ANNAPOLIS — Navy had the ball for more than 37 minutes, piled up 506 yards and clawed back from 18 points down. It wasn’t enough to overcome two touchdowns North Texas scored without its offense on the field.
The Mean Green beat the Midshipmen 49-39 Saturday in front of a Homecoming crowd of 33,166 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, snapping Navy’s eight-game home winning streak. Navy fell to 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the American Conference. North Texas improved to 5-2 and stayed unbeaten in league play at 3-0.
Junior quarterback Jackson Gutierrez ran 26 times for 228 yards and three touchdowns and completed 7 of 10 passes for 133 yards and another score. His 361 yards of total offense marked his second 300-yard game of the season.
“We did some really good things offensively, but the difference in the game was the 14 points scored on non-offensive touchdowns,” Navy coach Brian Newberry said.
Two returns turn the game
North Texas went up 7-0 on a 45-yard pass from Tayven Jackson to Justin Stevenson. Nolan Bartley’s 31-yard field goal capped an 11-play Navy drive, but Jackson found Kyle Koch for a 5-yard score with 26 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 14-3.
Gutierrez answered with an 18-yard touchdown run, and Jahiem White answered right back with a short scoring run for a 21-10 North Texas lead. Then Dalton Carnes took a Jacob Carlson punt 76 yards for a touchdown with 4:22 left in the half. Newberry said North Texas lined up two gunners on the play, a look Navy had practiced against several times that week but didn’t execute.
Navy cut the halftime deficit to 28-17 with a 13-play, 75-yard drive finished by Gutierrez’s 1-yard run with 11 seconds left. North Texas had scored 21 offensive points on just 20 first-half plays.
The second half opened with Navy driving into North Texas territory. Brayden Knox forced a fumble by Stefan Egbe, and Zakye Barker scooped it up and ran 63 yards for a 35-17 lead with 7:55 left in the third quarter.
“The fumble, we were driving the football,” Newberry said.
The comeback
Gutierrez broke a 43-yard touchdown run and hit Jake Norris for the two-point conversion, making it 35-25. North Texas answered with a 53-yard Jackson-to-Stevenson touchdown for a 42-25 lead with 4:30 left in the third.
Senior cornerback Ira Oniha intercepted Jackson with 1:55 left in the quarter to give Navy the ball near midfield. Gutierrez hit sophomore tight end Merrick Barlow for 23 yards, then found Michael Barrow for a 15-yard touchdown, the first catch for a score of Barrow’s career, with 15 seconds left in the third.
After a North Texas punt, Navy went 83 yards in seven plays, and Barrow’s 4-yard run made it 42-39 with 10:49 left. On the next possession, White broke a 59-yard touchdown run. Navy didn’t score again, and North Texas held the ball for the final 6:32.
“One of the best things about our team and how we function is that we don’t flinch,” Gutierrez said. “I just think we don’t need to put ourselves in positions to persevere as much.”
Barrow said slow starts have been a recurring problem this season. “If we can fix that, I think a lot of games will be a lot closer and we’ll come out on top,” he said.
By the numbers
| Team stats | Navy | North Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Total yards | 506 | 477 |
| First downs | 30 | 20 |
| Time of possession | 37:31 | 22:29 |
- Gutierrez, who ran for 232 yards against Tulsa on Oct. 10, became the seventh Navy player with multiple career 200-yard rushing games. His two this season tie for the second-most in a single season in school history, behind Malcolm Perry’s three in 2019.
- He was the first Navy player to run for 200 yards and pass for 100 in the same game since Blake Horvath did it against Memphis on Sept. 21, 2024.
- Barrow ran for 92 yards on a career-high 21 carries and scored twice. Barlow caught two passes for 64 yards, including a 41-yarder that was his first college catch.
- On defense, Coleman Cauley and Aiden Lyczek had nine tackles each, Will Miller and MarcAnthony Parker had eight each, and Nolan McCamy had seven, including 1.5 tackles for loss and a 9-yard sack.
- For North Texas, Jackson completed 17 of 23 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns. Stevenson caught eight passes for 209 yards and two scores, and White ran for 174 yards and two touchdowns.
The 49 points were the most Navy has allowed since a 49-10 loss at Notre Dame last season, and North Texas’ 477 yards were the most the Mids have given up this year. Navy believes it had not allowed two non-offensive touchdowns in one game since Oct. 14, 2000, when Notre Dame’s Tony Driver returned two fumbles for scores. Carnes’ return was the first punt returned for a touchdown against Navy since 2021, and Stevenson’s 209 receiving yards were the most by a Navy opponent since the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl.
North Texas coach Neal Brown called it a “three-phase win” and said his team, after heavy offseason turnover, planned to be back in the title hunt.
“I’m proud of the way they fight and I’m proud of their effort,” Newberry said. “We just have to execute better and we’ve got to do a better job as a staff.”
Senior safety Giuseppe Sessi said the team is playing for pride with six games left. “We are playing for the love of the game and for the love of our brothers,” he said.
Up next
Navy faces fourth-ranked Notre Dame (6-1) at noon Saturday, Oct. 31, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The game will air nationally on ABC or ESPN. Last season, the Irish beat Navy 49-10 in the snow.
