The Safeway Bowl is the name given to the North Texas–SMU football rivalry. It is a college football rivalry game between the Southern Methodist University Mustangs football team and the University of North Texas Mean Green football team, two universities in Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

History

The two teams first met in 1922, with a 66–0 win for SMU over North Texas. The match-up has geographic relevance, as North Texas and SMU are the largest public and private universities in the DFW area respectively. As bitter cross-Metroplex rivals, the two teams have met 41 times in total. Its name is derived from a challenge from former UNT head coach Matt Simon, who after a two year break in the series, stated "I'd like to play because I think we could beat them, and my players feel the same way. If they'd like to play on a Safeway parking lot ... just give us a date and time." SMU leads the series 36–6–1, as the series had three major hiatuses since its original start. The series has been ongoing since its renewal in 2013, and is expected to continue as North Texas joins SMU in the American Athletic Conference in 2023. However, on September 1, 2023, it was announced that SMU would be joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024.

Game results