College football’s 2026 opener gives Indiana a familiar face and, on paper, a manageable first test.
North Texas comes to Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5 at noon on FOX, and the Mean Green arrive with the kind of makeover that makes last year’s 12-2 finish feel a little misleading. They went 7-1 in the American and capped the season with a 49-47 win over San Diego State in the New Mexico Bowl, but almost none of that team is coming back. Bill Connelly’s ESPN numbers peg UNT at 32 percent overall returning production, with the offense at 28 percent and the defense at 35 percent.
The biggest change starts at the top. Eric Morris is gone to Oklahoma State, Drew Mestemaker is gone at quarterback, and North Texas has turned the offense over to new head coach Neal Brown.
Brown spent 2025 as an assistant to the head coach at Texas after six years running West Virginia, where his offenses only cracked the top 30 nationally in total offense once. There’s no offensive coordinator in the picture, so the Mean Green are expected to run Brown’s system in 2026.
And the quarterback taking over is one Indiana fans know well: Tayven Jackson.
Jackson, now a redshirt senior, transferred to North Texas from UCF in the offseason. His path has already taken him from Tennessee to Indiana, where he spent two seasons.
In Bloomington, he split starting work with Brendan Sorsby in 2023 and backed up Kurtis Rourke in 2024. He also stepped in for Rourke in a key home win over Washington with ESPN’s “College GameDay” in town.
Last season at UCF, Jackson finished 12th in the Big 12 with 2,151 passing yards and a 63.5 completion percentage. His return to Memorial Stadium will carry extra attention, especially with his connection to Indiana basketball star Trayce Jackson-Davis as his younger brother.
North Texas’ offense is built almost entirely through the portal. Jahiem White is the new lead back after three seasons at West Virginia, including his first two under Brown.
He started WVU’s first two games last season before a season-ending injury, and in 2024 he ran for 844 yards on 148 carries with seven touchdowns. In 2023, he posted nearly the same yardage on fewer carries.
He’s the clearest proven weapon on the roster.
The rest of the offense is much harder to pin down. The receiving group is leaning on transfers from mid-majors and junior college, plus a couple of power-conference additions who barely saw the field.
Defensively, Brown brought in Matt Powledge, who served as Baylor’s defensive coordinator from 2023 through 2025 after one year as Oregon’s co-defensive coordinator in 2022. Baylor’s defense under Powledge never rose above 87th nationally in total defense, though it did finish 31st in pass defense last season at 194.9 yards allowed per game. The downside was glaring: the Bears ranked 15th-worst against the run, and they also had trouble generating sacks and takeaways.
That’s the challenge Powledge inherits in Denton, though with a less proven talent base than he had at Baylor. North Texas did bring in some defenders with solid PFF numbers at smaller stops: linebackers Cedric Roberts, who posted a 79.4 grade at Alcorn State, and Aaron Alexander, who checked in at 77.0 at Arkansas State; redshirt senior edge David Onuoha, who graded at 76.6 at UMass; and senior cornerback Zach Johnson, who earned an 83.2 at Southeastern Louisiana.
Special teams also got a portal overhaul, with two Appalachian State transfers stepping in. Sophomore Dominic De Freitas takes over as kicker after going 21-for-27 on field goals and 33-for-33 on extra points, while redshirt junior Ian Ratliff, who averaged 43.8 yards per punt, will handle punting.
For Indiana, the matchup looks like a soft landing to start the season. North Texas has a shiny record from 2025, but this is a brand-new team in almost every meaningful way.
Jackson’s return will be a notable subplot, and White gives the Mean Green at least one player who can make things interesting early. Still, the Hoosiers should be in control.
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