North Texas running back Lance Dunbar was touted as the Mean Green’s top offensive threat.
The owner of several school records had a hard time getting started against Alabama’s highly-ranked run defense.
By halftime, Dunbar had 10 carries but zero yards to show for it. He was stopped behind the line five times in the first two quarters. A preseason concussion stunted some of his progress after being named to the Doak Walker Award watch list.
He finished with 16 yards on 17 carries for an average of 0.9 per rush.
Dunbar ran for 105 total yards in losses to Florida International and Houston in the first two weeks of the season.
The second half started better for Dunbar with a 20-yard reception that gave North Texas its second first down of the night.
Field position
Alabama dominated the battle for territory in the first half.
North Texas never started a drive deeper than its 27 and took over at the 20 or deeper in four of the six first-half drives. It never crossed the 50 until the first drive of the second half reached the Tide 30 before missing a field goal.
Alabama never started deeper than its 22 and twice took over inside North Texas territory before halftime.
O-line shuffled
The Alabama offensive line didn’t change much at Penn State, but the experimentation returned against North Texas.
Coming out for its third possession, Barrett Jones shifted from left tackle to right tackle as freshman Cyrus Kouandjio took his spot. D.J. Fluker, the usual starting right tackle, went to the bench for the possession.
Jones now has played all five spots on the offensive line.
He played center the next possession after starter William Vlachos went down with an injury on Eddie Lacy’s 43-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
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