Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 122. North Texas
The Greatest Dynasty in Sun Belt History?
Now we’re getting somewhere with these teams. North Texas, while they’ve had a lot of dumpster-fire seasons, has the distinction of winning 4 straight conference titles from 2001-04. During that period they went 25-2(!) in the Sun Belt with a 29-21 record overall (just a 4-19 record out of conference). We’ll take a look at 2002 and ‘03 as they were both top 5 seasons overall for North Texas.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 39 | North Texas | 2013 | 8.768 | 9-4 |
| 49 | North Texas | 2018 | 0.377 | 9-4 |
| 50 | North Texas | 2003 | -0.166 | 9-4 |
| 48 | North Texas | 2017 | -0.601 | 9-5 |
| 55 | North Texas | 2002 | -4.424 | 8-5 |
| 69 | North Texas | 2004 | -14.588 | 7-5 |
| 88 | North Texas | 2022 | -20.657 | 7-7 |
| 88 | North Texas | 2021 | -21.857 | 6-7 |
| 82 | North Texas | 2001 | -23.539 | 5-7 |
| 81 | North Texas | 1996 | -26.506 | 5-6 |
| 91 | North Texas | 2011 | -27.06 | 5-7 |
| 91 | North Texas | 2012 | -31.023 | 4-8 |
| 98 | North Texas | 2016 | -32.604 | 5-8 |
| 87 | North Texas | 1997 | -33.949 | 4-7 |
| 110 | North Texas | 2020 | -33.952 | 4-6 |
| 110 | North Texas | 2019 | -35.795 | 4-8 |
| 98 | North Texas | 1998 | -38.63 | 3-8 |
| 98 | North Texas | 2000 | -42.325 | 3-8 |
| 113 | North Texas | 2014 | -42.333 | 4-8 |
| 106 | North Texas | 2010 | -43.404 | 3-9 |
| 108 | North Texas | 2006 | -45.282 | 3-9 |
| 110 | North Texas | 2009 | -49.292 | 2-10 |
| 106 | North Texas | 1999 | -49.34 | 2-9 |
| 108 | North Texas | 2005 | -49.671 | 2-9 |
| 102 | North Texas | 1995 | -52.288 | 2-9 |
| 116 | North Texas | 2007 | -56.63 | 2-10 |
| 126 | North Texas | 2015 | -67.161 | 1-11 |
| 120 | North Texas | 2008 | -71.7 | 1-11 |
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -4686.761842 (122nd)128-209 record
4 conference titles
2-9 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
2 NFL players drafted
North Texas has an insane(ly bad) 2 NFL players drafted in 28 years, which is by far the worst track record for developing talent on this list and honestly shockingly bad. It’s not like they haven’t produced talent either, just in the past few years Jalen Guyton and Jeff Wilson Jr. went undrafted, and in the past Lance Dunbar and 6x Pro Bowler Brian Waters also weren’t selected. Despite the lack of draft picks, they managed to win 4 conference titles and go to 11 bowl games! Unfortunately going forward, I will have to refer to a stretch of time in which a team has more conference titles than NFL players drafted as a “North Texas”. 2 conference titles for every 1 player drafted over a 28 year period is astounding. North Texas has 0 consensus All-Americans since 1995, but all time includes “Mean” Joe Greene, member of the College and Pro Football Hall of Fames.
Top 5 Seasons
5. 2002 (8-5 overall, 6-0 Sun Belt)
The second straight Sun Belt title win, part of that 2001-04 run they had. This team improved a lot on the 2001 edition which went 5-7, improving to 8-5 with an unbeaten conference record. This was a VERY interesting team, they had 7 different players throw a pass for them, and ranked 102nd in the nation with just 19.2 PPG. Defense carried them throughout the year, giving up just 14.8 PPG which ranked 3rd in the nation. They weren’t just G5 good, they were great by even P5 standards. They gave up just 27 points to #3 Texas, 16 points to 10-2 TCU, 14 points to Arizona, and 24 points to 9-2 South Florida. After starting 1-5, they’d prove to still a dominant Sun Belt team as they started 4-0, outscoring opponents 91-12 in that stretch, giving up just 3 PPG. The defense was led by the 5’11 315 lb DT Brandon Kennedy, who led the nation in TFL and was the Sun Belt POTY and DPOTY. They’d beat New Mexico State in a de-facto conference title game 38-27, win their last regular season game, and then shut down Cincinnati’s high flying offense 24-19 in the bowl to finish the season on a 7 game win streak.
