Safeway Bowl

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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 (SMU) Mustangs football team and the University of North Texas (UNT) Mean Green football team, two universities in Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

History
Its name is derived from a challenge from then UNT 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. If they'd like to play on a Safeway parking lot ... just give us a date and time."

The schools have played on and off 37 times dating back to 1922 with three major hiatuses, from 1943 to 1973, from 1993 to 2005, and from 2007 to 2013. The most recent meeting between the two teams occurred in 2018, when the Mean Green defeated the Mustangs 46–23. In 2013, both schools announced the series would be extended through 2025, continuing its current home-and-home format.