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    IU football game day: North Texas at Indiana primer and prediction

    Mike SchumannBy IU Football No Comments
    Photo by Seth Tow for TDH

    Here. We. Go.

    For this first time ever, IU football opens a season as the reigning national champions.

    What can they do for an encore?  We’re about to find out.  College football is finally back.

    Here’s everything you need to know about Indiana’s week 1 matchup against North Texas in Bloomington.

    ——————————————————————————–

    NORTH TEXAS (0-0) at No. 6 INDIANA (0-0)

    • Kickoff:  Noon ET, Saturday
    • Location:  Bloomington, Ind.; Memorial Stadium (56,626; field turf)
    • Television:  FOX — Gus Johnson (pbp), Joel Klatt (color) & Jenny Taft (sideline)
    • Stream:  Fox Sports
    • Radio:  IU Football radio network
    • Odds:  Indiana is around a 40.5-point favorite
    • Weather at kickoff:  89 degrees, mostly sunny, wind 5 mph, 15% chance of precipitation.
    • Series:  Tied 1-1
    • Tickets: Sold out — Use our StubHub affiliate link
    • The Coaches:
      • Curt Cignetti is in his third year as the head coach at IU.  He holds a 146-37 record in his 16th season as a college head coach.  He’s 27-2 at Indiana.
      • Neal Brown is in his first year as the head coach of the Mean Green.  He’s 72-51 overall in 11 seasons as a head coach.

    GAMEDAY TIMELINE

    Pregame festivities in Bloomington include the FOX Big Noon Kickoff show on site, an Air Force flyover, and the unveiling of a national championship sign in the south end zone.

    TALE OF THE TAPE 

    (2025 stats)

    THE COMPLETE BIG TEN WEEK 1 SLATE

    (All time Eastern)

    Thursday, September 3

    • UMass at Rutgers — 6 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Eastern Illinois at Minnesota — 8 p.m., Peacock
    • UAB at Illinois — 9 p.m., Big Ten Network

    Friday, September 4

    • Indiana State at Purdue — 7 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Toledo at Michigan State — 8 p.m., FS1
    • Fresno State at USC — 9 p.m., FOX

    Saturday, September 5

    • North Texas at Indiana — 12 p.m., FOX
    • Ohio at Nebraska — 12 p.m., FS1
    • Ball State at Ohio State — 12:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Marshall at Penn State — 3:30 p.m., FS1
    • Boise State at Oregon — 3:30 p.m., CBS
    • Northern Illinois at Iowa — 4:15 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Western Michigan at Michigan — 7:30 p.m., NBC / Peacock
    • South Dakota State at Northwestern — 8 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Hampton at Maryland — 8 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • UCLA at California — 10:30 p.m., ESPN

    Sunday, September 6

    • Washington State at Washington — 4 p.m., NBC / Peacock
    • Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame (at Lambeau Field, Green Bay) — 7:30 p.m., NBC / Peacock

    NORTH TEXAS NOTES AND NUMBERS

    IU football 2026 opponent overview, Week 1: North Texas

    (2025 stats)

    (Via North Texas Athletics)

    • Coming off a historic season that saw UNT win a program record 12 games, the Mean Green will kick off the 2026 season with a new man at the helm as the Neal Brown era begins in Bloomington, Indiana against the defending CFP National Champion Indiana Hoosiers on Sept. 5.

    • Brown takes over after spending the 2025 season as the special assistant to the head coach under Steve Sarkisian at Texas. A veteran head coach, Brown comes to North Texas with 10 seasons of head coaching experience after spending the 2019-24 seasons at West Virginia and the 2015-18 seasons at Troy.

    • In his head coaching career, Brown has compiled a 72-51 overall record and has led his team to bowl appearances in seven of his 10 seasons as a head coach.

    • As has been the case each of the last three offseasons, North Texas underwent a complete roster overhaul as they added 72 new players to the roster including 54 transfer prospects.

    • The matchup against Indiana will be the second time Neal Brown has opened his head coaching career at a program against Curt Cignetti. Brown’s first career game at West Virginia was against James Madison in August of 2019 and saw Brown get the better of Cignetti in a 20-13 win in Morgantown.

    • In the last three offseasons North Texas has added at least 68 new players on its roster every year. In total, UNT added 72 new players in 2026, 68 in 2025 and 77 in 2024 for a total of 218 new players, the most of any FBS program in the nation in that span.

    • North Texas’ 70 new players and 53 transfer prospects both rank inside the top-five for most in FBS.

    • Despite the large amount of new players on the roster, UNT has a large contingent of players with significant playing experience. In total, 29 players on the roster have played in 20+ games in their career, 10 have appeared in 30+ games and two, DL Davion Rhodes (44) and LB Aaron Alexander (40), have seen action in 40+ games in their careers.

    • Another player with significant experience who figures to play a big role in the offense is RB Jahiem White. A former Freshman All-American, White arrives having rushed for 1,819 yards and 14 touchdowns in 27 games at West Virginia.

    • During fall camp, UNT named UCF transfer Tayven Jackson the starting quarterback. Jackson joins UNT with 16 career starts across time at Tennessee, Indiana and UCF. He has over 3,400 passing yards and 16 passing touchdowns as well as eight rushing scores in his career.

    • Since 2021, UNT has been one of the most explosive offenses in college football regardless of head coach. Per Pro Football Focus, the Mean Green have produced 819 explosive plays in the last five seasons, good for the fourth-most in all of FBS and the most of any non-A4 program.

    • Matt Powledge was hired as defensive coordinator in the offseason after spending the 2023-25 seasons in the same role at Baylor. Powledge has been in a coordinator position every year since 2014.

    • UNT added former American Conference Second Team honoree LB Zakye Barker to the defense in the offseason.

    • The Mean Green have faced the defending National Champion four times in history, but just once previously to open a season. North Texas opened the 2006 season in Austin against Texas who had just defeated USC in the infamous 2005 Rose Bowl to win the National Title the season prior. UNT lost the game to Texas 56-7 on Sept 2, 2006

    • Per Rotowire, UNT’s average age of player on the roster of 21.01 makes it the second-oldest roster in FBS in 2026.

    MORE NORTH TEXAS WEEK COVERAGE

    PREDICTIONS

    Indiana hasn’t been impressive the last two season openers.  We predict an awareness of that, and a desire to prove there will be no championship hangover will have IU looking a bit sharper coming out of the gate.

    The Hoosiers cruise to their 17th straight win.

    TDH PREDICTION:  INDIANA 45 NORTH TEXAS 7

    • ESPN SP+ (Computer):  Indiana 47 North Texas 7 (99% win probability for IU)
    • ESPN FPI (Computer):  Indiana has a 98.2% chance to win.

    For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.

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