Mason Fine won the weekend

In many ways, Mason Fine’s entire football career has been a deck of Nobody Believed In Us Cards. The most decorated passer in Oklahoma high school football history, Fine threw for 13,081 yards and 166 touchdowns in his illustrious career at Locust Grove High School, both state records. But his slight stature — he’s listed at 5-11, which may be a tad generous — left him woefully under-recruited: he had no FBS offers late into recruiting season. That’s until Seth Littrell was hired at North Texas in December 2015. Littrell offered Fine a scholarship. Fine accepted, signing his letter of intent. One offer, one signature. This may seem like retrenching history; perhaps you already know all of this. But it’s worth remembering, because how Mason Fine ended up in Denton is the canvas upon which Saturday night’s masterpiece at Apogee Stadium is etched. Mason Fine’s first 58 minutes of Saturday night’s game with Conference USA and intrastate rival UTSA were unspectacular. He’d thrown for 256 yards and a pair of touchdowns, run for a short score, but had also thrown an interception that led to a go-ahead UTSA field goal early in the third quarter. And when UTSA stormed ahead on a stunning Dalton Sturm-to-Jalen Rhodes touchdown pass with 3:29 to play, Fine failed to lead a drive to re-take the lead, turning it over on downs in a quick four plays. In short, Mason Fine had been, well, fine. But North Texas’ defense provided the Mean Green offense with one more shot, albeit a long one, getting the ball back on its own 2-yard line with 67 seconds to play. Oh, and with no timeouts. Nobody believed that the Mean Green would drive 98 yards. Even when Michael Lawrence hauled in a rather miraculous 49-yard pass from Fine at the UTSA 31-yard line, it was still a lot to ask, especially with just over half-a-minute to play. And especially when Jaelon Darden caught Fine’s next pass short of the sticks, keeping the clock running against the Mean Green and forcing Fine to spike the ball with 22 seconds left, the odds seemed long. But isn’t that the story of Mason Fine? The man nobody — except the North Texas Mean Green — believed in? So why were we surprised when Mason Fine found Rico Bussey Jr. on a crossing pattern, who followed some outstanding blockers for a floating-on-air sideline tight-walk into the end zone for an improbable go-ahead touchdown with 10 seconds left for the biggest win in Apogee Stadium history? Mason Fine was planted by a massive hit on that touchdown pass, as he’d been clobbered all night by UTSA’s fierce front seven. If he were a little bigger, that hit wouldn’t have hurt as much. Then again, if Mason Fine were a little bigger, he probably wouldn’t be at North Texas. After all, that would’ve given you a reason to believe in him.