Mean Green uses local flavor and tricks to rout Razorbacks

North Texas quarterback Mason Fine celebrates with fans after defeating Arkansas 44-17 after an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)

— For an under-recruited signal caller that grew up some 70 minutes from Reynolds Razorback Stadium and another who spent three years kicking inside of it, Saturday turned into a happy day.

Former Locust Grove, Okla., High School quarterback Mason Fine passed for 281 yards and one touchdown, former Arkansas placekicker Cole Hedlund nearly outscored his old team and Keegan Brewer returned a punt 90 yards for a score on a trick play designed by former Razorback graduate assistant Marty Biagi as North Texas routed Arkansas 44-17 before a crowd of 44,306.

While the Razorbacks were favored by seven points, the Mean Green (3-0) never trailed after jumping to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, due in part to two of the four interceptions thrown by Arkansas quarterback Cole Kelley on the day and the punt return.

“I don’t think it was an upset,” North Texas head coach Seth Littrell said. “We are very confident as a football team. We have done the right things and we are three years into our culture. You have got to give our players a lot of credit for their buy in and our coaches for building those relationships.

“We felt like it was going to be a challenging game. Anytime you go on the road, especially in the SEC and playing an opponent like Arkansas is going to be challenging, but we truly did feel like we had the best team.”

Fine - listed as 5-11, 185 pounds, but appearing smaller - passed for Oklahoma high school records of 13,081 yards and 166 touchdowns in his prep career. He played Saturday's game in front of several friends and family members who made the short drive to Arkansas.

“I think we went out there with a lot of energy and lots of focus and just executed the game plan,” Fine said. “I think our O-line was more physical, our receivers were more physical on the perimeter and opened up those holes more, our running backs hit the holes well and ran hard. I thought we were just more physical up front today.”

Fine, who threw for over 4,000 yards as a sophomore, admitted he viewed this as a big win, the first for North Texas over an SEC team since 1975.

“This was obviously a great team win,” Fine said. “It was obviously great to come on the road and get a win. Arkansas is a great team with a great venue and a great crowd. I felt like it would be tough, but we came in here and executed our game plan and just came out on top.”

Fine had only one Division I offer. It was North Texas, where Littrell snatched him up and hasn’t regretted the decision.

“He’s just a winner,” Littrell said.

Hedlund scored 14 points while kicking 3-of-3 field goals (24, 26 and 20 yards) and 5-of-5 PATs. He is now made all 10 field goals in just three games at North Texas after going 14-of-24 in three years at Arkansas.

“It feels amazing,” Hedlund said. “Just to be able to enjoy these moments with my teammates and coaches. There is nothing more special than that and to play at my alma mater, it just felt good.”

A North Texas reporter asked Hedlund about the boos he got when he came out for his first kick.

“It is just the same approach for every kick,” said Hedlund, brushing the question aside. “You just have to block it out. But it was great to get the field goals and it was a great win for my team.”

Hedlund, who moved on to North Texas as a graduate transfer, did say he felt bad for his old teammates.

“Anytime there is a loss it is tough, but I wish them the best of luck the rest of the season,” Hedlund said.


Brewer’s punt return has been worked on for a long time.

“We worked on it to try and execute like it was a fair catch so that the other team just sees it as a fair catch and begins to run off the field,” Brewer said. “We worked on it all week and knew when to trigger it. It was a whole team effort with everybody blocking and stuff. Nothing much to it besides executing.

“It’s been in the back of Coach Biagi’s head for a long time, but this was the first week of actually doing it.

“One of them actually asked me why they didn't blow the whistle. I didn’t say anything. I was like ‘I don’t know.’ But after he got past me, I knew it was go time and that’s all there was.”

Littrell was pumped to see the trick play work.

“It is awesome to see something worked that you have prepared for," Littrell said. “Marty had the right play, worked it all week and it took a lot of guts for somebody to stand back there and do that.”

"Brewer was afraid he might get hit."

It did cross his mind.

"There was definitely a thought in my head that I could definitely get hit," Brewer said, "but the way that punter punted actually was perfect for the play because he shot it low.”