North Texas vs. UL Lafayette final: Antoine Jimmerson puts on show in comeback win

The North Texas Mean Green stormed back from a 14-point deficit to the UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, sealing a 30-23 victory with a 78-yard touchdown in the game's final minutes. Beating the defending Sun Belt champions on national TV was one of the biggest wins in the recent history of the Mean Green, but Tuesday night belonged to freshman running back Antoinne Jimmerson of Desoto, who had 141 total yards and two touchdowns.

After the UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns tied the game in the fourth quarter at 23-23, things looked bad for the Mean Green. Their offense stumbled out to a 3rd-and-8 from their own 22, with a little over 2:00 left.

With the way Terrance Broadway had been orchestrating the Ragin' Cajun offense for most of the night, punting the ball away with such poor field position could have been deadly. However, with the UNT coaching staff still clearly unsure of starting quarterback Derek Thompson, they dialed up a "safe" screen play to Jimmerson.

The rest was history: Jimmerson read the blocks beautifully, weaving through the UL Lafayette defense before a brilliant cut-back at the 20-yard line got him into the end zone.

A fumble from a Ragin' Cajun running back on their last-minute drive ended the game.

For UNT, whose offense had been lacking a big-play element, unearthing Jimmerson may end up being the biggest victory of them all from Tuesday night.

UL Lafayette vs. North Texas update: Mean Green mount furious comeback, tie game

A failed UNT 4rth and goal conversion from the UL-Lafayette 1 yard line swung momentum in the third quarter, but not in the way you would initially expect.

While another missed chance at a TD could have been devastating to the Mean Green's psyche, they exploited the great field position they had and forced a Ragin Cajun punt from their own end zone.

They've been pounding the ball through the ground ever since, putting up an astounding 116 yards of rushing in the quarter. Brandin Byrd now has 16 rushes for 66 yards in the game while Jeremy Brown has reeled off 60 yards on 9 carries.

Freshman Antoine Jimmerson of Desoto, one of the best high-school programs in the DFW area, tied the game with an exciting 28-yard pitch and catch from Derek Thompson, picking up most of the yards after the catch.

And while Dan McCarney's aggressive play-calling didn't pay off initially against the Ragin Cajuns, it's looking like not taking the three points and sacrificing field position could be one of the biggest decisions of the year for the Mean Green.

North Texas vs. UL-Lafayette: Mean Green down 13-6 at half

North Texas trails UL-Lafayette 13-6 at the half, after a second quarter where Terrance Broadway made big plays for both teams.

Broadway's INT in Ragin Cajun territory set up the first points in the half for the Mean Green, a 25-yard field goal from Zach Olen.

But, on the next drive, Broadway kept the ball on a zone-read and got the corner on the UNT defense, weaving his way around the field en route to a 75-yard TD run.

The Mean Green found a running game, using the thunder-and-lightning duo of bruising senior RB Brandin Byrd (9 rushes for 31 yards) and lightning-bug freshman RB Antoinne Jimmerson (five rushes for 32 yards) to string together a few first downs.

However, missed opportunities may end up haunting Dan McCarney's team.

UNT had chances to put TD's on the board instead of FG's on both their drives -- WR Brelan Chancellor bobbled and dropped a potential 60-yard bomb off a play action while they had a false start ruin a chance to convert a 4th and 1 at the UL-Lafayette 3-yard line in the last minute of the half.

UNT vs. UL-Lafayette Score Update: Mean Green down, 6-0, after first quarter

A methodical 14-play TD drive by Terrance Broadway and the UL-Lafayette offense was the difference in the first quarter, as the Ragin' Cajuns (real name) got out to a 6-0 lead over North Texas in the game's first 12 minutes. They did not convert the extra point.

Also, this happened:

Broadway, a transfer from the University of Houston, completed 10-of-11 passes for 102 yards in the first quarter. An athletic 6'2, 205-pound dual-threat QB with a strong arm, he looks more talented than most of the Sun Belt-caliber players on the field.

His favorite targets have been Darryl Surgent (2 catches for 30 yards) and Harry Peoples (5 catches for 41 yards), as the duo have been easily beating the Mean Green defensive backs in one-on-one coverage.

North Texas, meanwhile, has struggled to get much offense going, with Will Atterberry getting off three punts already. Derek Thompson has completed 3-of-6 passes for only 35 yards, looking unsure of himself in the pocket and missing open receivers.

The Mean Green need to establish a running game for Thompson to play off of, but they've rushed for only 7 yards on 6 carries so far.

North Texas vs. UL Lafayette: Sun Belt comes to primetime as Mean Green host Ragin' Cajuns

The Sun Belt Conference gets primetime exposure on Tuesday night when the North Texas Mean Green host the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns.