DENTON, TX – Cars were still piling into the parking lots outside of DATCU Stadium well into the first quarter as the largest crowd in North Texas football history braved construction and the predictable 6 p.m. traffic on I-35. 

By midway through the third quarter, there was a line of cars headed the opposite direction because the No. 24-ranked South Florida Bulls were running the Mean Green out of their own stadium in a 63-36 win. 

A North Texas muffed punt with 43 seconds left in the first half changed the complexion of the game. The Mean Green were leading 21-14 and could’ve run out the clock or added to their lead before half. Instead, South Florida turned the turnover into a touchdown to tie the game at 21 heading into the break. 

By 11:35 left in the third quarter, South Florida led 42-21. The Bulls scored on their first three possessions of the second half, aided by two North Texas turnovers. The Bulls grew their lead to 49-28 by the end of the third quarter and cruised to victory in the fourth. 

The potential of the North Texas football program is easy to see from the DATCU Stadium press box. 

Look to the right and one of the only indoor facilities in the G5 ranks peeks out above the football offices and locker room. Just southwest of the indoor are the first wind turbines in Texas placed on campus property. Look right and there is I-35, representing a straight path towards Dallas and into the best market for high school talent in the country.  

The indoor and the wind turbines and the highway are always visible at North Texas football games. The difference on Friday night from press box was the view straight ahead, of the stands. Typically, there is as much silver from unoccupied bleacher seats as green worn by the fan base. Often, the fraternity and sorority tents on the northern horizon are filled with more students than the stands while the game is played. 

The idea of North Texas football always felt bigger than the reality. On paper, the Mean Green held every advantage over many peers in the G5 yet watched as programs like the rival Roadrunners won conference championships and played in games with tangible stakes. Meanwhile, North Texas hadn’t finished over .500 in a season since 2018 and had only accomplished that three times since 2003. 

The term ‘Sleeping Giant’ is thrown around too often in college football, but it might apply to North Texas, at least relative to the G5 ranks in this corner of the landscape. Friday night was proof of concept. The parking lot was packed. There were throngs of fans waiting for the gates to open 90 minutes before kickoff. The student section was full well before the start of the game. 

The reality finally matched the possibilities. 

But anyone who arrived in the stadium at the start of the fourth quarter wouldn’t have known that 31,386 people came to watch the game. By that time, the crowd looked like what it normally does for the Mean Green. The goal on the field entering the game was to beat South Florida and insert themselves into the College Football Playoff discussion. The goal off of it was to carry over the momentum into the rest of the season. 

Put on a show for a sold-out crowd against South Florida, in a win or a close loss, and maybe they’d all come back in eight days for the game against UTSA. Win that one and they’d return en masse for Navy on Nov. 1. Keep winning and even the crowd for the finale against Temple would be impressive because of the stakes. You get the point. 

The view from the press box at the start of the game offered hope. The view from it by the end of it was worrying. 

The loss didn’t derail many of the goals for the football team. The schedule still sets up to make a run at the American Championship game and a 10-win season is there for the taking with no Memphis or Tulane on the schedule. The only road games left are against Charlotte, UAB, and Rice – three of the worst teams in the conference. 

But the off-field momentum likely took a hit because of the lopsided score and the early exodus from the stands. North Texas lost this game with a rough four minutes of action from the end of the second quarter through the first part of the third when the Bulls outscored them 28-0. 

It might’ve lost its momentum in attendance over the same period.