Mean Green, baby. Grady Mayhew-Ochoa here, sticks in my back pocket, brushes on the snare, coming to you from a back booth on the Denton Square. I'm a jazz drummer. I hear football in time signatures. Most offenses play in four-four: run, run, pass, punt. The North Texas offense plays in seven-eight, the kind of time that makes defensive coordinators count on their fingers and still come in a beat late.
Two notes before the downbeat. First, North Texas did not play last Saturday. It was an open week, honest and simple, so my game review is the last time the band was on stage, Oct. 10 against Charlotte. Second, the next gig is on the road, in Annapolis, against a Navy team that plays in a very different key.
Part 1: The Last Set, North Texas 50, Charlotte 10
The open week came after a rout. On Oct. 10 at DATCU Stadium, Tayven Jackson threw five touchdown passes, a personal best for the second straight game, and North Texas beat Charlotte 50-10.
Listen to the arrangement. Dominic De Freitas opened with a 26-yard field goal. Then Jackson hit Justin Stevenson for a 5-yard touchdown. In the second quarter it turned into a solo: a 12-yard touchdown to Kyle Koch, a 75-yard bomb to Baron Tipton, a safety, a 61-yard Jahiem White touchdown run and a 20-yard touchdown to Max Reese with 20 seconds left in the half. The halftime score was 40-10. Jackson's fifth touchdown, 34 yards to Stevenson, made it 47-10 in the third quarter, and he sat for the fourth.
Jackson finished 24 of 31 for 349 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. White ran 12 times for 105 yards. Stevenson, a senior transfer from Wyoming, caught nine passes for 122 yards and two scores, his second straight two-touchdown game. North Texas gained 580 yards and didn't turn the ball over. On defense, Davion Rhodes had two sacks, and CJ Coombes and Tyson Wilson each made an interception.
Honest critique from the drum chair: Charlotte hit a 75-yard touchdown pass on the play right after we scored. That's a dropped beat. And North Texas went 5-for-14 on third down. The band was loud but not always tight.
So far the season reads like a setlist. A 52-16 loss at Indiana. A 44-6 win over UNLV. A 49-35 loss at Texas State. A 63-14 win over Houston Christian. A 45-44 overtime win at Tulsa on Oct. 2. Then Charlotte. North Texas is 4-2 and 2-0 in the American.
Part 2: North Texas at Navy
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, on CBS Sports Network, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. North Texas (4-2, 2-0) at Navy (2-4, 1-3).
Our Band
North Texas averages 533.8 yards per game, third in FBS. It throws for 347 yards per game, second in the nation, and scores 42.2 points per game, fifth. Jackson has thrown for 1,868 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions, completing 72.2 percent of his passes. White has 687 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 96 carries. Stevenson leads the receivers with 33 catches for 453 yards and five touchdowns.
The band converts 48.8 percent of its third downs, 21st, and scores on 93.9 percent of its red zone trips, 16th. It holds the ball for 33:00 per game, 17th. The Mean Green don't just play fast. They hold the stage.
Navy's Key Signature
Navy plays the ballad. One note, played forever, with feeling. The Midshipmen run for 297.8 yards per game, fourth in FBS, and throw for 115.5, 134th. Jackson Gutierrez has more than 640 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. That's a real groove, and their defense stops the run, too, allowing just 98.8 yards per game, 21st.
But the pass defense? Navy allows 247.7 passing yards per game, 113th in FBS. Opponents convert 44.6 percent of their third downs, 121st. And opponents score on 87.5 percent of their red zone trips, 95th. Against the second-best passing offense in the country, that's a drummer who forgot his sticks.
Navy's turnover margin is minus-6, 126th. North Texas is plus-2, 47th.
The Honest Part of the Chart
My music teacher said honest players get more gigs, so here's the note. North Texas allows 29.2 points per game, 113th in FBS, and 142.7 rushing yards per game, 73rd. Navy will run, and run, and run. And North Texas commits 70.2 penalty yards per game, 115th. Rushing the tempo is how you lose a song. Stay in the pocket, fellas.
Navy has also been close in every loss. It lost by four last week at UTSA. It lost by five at Air Force, four at UAB and eight at Florida Atlantic. Navy plays a long, slow song, and it's still on its feet at the final note.
The Series
CollegeFootballData.com lists Navy ahead 2-1 in the series. Navy won 74-62 in Denton in 2007, a game with 136 points, which is basically free jazz. Navy won 27-24 in Annapolis in 2023. North Texas won 31-17 in Denton last season. Time to even the record.
Tour Notes: Denton vs. Annapolis
Denton. Denton is a city of 139,869 at the 2020 census, at the north end of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex on Interstate 35, and Wikipedia says it's known for its active music scene. Wikipedia says its big annual events, including the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo and the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival, draw more than 300,000 people to town every year. The University of North Texas College of Music was the first school to offer a degree in jazz studies. Yes, baby. Jazz studies as a college degree started right here. This is my kind of town. Since 1976, the Denton Community Band and Jazz Ensemble has been playing local concerts and holiday festivals, too.
Our stadium has its own sound, too. DATCU Stadium opened in 2011 and was the first newly built stadium to achieve LEED Platinum certification. It has a giant eagle wing in the end zone facing the freeway, and a scale-replica cannon named "Boomer" that fires every time the team scores. Against Charlotte, Boomer got a workout. And the school shares its nickname with the most famous Mean Green of all, Pro Football Hall of Famer "Mean" Joe Greene.
Annapolis. Annapolis is the capital of Maryland and a very handsome harbor town of 40,812. It was also the capital of the United States for a while. Congress was in session in the Maryland State House from Nov. 26, 1783, to Aug. 19, 1784. Less than nine months. Baby, I've had gigs with a longer run than that. The whole country came to Annapolis, looked around and moved out before the end of the next summer.
Annapolis calls itself "America's Sailing Capital" and hosts the world's largest in-water sailboat show. That's beautiful. But a sailboat only goes where the wind sends it. North Texas brings its own wind.
The Closing Number
Here's the arrangement. Throw early. Let Jackson attack a pass defense ranked 113th. Make Navy chase the score so it can't play the slow song. Tackle Gutierrez, cut the penalties, and don't hand the Midshipmen the extra possessions they need.
Count it off. Seven-eight time, baby.
My call: North Texas Mean Green 34, Navy Midshipmen 30.