No. 25 North Texas caps season with New Mexico Bowl win

The 25th-ranked North Texas Mean Green finished off a memorable and historic season on Saturday with a 49-47 win over San Diego State in an explosive Isleta New Mexico Bowl.

The two teams combined for 652 yards in a crazy first half that saw North Texas take a 28-20 lead into the break. The Mean Green even stretched the advantage to 42-20 on a one-yard TD catch from wide receiver Cameron Dorner at the end of the third quarter before the Aztecs (9-4) battled back with 27 points in the fourth quarter.

No. 25 North Texas ends historic season in style

With the announcement that head coach Eric Morris would be leaving for Oklahoma State in November, the Mean Green could have folded and finished a monumental 2025 season on a sour note under interim coach Drew Svoboda.

Instead, North Texas (12-2) set a program-record for wins in a season and cracked the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 1959. To top it off, North Texas earned its first bowl win since it defeated UNLV in the 2013 Heart of Dallas Bowl.

To be fair, the Mean Green entered the night averaging the most points per game (44.8 PPG) in the country, so the fact that they went off for 49 points is not surprising. However, the Aztecs allowed the fourth-fewest points per game (12.6 PPG), making the offensive outburst that much more impressive.

North Texas had 618 total yards of offense as quarterback Drew Mestemaker finished 27-of-47 for 250 yards with three TDs and two interceptions. It was not the best performance from a QB who led the nation in pass yards per game (317.6 YPG), but he accounted for two of the three second-half scores and made sure the Mean Green preserved their lead.

Another key to North Texas’ success all season has been freshman running back Caleb Hawkins, who had 30 carries for 198 yards and three TDs (one receiving) in the bowl win. Hawkins finished the season with 29 TDs, which broke former Louisiana Tech star Kenneth Dixon’s previous mark of 28 in 2012 for the most TDs by a freshman in NCAA history.

This three-yard TD run from Hawkins put North Texas up 35-20 in the third quarter and officially set the record.