 career yards.
• Since 2001, UNT has produced 24 300-yard rushing games. After reaching the milestone three times this season, 11 of those 24 contests has come in the last seven seasons.
STACKED TIGHT END ROOM
• UNT has two of the top tight ends in Conference USA in sophomore Jake Roberts and redshirt freshman Var’Keyes Gumms.
• Roberts has started all 13 games for UNT and sits fifth on the team with 373 yards on 26 catches. He is one of seven UNT players to catch multiple touchdown passes this season.
• Gumms, meanwhile, has caught 33 passes for 451 yards and five touchdowns. His five TDs are tied for the 13th-most by any TE in DI and are tied for the second-most in program history among TEs. Additionally, Gumms’ 451 yards are the most by any TE in a single season in program history.
• Both Roberts and Gumms rank inside the top-21 among FBS tight ends in yards per reception. Roberts is 13th with 14.3 yards/reception while Gumms is 21st at 13.7.
BOISE STATE BRONCOS NOTES:
THE GAME
Boise State (9-4) and North Texas (7-6) will square off in the fifth edition of the Frisco Bowl, which is slated for Dec. 17 (Saturday) at Toyota Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. MT, and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
THE SERIES
Boise State and North Texas have met six times previously, with both the Broncos and Mean Green each securing three victories in the all-time series. The Broncos won the last meeting, shutting out the Mean Green at home 59-0, Oct. 21, 2000. Boise State and North Texas have also previously met in the postseason, with the Broncos earning a 24-20 victory in the 1994 NCAA I-AA (FCS) First Round Playoffs.
BOWL GAMES
Boise State is playing in the Frisco Bowl for the first time and playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2019. In 2020, the Broncos voted not to play in a game in a season shortened due to COVID-19. Last year, Boise State was forced to withdraw from a bowl game due to COVID-19. Boise State captured the 2003 Plains-Capital Fort Worth Bowl with a 34-31 road victory at TCU. The Broncos accepted a bid to the 2018 SERVPRO First Responder Bowl in Dallas, but the game against Boston College was halted in the first quarter due to inclement weather and declared No Contest.
MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP
Boise State’s appearance in the Mountain West Football Championship was their conference-best sixth in 10 seasons of the event.
A BRONCO LEADS THE PROGRAM
Boise State is in its second season with Andy Avalos at the helm of the program. As a Bronco student-athlete, Avalos was a four-year letter-winner, served as team captain, earned a pair of first-team all-conference accolades at linebacker and was a member of the All-Blue Team – a
selection of the 30 greatest players in school history, as voted on by the Bronco fanbase, in the 30th anniversary season of the world-famous turf. Avalos initially returned to The Blue in a coaching capacity in 2012 as defensive line coach, took over as linebackers coach in 2014 and was then promoted to defensive coordinator in 2016. After three seasons leading the Bronco defense, Avalos left for Oregon, where the Ducks captured a Rose Bowl victory in his first season and earned a spot in the Fiesta Bowl in his second.
BOWL ELIGIBILITY
Boise State has achieved bowl-eligible status for the 25th-consecutive season with its nine wins this season, the third-longest active streak in the country. The Broncos trail only Ohio State (34) and Georgia (26), both of which have extended their list this season, on the current list. Boise State is one of only nine schools nationally to carry a streak of at least 12-consecutive seasons of reaching bowl eligibility into the season.
