Frisco, Tx—North Texas (7-7) had a chance to tie or win the game in the last few minutes of the 2022 Frisco Bowl on Saturday night at Toyota Stadium but fell short despite putting up a bowl record 435 yards of total offense in a 35-32 loss to Boise State.
Boise State quarterback Taylen Green accounted for 256 yards and three touchdowns helped the Broncos to seal the win.
Green, who is from nearby Lewisville, rushed for two touchdowns during Boise State’s bowl-program-record 22-point third quarter that had five lead changes. He threw for 137 passing yards and one touchdown in Broncos’ first bowl victory since 2017.
”The message at halftime was just keep doing what we’re doing and don’t stress,” Green said. ”We’ve been in this position before. We trust the game plan, we trust the coaches. We told ourselves to stay calm and do what we do.”
The Broncos outscored North Texas 29-22 in the second half after the Mean Green led 10-6 at halftime.
The game was a lot of trash talking throughout the game and it eventually came to a head in the 3rd quarter.
Green was surrounded on the sideline by North Texas players after a hard hit, Boise State wide receiver Latrell Caples came flying into the fray and shoving a North Texas player out of the way to get to get to his quarterback.
Once Caples got to Green, several players from both teams started fighting on the North Texas sideline in an all-out brawl.
It took the officiating crew several minutes to sort out who should be penalized from both teams, but ultimately all unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were offset and the down was replayed. In addition, there were no ejections for the several players from both teams involved in the brawl but tensions were high for the majority of the game.
With three minutes to play in the third and North Texas up 24–21, the Broncos faced a 2nd-and-15 from their own 44-yard line. Taylen Green dropped back to pass, was flushed from the pocket and ran out to his left and took a big hit that sent him into the North Texas bench, that started the fracas.
Green scored on a 19-yard touchdown scamper later in the drive to give the Broncos a 28–24 lead.
Freshman running back Ashton Jeanty ran for 178 yards as Boise State (10-4) racked up a season-high 320 yards rushing.
”It’s so gratifying to be able to see these guys celebrate,” Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. ”It’s tough to leave the locker room right now being around the guys, just because they deserve this.”
In his final collegiate game, quarterback Austin Aune completed 17 of 32 pass attempts for 238 yards, a touchdown and a pair of picks, while the program’s all-time leading tackler, linebacker KD Davis, finished his UNT career with five tackles before leaving the contest in the final minutes with an injury.
UNT forced a punt to take possession with 1:20 to play down three points but failed to get a first down as Boise State improved to 10-4 on the season after an undefeated run through the Mountain West.
Sophomore Iakika Ragsdale ran 21 times for 94 yards and two touchdowns for North Texas. Sophomore Jordan Smart caught three passes for 94 yards.
”I feel like we were playing well the whole game,” Ragsdale said. ”But in the second half I felt like we just had to keep scoring. We had motivation to go out there and score every drive.”
UNT (7-7) forced a punt to take possession with 1:20 to play down three points but failed to get a first down as Boise State improved to 10-4 on the season after an undefeated run through the Mountain West.
UP NEXT:
North Texas: The Mean Green begin a new era under Morris, who returns to Texas after spending four years as head coach of Incarnate Word and five years as an assistant at Texas Tech.
Boise State: Avalos continues his pursuit to return the Broncos to national prominence after Boise State finished with four losses for the second straight season – the first time that’s happened since 1996-98, Boise State’s first three years in the FBS. The Broncos did finish with 10 wins for the 18th time in 24 seasons, and have gone undefeated in MWC play three of the last four seasons. But they haven’t cracked the AP Top 25 in either of Avalos’s two seasons after being ranked every season from 2002-2020.
