Baylor pounded in Denton

[Corso]

UNT flattens Baylor

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

DENTON – North Texas reached heights it has not seen in years Saturday and sent Baylor to a new low in the process.

The Mean Green took advantage of six Baylor turnovers on consecutive possessions in the first half and rolled to a 52-14 win in front of a Fouts Field record crowd of 29,437.

The win was UNT's first in 12 meetings against Baylor, not to mention its first win over a team from the Big 12 Conference since 1999 when the Mean Green beat Texas Tech. The loss extended Baylor's losing streak to nine games.

"This was a great win for our football team," UNT coach Darrell Dickey said. This was a great win for our school. And this was a great win for our fans. I can't tell you how good it feels to come into this stadium and see it packed like it was tonight."

Baylor's six turnovers were the most for the Bears since they turned the ball over seven times against Houston in 1989.

While Baylor (0-2) struggled offensively, UNT (1-1) had its best offensive performance since 1993 when the Mean Green scored 63 points in a win over Nicholls State.

Patrick Cobbs rushed for 131 yards to lead UNT, while Roy Bishop added 107 yard. Baylor quarterback Aaron Karas threw for 116 yards. Rashad Armstrong rushed for 89 yards and saw his streak of 100-yard games end at three.

UNT defensive lineman Brandon Kennedy set the tone for what turned into a romp for the Mean Green in the first quarter. The senior burst through Baylor's offensive line and picked up a fumble by Karas, who was hit by UNT defensive lineman Evan Cardwell. Kennedy scampered 24 yards for a touchdown. Baylor turnovers set up each of UNT's scoring drives in the first half, which ended with the Mean Green leading 17-0.

"We just went and ran around the ball a little more than last week," UNT linebacker Chris Hurd said. "We were disappointed with our caliber of play against Oklahoma last week. This week we were flying around the ball."

Baylor's struggles continued in the second half when the Bears let the opening kickoff skip towards the end zone. UNT wide receiver Johnny Quinn chased the ball down and recovered it at Baylor's 14-yard line.

UNT scored two plays later on a 13-yard run by Roy Bishop. The sophomore came on in relief of Cobbs in the second half after UNT's starter suffered a bruised thigh.

Baylor scored its first points of the game in the third quarter after wide receiver Ja'Mel Branch fumbled a punt at his 30-yard line. Branch chased the ball deep into UNT's end of the field, but couldn't get a handle on the ball.

Baylor wide receiver Robert Quiroga recovered the ball at UNT's 9-yard line. Fullback Jonathan Evans caught a touchdown pass from Karas on the next play.



Game notes
UNT honored former football coach Hayden Fry during a ceremony at halftime. Fry posted a 40-23-3 record from 1973-78.

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[Pony Up]

Here's the Waco paper's version:

CHARITY CASE: Butter-fingered Bears take 52-14 beating at UNT

By JERRY HILL
Tribune-Herald assistant sports editor

DENTON, Texas — The mystery is over.

Guy Morriss can stop wondering how his fragile Baylor Bears will handle adversity.

North Texas capitalized on an unprecedented six first-half turnovers to take a 17-0 lead and rolled to an unbelievable 52-14 rout of the stunned Bears Saturday night before a record crowd of 29,437 at Fouts Field.

Held to just 154 yards in a 37-3 loss to Oklahoma a week earlier, the Mean Green (1-1) rolled up 327 yards on the ground and 451 yards total offense, scoring on its first five series of the second half. That put an exclamation point on UNT's first victory over Baylor (0-2) and extended the Bears' road losing streak to 15 in a row and 31 of their last 32.

"This is very disappointing," said Morriss, who is still looking for his first win as the Baylor head coach after turning around the Kentucky program in two years. "We've got to make up our minds that we're going to put an end to the stupid penalties, the dropped balls and lining up wrong. At some point, this has got to stop."

