North Texas head coach Todd Dodge and his players spent the last few days talking about how critical it was to build on a rare win last week over Western Kentucky in a home game Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe.

UNT had momentum in its favor after snapping a 15-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak against the Hilltoppers and receiving final approval to build a new stadium.

The good vibes from those successes vanished on a night the Warhawks hammered the Mean Green 33-6 at Fouts Field.

UNT (2-7, 1-4) failed to score a touchdown for the first time against a Sun Belt opponent in the Dodge era and squandered an opportunity to win back-to-back games for the first time since 2004.

“It’s very disappointing that we didn’t capitalize on some momentum in our season when we could have and expected to,” Dodge said. “I will give credit where it is due. Monroe played a very good game. They didn’t make many unforced errors and we had too many.”

UNT made several of those mistakes on a day it couldn’t get anything going offensively.

Running back Lance Dunbar finished with just 40 rushing yards, snapping his streak of five straight games with at least 100 yards, a string that included two 200-yard games.

Despite not having his best game, Dunbar now has 1,004 yards on the season and is the first UNT running back to surpass the 1,000-yard milestone since Patrick Cobbs in 2004.

Quarterback Riley Dodge threw for 189 yards, but tossed three interceptions and was sacked three times.

UNT finished with 268 yards of total offense, a performance that the Mean Green’s players didn’t see coming just one week after it tied the school record for points in a game in a 69-48 win over WKU.

UNT rushed for 321 yards against the Hilltoppers and came into the night averaging 197.9 rushing yards a game. The Mean Green finished with just 79 yards against ULM and didn’t have a carry of more than 13 yards on the night.

“They have a good defense, but we killed ourselves,” Riley Dodge said. “We didn’t execute on third down and put ourselves in too many third-and-long situations. We had some drives going, but didn’t finish them.

“I don’t think I have ever played in a game where we didn’t score a touchdown.”

UNT drove inside ULM’s 20-yard line three times, but settled for a field goal twice and failed to convert on fourth-and-goal from the 7 in the final minute of the fourth quarter when Riley Dodge was sacked for a for an 8-yard loss.

UNT came into the night having allowed just five sacks on the season, but gave up three in its loss to ULM.

Those opportunities UNT failed to convert came back to haunt the Mean Green on a night ULM (5-4, 4-1) gradually pulled away.

ULM quarterback Trey Revell threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were caught by LaGregory Sapp, who finished with seven catches for 187 yards.

That was more than enough production for ULM. Its defense set the tone in a first half that ended with the Warhawks up 16-3, despite squandering a few scoring chances.

The Mean Green finished with just 83 yards in the first half and committed the only turnover before the break when Greg James intercepted a Riley Dodge pass.

UNT’s only points of the first half came on a 30-yard Jeremy Knott field goal.

ULM struck first on a Frank Goodin 1-yard touchdown run and added a 12-yard touchdown pass from Revell to Sapp. The Warhawks could have had a bigger lead, but Radi Jabour missed the extra point after ULM’s first touchdown and then pushed a 36-yard field goal wide right on the final play of the first half.

The Mean Green couldn’t capitalize on mistakes by ULM, which held Dunbar to 14 yards on eight carries in the first half. UNT’s three points were its lowest total for a half since Alabama shut out the Mean Green in the first half on Sept. 19.

“Defensively, we knew we had to stop the North Texas rushing attack,” ULM head coach Charlie Weatherbie said. “We wanted to make them throw the football, and I think we did a good job of that.”

Dunbar never had any room to run and was contained for the first time since he was held to 17 yards on eight carries in the first three quarters of a loss to Troy on Oct. 24.

“They were stacking eight in the box the whole game,” Dunbar said. “There’s not much you can do against that.”

Those struggles were tough for UNT to take on a night the Mean Green hoped to show that it had turned the corner.

“We are trying to build on what we did against Western Kentucky,” UNT linebacker Craig Robertson said. “We have three games left to try and do that, but it’s disappointing because I have never won two games in a row. Winning games in a row carries confidence, and when you have confidence you play better.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.