Game Reviews: North Texas & Western Kentucky
GAME 7 • October 22, 2011 North Texas 38, ULM 21 Denton, Texas • Apogee Stadium Att: 17,815
GAME 8 • October 29, 2011 Western Kentucky 31, ULM 28 (OT) Monroe, La. • Malone Stadium Att: 13,428
DENTON, Texas -- North Texas scored 17-unanswered points over the final 17 minutes of the game to defeat ULM 38-21 in Sun Belt Conference action at Apogee Stadium. Jyruss Edwards tied the game with an 8-yard touchdown run with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter, but it was all North Texas from that point on. Zach Olen, who was just 5-for-13 on the season, booted a 46-yard field goal to give the Mean Green (3-5, 2-2 Sun Belt) the lead for good at 24-21 with 1:29 to play in the third quarter. The Warhawks (2-5, 1-2) appeared to push Olen out of his range on third down as Troy Evans dropped Derek Thompson for a 9-yard sack. Still trailing by just three with 6:31 to play in the game the ULM offense took over on its own 20-yard line. On 2nd-and-10 from the ULM 33-yard line, Brandon Akpunku got into the ULM backfield and stripped the ball from Warhawk quarterback Kolton Browning. Julian Herron scooped the loose ball and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown. An interception on ULM’s next possession gave North Texas the ball on its own 37-yard line; two plays later Lance Dunbar broke through the middle of the ULM defense for a 60-yard touchdown run. It was the longest rushing play allowed by ULM this season and the first of over 30 yards allowed. Dunbar, one of the league’s most dangerous runners, was held in check for most of the game. He finished with 139 yards on 29 carries. Thompson finished 23-of-39 for 332 yards and three touchdowns. Chris Bynes had eight catches for 85 yards and a pair of scores, while Brelan Chancellor had five catches for 113 yards and a score. The Warhawks opened the game with some fireworks as Luther Ambrose returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. It was his second career kickoff return for a score and the first for ULM since 2008. Ambrose became ULM’s all-time leader in kickoff return yards on the play. Chancellor tied the game midway through the quarter with a 40-yard grab from Thompson. Centarius Donald gave the lead back to the Warhawks with a punishing 15-yard run to cap a 6-play, 80yard drive. Donald rushed for 84 yards on 11 carries before leaving the game in the third quarter with an injury. Browning was 15-of-33 for 195 yards through the air. Brent Leonard was his favorite target as he pulled in eight catches for 113 yards. Tavarese Maye, who had 161 yards receiving in ULM’s win at Troy last week, was held without a catch for the first time in his career. Bynes caught the first of his two touchdown passes with just over eight minutes to play in the second quarter to tie the game at 14-all at the half. Thompson found him again, this time from 13-yards out, midway through the third quarter to give the Mean Green a 21-14 lead. ULM answered on the ensuing possession to tie the game for the third time. Browning completed a 34yard pass to Zarrell Sanders on the second play of the drive and Donald followed with a 33-yard run down to the North Texas 8-yard line. Edwards finished the deed on the next play with his third rushing touchdown of the season. ULM linebacker Jason Edwards finished with a game-high and career-high 13 tackles.
MONROE, La. -- Jesse Roy booted a 24-yard field goal in overtime to lift Western Kentucky past ULM 31-28 in a wild game that featured four touchdowns in the final five minutes of regulation. ULM started the wild finish thanks to a pair of touchdowns from Kolton Browning with the Warhawks trailing 20-7. Browning pulled the Warhawks within six on a 22-yard strike to Colby Harper with 4:49 to play in the quarter. The sophomore signal caller completed six passes and had one rush for 11 yards on the drive. Browning completed 29-of-59 passes for a career-high 365 yards and two touchdowns in the game. His attempts were the third most in school, his completions were the sixth most in school history, and his passing yards were the 18th most in school history. Harper had a career night with eight catches for 110 yards and Brent Leonard added six catches for 80 yards. Leonard moved into a tie for 10th on the ULM single-season receptions list with 54. Following a defensive stand, the Warhawks took over possession on their own 6-yard line with just over three minutes to play and no timeouts. Browning led the Warhawks on a 14-play drive that took 2:13 off the clock. He called his own number on 3rd-and-goal from the six and rushed up the middle for the score. John Evans returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards to the ULM 9-yard line with a minute to play in the contest. Two plays later Bobby Rainey rushed in from four yards out to give WKU the lead 26-21; a two-point conversion erased an earlier missed extra point to push the score out to 28-21. Not to be outdone by the drama in game six of the World Series, the Warhawks marched the length of the field in 32 seconds to tie the game. Browning opened the drive with a 19-yard pass to Leonard and then found a wide open Tavarese Maye for a 56-yard pass-and-catch down to the WKU 7-yard line. With just six seconds remaining, Browning found Anthony McCall in the front of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown. Justin Manton added the extra point to send the game into overtime. ULM took possession of the ball first in overtime and quickly got the ball down to the WKU 3-yard line on an 11-yard run by Jyruss Edwards and a 12-yard catch by Leonard. However, on the next play Derrius Brooks intercepted Browning’s fade pass in the end zone. Rainey carried the ball four straight times for the Hilltoppers before Roy booted his 24-yard attempt through the uprights for the game winner. Rainey rushed for 104 yards on 30 carries and Kawaun Jakes finished 13-of-22 for 155 yards and two touchdowns. The Warhawks dominated the stat sheet as they out-gained the Hilltoppers 456-283 in the game. ULM defensive end Ken Dorsey finished the game with 2.0 sacks, 3.0 tackles for loss; he was responsible for 43 negative yards in the contest. ULM opened the scoring early in the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Mitchell Bailey to cap an 8-play drive. WKU then rolled off 20-unanswered points to take the 20-7 lead. Jakes had touchdown passes of 13 and 15 yards to Mitchell Henry and Rainey, respectively, and Kadeem Jones added a 1-yard touchdown run.
