15 fun facts about Tennessee’s game against North Texas

[title_box title=”15 fun facts about Tennessee’s game against North Texas”]

The Tennessee Volunteers take the field on Saturday at noon ET against North Texas on the SEC Network. Here are 15 facts to get you ready for this weekend:

1. This week’s game will be UT’s homecoming. Tennessee has won 28 of its last 31 homecoming games.

2. Saturday’s game will mark the second meeting between Tennessee and North Texas. The Vols last played North Texas in 1975 and lost 21-14.

3. NFL Hall of Famer and five-time Super Bowl champion “Mean” Joe Greene played for North Texas.

4. North Texas fired former coach Dan McCarney less than one hour after the Mean Green lost to FCS-level Portland State, 66-7, back in October.

5. The Mean Green are now coached by Mike Canales.

6. Some notable North Texas alums: Nine-time Grammy Award winner Norah Jones, Eagles co-founder and frontman Don Henley, and of course, Dr. Phil.

7. North Texas is a member of Conference USA, which it joined on July 1, 2013.

8. This will be the second time Butch Jones has coached the Vols against a C-USA team.

9. The last time the Vols played a C-USA opponent was in 2013, when they beat Western Kentucky 52-20.

10. The last time North Texas faced an SEC opponent was in 2013, when it lost to the Georgia Bulldogs, 45-21.

11. North Texas is currently averaging 345.9 yards per game and only 17.6 points. Tennessee is averaging 422.3 yards per game and 35.11 points.

12. Jalen Hurd is currently No. 5 in the SEC in rushing with 815 rushing yards over the last nine games.

13. North Texas’ running back Jeffrey Wilson has 683 rushing yards and is averaging six yards per carry, good for fourth-best in C-USA.

14. The last time Tennessee played a team from Texas was in the 2005 Cotton Bowl, when it defeated Texas A&M 38-7.

15. A win against the Mean Green will make the Vols bowl eligible.

Featured image by Ryan McGill

Edited by Cody McClure

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