Under the direction of Professor J. W. Pender, the band of teachers-in-training played one game against TCU, a 13–0 loss at Eagle Field (located on the current site of Willis Library).

The next year saw North Texas assemble its first full schedule, with three home and three away games, against schools such as TCU and Sam Houston State.

St. Clair's final season saw the Eagles pick up their first win over a future major college program, beating TCU 14–6 in Fort Worth to open the 1919 campaign.

As the university itself worked its way towards full recognition by the Texas State Legislature in 1921, the school began making moves to improve its young football program.

The Eagles' first year in the TIAA saw them open up the season with a 55–0 loss to Baylor in Denton, also marked the first game in the history of the Safeway Bowl with rival SMU, with North Texas falling to the Mustangs 66–0.

In 1932, North Texas became a charter member of the new Lone Star Conference, compiling an 8–1–1 record, winning eight straight games after a 0–1–1 start, six of them via a shutout while allowing just 12 points against in that span.

Sisco was replaced by Lloyd Russell in 1942, who would only spend one season at the helm before the school temporarily disbanded its football program from 1943 to 1945 as many students went off to fight in World War II.

North Texas hired Odus Mitchell from Marshall High School to lead the team.

His second to last recruiting class in 1965 included future NFL Hall of Famer Joe Greene, who went on to become the only All-America in North Texas football history, and a four-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After Mitchell left in early 1967, North Texas had just one conference title and three winning seasons over the next six years.

In 1973, the Mean Green hired future Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry, who had been controversially fired by rival SMU the previous season after leading the Mustangs one game shy of a Southwest Conference title.

After a lackluster 2-7-2 finish in 1974, Fry, dissatisfied with the lack of support from students, alumni, and fans, began putting together a plan with university officials to move the program to the Southwest Conference.

Fry felt distancing the program from a lower-tier conference was a good first step, so the team became a Division I-A Independent before the start of the 1975 season.

Fry also gave the school a complete visual makeover, adding lime green to the color scheme and introducing the infamous "flying worm" logo that became a staple of the university for years to come.

The 1976 season saw marked signs of improvement, with the Mean Green falling in close contests to all their major conference opponents (a 7–0 loss to Mississippi State was later forfeited to North Texas after it was revealed the Bulldogs used ineligible players).

[4] The program experienced little success in subsequent years, but in 1995, a coordinated campaign by donors to purchase large blocks of seats at Fouts Field spiked the average attendance enough for the school to enter Division I-A once again in 1995.

The Mean Green played in the 2001 New Orleans Bowl despite a regular-season finish at 5–6 after winning the Sun Belt title with a 5–1 conference record.

The Mean Green improved by four wins in Littrell's first year at the helm, and despite having a 5–7 record, Academic Progress Rate scores from the previous year allowed the team to compete in the 2016 Heart of Dallas Bowl after there weren't enough 6-6 programs to fill all of the bowl game slots.

North Texas fell to Florida Atlantic in the 2017 Conference USA Football Championship Game, and went on to lose to Troy in the 2017 New Orleans Bowl.

The 2018 team shot off to a 4–0 start before somewhat faltering down the stretch, finishing the season 9-4 after a loss to Utah State in the 2018 New Mexico Bowl.

However, the Denton Area Teachers Credit Union (DATCU) subsequently purchased naming rights to the facility prior to the 2023 season.

The venue began as just a cleared-out area near the center of campus and didn't have any seats for spectators until steel bleachers were installed in the mid-1920s.

Eagle Field was located on the current site of Willis Library on UNT's campus, situated slightly to the right of the Hurley Administration Building if facing Highland Street, though the field predated the construction of the building and its clock tower by a few decades.

North Texas accumulated a 92–25–5 record in their 36 seasons at Eagle Field for a winning percentage of .754%, which remains their highest at any of their three home stadiums.

All that remains of the venue is the supports for the long-gone bleachers; the stretch of large rocks that are still behind Willis Library were the foundation for the installation of the seats.

The Safeway name is derived from a challenge from then North Texas head coach Matt Simon issued in 1994 after a two-year break in the series, stating "I'd like to play because I think we could beat them, and my players feel the same way.

North Texas needed to win the game to clinch the Conference USA West division.

[15] North Texas games are broadcast on the radio by the Mean Green Sports Network, part of Learfield IMG College on 88.1 KNTU, 95.3 KHYI, and 1580 KGAF.

Former Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, and San Antonio Spurs announcer Dave Barnett does play-by-play, along with Hank Dickenson on color commentary.

Women's basketball play-by-play voice Zac Babb is the sideline reporter, while Paul Valamides serves as a studio host.