Better late than never for FIU.

With a struggling defense and an erratic offense after two quarters Saturday night at FIU Stadium, the Golden Panthers came alive in the second half and rallied to defeat North Texas 35-28.

FIU (3-7, 3-4 Sun Belt Conference) blocked a punt and forced a fumble in the final quarter to spark two touchdown drives that led the Golden Panthers to victory.

Backup quarterback Wayne Younger split the North Texas defense on a 23-yard touchdown run with 5:08 left for the winning touchdown.

``I've been waiting for it for awhile now,'' said Younger of his touchdown run. ``The defensive end kind of slid down so I pulled it and I just saw green grass and I took it in.

``I don't know if it has been that open before.''

After getting handled by North Texas (2-8, 1-6) in the first half, FIU scored 21 unanswered points in the second half.

``A pretty wild football game and a tale of two halves defensively for sure,'' FIU coach Mario Cristobal said. ``A tribute to the team and coaches for fighting hard the entire way. A lot of teams would have buckled during that time, but they found a way to fight through and get it done.''

FIU had to rally from two 14-point deficits to notch its third conference win of the season.

After giving up 300 yards in the first half, the FIU defense started the comeback in the third quarter.

Defensive back Peter Riley returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter, as the Golden Panthers trimmed the Mean Green lead to 28-21.

``We just did our assignments,'' said linebacker Aaron Davis, who led FIU with 13 tackles. ``In the first half we had a couple of missed assignments that led to scores. We came out and played a little bit harder.''

After giving up 138 yards rushing in the first half, the FIU defense allowed just 61 yards rushing in the second half.

Down 28-21 early in the fourth quarter, FIU tight end Jonathan Faucher blocked Will Atterberry's punt at the North Texas 38.

Golden Panthers fullback Trenard Turner scooped up the fumble and returned it to the Mean Green 16.

FIU got to the North Texas 10, where it was faced with a fourth and 1. The Golden Panthers went for it and got the first down when running back Kendall Berry appeared to get a push after quarterback Paul McCall fell on top of him. Berry got the yard.

Two plays later, McCall found receiver T.Y. Hilton all alone in the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown pass to tie the score 28-28.

Once again, the FIU defense came up big when it had to on the following possession.

FIU defensive back Anthony Gaitor stripped Mean Green receiver Michael Outlaw and safety Jonathan Cyprien recovered the ball at the North Texas 32.

The Golden Panthers picked up 9 yards on a couple of Berry runs before Younger's decisive touchdown run.

On third and 1 from the North Texas 23, Younger ran a triple option.

The junior faked as if he was going to hand off to Berry, but kept the ball and ran straight through the Mean Green defense for the 23-yard touchdown run.

``Coach said no one play won us the game,'' McCall said. ``But I'm pretty sure that run by Wayne put us up by seven points in the fourth quarter. That's great, because that is a guy that has been here a long time and done things the right way and worked his butt off.''

FIU led 35-28, but with just under five minutes left in the game there was still plenty of time for the Mean Green.

On the final drive, North Texas quarterback Riley Dodge completed passes of 36, 13, 20 and 4 yards to reach the FIU 9.

Faced with a third and goal with two minutes left in the game, Dodge overthrew receiver Darius Carey in the corner of the end zone.

On fourth down, Dodge went to North Texas' best receiver, Jamaal Jackson.

But Jackson, who got open over the middle, dropped the pass and FIU took over on downs.