The North Texas Mean Green roll into Bloomington at noon on Saturday coming off of their best season in school history. Despite winning 12 games, including a bowl win over San Diego State, North Texas has an almost entire new roster and staff heading into the 2026 season.
Last Season –> Now
Following the 2025 season, head coach Eric Morris departed North Texas to become the head coach at Oklahoma State University. The Mean Green had numerous players, including their top three receivers, starting running back Caleb Hawkins and starting quarterback (and American Conference Player of the Year) Drew Mestemaker, follow Morris to Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Morris’ decision left North Texas’ roster depleted and its head coaching role empty. Insert Neal Brown, who has had success in his coaching career, especially at the group of five level. Neal spent the last season as an assistant at Texas after six seasons at West Virginia as the lead man.
Across 10 seasons as a head coach at both Troy and West Virginia, Brown compiled a 72-51 overall record with seven bowl appearances, five bowl victories, three seasons with 10 or more wins and was the 2017 Sun Belt Coach of the Year at Troy.
His first order of business and biggest struggle when he first arrived in Denton was constructing a new roster essentially from scratch. It is a common issue with the new landscape of college football, and Brown brought in 70 new players to construct the roster.
With that roster turnover, there is just one remaining starter on the defense and just two starters on the offensive side of the ball. Despite not having many returners, North Texas has the second oldest roster in college football, with an average age of 21.01.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti mentioned how preparation for this week has been much different than ever before.
“I’ve never really played a game quite like this one, where there are so many new faces, both players and coaches,” Cignetti said in a press conference on Monday.
There are many different looks and formations that could be thrown out there on Saturday that Indiana will have no tape or true preparation for. That could pose as a positive for North Texas because if they at least have one thing on their side, it’s the element of surprise if you will.
Get to know the offense
This offense is essentially an entire new look from last season’s 12-2 season. Nine of the 11 projected starters are transfers for North Texas this season.
North Texas relied heavily on the pass last season, as Mestemaker threw 33 times a game and led the country in passing yards with 4,379."
A familiar face in Tayven Jackson takes over at the quarterback spot this season, with big shoes to fill. Jackson has thrown for 3,451 yards in his career with 16 passing touchdowns to 14 interceptions, while adding eight scores on the ground in his career.
Luckily for Jackson, this year’s offensive attack will not look almost anything similar to last, and I can’t picture a world where he has to throw the ball 33 times a game.
During Brown’s time as head coach at West Virginia, his teams threw the ball just 42% of the time.
Across 10 seasons as a head coach, Brown-coached teams are 28-2 when rushing for over 200 yards in a game and are 49-10 when rushing for 150+ yards. On the flip side, when held to under 150 yards in a game on the ground Brown teams hold a 23-41 record.
This season, Jaheim White is the lead back for the Mean Green, who follows Brown to Denton after being with him in 2023 and 2024. White is coming off of a season-ending injury last season but has been a full-go in fall camp and has no restrictions heading into Week 1. Nick Osho is the backup running back who had a successful season at Indiana State this past year, rushing for 686 yards and eight touchdowns.
The wide receiver room is filled with transfers such as Corri Milliner (UAB), James Tyre (Western Carolina), and Dalton Carnes (Houston/ out week 1). These three will add experience and stability for Jackson this season, but may take some time to adjust and mesh together throughout the year.
"The biggest question for North Texas' offense heading into week one is the offensive line. While the center and tackle positions seem to be all but confirmed for week one, Brown said there is still an open battle for the two remaining guard spots with an expected rotation coming in Week 1."
“We’ll rotate three or four guys at guard this week, to keep them fresh,” Brown said in a press conference this week.
With the uncertainty along the offensive line, issues could arise, especially against one of the best defensive lines in the country in Indiana. This spot is something to keep an eye on come Saturday.
Get to know the defense
Matt Powledge was hired as the defensive coordinator for this season after he spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Baylor. Powledge helped lead the Bears to the No. 33 ranked passing defense in FBS and was tied for 30th in the nation in defensive touchdowns last season.
The new-look defense is filled with veterans, making their first appearances with North Texas. Defensive lineman Davion Rhodes and linebacker Aaron Alexander have both seen 40 or more games in their career.
The defensive line brings in two proven transfers, along with Terrell Washington who leads the team in tackles amongst returners. Rhodes has been the most productive player in the group in his career, with 100 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and four sacks, while starting 33 games across five seasons at Georgia Southern.
UTEP transfer Udoka Ezeani is coming off a productive season in 2025 that saw him tally 46 tackles and was second on the team with 11.0 tackles for loss last year.
The secondary was set to have a strong core but a pair of injuries have set the cornerback room back. Baylor transfer Caden Jenkins is out for the season, and senior cornerback Zach Johnson is also out for at least Week 1.
Ja’Bree Bickham from Boise State is arguably the most talented corner coming in, and should help lead the secondary alongside Auburn transfer Taye Seymore at safety.
The Bottom Line
Plain and simple, this game will be incredibly tough for North Texas to win. However, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that they hang around until later in this game. Indiana stumbled a bit in the season opener last year against Old Dominion, and the Mean Green have a completely new roster that is tough to scout with it being week one.
Having 70 new players and 53 transfers also makes it tough to find chemistry early in the season, along with the injuries already plaguing the offensive line and defense, this team will be a much better football team come week eight of nine then they are week one.
North Texas has the right pieces to have a successful season, and should compete in the American Conference. They unfortunately run into a buzzsaw this week, a team celebrating last year’s national championship, and a team in Indiana looking to prove that they are still set to belong atop college football’s mountaintop.
