The stage was set in a way it never had never been set before. All of the elements aligned perfectly for the finest Friday night atmosphere in the history of Denton, TX.
A record crowd of 31,386 adhering
to the “blackout” theme funneled in to revel in North Texas’ moment in the spotlight. The Mean Green concocted their first 5-0 start since 1959 and were hosting a ranked South Florida squad in a matchup with heavy American Conference title stakes. But South Florida crashed the party with bad intentions, villainously disrupting the greatest show DATCU Stadium had ever witnessed. The No. 24 Bulls put the first blemish on North Texas’ spotless 2025 résumé, emptying a good portion of the stands by the end of the third quarter en route to a 63-36 final — the highest-scoring game in regulation of the 2025 season.
“I got so much respect for (North Texas head coach) Eric (Morris) and the program he’s building,” South Florida head coach Alex Golesh said. “They’re so much improved on defense. He’s always done a phenomenal job offensively. We got the jobs at the same time, and it’s hard when you’re in the same league, but I root for EMo because he does it the right way. He treats people the right way and he’s a darn good football coach. Really cool environment made it a little bit more difficult in the first quarter, but it was really cool to play a meaningful conference football game in October, so shoutout to him.”
North Texas initially fed off the exuberant energy of the soldout Denton crowd, always remaining one step ahead and never trailing in the first half. However, the entire trajectory of the night swung in abrupt fashion from the 0:51 mark of the second quarter to the 11:35 mark of the third quarter — a timespan of 4 minutes and 16 seconds where South Florida captured three takeaways and logged a 28-0 run.
“It was lack of execution on all three sides of the ball,” North Texas center Gabe Blair said. “It spiraled in the second half to us getting destroyed. We just had a lack of execution in the second half. We could have easily come out of that hole if we just executed as we should have.”
North Texas entered this stretch ahead 21-14 and forced a South Florida punt in the waning seconds of the half. However, the Mean Green muffed the punt and the Bulls recovered in the red zone. With five seconds remaining before halftime, USF quarterback Byrum Brown faked a handoff and found a wide open Jonathan Echols in the end zone to knot the score at 21 apiece.
“It helped when they put the extra second back on,” Golesh said of the end-of-half sequence. “With four (seconds), I was really anxious to run a play knowing four was at the breakpoint of where we weren’t gonna get it back. When they went to five, I told Byrum it was either up and down or at his feet to give us a second left. It worked out they were in cover zero and blitzed both edges and they didn’t cover. Score one for the good guys.”
Fresh out of halftime, South Florida unearthed some trickery as Brown handed the ball off to wide receiver Christian Neptune, who subsequently launched a 29-yard deep ball to Keshaun Singleton to claim USF’s first lead of the game. It wasn’t Golesh’s first time breaking open a game with third quarter trickery, which he similarly implemented in the opener vs. Boise State.
“We do double-throw tryouts in fall camp — my favorite post-practice activity,” Golesh said. “I think (Neptune) finished second in that competition. We’ve practiced it for a while. I told (my son) Bear, who called me this afternoon after he got out of school — he always asks me what we got in the ol’ back pocket, and I told him Christian was gonna throw a touchdown.”
The stampede then continued as North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker tossed an interception to strong safety Fred Gaskin, who returned the goods to the UNT 15-yard line. Sam Franklin then pinballed off several defenders to produce a third unanswered USF touchdown. Right when it seemed like the home team hit rock bottom, the situation further worsened for the Mean Green. South Florida’s Jarvis Lee jarred the ball loose from Simeon Evans and inside linebacker Jhalyn Shuler — who previously secured USF’s first interception of the night — scooped up the loose pigskin and showboated on the path to a 34-yard touchdown.
The playmaking of the linebacker duo of Shuler and Mac Harris (four combined forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, two interceptions this season) continues to play a major factor on a weekly basis, serving as a driving force behind the Bulls’ drastic defensive improvement.
