North Texas — American Athletic
HC
Neal Brown · DATCU Stadium · Denton, TX · 30,850 cap
PPA off / def
0.35 / 0.16
2025
Class rank
#137
class of 2026
Returning PPA
3%
returning production
2026 schedule
| Wk | Opponent | All-time series | Venue |
|---|
| wk1 | at Indiana | tied 1–1 | Memorial Stadium (Bloomington, IN) |
| wk2 | vs UNLV | UNLV leads 5–1 | DATCU Stadium |
| wk3 | at Texas State | Texas State leads 1–0 | Bobcat Stadium (TX) |
| wk4 | vs Houston Christian | leads 1–0 | DATCU Stadium |
| wk5 | at Tulsa | Tulsa leads 16–9 · W3 | Chapman Stadium |
| wk6 | vs Charlotte | Charlotte leads 2–1 | DATCU Stadium |
| wk8 | at Navy | Navy leads 2–1 | Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium |
| wk9 | vs Florida Atlantic | Florida Atlantic leads 8–7 · W3 | DATCU Stadium |
| wk10 | vs Rice | leads 9–5 · W4 | DATCU Stadium |
| wk11 | at UTSA | UTSA leads 8–6 | Alamodome |
| wk12 | at Tulane | Tulane leads 4–0 · L4 | Yulman Stadium |
| wk13 | vs UAB | UAB leads 6–3 · W2 | DATCU Stadium |
2025 results (12–2)
Statistical comps — 2025 North Texas's closest analogs
Nearest neighbors by z-scored success rate, explosiveness, run rate & havoc (offense + defense), 2015–25.
2025 leaders
Transfer portal — 2026 (49 in / 38 out)
| Incoming |
|---|
| Tayven Jackson | QB | ← UCF | ★★★ |
| Jahiem White | RB | ← West Virginia | ★★★ |
| Brendon Haygood | RB | ← Missouri | ★★★ |
| Zach Johnson | CB | ← Southeastern Louisiana | ★★★ |
| Drew Clemens | TE | ← Utah | ★★★ |
| Peyton Taylor | CB | ← Emporia State | ★★★ |
| Ja'Bree Bickham | S | ← Boise State | ★★★ |
| Henry Fenuku | IOL | ← Missouri | ★★★ |
| + 41 more |
Origins
Greene was so dominant that the defense was renamed the Mean Green after him. Four straight Sun Belt titles in the early 2000s behind Darrell Dickey; the marching band's Fight Song is older than most programs.
Founded 1890 · A private teachers' college that the state took over in 1901 · first football 1913 · defined by Mean Joe Greene
All-time record
All-time
323–447–12
1914–2025
Win %
42.1%
104 seasons played
Winning seasons
25
24% of seasons
By level: ii/iii 0–3 (1914–1919) · FBS 281–367–8 (1922–2025) · D-II 31–46–4 (1932–1956) · FCS 11–31 (1982–1994)
| Best seasons | W | L | Conference |
|---|
| 2025 | 12 | 2 | American Athletic |
| 1978 | 9 | 2 | FBS Independents |
| 1977 | 9 | 2 | FBS Independents |
| 1959 | 9 | 2 | Missouri Valley |
| 2018 | 9 | 4 | Conference USA |
Season records from CollegeFootballData, which is why the span starts at 1914 — that is where its coverage of this program begins, not necessarily the first year it fielded a team.
Play-calling tendencies (2025 · garbage time excluded)
| Situation | Plays | Run % | Success % | Nat'l | Avg yds | Expl % |
|---|
| 1st down | 412 | 54% |
54% | 1 of 136 | 7.4 | 16% |
| 2nd down | 267 | 43% |
49% | 7 of 136 | 7.4 | 18% |
| 3rd & short (≤3) | 40 | 70% |
65% | — | 4.9 | 5% |
| 3rd & medium (4–7) | 62 | 24% |
47% | — | 6.8 | 16% |
| 3rd & long (8+) | 47 | 34% |
26% | — | 8.9 | 23% |
| 4th down | 35 | 43% |
66% | — | 7.9 | 17% |
174 drives · 51% ended in points · 7.0 plays and 47.5 yards per drive · 2.02 PPA per drive
Success: 50% of yardage needed on 1st, 70% on 2nd, 100% on 3rd/4th. Explosive: 12+ yd rush / 16+ yd pass. National rank is shown only for 1st and 2nd down, where every team has 100+ plays; the later buckets average 18-43 and a rank there would be noise.
League leaderboard →Most valuable plays (by PPA, 2025)
| Wk | Opp | Play | Yds | PPA |
|---|
| 9 | Charlotte |
(09:15) No Huddle-Shotgun #17 D.Mestemaker pass complete short middle to #10 W.Young caugh… |
70 | 7.17 |
| 5 | South Alabama |
Drew Mestemaker pass complete to Caleb Hawkins for 68 yds for a TD (Kali Nguma KICK) |
68 | 7.11 |
| 15 | Tulane |
(00:19) No Huddle-Shotgun #17 D.Mestemaker pass complete deep middle to #1 M.Coleman caugh… |
59 | 6.99 |
| 13 | Rice |
(03:15) No Huddle-Shotgun #17 D.Mestemaker pass complete short right to #10 W.Young caught… |
84 | 6.58 |
| 13 | Rice |
(00:52) No Huddle-Shotgun #17 D.Mestemaker pass complete deep middle to #10 W.Young caught… |
74 | 6.58 |
| 14 | Temple |
(08:27) No Huddle-Shotgun #17 D.Mestemaker pass complete short middle to #4 C.Dorner caugh… |
77 | 5.94 |
| CFP | San Diego State |
A. Gray run for 51 yds, for a TD (M. Arenas KICK) |
51 | 5.16 |
| 14 | Temple |
(09:56) No Huddle-Shotgun #17 D.Mestemaker pass complete deep middle to #10 W.Young caught… |
75 | 4.94 |