LOUISIANA La. — Jamario Thomas had made a believer out of the North Texas faithful, and especially head coach Darrell Dickey, over the past few weeks.

Friday night, he got the chance to do his thing in front of a national television audience, and for the most part he made believers out of the viewers — and Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns.

The Mean Green freshman running back finished with 203 yards, becoming the first freshman in NCAA Division I-A history to record five 200-yard games in a single season. He also had a pair of touchdowns in UNT’s 27-17 nationally-televised victory, and will likely retain his standing as the nation’s leading rusher.

“I’m sure proud that he plays for us,” said Dickey, whose UNT squad locked up no worse than a share of its fourth straight Sun Belt Conference football title and won its 23rd straight conference game. “He just kept plugging and kept plugging, and finally he popped one.”

That one was a 58-yard touchdown burst midway through the fourth quarter, one that turned a 20-17 game into a 27-17 contest and one that Cajun head coach Rickey Bustle said took the wind out of his team’s sails.

“That was pretty much a back-breaker there,” said Bustle, whose team lost at home for the first time. “Other than that, I thought our defense played its best game all year. Just there, in the fourth quarter, we let him (Thomas) get away.”

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com