FB: Third Downs, Penalties, and Special Teams Sink All Hope of a Power 5 Road Win

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North Texas (1-2 0-0) went to Iowa City to face off against the Iowa Hawkeyes (3-0 0-0) in search of their first win over a Power 5 conference school since facing off against the Texas Tech Raiders in 1999, defeating the Raiders 21-14 in Lubbock. Instead, the Mean Green fell to Iowa 31-14 with the Hawkeyes scoring 21 unanswered points and shutting out the Mean Green in the second half.

https://twitter.com/ZacharyABabb/status/909141161134059521

Going into the half, North Texas held a slim 14-10 lead over the Hawkeyes. The first half seemed especially sloppy as both teams were called for all sorts of penalties. Both teams were fairly equal on most stats. The second half was a different story for the Mean Green however.

Iowa was also its own worst enemy where they fumbled the football inside the NT 5 yard line into the end zone causing a touchback that later resulted in a Mean Green 41 yard rushing touchdown by Jeffery Wilson. Akrum Wadley also committed a Personal Foul – Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty several yards outside of the endzone taking a possible second touchdown off the board; Iowa had to settle for a 42 yard field goal by Miguel Recinos as the second quarter was starting to unwind.

https://twitter.com/swcroundup/status/909144317968752640

Third Down Not Friendly to the Mean Green

For the offense, North Texas did not convert a single third down to extend any drives. When it came to defense, the Hawkeyes were able to convert 11 of 18 (61%) on 3rd down and were four of five on 4th down.

Shanbour Gets His First Touchdown in a Mean Green Uniform

Quinn Shanbour completed a 13 yard pass to Jalen Guyton to put the Mean Green up 14-10 late in the second quarter.

Iowa Did What Iowa Does Best – Run The Ball

The Hawkeye offensive line wore down the Mean Green Defense as the game progressed, only giving the offense four total attempts to put together any kind of offensive drives. It was especially evident in the 4th quarter where the Mean Green had the ball for a shocking 2:37 for two series — 5 plays totalling 10 yards and an interception. In total, the Hawkeyes held the ball for an eye popping 21:21 — 43 total plays totalling 228 yards and three touchdowns.

Penalties a Problem for All Three Phases

Offense, Defense, and Special Teams all committed penalties that hurt the team at various points in the game. Those errors killed Mean Green offensive drives, extended Hawkeye offensive drives, and just overall hurt the team on special teams (Kick Interference). As I tweeted during the game, prior to the Iowa game North Texas had only committed 12 penalties for 98 in two games; Saturday afternoon the Mean Green committed 13 penalties for 113 yards.

Critical Errors Continue to Plague Special Team Unit

While there were no turnovers due to a muffed point, there was a blocked field goal attempt, a shanked punt, and several penalties committed by the Special Teams unit against Iowa. These errors must be fixed if North Texas is going to have any chance of competing against its conference opponents, with the first Conference USA opponent coming up next on Saturday, September 23rd in Denton, TX against the UAB Blazers.

A Tail of Two Halves

Media Coverage

Mean Green Sports

Denton Record Chronicle

• UNT’s defense shines in loss to Iowa

• Notebook: Wilson bounces back in UNT’s loss to Iowa

• Football: UNT leads Iowa in third before running out gas in 31-14 loss

North Texas Daily – Mistakes doom Mean Green in loss to Power Five foe Iowa

Post Game Press Conference

Highlight Reel

2017 C-USA Standings