“We all call them 24-7 for a reason — they’re always around the ball no matter what play it is or where they’re supposed to be,” said South Florida free safety Tavin Ward, who compiled a game-best 14 tackles. “They’re gonna find their way around the ball and I feed off that energy sometimes. Going back to my tackles, I’m running for them. I feed my energy based off them.”
North Texas briefly halted the run on a tunnel screen to Miles Coleman, as the receiver showcased his blazing speed on a 54-yard touchdown trimming the deficit to 42-28. But the endless action refused to slow down and South Florida responded with another touchdown in 80 seconds. Brown fired a deep ball to Jeremiah Koger, who earned a wealth of space thanks to a double move, and he hauled in a 63-yard score — his second of the day — to provide insurance to the Bulls.
“Koger, he’s been the same guy since he stepped on campus,” Brown said of his 94-yard, 2-touchdown receiver. “Seeing that his work is reaping the benefits, it’s great to see that out of a young guy. He continues to come in with the same mentality of work — wanting to be better at this and wanting to be better than this. He’s gonna be really great in this offense.”
Explosive plays were commonplace considering the game that featured 77 collective points before the 8-minute mark of the third quarter. In a battle of dynamic, up-tempo offenses, South Florida outpaced North Texas to accumulate 580 yards compared to 423. It was a statement road performance particularly for Brown, who accounted for 245 passing yards on a 22-of-28 showing, a game-high 82 rushing yards, and five total touchdowns. But even more impressive was his ability to persevere through early adversity. The veteran quarterback shed off three first quarter turnovers (two fumbles and an interception) and the Bulls never coughed up the ball in the final three quarters to coast to victory.
“This guy is one of the most prolific players in the history of our program,” Golesh said of Brown. “He’s certainly got a ton of room to continue to improve as he would be the first to tell you, but I would tell you you’re seeing the best version of him right now.”
The turnover battle favored North Texas in the early going with a 3-1 margin after the first frame. While the Mean Green came into the game ranked atop the FBS in points off turnovers, turnovers eventually bit them in their first loss of the season. Quarterback Drew Mestemaker threw 11 touchdowns without an interception across his first five matchups, but Friday night the redshirt freshman was burdened by three picks in a 326-yard affair. The Mean Green committed five total turnovers, and the Bulls cashed in with 21 points off takeaways in the 27-point victory.
“Any time you think you’re gonna play a Top 25 team and turn the ball over (five) times and come away victorious, then you have issues,” North Texas head coach Eric Morris said. “A bunch of missed opportunities. Dropped passes come to mind right now. They out-rushed us by a lot. We weren’t great in the red area and we had been great in the red area. We kind of had it rolling. We weathered some stuff early, but the middle eight was as bad as it’s ever been.”
North Texas (5-1, 1-1 American) stumbles for the first time of the 2025 season. The Mean Green have not manufactured a winning campaign since 2018, but there will be plentiful opportunities to break that streak. Despite the hiccup in front of the electrifying Denton crowd, North Texas understands it remains very much alive in the American title picture.
“The cool thing about this is we’re sitting here 5-1, and I love this team and what they can accomplish this year,” Morris said. “It will be super important for us to reset after this. We get an extra day, got a little banged up in that game… We’ve gotta get healthy this week and we got UTSA coming to town. We have to have short memories. We don’t have time to point fingers at anybody. It hurts more than anything just because the way the first half went and the opportunities that we did have going our way, and we weren’t able to capitalize on all of them.”
South Florida (5-1, 2-0 American) likely maintains its ranking after a dominant second half showing against one of the final 15 undefeated teams in the country. The Bulls are off to their best start since 2018, and Golesh’s team is on a roll averaging 60 points per game in three outings since their lone defeat.
“I love the way that we’ve created eight turnovers in the last two weeks to create eight extra possessions. for the offense,” Golesh said. “When your offense is struggling or when your offense turns it over, you can get the ball back. When you have eight extra possessions, you should be scoring over 50 points. It’s just as much of a compliment to our defense playing complementary football.”
