No. 23 North Texas beats San Diego State 49-47 in high-scoring New Mexico Bowl
Caleb Hawkins ran for two touchdowns and caught a scoring pass, Ashton Gray added a pair of rushing touchdowns and Cameron Dormer had two scoring catches as No. 23 North Texas beat San Diego State 49-47 in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday night.
Hawkins carried 30 times and gained 197 yards, scoring on runs of 9 and and 3 yards, along with a 23-yard TD reception. Gray ran for 152 yards on 16 rushes. Dormer had six receptions for 66 yards, including TD catches of 1 and 31 yards.
North Texas (12-2) quarterback Drew Mestemaker was 27 of 47 passing for 250 yards and three TDs.
San Diego State (9-4) stayed close thanks to the rushing of backup quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr., who ran for 170 yards and two scores, including a 72-yarder, before injuring his wrist and leaving the game with 6:07 remaining in the second quarter.
Although his backup, Kyle Crum, did complete his first pass for a 3-yard touchdown to make it 28-20, he was not the same rushing threat as Emanuel and he had trouble moving the Aztecs through the air.
The third quarter was telling as the Mean Green scored twice on a Hawkins run and a Dormer catch while SDSU managed just 11 total yards. North Texas led 42-20 entering the fourth quarter.
Crum, who finished with 169 passing yards, did score two rushing TDs in the fourth quarter.
And, Nathan Acevedo returned a Mean Green punt 63 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 42-34. He later added a 65-yard kickoff return.
But a 75-yard drive, capped by a Dormer's 31-yard scoring catch, made it 49-34.
San Diego State scored twice, including with one second left, to make the final two-point margin.
North Texas: In what could be his last appearance with the Mean Green, former walk-on Mestemaker did not make a strong case for a big NIL payday after recently entering the transfer portal.
San Diego State: Hawkins, a freshman, finished the season with 25 touchdowns and 1,434 yards.
North Texas: The first order of business will be finding a permanent head coach to lead the Mean Green at Indiana, which ended the regular season ranked No. 1.
San Diego State: The Aztecs will open their move to the revamped Pac-12 at home against Portland State.
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