The 2018 North Texas Mean Green football team represented the University of North Texas in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mean Green played their home games at the Apogee Stadium in Denton, Texas, and competed in the West Division of Conference USA (C–USA). They were led by third-year head coach Seth Littrell. They finished the season 9–4, 5–3 in C-USA play to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the West Division. They were invited to the New Mexico Bowl where they lost to Utah State.
Following a 44–17 victory over Arkansas and a 3–0 record, the Mean Green received votes in both the AP Poll (4 votes) and Coaches Poll (5 votes), the first time since 2013 that North Texas received votes in a poll.
Preseason
Award watch lists
Listed in the order that they were released
Preseason All-CUSA team
Conference USA released their preseason all-CUSA team on July 16, 2018, with the Mean Green having two players selected.
Offense
Mason Fine – QB
Jalen Guyton – WR
Preseason media poll
Conference USA released their preseason media poll on July 17, 2018, with the Mean Green predicted to finish as champions of the West Division.
Schedule
North Texas announced its 2018 football schedule on January 23, 2018. The 2018 schedule consists of six home and six away games in the regular season. The Mean Green will host C–USA opponents Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Rice, and Southern Miss, and will travel to Old Dominion, UAB, UTEP, and UTSA.
The Mean Green hosted two of their four non-conference opponents, SMU from the American Athletic Conference and Incarnate Word from the FCS Southland Conference, and traveled to Arkansas from the Southeastern Conference and Liberty which is a FBS Independent. North Texas won all four non-conference games to begin the season.
Schedule Source:
Game summaries
SMU
The Mean Green's offense went off with 529 total yards, including 444 passing yards from junior quarterback Mason Fine. North Texas's defense held SMU's offense to only 256 yards, forced a turnover, and held the Mustangs scoreless through the first three quarters. 29,519 people attended the game, setting an attendance record at Apogee Stadium. This record would be broken 4 weeks later against Louisiana Tech.
Incarnate Word
At Arkansas
At Liberty
Kickoff was delayed until 6:48 p.m. due to rain and lightning. With the victory, the Mean Green started a season 4–0 for the first time since 1966.
Louisiana Tech
At UTEP
Southern Miss
At UAB
Rice
At Old Dominion
Florida Atlantic
At UTSA
Vs. Utah State (New Mexico Bowl)
Statistics
Scoring
Scores against non-conference opponents
Scores against C-USA
Scores against all opponents
Awards
Head coach Seth Littrell has been selected to join the American Football Coaches Association board of trustees along with Stanford head coach David Shaw and North Dakota State University head coach Chris Klieman.