North Texas 2025 Season Rewatch: Wyatt Young Goes Nuclear Against Rice

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GAME 1 | GAME 2 | GAME 3 | GAME 4 | GAME 5 | GAME 6 | GAME 7 | GAME 8 | GAME 9 | GAME 10

Now in late November of our North Texas 2025 rewatch, the American Championship game and the College Football Playoff are hot on the minds of those watching the Mean Green.

UNT rolled through Rice 56-24 in Houston to pick up win No. 10 on the season — the first time North Texas has ever hit double-digit wins.

In preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season, we’re going back and watching North Texas’ 2025 season. Here are some takeaways from this game against Rice.

The Wyatt Young Legacy Game

Wyatt Young did his best Adarius Bowman impersonation in this game.

The sophomore wideout (who will be a junior at Oklahoma State this year) caught eight balls for 295 yards (!!!) and two touchdowns.

He had touchdowns of 74 and 84 yards.

The first of those resembled a classic Rudolph-to-Washington connection on a deep post route that was dropped right in a bucket before Young shrugged off a would-be tackle and strolled into the end zone.

You could argue whether Mestemaker or Young did more of the heavy lifting on that play, but you can’t argue that for the 84-yard TD.

Young caught a 5-yard out route before making, by my count, six Rice defenders miss during his sprint to the goal line.

In total, Young had five catches of at least 20 yards in this game, adding receptions of 46 yards, 41 yards and 24 yards to his two big touchdowns.

The numbers could’ve gotten more absurd for Young, but he wrapped his day up early in the fourth quarter.

Wyatt Young set a new American Conference single game receiving yards record tonight at 295🤯🏈#BuiltToRise x @MeanGreenFB pic.twitter.com/GzIG8Ch0Eq

— The American (@American_Conf) November 23, 2025

Mestemaker’s Ball of the Season?

It would make sense that since Young had a big day, the guy throwing him the ball also put up numbers.

On only 23 attempts, Mestemaker threw for 469 yards and three touchdowns, meaning he averaged 20.4 yards every time he threw it. This will mark the second-most yards he’s thrown for in a game during the 2025 season.

As good as some of the balls to Young were, Mestemaker’s 56-yard touchdown pass to Tre Williams was perhaps the most absurd ball I’ve seen him throw in this rewatch.

With what looked like a flick of the wrist, Mestemaker hit Williams on a ball that, by my count, went 53 yards in the air on a frozen rope (Mestemaker threw it from well behind the line of scrimmage). Adding to the absurdity, Williams is a tight end. Who hits a tight end on a ball that travels 50+ yards?

BLUURRRR!

📺 ESPNU#GMG🦅 | @trewilliams3157 | @DrewMestemaker https://t.co/B3irbVAF3h pic.twitter.com/HSOlsvlImT

— UNT Football (@MeanGreenFB) November 23, 2025

Other Notes

• To get people in the stands, Rice offered free ice cream and beer at this game. Doesn’t get much more American than that.

• For the most part in 2025, North Texas would jump its opponent right off the opening whistle and said opponent wouldn’t recover.

This game actually played out a bit differently, as Rice scored on its opening drive, forced UNT into a three-and-out and then scored again to make it 14-0.

Unfortunately for the Owls, they wouldn’t score again until UNT led 42-14.  So, it was good to see the Mean Green overcome a little early rough patch and still cruise.

• The broadcast noted that linebacker Ethan Wesloski moved from SAM to WILL for this game with injuries piling up around him in the linebacking room.

It seemed to work for him, as he had a season-high 17 tackles in this game. He got banged up a little early but came back and continued to play well.

• Mestemaker had a 1-yard touchdown run off a read option in the third quarter. Morris was juiced for it with a big fist pump and a point:

• All I can say is ouch.

Hawkins, somewhat under the radar, ran for three touchdowns and 97 yards in this game.