around the length of the playing surface. The location as a whole was part of the larger Recreation Park, where athletic programs for students were held. 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. The program's first ever game occurred at Eagle Field, a 13–0 loss to TCU in 1913, while the final game was a 20–14 loss to Houston on December 5, 1951. 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. Rivalries SMU The Safeway Bowl, is the North Texas-SMU rivalry. It was first played in 1922. 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. If they'd like to play on a Safeway parking lot ... just give us a date and time." The rivalry is either played at SMU in Dallas or at UNT in Denton. In total the two squads have met on the gridiron 39 times with SMU holding a 32–6–1 lead in the series through the 2019 season. This rivalry game will become a conference game when UNT joins the American Athletic Conference in 2023. UTSA North Texas and UTSA first met in 2013. That year both were first year members of Conference USA. UTSA and North Texas have played 10 times with both teams winning five. The first game was played at Apogee Stadium in Denton on November 23, 2013. North Texas needed to win the game to clinch the Conference USA West division. UTSA stunned the Mean Green when they won the game 21-13. The Roadrunner win allowed Rice to become the west division champions. UTSA won three of the first four meetings. North Texas got their first win in the series in 2015.