The drive: North Texas

So this is what true triple-option football looks like.

Army came out of the locker room and marched down the field on a 14-play, 69-yard drive to start the third quarter.

The drive chewed up 7 minutes and 5 seconds off the clock and ended with a nine-yard touchdown run by Pat Mealy.

Army’s longest play was an 11-yard run by quarterback Trent Steelman, who carried the ball eight times on the drive.

Steelman picked up two yards on 3rd-and-2 from North Texas’ 22 and Mealy gained two yards on a 3rd-and-1 from North Texas’ 11 to keep the drive going.

Army also had some luck when a Steelman pass was tipped and caught by wide receiver Alejandro Villanueva for an eight-yard gain on 3rd-and-5 from Army’s 36.

“We felt like ourselves a little bit in the second half when we started moving the ball,” Army coach Rich Ellerson said. “That’s what we should look like.”

Army was held to 53 yards at halftime, rushing 15 times for 36 yards.

“We just had to grind them out,” Steelman said. “We went in at halftime and said we were going to stick to our game plan and just play hard-nosed football and that’s what we did. It was a big drive. We knocked seven minutes off the clock. We just wanted to throw a statement out that we are capable of playing in the second half.”