North Texas Makes First ABC Appearance in Decades

North Texas hopes to cap an unprecedented season in Friday night’s American Conference Championship Game. However, win or lose, Friday’s game allows the Mean Green to do something they have rarely done: appear on ABC.

Friday night’s game is the Mean Green’s first appearance on ABC in 41 years and its first primetime appearance on the network in 55 years.

Months ahead of the 1970 season, ABC picked up North Texas’s season finale against Tulsa for a regional broadcast. The game was part of a regional night game slate on December 5th, which included Miami-Houston, Arizona-Arizona State, and Mississippi-LSU. Although not a national brand by any stretch, North Texas’s choice made a lot of sense given their recent track record. The Mean Green finished 7-3 or better in each of the four seasons before 1970, including a 7-3 record in 1969.

North Texas and Tulsa delivered a last-second finish to the regional ABC audience that stayed up for a game that kicked off at 8:30 PM CT. Tulsa survived a spirited North Texas rally to escape with a 26-20 win. The Mean Green scored a touchdown with 24 seconds left to reduce the deficit to six and then recovered the ensuing onside kick. Unfortunately, Tulsa intercepted a pass on the first play of the drive to seal the win.

14 years passed before North Texas received another opportunity to appear on ABC. In 1978, ABC had an interest in regionally televising North Texas’ game with Memphis, but ultimately passed. Seven years later, the ABC cameras did return for a crucial Southland Conference contest between North Texas and Louisiana-Monroe. North Texas and ULM entered their November 12th contest both ranked in the Division I-AA top ten, ULM at #2 and North Texas at #10. Still, the gravitas of the matchup alone was not enough to garner an ABC regional appearance. A little-known requirement in the NCAA’s TV contract with ABC required the network to feature at least 82 different schools on its airwaves. This of course, was when the NCAA, and not individual conferences like today, negotiated its TV contract collectively. A regional slate of #1 Nebraska-Kansas, and #3 Auburn-#4 Georgia accompanied the North Texas-ULM game.

North Texas upset ULM 27-7 thanks to six turnovers. The Mean Green would make the Division I-AA quarterfinals before losing to Nevada.

North Texas’ remarkable season has come with firsts that are years in the making, such as its first AP Poll ranking since 1959. It is only fitting that the Mean Green end another drought before heading into Bowl Season or the College Football Playoff.