There were times Saturday when Riley Dodge and North Texas’ offense looked unstoppable while running around and through Western Kentucky at Fouts Field.

Unstoppable is just what UNT had to be against the Hilltoppers.

The Mean Green scored on 10 of its 13 possessions, including one that allowed it to run out the clock in a 68-49 win that snapped a 15-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak and a six-game overall skid dating to a season-opening win over Ball State.

The 68 points the Mean Green (2-6, 1-4) scored tied the school record for points in a game set against Youngstown State in 1957.

“This game showed what our offense is capable of doing,” Riley Dodge said. “We didn’t have any turnovers. We’ve had several games this year where we could have scored 40 to 50 points. Offensively, we kind of grew up tonight.”

Dodge played a key role in the maturation process.

The redshirt freshman quarterback returned from a sprained ankle that kept him out of the Mean Green’s loss to Troy last week and accounted for seven touchdowns, just one short of the school record set by Giovanni Vizza in 2007.

Dodge threw four touchdown passes and rushed for another three while leading the Mean Green back from a 14-point first-half deficit. He finished with 262 passing yards to go along with 70 yards on the ground.

“Riley is becoming more comfortable as a college quarterback,” UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. “He didn’t have many mistakes tonight, which is what we have been working on. He understands that he doesn’t have to go out there and win the game by himself.”

Riley Dodge got plenty of help from sophomore running back Lance Dunbar, who rushed for 227 yards and a touchdown in his fifth straight game with at least 100 yards.

UNT needed all the offense it could muster before its defense finally made a few key plays to swing the shootout in its favor.

WKU (0-8, 0-4) had the ball with the score tied at 49-49 early in the fourth quarter when backup linebacker Jeremy Phillips intercepted a pass from Hilltoppers quarterback Kawaun Jakes and returned it to the WKU 13-yard line.

Riley Dodge scored on a 1-yard run five plays later for UNT, which scored the final 26 points of the game. The Mean Green allowed just 14 points in the second half.

UNT played shorthanded for the second straight week without senior linebacker Tobe Nwigwe, who is out for the season with a sprained ankle.

The Mean Green struggled without one of its key leaders defensively early on, but found its form late. Defensive end Brandon Akpunku sacked Jakes just before Phillips posted his interception and combined with linebacker A.J. Penson on a fourth-and-1 stop at the 50-yard line in the fourth quarter after UNT had taken a 56-49 lead.

Fellow defensive lineman Eddrick Gilmore sacked Jakes in the end zone for a safety for good measure in the closing minutes of the game.

“We gave up way too many points in this game,” Phillips said. “We had some missed tackles, but in the first half especially, the big plays killed us.”

WKU came into the night averaging 16.4 points a game, but ran out to a 35-28 lead at the end of a first half that featured 550 yards of offense and just two possessions that didn’t result in a touchdown.

The Mean Green led 14-7 early on before WKU scored 21 unanswered points on just 15 plays. Jack Doyle capped the surge when he caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Jakes to give the Hilltoppers a 28-14 lead that was its largest of the season.

Riley Dodge helped the Mean Green keep pace by throwing three of his touchdown passes in the first half.

Jamaal Jackson caught the last of those passes from 11 yards out with just six seconds left before halftime to pull UNT to within 35-28.

WKU continued to score right with UNT in a back-and-forth game and had a 49-42 lead in the third quarter following Marcell Booker’s 1-yard touchdown run.

Booker finished with 104 yards for WKU, which had three players rush for at least 80 yards and more than doubled its season high of 24 points set last week in a loss to Middle Tennessee.

“I kept preaching to the kids that all we needed was just one stop,” WKU head coach David Elson said. “We didn’t get that stop, and they did, and that was the difference in the game.”

Riley Dodge made sure of that in perhaps the finest performance of his career that is just getting underway at UNT.

The Mean Green didn’t post many stops either, but came up with the plays when it mattered.

“The offense was doing their part,” Phillips said. “We knew we had to step up and stop them.”

UNT did just that and stopped their losing streak in the process.

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