No. 21 Mean Green Set for Regular-Season Finale

Friday, November 28

Denton, TX

2:30 PM CT

University of North Texas

Temple

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11/25/2025 2:16:00 PM | Football

UNT FB Game Notes - Temple

DENTON – The UNT football team returns home after a pair of road games for its regular-season finale, as the 21st-ranked Mean Green will host a Temple squad playing for bowl eligibility on Friday afternoon. UNT, which is looking to notch its 11th victory for the first time in program history, will face the Owls on ESPN with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. The radio broadcast can be found on 1190 AM/The Varsity Network.

Head coach Eric Morris and select players spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, the growing pressure of everything that is on the line with each coming game, the familiarity between UNT's and Temple's coaching staff, and some players, the next man up mentality in relation to defensive injuries this season and honoring 23 seniors on Senior Day.

Mean Green set for historically big home game
In the 100-plus years of UNT football, Friday's regular-season finale at DATCU Stadium might be the biggest game, to date, in program history.

With so much on the line – an 11th win for the first time in program history, a spot in the American Conference Championship and an ongoing quest to get into the 12-team College Football Playoff – it'd be easy to be overwhelmed.

Head coach Eric Morris and his staff are making sure the players stay grounded heading into Friday's game on a short week of preparation after Saturday's late-night road win at Rice.

"These guys have earned a great opportunity," Morris said. "I told them earlier this week I hope this doesn't require a lot of motivation right now. We've put ourselves in this position and we're playing meaningful games at the end of November. We are not getting ahead of ourselves, and now we're here at the end.

"Hopefully, it doesn't create anxiety where we have to press now. We know our recipe to success. We've been through ups and downs. We're battle tested. To prove it a little more, we got down 14-0 that fast on the road at Rice and were able to settle in and play our style of football. We've won a lot of different ways."

When asked about crowds in Denton on Thanksgiving weekend historically being underwhelming, and what kind of challenge he had for the Mean Green fans to come support the team in what is likely its final home game this season, Morris flipped the script.

"I almost feel the complete opposite. I don't see it as a challenge," Morris said. "They don't have school. A bunch of people won't have work. Enjoy an afternoon out with your family. It looks like our student tickets are pretty dang good right now. Any time you can have the fans behind you in a big game like this will pay huge dividends for us. This is almost perfect for us to give thanks on Thursday for everything and come out Friday and enjoy some time with family and get a bunch Mean Green fans there together."

UNT, Temple staffs have familiarity with one another
When UNT and Temple face off on Friday afternoon, there will be a lot of familiarity on both sidelines.

Of course, the most obvious connection is the fact first-year Temple coach K.C. Keeler went to the Owls after a successful stint on Sam Houston, where he hired a successful defensive coordinator by the name of Skyler Cassity. Now, Cassity is in his first year in Denton and has led a defensive rejuvenation to the tune of 24 forced turnovers this season – good for a tie for fifth in FBS – and 111 points scored off turnovers, which is tied for the best mark for a UNT defense since 2000.

With Cassity came seven players from Sam Houston, including six from the defensive side of the ball. Cassity also brought his entire defensive staff to Denton, and cornerback Da'Veawn Armstead, linebacker Trey Fields, cornerback David Fisher and defensive linemen Briceon Hayes and Richard Outland Jr., have all been key contributors on defense.

Morris also knows Keeler well from his time competing against his teams while at Incarnate Word.

"There's a bunch of competitive people that play this game," Morris said. "We're all friends. We have a lot of respect for him. It's like you play the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving in the backyard against your cousins, and you're trying to beat your family members even though you love them.

"I have as much respect for this head coach as any coach in the country. He won games at Delaware and we played each other at Sam Houston. He's just a ball coach. He's a program builder. He knows what he's doing. These guys are fighting for a bowl game right now with a lot of close games. It's a huge challenge for us."

Reserves have played key role on defense
With a host of defensive injuries in recent weeks, especially up front, and with key losses of entrenched defensive starters like defensive tackle Fatefehi Vailea II and linebacker Shane Whitter for the season, it's literally taken a village this season on UNT's defense.

That's been especially apparent in recent weeks as injuries pile up and players are fighting to stay on the field – not always successfully.

Enter guys like Keviyan Huddleston, Rudy Vargas Jr., and Terrell Washington, who have all stepped up in recent weeks and helped the defense not miss a beat.

"It's just that next guy up mentality," junior safety Patrick Smith-Young said. "When we practice, everyone practices hard and when they do their rep, there should be no dropoff. It's like coach says, there's no 1s, 2s or 3s, it's just a Mean Green defensive player. Guys are going out and executing what they're supposed to do."

Morris said several players have been stepping up recently and even moreso last week against Rice when Quinton Hammonds was ruled out in pregame.

"A ton of guys stepped up for the defense last week," Morris said. "We still have the nucleus and our safeties and cornerbacks are good. We feel really good about them. (Hammonds') role has changed a little since Shane went down for the year and he's been a bit of hybrid for us. Having lost a really good player already and in a game like Rice they were going to do some different stuff and you have all those reps invested in him, it was a bit tricky. He was back today so hopefully he'll be back. He's so smart and makes decisions really fast out there."

Program ready to honor seniors
In the modern age of college football with the transfer portal playing such a key factor in roster building, there are several different types of seniors.

Gone are the days of everyone coming in together as freshmen and being the program for four or five years together. Now, teams have a mix of those players with one-year players who might play six or seven home games at a given place before being honored at Senior Day.

That will be the case on Friday when UNT honors 23 seniors, many of whom have been a part of the three-year build to this point under Morris' tutelage.

"Some of these guys are playing their seventh game at DATCU and other guys like Gabe Blair have played 47. This is their time with their families and to soak it all up and enjoy the moment and have their families there," Morris said. "Life after football is always hard for everyone. You're used to the structure of workouts and study hall and someone telling you what to do all hours of the day and people struggle when they get away from that and football is over for them.

"Then, there are so many guys who have had a huge impact on our season no matter how long they've been here. Look at Outland, Dorner, so many people who are one-year guys that have come in and helped us get to this point. I'm thankful for all those guys."

One of those one-year guys is tight end Tre Williams III, who came from Division II Limestone, and said there was a common thread between he and everyone who has joined the program in the last few years.

"The school I came from we were a couple of plays from conference championship and making the playoffs," he said. "Bringing in coachable guys was a big thing, and here, we all have the same mindset with one goal in mind to win a conference championship and see how far we can go with this thing."