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*yawn*

NEW ORLEANS – Southern Miss brought a remarkable run by Jamario Thomas and the North Texas football team's offense to a screeching halt Tuesday night in the Wyndham New Orleans Bowl.

The Mean Green's seven-game winning streak was not too far behind.

Southern Miss limited Thomas to 92 yards rushing and cruised to a 31-10 win before a crowd of 27,253 at the Louisiana Superdome.

Thomas entered the game leading the nation with an average of 189.9 yards rushing a game and was riding a streak of five games with at least 200 yards rushing. UNT (7-5) had ridden Thomas during most of the seven-game stretch in which the Mean Green had scored at least 27 points.

"I don't even know what happened," Thomas said. "They were coming from everywhere."

Thomas entered the game having rushed for 200 yards in five straight games and was within striking distance of the NCAA freshman rushing record of 1,863 yards set by Ron Dayne at Wisconsin.

Thomas needed to rush for 155 yards for the record.

Southern Miss' performance against Thomas characterized the night for UNT, which didn't reach the end zone until wide receiver Johnny Quinn caught an 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Scott Hall with one second left.

"They brought it tonight," Hall said of Southern Miss (7-5). "Guys were coming off of the edge all night. They took away our play-action passing game. They executed."

UNT had an especially tough time against linebacker Michael Boley, who had eight tackles, including four for losses, and was named the game's MVP.

Southern Miss took control early behind quarterback Dustin Almond, who got off to a quick start.

Almond threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to tight end Otho Graves and then completed a 47-yard strike to wide receiver Tavar Williams. The Golden Eagles scored two plays later on a 1-yard Almond run to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Almond finished with 247 yards passing. Running back Anthony Harris added 104 yards.

UNT drove into Southern Miss territory three times in the first half, but came away with just three points on Nick Bazaldua's 24-yard field goal. The Mean Green's only score of the half came after tight end Andy Blount recovered John Eubanks' fumbled punt at Southern Miss' 19-yard line.

UNT's defense kept the Mean Green in the game into the early stages of the fourth quarter before Boley put the game away. The Mean Green had driven to Southern Miss' 33-yard line when Boley stepped in front of Hall's pass in the flat and picked it off.

Boley returned the interception 62 yards for a touchdown to give Southern Miss a 24-3 lead.

"I was supposed to blitz, but I read the play, stopped and the ball came right to my face," Boley said.

The touchdown was the final blow for UNT in a game its defense kept close into the third quarter.

"I want to compliment our defense," Hall said. "They played a good game tonight."

I can't believe UNT still gets one or two top 25 votes every year just for winning the Sun Belt. They would be an SMU/Rice/Houston type team in any other conference.

Where's MGG? I would surely think that he would be over here blaming us for the loss.

There’s no way to sugarcoat that game last night. So Miss could’ve won by 50.....and they’re a very average team. I’m all for deserving teams getting the chance to play in bowl game, but geez, that game was a joke.

BTW, #27 Boley for So Miss is the real deal. He was by far the best player on the field.

abezontar wrote:Where's MGG? I would surely think that he would be over here blaming us for the loss.

No kidding..."If only Gerald Turner would've shown some neighborly support for a fellow metroplex team and put in a good word with the referrees...."

What a joker.

you guys crack me up.

Southern Miss is not an average team, they have GREAT athletes if you did not notice; also, they should have beaten CAL a couple of weeks ago

Next, UNT would have beaten us the last four years, it's not like we play in a power conference ourselves, remeber we were 0-12 last year and 3-8 this year, and were luck to win two of those games

and why bash a bowl game you know you would love to be in, it just sounds like petty, sour grapes

we should not be knocking any other teams (ie TCU and UNT) until we ourselves field a competitive team, then talk all the trash you want

huntnfish wrote:We were lucky to win two of those games

Which two would that be?

huntnfish wrote:Next, UNT would have beaten us the last four years, it's not like we play in a power conference ourselves, remeber we were 0-12 last year and 3-8 this year, and were luck to win two of those games

Can't disagree with any of that--but I'm not bashing UNT, just having a laugh at the expense of a particularly paranoid delusional fan of UNT.

You’re right, 6-5 overall (with no wins over a ranked team) and 5-3 in C-USA is not average at all. What was I thinking?

As for SMU, I simply made a comment about the NT/So Miss game, which had nothing to do with SMU. It was a bad game....simple as that. It would have been no different if SMU had played. There is no need for those types of bowl games. Five schools from C-USA and four schools the WAC should not be in bowl games....maybe the top two from each conference but not nine total. And you’re the one who always brings up NT beating SMU. You sure seem to be sensitive about that topic. Hummm.

I disagree. I believe it is a good things to allow a large number of teams to play in bowl games, I think it is good for the kids who work hard all year. And we all know we would love to be in one ourselves. I just believe we have more things to worry about than TCU and UNT, heck, I think they should both be on our schedule every year. As far as bringing up UNT beating us, it's b/c it is always brought up how we could beat them and I think we have alot to keep us busy internally before we talk about beating a team who has now been to 4 straight bowl teams. Let's get us a wnning season then we can talk about the UNT and TCU's of the wolrd.

two games- 1) Tulsa, should have lost after the 2-point conversion debacle 2) Nevada- they moved the ball up and down the field on us, luckily they had a massive number of mistakes. Yes, we won, but until we start having winning seasons let's keep our heads down and not worry about how everyone else is doing.

To quote Bill Parcells: "You are what you are."

We won three games. Up from zero. Not making excuses, but this team had a run of bad luck from game to game that was incredible. When did breaks ever go our way in that 0'fer season? Never.

You make your own luck. Or you take advantage of opportunities. Either way, we DESERVED to win those games.

by heads down, I mean heads down at work, once we go 6-5 then let's take a look at those around us.

Dooby- I agree, we were 3-8 and had plenty of bad luck ourselves, I was just responding what games we were lucky to have gotten a W. As for the 0-12 season, we should have won one game, Nevada. But I agree you are what you are and until we get better let's not worry about anyone else, b/c we are not much right now

That year, Baylor, Tulsa, UTEP, Nevada were all close games.