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Fresh off back-to-back nine-win seasons, North Texas open their 2019 college football campaign on Saturday when they take on FCS squad Abilene Christian at Apogee Stadium.
The game (7:30 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular TV anywhere, but you can watch it live right here via ESPN+, the digital streaming service from ESPN that includes most North Texas and C-USA football games this season, tons of other college football and live sports, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
You can sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch North Texas vs ACU live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
Abilene Christian vs North Texas Preview
North Texas went 9-3 to reach bowl season in 2018, their third year under head coach Seth Littrell, but fell to Utah State 52-13 in the New Mexico Bowl.
The Mean Green scored 34.6 points per game and surrendered 21.8 per contest last season, ranking 27th and 31st out of 130 FBS teams.
“I’m excited about this group and the way they have worked this spring, summer and now through fall camp,” Littrell said, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. “I’m really excited about the commitment they have made and the hard work they have put in.”
Littrell’s tenure at the helm of the Mean Green has coincided with the UNT career of senior quarterback Mason Fine, who’s started for the squad since taking hold of the job early in his freshman year.
“Mason and I have a special bond,” Littrell said, per the Record-Chronicle. “I’m really proud of the things he has accomplished so far and am looking forward to him having a great season. Most importantly, I’m proud of the way he has grown off the field and who he is as a teammate. We’ll have a relationship for a lot of years.”
Last year, Fine completed 64.6 percent of his passes for 3,793 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. He’s one of five senior captains on a Mean Green roster that has 21 seniors.
“This is the first year we have a player-led team instead of a coach-led team,” Fine said, per the Record-Chronicle. “The players are making the decisions on what is best for the team. When something needs to be said or something needs to be done, we will act and make those changes. We have fire to be successful.”
Abilene Christian went 6-5 record last season, their second under head coach Adam Dorrel. They hadn’t posted a winning record since 2013.
“We talk about taking the next step,” Dorrel said, according to the Abilene Reporter-News. “That’s our team motto. Our guys want to win the Southland Conference and make the national playoffs. It’s that simple.”
The Wildcats held their final scrimmage of the preseason a week before the tilt with UNT.
“I feel good about where we’re at right now,” Dorrel said, per the Reporter-News. “I think we’ve got good group of guys,” Dorrel said. “I think we’ve got a really good locker room. I think we’ve got a group of guys who love each other, and they’re very, very coachable. As a coach, man, it’s really positive to have that each and every day you come to work.”