University of North Texas pulled off a bit of an upset in the Red River with a 31-19 defeat of Baylor on Saturday, bumping UNT to a 3-1 record in the conference.

Playing at Baylor's home field in Waco, Texas, UNT used physicality at the breakdown and some punishing running from their forwards, espcially lock Jack Springer, to put the Bears on their heels. Smart passing helped, too, as the basic tennet that a leading pass will allow a runner to accelerate and cause problems was shown to be true.

UNT ran out to a 21-7 lead thanks to tries from Springer, flanker Drake Parks, and No. 8 Terance Hargest, and held on from there.

It was all about getting the basics right, said Hargest.

"We have really improved our scrumming since the OU game," Hargest told GRR (UNT lost to Oklahoma 41-8 back on November 9). "We make sure we win our scrums and our lineouts, and we're working on our maul. We're able to use our size and our physicality to set it up for the backs."

And the backs did the work, too. Scrumhalf Daryl Bailey was very active on attack, and Hargest had additional words of praise for center Oscar Ruvalcabra and new flyhalf Joey Garcia. "We're starting to come together," Hargest added.

All this means that North Texas is in with a shot at catching Oklahoma in the Red River North. And while they need OU to falter twice, even if UNT misses the conference final, they could be looking at a top three finish.

Also in the Red River, the two top dogs won big, as expected. Oklahoma was pretty clinical in beating Texas 56-3 in Norman. Wing Zachary Raines scored three tries, while lock Cullen Gordon and No. 8 Robert Ogilvie added two each. 

Texas A&M beat Texas Tech 71-0. Flanker William Green scored four while his back row mate Kade Ball added two. Flyhalf Preston Patterson also scored two as the Aggies rolled. A&M is now 5-0 and Oklahoma 4-0.