DENTON, Texas – Non-conference play for the 2026 season came to an end on Saturday night at DATCU Stadium for HCU football with North Texas defeating the Huskies, 63-14.
North Texas (2-2) began the game with the ball and the Mean Green proceeded to score on each of their first two drives for an early 14-0 lead. The Huskies (2-3) responded, however, on their next drive. HCU started at its own 25-yard line and put together a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that included a successful fourth-down conversion, 49-yard completion from
Cutter Stewart to
Trayjen Llanas-Wilcox and a two-yard touchdown pass to
Jett Runion.
The Huskies forced a punt on the next UNT possession that resulted in a touchback and gave HCU the ball at the 20. It took six plays for HCU to find the end zone with
Maddox Kopp scrambling 26 yards to earn the six points and
Lukasz Smolen booted the PAT through the uprights to even things up, 14-14, with 11:58 on the clock in the second quarter.
It was all UNT from there, however, as the hosts kept the HCU offense at bay.
Ejike Brown finished the night with four tackles, including a sack that gives him two on the season, while
Jayven Anderson and
Brenden Bradshaw led the Huskies with six tackles each. Offensively, Stewart finished the game 9-of-15 passing for 123 yards with a touchdown. Kopp led HCU with 29 yards on the ground, rushing for the one touchdown, while also completing 4-of-6 passing for 24 yards.
North Texas finished the game with 648 yards of total offense while limiting the Huskies to 222. HCU totaled 148 yards through the air and 74 on the ground.
The Huskies, after playing four of their first four games of the season on the road, return home next weekend to host Nicholls on Saturday, Oct. 3, for a 6:00 p.m. matchup at Husky Stadium.
