Sunday, October 12, 2008

DFW Football Follow-up: Teams see improvement in losses

By Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

The Southern Methodist University Mustangs and the University of North Texas Mean Green both showed improvement in losses at home this weekend. The Mustangs stood toe to toe with the undefeated Tulsa Golden Hurricane losing by the score of 37-31 while the Mean Green broke out of an offensive slump to score 30 points before falling to the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajun 59-30. In Fort Collins, CO, the TCU Horned Frogs held on to 13-7 victory over the Colorado State Rams.

UNT

In what has become a broken record, refusing to advance, the UNT Mean Green lost Saturday night at Fouts Field in Denton. The Mean Green did show some signs of life as the offense appeared to break out of the season-long slump it was in by scoring 30 points and rolling up 528 total yards of offense. Wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald posted a record setting performance by catching 14 passes for 231 yards for UNT. The performance was good enough to be the second best single-game receiving yards for a wide receiver at UNT behind Fitzgerald’s own 327 receiving yards effort against SMU last season. The loss drops UNT to 0-6. The Mean Green will try again on Saturday, October 18 at Monroe, LA when they take on the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

TCU

The TCU Horned Frogs survived 39 degree weather and rain in Fort Collins, CO to beat the Colorado State Rams 13-7. Starting for the second week in a row for injured quarterback Andy Dalton, Marcus Jackson led the Frogs with 220 total yards of offense to help TCU get the win. TCU’s dominant defense gave up a touchdown on CSU’s first drive, but shut the Rams out the rest of the game only yielding 11 yards rushing and 188 yards passing. The win by TCU sets up a showdown with undefeated and ninth ranked BYU on Thursday night at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth on Versus TV. TCU moved in to the USA Today rankings at number 24 making the game a match-up of ranked teams.

SMU

The Mustangs have to be wondering what they have to do to get that much needed first Conference USA win of the year. A week after rallying and falling short at Central Florida, the Mustangs failed to hold a fourth quarter lead on undefeated and Conference USA leader Tulsa, falling 37-31. Mustang wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders caught six passes for 132 yards, and quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was 19 of 34 for 318 yards and four touchdowns. Tulsa quarterback David Johnson threw a touchdown pass with 9:34 left in the game inexplicably converting a fourth down and 21 for the score. On the following drive the Golden Hurricane converted Mitchell's only interception of the night in to the winning score. The loss drops SMU to 1-6 on the year. The Mustangs will try again on Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium as they host the Houston Cougars.

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Information courtesy of GoFrogs.com, SMUMustangs.com, and MeanGreenSports.com

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