North Texas covers the spread, gets crushed 32-0

If you’re a gambling person, you could do worse than the Underdog teams. The powers that be seem to not pay very close attention to how the Group-of-Five teams are doing, resulting in inaccurate lines that would make you bank, if you were so inclined.

Appalachian State was only a 3.5 point underdog to Miami today, and lost by 35. Meanwhile, a bit further south, North Texas started the day a 36 point underdog to the Gators. We’re not saying they “held” Florida to only 32 points, but... we’re just saying.

Freshman Mason Fine was the only QB for North Texas all day, and he was stifled and overwhelmed, going 6 for 22 with 66 yards passing and a pick. The rest of the squad was similarly shut down, as the Mean Green finished the day with -13 yards rushing.

The Gators, meanwhile, put on the grand show we all expected, rushing for 255 yards as a team as Luke Del Rio threw for 216 more. The defense even forced a safety in the first quarter, just to help UNT manage expectations.

In all, this was not entirely unexpected, but the check cleared and that’s why we play games like this. In a week, North Texas travels to Rice for what may well be a deciding factor in who lands in last place in CUSA West. That game will go more smoothly.

The Gators, meanwhile, travel to Tennessee in a game where the Volunteers will also know what it feels like to be the underdog.