As is common in college football, WSU has scheduled a home and away series against a non-conference opponent for future years. The agreement, which was originally signed in February, states that the two schools will exchange $100,000 guarantees.
The Cougs will travel to Texas in 2025 with UNT coming to Pullman in 2030. While North Texas is just another opponent in the schedule, they are more interesting than you might think.
While this is the first time the two schools will have ever played each other in football, there is a significant tie between the two programs, the head coach.
Former Cougar offensive coordinator Eric Morris departed the team following the 2022–23 season for a head coaching gig and found himself at the University of North Texas. Barring an unforeseen event resulting in Morris no longer being with the team, it will be a reunion between WSU and Morris in 2025.
UNT holds an all-time record of 524-516-33, with the team’s first season occurring in 1913. At the time, the school was known as North Texas State Normal College.
The Mean Green is located in Denton, Texas, and they play at DATCU Stadium which was built in 2011. The stadium seats 30,850, which is only 2,102 fewer seats than Martin Stadium.
Although UNT has never been in a Power 5 Conference, the Mean Green have had their fair share of success on the gridiron securing 25 conference titles (21 more than WSU), and reaching 13 bowl games.
There have been 78 UNT players selected in the NFL draft all-time, the most recent being wide receiver Jaelon Darden, a 2021 fourth-round pick who is currently on the Cleveland Browns practice squad.
Surely the most notable pro player in UNT history is none other than ‘Mean’ Joe Greene. Now a college football and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Greene, whose name represents the school well, was a four-time Super Bowl Champion with Pittsburgh, two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a 10-time Pro Bowler and an eight-time All-Pro selection.
The Mean Green have been to many different conferences, but as of the 20th century, they played in the Sun Belt Conference from 2000–2013, then the Conference-USA from 2013–2023 and as of this season they joined the American Athletic Conference in wake of several departures.
Other notable scheduled non-conference matchups in the Cougs future include Kansas State of the Big 12 (2026, 2029), Kansas of the Big 12 (2027, 2028) and Mississippi State of the SEC (2030, 2031). WSU also has several non-conference matchups with Mountain West schools in the near future that could potentially be impacted by further conference re-alignment.
While many things are subject to change prior to 2030, and even prior to 2025, the Cougs and the Mean Green are set to face off in what should be a fun, out-of-the-ordinary clash of two non-conference foes.