Sophomore running backs Patrick Cobbs and Roy Bishop both topped the century mark and combined for 238 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries. But it didn't stop there.

Redshirt freshmen Kevin Moore and James Mitchell even got into the act with fourth-quarter touchdowns that turned this one into a laugher.

"We wanted to throw the ball more tonight," said UNT coach Darrell Dickey, "but we had so much success running that we were able to wear them down. We felt like we needed to get our running game going after the first week. Our offensive line really played well, and Patrick, Roy and James ran the ball very hard. We really can build on this kind of game."

In the second half, it didn't seem to matter what the North Texas offense ran. Everything worked.

The Mean Green held on to the ball for more than 18 minutes, rolled up 260 second-half yards and scored at will against a worn-out Baylor defense.

"They're a good football team," Morriss said. "But the problem wasn't North Texas. It was us. I take responsibility. I did a poor job preparing them for this game."

Against a better opponent, this one would have been over long before halftime. The Bears turned it over on their first six possessions with three interceptions and three fumbles, ending the streak only when quarterback Aaron Karas took a knee on the last play before intermission.

But all North Texas had to show for all of Baylor's misfortune was a 17-0 halftime lead, scoring on a 24-yard fumble return by Brandon "Booger" Kennedy, an 81-yard touchdown burst by Cobbs and a 32-yard field goal by Nick Bazaldua.

"Nobody's going to overcome six turnovers," Morriss said. "We were fortunate that we were only down 17 in the first half. We made every mistake in the book, and we were still in the game."

Mixing runs by Rashad Armstrong with Karas passes, Baylor had no problems moving the ball on a North Texas defense that came into the game with all kinds of credentials and hype. The Bears had 11 first downs and 184 yards total offense in the first 30 minutes.

But every time the Bears looked like they would cash in on all the yards, they shot themselves in the foot with yet another turnover.

The comedy of errors started when Evan Cardwell sacked Karas and forced a fumble that Kennedy scooped up and rumbled 24 yards for a touchdown.

Baylor was poised to answer, moving from its own 13 to the UNT 27. But John Martin took a crushing blow from linebacker Chris Hurd after a 10-yard catch and coughed it up.

Cobbs gave the Mean Green its first offensive punch with an 81-yard TD run up the middle on the very next play after avoiding Baylor defensive end Khari Long in the backfield.

The turnover string continued with three Karas interceptions and a fumble by Armstrong off a shovel pass. At the end of the half, the two teams were separated by just seven yards and 17 points.

Any hopes of a second-half comeback vanished on the first play. With the Bears asleep at the wheel, Johnny Quinn recovered Brad Kadlubar's high kick at the 13-yard line after it bounced by Anthony Krieg and returner J.T. Thompson.

The second-half onslaught started with a 13-yard TD run by Bishop, who added a nine-yarder five minutes later for a 31-0 lead. Turn out the lights.

Baylor's only dents on the scoreboard came on an eight-yard TD pass from Karas to fullback Jonathan Evans after a muffed punt return by UNT and a meaningless one-yard TD run by Krieg with just 2:15 left in the game.

The Bears managed just four first downs and 84 yards in the second half — most of that coming on a drive engineered by redshirt freshman quarterback Shawn Bell from China Spring. Seeing his first action, he was 5-of-5 for 67 yards on the 75-yard touchdown drive.

"The team kind of gave up after the start of the second half," Morriss said, "and I gave them a good chewing. If we don't stop the mistakes, penalties and dropped passes and start taking responsibility, we'll end up 0-12."
The Bears will return home to face former Southwest Conference rival SMU at 6 p.m. Saturday.

"We can do two things, either give up or fight," said senior linebacker Stephen Sepulveda. "I know for myself, I'm going to fight and work this out."

"We're going to have to go back to the drawing board," Morriss said. "I know we just gave (SMU) a heck of a lot of hope. When they watch this film, they're going to be sky high when they come to Waco."