4. 2017 (9-5 overall, 7-1 Conference USA)
Two years removed from a 1-11 season, second year head coach Seth Littrell showed improvement in 2016 with a 5-8 year and was picked 4th in the C-USA West for 2017. After starting 1-2, a big 46-43 win over UAB with 3 TD from QB Mason Fine and 211 rushing yards from RB Jeff Wilson showed that they’d be key players throughout the year. Fine, a 5’11 2x Oklahoma Gatorade High School POTY ended up being the C-USA OPOTY, and Wilson would be voted 2nd team all-conference. 4 different offensive linemen would be voted Honorable Mention All-CUSA members. The offense was one of the best in all of the Group of 5, averaging 35.5 PPG, but also gave up 35 PPG. The Mean Green were susceptible to blowout losses throughout the year including 69-31 and 41-17 to FAU. The latter came in the C-USA Title Game and they’d fall 50-30 to an 11-2 Troy team in the bowl.
3. 2003 (9-4 overall, 7-0 Sun Belt)
Once again this dynasty kept getting better, greatly improving their offense while maintaining a strong defense. The Mean Green finally found a consistent QB in Scott Hall who threw 13 TD to 5 INT and led the Sun Belt in passer rating. RB Patrick Cobbs became the offensive workhorse, running for 1570 yards and 17 TD on 5.5 YPC. He did this in just 10 games too, leading the nation in rushing yards per game and scoring per game (1 receiving and 1 punt return TD). North Texas made a statement in week 2 by beating Baylor 52-14, before falling to 1-3 shortly after. They’d once again wipe through the Sun Belt going 7-0, this time with a few scares with three games being decided by 5 points or less. After finishing the regular season 9-3, they’d fall to a strong 9-4 Memphis team 27-17. LB Cody Spencer was drafted in the 6th round after the season by the Oakland Raiders.
2. 2018 (9-4 overall, 5-3 Conference USA)
After losing to FAU in the C-USA title game the previous year, North Texas and FAU were predicted to rematch in 2018. North Texas started 2-0, and gained some New Years 6 buzz after thumping Arkansas 44-17 in Fayetteville. The defense forced 6 interceptions and Nate Brooks and Khiari Muhammad had 2 apiece. After beating Liberty 47-7, North Texas was 4-0 and receiving votes in the AP Poll. It would be short lived, as UNT lost to Louisiana Tech the next week 29-27. They’d have some nice wins but close losses to fall to 7-3, and were eliminated from C-USA title contention as UAB was putting together a great season themselves. North Texas did get revenge over FAU though, beating them 41-38 thanks to 222 yards from RB Deandre Torey. At 9-3, they’d meet Utah State in their bowl but were surprisingly blown out 52-13. Mason Fine repeated as C-USA OPOTY with an even better season, throwing for 3793 yards with 27 TD 5 INT.
1. 2013 (9-4 overall, 6-2 Conference USA)
Each of North Texas’ top 3 seasons were 9-4, yet according to my algorithm, the difference between the 1st and 2nd best UNT team is bigger than the difference between the 2nd and 5th best team. What gives? Well, they were probably better than their record suggested, as they played a sneaky good non conference schedule. They lost to 7-6 Ohio, beat 10-3 Ball State, and lost to #9 Georgia. After starting 2-3, the team went on one of the most dominant stretches in school history: W 34-7 over 8-5 Middle Tennessee, 28-13 over Louisiana Tech, 55-14 over Southern Miss, 28-16 over C-USA champion 10-4 Rice, and 41-7 over UTEP. They’d lose at home to rival UTSA who was in the middle of a 5 game win streak themselves before finishing off the regular season with a 42-10 domination of Tulsa. The bowl game wasn’t close either, 36-14 over UNLV (fun fact: Jerry Rice Jr. scored a TD for UNLV in that game). On the season, North Texas averaged 32 PPG and gave up just 18 PPG, 8th best in the nation. The defense forced the 3rd most turnovers in the nation as well with 34. Hilariously, coach Dan McCarney would be fired just 2 years later after losing 66-7 to FCS Portland State in the biggest loss to an FCS team by an FBS team in history.
5th Quarter
With lots of talented players to come through North Texas in the last 2 decades, who’s the best? RBs Patrick Cobbs, Lance Dunbar, and Jeff Wilson Jr. made their mark on the ground. QB Mason Fine was a 2x C-USA Offensive Player of the Year. I didn’t even mention WR Jaelon Darden who was the most electrifying player in college football in 2020.
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