Bo’s Bowl Bits: Vol. 1

In with the old and out with the new in North Texas-Texas State matchup

By Bo Carter, National Football Foundation Correspondent

New is old, and old is new in the 16th annual SERVPRO First Responder Bowl Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, at 3 p.m. (CST) at Gerald Ford Stadium on the SMU campus in Dallas.

The bowl’s opposing schools - North Texas and Texas State – have a historical rivalry dating to Nov. 1, 1915, in San Marcos and a 14-0 UNT (then North Texas Teachers College) victory through their last meeting 30 years ago in 1994 when the NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) Mean Green topped the Bobcats 27-14 in San Marcos. This is the first time that the teams have faced each other with both as FBS schools.

Technically speaking, this is the first meeting of North Texas and Texas State in football. Texas State actually was entitled Southwest Texas State until 2003 – nine years after the two rivals had met last on the gridiron. UNT also holds a 29-7-3 series advantage in 39 games played over 80 seasons. The Eagles also have a series-longest win streak over TSU at 11 from 1936-47.

This defensive-minded rivalry never has had a winning squad score more than 41 points in one game (a 41-7 North Texas triumph in 1969), but that high point total may be in jeopardy this time with a pair of high-powered offenses heading to Dallas.

Texas State is on very familiar turf where the Bobcats scored a 45-21 triumph over Rice in the 2023 SERVPRO First Responder Bowl at Ford Stadium, the school’s first-ever bowl victory (and first appearance). The team’s high-octane offense in ’24 averages 37.1 points each time it hits the turf.

By the same token, SERVPRO First Responder Bowl veteran team (UNT is competing in its record third SFRB, while Texas State is the only other team besides the Mean Green to play here more than once. And this is just the sixth SERVPRO First Responder Bowl where a Conference USA squad is not represented by previous contractual relationships.

There have been nine of the current FBS conferences competing in this Dallas classic as well, and the first four SFRB encounters had contracts with the Big Ten Conference. UNLV and North Texas met in the 2014 clash as other bowl-eligible squads were occupied in other postseason games.

And both schools expressed delight both in reviving their 110-year-old rivalry and from their days together in the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1922-1931), Lone Star Conference (1932-1948) and the Southland Conference (1983–1994) before both schools went their different ways.

North Texas now is in its second season in the American Athletic Conference after competing in Conference USA from 2013-22. Interestingly, Texas State replaced UNT on the Sun Belt football membership lost in 2013 and has remained a member for the last 12 seasons.

As that ancient sports saying goes, “You can’t tell the players without a program (or nowadays without a hand-held device),” but in this bowl’s case, there is both great historical familiarity as well as youngsters on both teams who received ample recruiting interest from both schools as they completed their high school career.

And another notable aspect to the Jan. 3 meeting – Texas State associate athletics director of communications Lindsey Olsen is no stranger to Ford Stadium pressbox and the SMU campus. She attained her Texas State position last July after working at SMU from 2013-2022 and then publicizing professional soccer in Indiana.

Tickets for the 16th annual contest remain on sale through the firstresponderbowl.com website.

-www.firstresponderbowl.com-