Lamar (0-0) vs North Texas (0-0)
August 30, 2025 at 08:00 PM EDT
The Line: Betting Odds: North Texas -24.5 — Over/Under:
The Lamar Cardinals and North Texas Mean Green meet Saturday in college football action at DATCU Stadium. Here’s a Lamar vs North Texas Prediction. This article will include a Lamar vs North Texas Pick.
Lamar Cardinals Betting Preview
The Lamar Cardinals are coming off a seven win season and enter the third year under coach Peter Rossomando.
Lamar has a new offensive coordinator in Ryan McCarthy, who was once a head coach at Central Connecticut. Jakolby Longino likely takes over at quarterback after throwing for 370 yards and 5 touchdowns as a backup. Kyndon Fuselier returns after 2 receiving touchdowns, and Damien Moore averaged 4.6 yards per carry on 49 rush attempts. Lamar lost a lot of offensive production from last season, but there’s experience on this side of the ball and guys who can thrive in new roles.
Defensively, Kristian Pugh returns after 72 tackles and seven pass deflections. Ronnie Hamrick had 68 tackles and 5 pass deflections, while Brayden Faulkner had 54 tackles and 2 sacks. Those are the only returning defensive players out of the top-11 tacklers for Lamar. The good news is there’s consistency at defensive coordinator as Drew Christ enters his third season. Lamar has won 13 combined games in the last two seasons after winning just one game in the 2022 season.
North Texas Mean Green Betting Preview
The North Texas Mean Green won six games last season and enters a third year under coach Eric Morris. North Texas has won five or more games in each of the last four years.
North Texas will pick a quarterback between Drew Mestemaker and Reese Poffenbarger. Whoever wins the job will have weapons, as recover Miles Coleman is coming off a strong season and Shane Porter and Makenzie McGill are a solid 1-2 punch at running back. Damon Ward has gotten better in each of his last four seasons and has nearly 2,000 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns for his career. This North Texas offense has legit potential if it can find stability at quarterback.
North Texas wasn’t good defensively last season and has a new coordinator in Skyler Cassity. Evan Jackson returns after 59 tackles and 3 interceptions, while Ethan Wesloski had 57 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Quinton Hammonds had 52 tackles and 1 interception, while Shane Whitter had 49 tackles and 3 pass deflections. North Texas also snagged Sam Houston transfers in Briceon Hayes, Trey Fields, and David Fisher, who are expected to be key contributors.
North Texas hasn’t had a winning season since 2018.
Why the North Texas Mean Green will win
- North Texas has won each of its last nine home games against non-FBS teams.
Why the Lamar Cardinals will win
- North Texas has lost six of its last seven games.
- North Texas has failed to cover the spread in five of its last six games against non-conference opponents at DATCU Stadium.
North Texas Mean Green Player Prop Facts
- Simeon Evans led Sam Houston State for receiving yards (559) last season.
Lamar vs North Texas Prediction
North Texas has holes on both sides of the ball, and I’m not thrilled to get in front of all these points, but I just don’t think highly of Lamar when stepping up in competition. If this is going to be a successful season for North Texas, this is a game that shouldn’t be close. North Texas has failed to cover each of its last five games as a double-digit favorite, but I’m going to lay the points anyway on this fine Saturday night.