Score by Quarters Western Kentucky ULM
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ULM 14 0 7 0 21 North Texas 7 7 10 14 38 Scoring Summary ULM - Ambrose 100-yard kickoff return (Manton kick), 14:48, 1st UNT - Chancellor 40-yard pass from Thompson (Olen kick), 6:22, 1st ULM - Donald 15-yard run (Manton kick), 1:01, 1st UNT - Bynes 9-yard pass from Thompson (Olen kick), 8:23, 2nd UNT - Bynes 13-yard pass from Thompson (Olen kick), 5:53, 3rd ULM - Edwards 8-yard run (Manton kick), 4:35, 3rd UNT - Olen 46-yard field goal, 1:29, 3rd UNT - Herron 16-yard fumble return (Olen kick), 5:13, 4th UNT - Dunbar 60-yard run (Olen kick), 2:57, 4th FIRST DOWNS RUSHES-YARDS (NET) PASSING YDS (NET) Passes Att-Comp-Int TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS Punts (Number-Avg) Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Possession Time Third-Down Conversions
0-7 7-7 7-14 14-14 21-14 21-21 24-21 31-21 38-21
ULM UNT 18 20 35-142 33-127 201 332 35-16-1 39-23-1 70-343 72-459 7-38.3 8-42.2 1-1 0-0 1-5 3-35 29:05 30:55 2 of 14 6 of 16
RUSHING: (ULM) Donald 11-84 (TD), Browning 10-22, Bailey 6-22, Edwards 6-15 (TD), Wells 1-1; (UNT) Dunbar 29-139 (TD), Thompson 4-(-12) PASSING: (ULM) Browning 15-32-0-195, Wells 1-3-1-6; (UNT) Thompson 23-39-0-332 (3 TD) RECEIVING: (ULM) Leonard 8-113, Edwards 3-21, Sanders 2-47, Harper 2-15, McCall 1-5; (UNT) Bynes 8-85 (2 TD), Chancellor 5-113 (TD), Dunbar 4-50, Delgado 3-56, Taylor 1-15, Outlaw 1-8, Power 1-5
106
1 2 3 4 OT Score 0 13 7 8 3 31 0 7 0 21 0 28
Scoring Summary ULM - Bailey 5-yard run (Manton kick), 13:50, 2nd WKU - Henry 13-yard pass from Jakes (Roy kick blocked), 8:48, 2nd WKU - Jones 1-yard run (Roy kick), 3:21, 2nd WKU - Rainey 13-yard pass from Jakes (Roy kick), 2:40, 3rd ULM - Harper 22-yard pass from Browning (Manton kick), 4:49, 4th ULM - Browning 6-yard run (Manton kick), 1:00, 4th WKU - Rainey 4-yard run (Brand pass from Jakes), 0:38, 4th ULM - McCall 7-yard pass from Browning (Manton kick), 0:06, 4th WKU - Roy 24-yard field goal, OT FIRST DOWNS RUSHES-YARDS (NET) PASSING YDS (NET) Passes Att-Comp-Int TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS Punts (Number-Avg) Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Possession Time Third-Down Conversions
7-0 7-6 7-13 7-20 14-20 21-20 21-28 28-28 28-31
WKU ULM 19 30 47-128 30-91 155 365 22-13-1 59-29-1 69-283 89-456 5-40.4 5-28.6 1-1 0-0 8-66 11-76 31:59 28:01 9 of 17 7 of 18
RUSHING: (ULM) Browning 15-29 (TD), Maye 2-25, Edwards 9-21, Ambrose 1-8, Bailey 3-8 (TD); (WKU) Rainey 30-104 (TD), Evans 4-19, Jones 4-12 (TD), Andrews 2-11, Simpson 2-7, Jakes 4-(-24) PASSING: (ULM) Browning 29-59-1-365 (2TD); (WKU) Jakes 13-22-1-155 (2TD) RECEIVING: (ULM) Harper 8-110 (TD), Leonard 6-80, McCall 4-48, Edwards 4-39, Maye 2-56, Bailey 2-11, Ambrose 2-6, Hamm 1-15; (WKU) Rainey 4-47 (TD), Henry 2-37 (TD), Brown 2-34, German 2-22, Doyle 2-11, Brand 1-4
2012 ULM Warhawk Football