FRISCO BOWL: Boise State (9-4, 8-0) (-10.5) vs University of North Texas (7-6, 6-2)

 

FRISCO BOWL EDITION

Boise State University (-10.5) vs University of North Texas

Date: Saturday, December 17th, 2022

Time: 7:15 p.m. MT

Stadium: Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas (20,500)

TV:ESPN

TV Commentators: Dave Neal, Deuce McAllister, and Andraya Carter 

Radio: KBOI 670 AM

Commentators: Bob Behler and Pete Cavender

 Know Thy Enemy

Toyota Stadium, home of Major League Soccer club FC Dallas will play host to this year’s Frisco Bowl featuring the Broncos of Boise State and the North Texas Mean Green. Legend has it that the North Texas team got their name from UNT super fan Sidney Sue Graham. Little did she know that her unbridled cheering in the stands for the 1966 North Texas State University football team would evolve into one of college athletics’ catchiest nicknames. 

Sitting in the sands, Graham was yelling support for the Eagles’ defense. She knew her team, dressed in its home green uniforms, was better than the score was indicating that particular day. “Come on green, get mean” and “Here we go, mean green” she would yell to spur on her beloved team. 

Soon the students caught onto the nickname and then the media picked up on it and the nickname soon found itself in print on a regular basis when stories referred to the team’s defense in 1967. By 1968, it was used for the entire football team. 

The 2022 Mean Green are coming off their best season since 2018, but despite that fired their head coach following their loss in the C-USA championship game against the University of Texas San Antonio Roadrunners. 

North Texas played much better football this season at home than it did on the road, posting a near perfect 5-1 home record, but struggled away from Apogee Stadium going 2-5 on the road. 

Even with a 7-6 record the Mean Green are all but a boring team to watch. Their offense is averaging close to 34 points and 463 yards per game this season. Their passing attack led by quarterback Austin Aune is ranked 32nd in the nation, averaging 262 yards per game. The Mean Green are number #1 in the nation in passing yards per completion, averaging over 15 yards! North Texas loves to get as many players involved as possible on offense with five guys having 20 or more receptions on the season. Wide receivers Jyaire Shorter and Ja’Mori Maclin rank 1-2 nationally in yards per catch. In the run game, three different running backs are getting significant carries this year. 

As much as the offense loves to go up and down the field and fill up the stat sheet, their defense loves to let the other team do the same. Opponents are averaging 31 points and 460 yards per game. In five of their six losses the defense has given up 40+ points and the most they gave up in a win was 28. Senior linebacker KD Davis is the anchor of UNT’s defense. In the C-USA Championship game, Davis recorded 14 tackles which made him number one in career tackles at UNT. On the backend the Broncos will have to contend with Defensive back Ridge Texada who is fourth in the FBS with 18 passes defended this season.

North Texas just named Eric Morris, the former Washington State offensive coordinator, as their next head coach, but Phil Bennett will be tasked with the head coaching duties for the bowl game this year. Bennett is the defensive coordinator for the Mean Green and is in just his second second with the team. Mostly a defensive coordinator throughout his career, Bennett was the head coach at Southern Methodist University from 2002-2007. He has a head coaching record of 19-52, but more importantly, Bennet is undefeated in bowl games as a head coach posting a perfect 1-0 record. 

  Boise State and North Texas have met six times previously, with both the Broncos and Mean Green each securing three victories in the all-time series. Boise State and North Texas have also previously met in the postseason, with the Broncos earning a 24-20 victory in the 1994 NCAA I-AA (FCS) First Round Playoffs.

 

 

What Happened Last Time

Funny how things come full circle. The last time these two teams met was way back in 2000 in Dirk Koetter’s final season as head coach at Boise State. Dirk Koetter will be coaching his final game of his football career as offensive coordinator of the Broncos. However, on that day in the middle of October 2000,  Boise State put a hurtin’ on the Mean Green. Boise State ran up and down that blue field, to the tune of 583 yards and 59 points. David Mikell ran for 122 yards and three touchdowns and Bart Hendricks went 16-of-24 for257 yards and three scores.  Even the defense got involved with Julius Brown picking off two passes and returned one for a touchdown in the 59-0 romping of North Texas

Players to Watch 

NORTH TEXAS

JR., AUSTIN AUNE, QB #2

His baseball dreams didn’t pan out so he became college football’s oldest quarterback. Austin Aune played six years of Minor League Baseball in the New York Yankees farm system out of high school, but after being let go in 2017 he decided to try his hand at football. After enrolling at Arkansas in the spring of 2018 he quickly realized he wouldn’t see the field so he decided to transfer to North Texas, and as they say, “the rest is history.” In his time slinging the ball around for the Mean Green, Aune has amassed 7,086 passing yards and 55 touchdowns. The quarterback threw for almost half of the yards and over half of the touchdowns this season alone. 

JR., JYAIRE SHORTER, WR #16

Jyaire Shorter has a nose for the endzone. The 6’2” receiver out of Killeen, TX caught at least one pass in every game he played this year and found paydirt 10 times. He is the best deep ball threat with the Mean Green having multiple catches of 50+ yards this season. Boise State will have three receiver to keep their eyes on this week, but they better keep their eye on #16 before he burns them for six.  

