College football season is rapidly approaching, with fall camp opening in early August. We’re going through Indiana’s schedule to look ahead at all 12 opponents for 2026.
- Opponent: North Texas
- Date/Time/TV: Saturday, September 5, noon; FOX
- Location: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Ind.
- 2025 record/postseason result: 12-2, 7-1 American (49-47 win over San Diego State in the New Mexico Bowl)
- Overall returning production: 32 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (tied for 131st in the country)
Returning production, offense: 28 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (126th in the country)
Offensive outlook: North Texas saw head coach Eric Morris depart for Oklahoma State in the offseason, along with quarterback Drew Mestemaker. So the Mean Green will have an entirely new offensive staff this year under new head coach Neal Brown, and a new quarterback running the show — one with whom IU fans will be very familiar.
Brown has an offensive background, but has now been in head coaching or adjacent positions for over a decade. He spent 2025 with Texas as an assistant to the head coach, after a six-year stint as head coach at West Virginia. His Mountaineer offenses rarely exceeded expectations, finishing top-30 in the nation in total offense only once. And with no offensive coordinator, the Mean Green will be running Brown’s offense in 2026.
Redshirt senior Tayven Jackson is UNT’s quarterback this year, as he transferred to Denton, Texas from UCF in the offseason. Jackson began his college career at Tennessee, before transferring to Indiana after one redshirt season. He spent two seasons in Bloomington, splitting starting duties with Brendan Sorsby in 2023 and backing up Kurtis Rourke in 2024. He stepped in for Rourke for an important home win over Washington, with ESPN’s “College GameDay” in town. He put up a disappointing 2025 campaign at UCF, finishing 12th in the Big 12 with 2,151 passing yards with a 63.5 completion percentage. Between Jackson’s time with Indiana football, and as the younger brother of IU basketball legend Trayce Jackson-Davis, his return to Memorial Stadium will be noteworthy.
North Texas’ offense is nearly entirely filled with transfers. Running back Jahiem White takes over the backfield, after three seasons at West Virginia — the first two under Brown. He started WVU’s first two games last season before suffering a season-ending injury. He ran for 844 yards on 148 carries with seven touchdowns in 2024, with nearly identical yardage on fewer carries in 2023. He’s a proven, capable starting running back, and the biggest weapon for UNT’s offense. The receiving corps is relying on portal additions from mid-majors and junior college, along with a couple power-conference transfers who had very limited game action.
Returning production, defense: 35 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (124th in the country)
Defensive outlook: Brown hired Matt Powledge as defensive coordinator. He was Baylor’s defensive coordinator from 2023-25, after one year as Oregon’s co-defensive coordinator in 2022. The Bears didn’t have a particularly imposing defense under Powledge, finishing no higher than 87th in the country in total defense. They did finish 31st in the nation in pass defense last season, allowing 194.9 yards per game, but that came with the 15th-worst rush defense in the country. Baylor struggled to sack quarterbacks and create takeaways under Powledge as well.
The North Texas job could be lower-stakes, but he’ll likely have a lesser talent base to work with.
UNT’s linebackers posted solid PFF grades last season — Cedric Roberts at Alcorn State (79.4) and redshirt senior Aaron Alexander (77.0) at Arkansas State. Redshirt senior edge David Onuoha did the same (76.6) at UMass. Senior cornerback Zach Johnson finished with a strong 83.2 grade at Southeastern Louisiana last year, though this is a big step up in competition.
Special teams outlook: The Mean Green brought in a pair of specialists from Appalachian State in the portal. Sophomore Dominic De Freitas (21 for 27 field goals, 33 for 33 extra points) will take over kicking duties, and redshirt junior Ian Ratliff (43.8 yards per punt) will handle punting.
Overall Outlook: Don’t be fooled by North Texas’ excellent 2025 record. This is an entirely new team, from top to bottom. Jackson’s return will be a nice moment on Indiana’s opening day as defending national champions, and he and White could give IU’s defense a few things to think about early on this year. But this is a soft landing for Josh Hoover, Curt Cignetti and the 2026 Hoosiers. Indiana should not have trouble in this game.
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