Football

TROY, Alabama (10/24/09) - The Mean Green football team was unable to slow down an explosive offensive attack of the Troy Trojans and dropped their sixth straight contest 50-26 Saturday afternoon.

North Texas sophomore running back Lance Dunbar was a bright spot once again for the Mean Green. For the third straight contest Dunbar rushed for over 100 yards (14 carries-111 yards) and scored three touchdowns (2 rushing, 1 receiving).

However, the story of the afternoon was Troy senior quarterback Levi Brown throwing for a school record 469 yards on 27-of-44 passing, the most passing yards allowed by a North Texas defense since they joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2001.

Overall Troy outgained the Mean Green 697-395 in total yards.

In the first quarter Troy took the opening drive 60 yards in six plays and capped it off with a one-yard touchdown run from DuJuan Harris to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead.

Five minutes later it was Harris again, this time scoring on a three-yard run and pushing the Trojans lead to 14-0. It was the first time this season that North Texas had allowed touchdowns on back-to-back drives to begin the game.

After a three and out from the Mean Green offense the Trojans would put together a 13-play drive that ended in a 30-yard field goal from  Michael Taylor, putting the North Texas offense in a 17-0 hole. The 17 points was the most given up by the Mean Green defense in a first quarter this season.

North Texas would then put together their best drive of the half; a seven play, 75 yard drive that ended with a Dunbar three-yard touchdown making the score 17-7. The score was Dunbar's eighth rushing touchdown in his last three games and his 11^th of the season.

However, Troy would outscore North Texas 17-7 in the second quarter and took a 34-7 lead into halftime. Brown had a monster first half by completing 15-of-26 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown. Overall the Trojans held a 313-165 advantage in total yards in the first half. In fact Troy had six plays of 20 yards or more in the first 30 minutes.

North Texas struggled in the third quarter as well, allowing 16 more points, including a safety when Tune was dropped in the end zone. The Mean Green highlight of the third quarter came at the 11:47 mark when Tune dropped a screen pass to Dunbar and sophomore took care of the rest, racing 60-yards for the touchdown.

Dunbar showed his blazing speed one more time in the fourth quarter when he found a hole and ran free for a 69-yard touchdown, his team leading 14^th of the year. North Texas would score their other touchdown in the fourth quarter on a seven-yard strike to Michael Outlaw.

Overall Tune threw for 267 yards on 22-of-33 passing, two touchdowns and one interception. Outlaw tied a season-high with seven receptions for a season-high 112 yards.

The Mean Green will be back in action next Saturday when they host Western Kentucky at 3 p.m. from Fouts Field.