Coming off a rivalry win in Hawaii to open Mountain West Conference play, UNLV will face North Texas in Week 2 in the Rebels’ second consecutive road game of a three-game stretch away from home.
The Mean Green enter the game with a new coach, a revamped roster and plenty to prove following a 52-16 loss to defending national champion Indiana. But the final score does not tell the entire story of North Texas’ season opener.
North Texas trailed by only two scores entering the fourth quarter and pulled within nine points early in the third before Indiana used a 21-0 fourth-quarter run to pull away.
The Mean Green also showed enough against the Hoosiers for UNLV coach Dan Mullen to view them as a significant challenge early in the season.
“A huge game this week against an obviously very, very, very talented team,” Mullen said Monday. “You saw how they hung with Indiana. I know the score at the end, Indiana kind of pulled away with three late TDs, but it was right there until the final whistle against the defending national champs, so it’ll be a big challenge for us.”
North Texas is beginning a new era under coach Neal Brown, who took over after Eric Morris left for Oklahoma State following a 12-2 season in which the Mean Green became one of the nation’s most productive offensive teams.
Brown became the 21st coach in program history after spending six seasons as West Virginia’s coach. He previously led Troy from 2015 to 2018 and entered his first season at North Texas with a 72-51 record as a coach.
That 2025 Mean Green team ranked among the nation’s best offenses, but much of that production is no longer in Denton, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who threw for more than 4,300 yards and 34 touchdowns before transferring to Oklahoma State.
North Texas entered the season with a dramatically revamped roster, making its matchup with UNLV somewhat similar to the Rebels’ season-opening game against Memphis.
“I mean, you’re trying to figure it out. You have one game on them,” Mullen said. “Better than Memphis, where you had zero games. At least there’s something we can watch on a team we’re going to play, work off of and study.”
That new-look North Texas offense is led by senior quarterback Tayven Jackson, who transferred from Indiana during the offseason and made his first start for the Mean Green against his former team.
Jackson completed 22 of 28 passes for 192 yards and added 22 rushing yards against the Hoosiers, while running back Jahiem White totaled 97 yards from scrimmage and scored North Texas’ only touchdown.
White provides another experienced piece after transferring from West Virginia, where he previously played under Brown.
While the Mean Green are replacing much of last season’s production, their performance against Indiana showed the offense can still create problems. But following a defensive performance against Hawaii in which the Rebels allowed just six points, safety Tre Fulton is not overthinking the game plan.
“For us, I feel like it’s always about us, and we just have to control the things we can control, run to the ball, play hard and play with effort,” Fulton said. “But those guys are good. They play hard and they’re physical, so we’re going to have to bring our A-game.”
Fulton was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week after recording 12 tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack against the Rainbow Warriors.
UNLV holds a 5-1 record against North Texas. The most recent meeting came in September 2022, when the Rebels earned a 58-27 victory under coach Marcus Arroyo.