SR., KD DAVIS, MLB #1

KD Davis is described as the heart and soul of the Mean Green defense. It seems fitting then that he would wear #1 and play middle linebacker which is right in the middle of the defense. The school all-time career leading tackler has over 100 tackles this season and has had 6 games of 10+ tackles including a 19-tackle effort against Louisiana Tech back in October. 

BOISE STATE 

FR., TAYLEN GREEN, QB #10

Making his second straight appearance as a player to watch, it will be interesting to see how the young quarterback responds after a tough loss. After the loss against BYU Green responded with a nice performance against Nevada throwing for over 200 yards and a score as well as running for another. The MW Championship game wasn’t Green’s best outing of the year and it could be argued that it was his worst. However, with the extra prep time and playing in his home state look out for #10 to shine bright in the Lone Star state on Saturday.

Rs.JR., GEORGE HOLANI, RB #24

Likely his last game in blue and orange, George Holani has been a catalyst for this Boise State team. The stat that the Broncos are undefeated when he rushes for 100-yards alone is worthy of being an all-time great. Holani’s ability and leadership will be missed, but no one should fault him for trying his hand at the next level. Over his career Holani has rushed for over 2,800 yards and 19 touchdowns. This year alone he rushed for 1,133 yards and 10 scores. He’s averaging over 5.2 yards per carry over his career and with a big game on Saturday could jump as high as 8th all-time in career rushing yards at Boise State. 

Rs.SO., GABE HUNTER, EDGE #54

The sophomore from Texas bet on himself and instead of going to any one of the service academy’s or Ivy League’s decided to walk-on at Boise State and in three seasons with the program has gone from buried on the depth chart to starting at one of the premiere positions on the Broncos defense. Hunter said his rise to the top has all come because of hard work and making the most of his opportunities. The most memorable of his opportunities to date was his game-sealing interception against Utah State a few weeks ago. 

Focus Position Group: Secondary

Once again Boise State will be tested through the air. Boise State’s defensive backs have had a rough time this year against prolific passing attacks and this week against UNT will be no different. The Broncos will have to shut down two big time receivers in Shorter and Maclin. In the Mountain West Championship game it seemed the back end was having some communication mix ups that led to broken and even blown coverages a few times. If Boise State wants to win they will need stellar effort from the back end of their defense.  

Rev's Route to a Bronco Win

1. DANCE WITH THE ONE WHO BROUGHT YOU

Since the “change” Boise State has become a fierce rushing machine with the combo of Holani and Jeanty. In the past nine games, Boise State has run the football for 200 or more yards 6 times, 250 or more 4 times, and over 300 yards twice. It did seem however that the Broncos gave up on the run game early on in the Mountain West championship. This week the boys have to commit to running the football. This North Texas team is getting gashed in run defense and ranked 8th in their conference. Boise State’s hallmark is running the football and as the song goes, “dance with the one who brought you.”

2. PICKS AND SACKS

The name of the game is keeping the ball on offense and taking it away on defense. Boise State’s defense really did a decent job against the Bulldogs in the championship. Outside of a few plays here or there, Fresno State didn’t every have a long sustained drive. This week they go against an offense that seems to be all gas and no breaks. They even protect the quarterback well. The Mean Green have only given up 2 sacks since the start of November. Boise State needs to crank up the heat and force a few turnovers and get after Aune if they want to come out on top.  

3. MAKE THEM REMEMBER

In 2015 Boise State was given the opportunity to play in the Poinsettia Bowl against a Northern Illinois team who was coming off a loss in their conference championship game. From the opening kickoff you could tell that the Broncos were the ones motivated to be there. Boise State controlled every facet of the game en route to a 55-7 blowout win. Someone once said, “A situation is and forever will be, what you make of it.” Boise State needs to be the ones that come out motivated to be there. Is this the bowl they hoped for? Maybe not, but this is the bowl they got and they should take the opportunity to make the Mean Green remember the night they played the Broncos.  

 

Editor Note: 

Texas Ties 

Andy Avalos is trying his best to open up a recruiting pipeline to the great state of Texas. Currently the Broncos have 11 players on the roster from Texas, including the fearsome-foursome of Taylen Green, Ashton Genty, Eric McAlister, and Latrell Caples. The media was able to speak to Caples this week and he said he has about “25 tickets” out to friends and family who are coming to watch him. 

PHASE 10

Dating back to 1999, Boise State has had six seasons that they didn’t win at least 10 games. There was even a stretch of five years where they didn’t win less than 11 games. The Broncos haven’t won 10 games since 2019, but a win on Saturday would get them to that coveted spot. Not to mention a Win on Saturday would be the first bowl win for the Broncos since 2018.  

Sunday Sermon Title:

MEAN GREEN WITH ENVY: Boise State Throttles North Texas In Big Bowl Blowout 

To me this game has 2015 Deja Vu all over it. Boise State is facing a decent North Texas team, but let's face it as a Mean Green team who loses their coach just two weeks before a game the motivation to play isn’t there. Not to mention your “reward” is to go play in a game 30 minutes from campus. You could see it on their faces and hear it in their voices that the Broncos aren’t going to let that taste of losing enter their mouth any time soon. Boise State comes out on fire making this one ugly. 

Boise State 49, North Texas 14