Jackson arrives off a season at UCF where he threw for 2,151 yards with 10 touchdowns against 8 interceptions, and he'll be running Brown's Air Raid system with almost no returning weapons around him. Jahiem White, a West Virginia transfer running back, is the one name NT fans are pointing to as a potential difference-maker if he can stay healthy after an injury-shortened 2025. Still, replacing three departed skill-position standouts with mostly new faces in a true road opener against a defending national champion is about as tough a starting assignment as exists on the schedule.
Indiana's continuity is the story here as much as any individual matchup. Keeping the staff largely intact after a title run is rare, and it means Hoover is stepping into a scheme and program culture that isn't being rebuilt from scratch — even if the quarterback change itself is a real unknown until he's tested live. North Texas, by contrast, is starting over at nearly every position, with a first-year coordinator system and skill players who've never played alongside each other in a game that counts.
For as top-6 as North Texas's offense has been in yards per game over the last three seasons, that production came from continuity — different quarterback and skill guys each year but the same system chewing up yardage. This year there's no such carryover, and it's fair to wonder how much of that identity survives the coaching change intact. Indiana, meanwhile, gets to open a title defense at home in front of a crowd that's been waiting all offseason for this, with almost every incentive to come out fast and set a tone early.