North Texas Leads Florida Atlantic 41-38 Late in the Fourth Quarter in Denton, With the Ball and Its Perfect American Record on the Line
The shootout delivered: 79 points and counting in Denton. With 5:55 left, North Texas led Florida Atlantic 41-38 and was driving at the Owls' 28, trying to stay perfect in the American Conference.
The preview promised points, and Denton got them. Late in the fourth quarter on Thursday night, North Texas led Florida Atlantic 41-38 at DATCU Stadium - 79 combined points - with the Mean Green holding the ball at the Florida Atlantic 28-yard line with 5:55 to play, trying to protect both the lead and a perfect American Conference record. This is a live file: no final result is claimed, and the result story belongs to the next cycle.
The shape of the night swung by quarters. Florida Atlantic led 10-3 after one and 24-24 was the halftime knot after North Texas answered with a 21-point second quarter. The third quarter belonged to the Mean Green, 17-7: a 48-yard field goal, Tayven Jackson's 4-yard touchdown pass to J. Stevenson, and Jahiem White's 1-yard touchdown run built the 41-31 edge, with C. Veltkamp's 22-yard strike to K. Shields-Dutton keeping the Owls inside one score.
White also supplied the night's strangest highlight before halftime. On a swing pass, he tried to hurdle a defender along the sideline, was popped out of bounds, and lost the ball into the air and into an FAU defender's arms - a play USA TODAY called a video game-esque fumble. Florida Atlantic could not turn the takeaway into points before the half.
Florida Atlantic's only fourth-quarter score so far - seven points in the quarter - cut the margin to three and set up the finish the conference race deserved: two 5-2 teams, one unbeaten league record (North Texas came in 3-0 in the American), and a Mean Green offense asked to close the game with the ball in its hands.
