North Texas coach Seth Littrell understands the questions that come on a weekly basis about the Mean Green’s quarterback situation.
It isn’t often a team rotates players under center throughout the season.
Some weeks it’s been Austin Aune who has excelled. Others, it’s been Jason Bean.
Aune took his turn on Friday in the Mean Green’s 45-43 win over UTEP at Apogee Stadium. The former Argyle standout threw for 302 yards and five touchdowns and played a part in wide receiver Jaelon Darden’s historic night. The senior became UNT’s all-time leader in both receptions (230) and receiving yards (2,782) after catching eight passes for 173 yards and four touchdowns.
“It’s good to see 45 points on the board,” Aune said. “We feel like every week we have the opportunity to do that. That is our standard and goal, to score a lot of points.”
UNT did just that on a night when Aune hit Darden for all four of his touchdowns after coming off the bench.
Bean lost a fumble on the Mean Green’s second offensive play.
Aune came in and quickly settled in a rhythm. He played the rest of the way and completed 16 of 29 passes. He also rushed for 22 yards and another touchdown.
“Aune went in and made a lot of big plays,” Littrell said. “He got into the flow of the game. I am excited about both those guys.”
Littrell has maintained throughout the season that he is comfortable going with the player with the hot hand. That’s exactly what he did in UNT’s win over UTEP.
“We planned to play both,” Littrell said. “I was going to put Aune in the second or third series. It’s nothing Bean did wrong. It’s just the way it worked out tonight.”
Fourth-down failure comes back to haunt UNT
UNT failed to convert on a key fourth-down situation late in the first half that helped turn momentum UTEP’s way.
UNT linebacker Kevin Wood intercepted a Calvin Brownholtz pass and returned it to the UTEP 40 late in the first half. The Mean Green pushed the ball to the Miners’ 35-yard line, where they faced a fourth-and-5 situation.
UTEP defensive end Praise Amaewhule stopped Aune three yards short of the first-down marker. UTEP took over and scored eight plays later on a 7-yard run by Deion Hankins that gave the Miners a 21-17 lead at halftime.
Briefly …
- UNT was without two defensive starters for its game against UTEP.
Linebacker Tyreke Davis missed the game due to injury, while cornerback Cam Johnson was away from the team attending to family issues.
Johnson had started all eight of UNT’s games and came into the game ranked fourth on the team with 41 tackles.
Davis has been in and out of UNT’s lineup all season due to injury and coronavirus-related issues. He has played in just five games this season but still came into the day in a tie for seventh among UNT players with 31 tackles.
- UNT was officially the visitor for its game against UTEP. The game was scheduled to be played on Oct. 31 in El Paso before being shifted to Denton due to concerns over the rising number of coronavirus cases in El Paso.
UNT paid for UTEP’s travel expenses to play the game in Denton.
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December 12, 2020 at 12:15PM
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UNT notebook: Aune gets into flow of game, throws for five TDs - Denton Record Chronicle
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