North Texas Holds Off Navy 49-39 with Two Special-teams Touchdowns
Take away the 76-yard punt return and the 63-yard fumble return and Navy wins this game 39-35. That is arithmetic, not opinion: North Texas got 14 of its 49 points on plays where its offense was not even on the field.
North Texas won anyway, 49-39, and it never trailed. Tayven Jackson threw touchdowns of 45 yards to Justin Stevenson and five yards to Kyle Koch in the first quarter, and it was 14-3. Navy's Jackson Gutierrez ran for an 18-yard score early in the second, Jahiem White made it 21-10, and Dalton Carnes returned a punt 76 yards for a 28-10 lead. Gutierrez ran in from a yard out with 11 seconds left in the half to make it 28-17.
Zakye Barker's fumble return made it 35-17 early in the third. Gutierrez answered with a 43-yard touchdown run and converted the two-pointer, Stevenson caught a 53-yard pass to push it to 42-25, and Michael Barrow caught a 15-yard pass from Gutierrez to make it 42-32 after three quarters. Barrow ran in from four yards out in the fourth to make it 42-39. White answered 71 seconds later with a 59-yard run to make it 49-39, and Navy did not score again.
Navy had more yards, 514 to 481, and ran for 371 of them. It did not matter much when 14 points went the other way on returns. North Texas moves to 5-2, and Navy falls to 2-5.
Fantasy takeaway: Gutierrez scored 52.1 Promethium points in a loss, which is a lot of points to have nothing to show for.