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North Texas Lost Everyone and Kept Winning. Now, Can the Mean Green Pack Their Stadium?
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- North Texas Lost Everyone and Kept Winning. Now, Can the Mean Green Pack Their Stadium?
North Texas has plans to set a student attendance record tonight against Florida Atlantic.
A year ago, the Mean Green sold out the 30,100-seat DATCU Stadium for the first time. That included more than 9,000 student tickets claimed. Now, school administrators are pulling out all the stops to pack the stands again after a poor showing last time out. The university canceled all afternoon classes to encourage students to attend a nationally televised game against the Owls.
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Coach Neal Brown's team has done its part to draw a crowd. The North Texas head coach emphasized the importance of playing an exciting brand of football and, of course, winning in the effort to fill the stadium at a time when many teams are struggling with attendance. The Mean Green are doing both halfway through Brown's first season in charge. They average the second-most points per game (43.1) behind top-ranked Miami. More importantly, North Texas (5-2) has won four consecutive games and sits near the top of the American Conference standings.
That might sound like a continuation of last year's record success. It's not. In 2025, the Mean Green led the nation in scoring, played for the conference championship and won 12 games, including their first bowl win since 2013. And after the best season in program history, North Texas was one of two FBS teams that didn't bring back a single starter .
Coach Eric Morris left for the Oklahoma State job . A slew of all-conference players followed him up I-35 from Denton, Texas, to Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Mean Green were left for dead, that dream season a blip for a program that had previously capped out at nine wins.
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North Texas head coach Neal Brown walks down the sidelines against Navy at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Oct. 24, 2026, in Annapolis, Maryland.Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
Brown doesn't feel like he inherited expectations from the previous team's success or was given any grace for taking over a program in a bad place. "The way it is now, everything's year to year," he told Athlon Sports. And this year, he brought together a group of veterans keen on winning right away. North Texas, with the second-oldest roster in the country , is doing just that.
"I'm not sure that the preseason magazines or preseason media polls thought the same, but we came into this with high expectations," Brown said. (Full disclosure: Athlon picked North Texas to finish 11th in the American ). "We fully expected to be in this conference race in November, playing meaningful games. That's where we want to be, and that's the path we're on."
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Last week, the Mean Green became the first team to win at Navy since 2024. North Texas also blew out Charlotte and won an overtime thriller against Tulsa to start 3-0 in conference play.
The Mean Green scored at least 45 points in each of those games. Brown said it all starts with journeyman quarterback Tayven Jackson, who played at Tennessee, Indiana and UCF before landing at North Texas. He leads the American in passing yards (2,173) and has thrown for the sixth-most nationally.
Jackson's backfield partner Jahiem White is second in the conference in rushing. Reunited with Brown, who coached him at West Virginia, White has scored in every game and regularly runs for 100-plus yards. He's also already set new career-highs in receptions and receiving yards.
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North Texas running back Jahiem White (1) carries the ball as Indiana Hoosiers linebacker Rolijah Hardy (5) and defensive lineman Daniel Ndukwe (17) defend at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 5, 2026, in Bloomington, Indiana.Robert Goddin-Imagn Images
"Both of those guys are elite players at this level," Brown said of Jackson and White. "I think they're both NFL players."
Wide receiver Justin Stevenson, a transfer from Wyoming, ranks third in the conference in receiving yards. Tight end Max Reese, who came over from Mississippi State, has been integral to the passing game. The common thread is that they're almost all transfers, and many of them are seniors.
That's the case on defense, too. Linebacker Zakye Barker, a senior transfer from SMU, leads a unit that Brown said has come a long way over the last month. It took more time than it did for the offense, but this seasoned group has improved since it surrendered over 100 points combined in losses to Indiana and Texas State.
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"We want to win today. So, we'll figure it out," Brown said. "We'll figure out the future when it needs to happen, but we're trying to win right now."
North Texas wide receiver Justin Stevenson (13) runs for a touchdown against Navy at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Oct. 24, 2026, in Annapolis, Maryland.Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
Brown acknowledged that the job of being a head coach has changed significantly. It happened right under him at West Virginia, where he coached from 2019-2024 until he was fired. He said he constantly has an eye on roster management now. And despite the constant roster turnover that's become a hallmark of college football, he's coaching his players like they're going to be at North Texas forever.
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Obviously, that's not the case. There are many seniors who will soon run out of eligibility. And then there are those who will inevitably hit the transfer portal in search of better pay or more playing time — or both.
"Whether it's a one-year deal or not, we're gonna try to coach them and pour into them like they're gonna be here forever," Brown said. "And if we can do that, we'll get the best results out of those guys."
A general view of DATCU Stadium during a game between North Texas and South Florida on Oct. 10, 2025, in Denton, Texas.© Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images
So far, those results are not far off from this point in the best season in program history. North Texas was 6-1 through seven games last season. Players like Jackson and White might not stay forever. But if the Mean Green keep this level of play up, they could be remembered long after they leave.
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North Texas only trails UTSA in the conference standings, and it will get a shot against the rival Roadrunners a few weeks from now. But next up is the game tonight against Florida Atlantic, an opponent with an offense almost as explosive as the Mean Green.
The last time North Texas played a home game, DATCU Stadium was about half full for a 40-point blowout of Charlotte. That turnout seemed to prompt the promotion — and eventual cancellation of classes — to push for the team's second-ever sell-out in a marquee American game on ESPN (7:30 p.m. ET).
"People want to get behind winners, right?" Brown said. "So we've got to continue to take care of the business between the lines and win games. Nothing will fill the stadium faster than winning games."
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This story was originally published by Athlon on Oct 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
