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North Texas offense runs over MTSU in 52-35 C-USA win




MTSU's Chaton Mobley ran for 159 yards in  52-35 loss at home Saturday. MTSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

MTSU’s Chaton Mobley ran for 159 yards in  52-35 loss at home Saturday. MTSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

MTSU fell victim Saturday to one of the best offenses in the country.

The Blue Raiders (1-5, 1-3) had a two-score lead in the second quarter before North Texas (2-3, 1-2) roared back and won 52-35 at Floyd Stadium.

“Give North Texas credit, their skill on offense was really good MTSU coach Rick Stockstill said. “They stoned us on both sides of the ball in the second half.

“In the first half, we started out and did a lot of good things on both sides of the ball. … I’m just disappointed in how we played in the second half.”

Everything went MTSU’s way for most of the first half.

The Blue Raiders used three Mean Green turnovers to take a 28-14 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the second quarter, scoring on three of their first five possessions.

It was MTSU’s defense that made things easy on their offense.

However, a North Texas touchdown late in the first half closed the score at the break to 28-21, and the momentum appeared to flip to the road team.

The Mean Green scored 35 unanswered points with three touchdowns in the third quarter and another 10 points in the fourth.

“We just didn’t tackle very good at all, and offensively, we didn’t do anything (in the second half),” Stockstill said. “We just didn’t play very good on either side of the ball.”

In the end, MTSU surrendered 768 total yards, including 462 rushing, which was the most total yards the Blue Raiders have ever allowed in a single game.

“It was a tough one,” junior safety Gregory Grate Jr. said. “We just need to fill our gaps and play discipline football. … We got out of our gaps sometimes and didn’t fill it how we were supposed to, and they burned us on it.”

MTSU will travel to Houston to take on Rice this week. The Owls haven’t played a game yet this season, making game planning this week a bit more difficult.

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