Head Coach: Eric Morris is entering his 2nd year as the head coach of the Mean Green. Before his stop at North Texas his previous head coach experience involved when he turned Incarnate Word into a consistent FCS playoff contender. So there’s promise for what he can do here.
Program Outlook: North Texas is getting used to new life in the American. There’s tougher competition and there wasn’t much of a history of winning. Recent years were better though, it’s been a decade since North Texas missed a bowl in consecutive seasons. Still it’s quite surprising they aren’t more dominant considering the fertile recruiting territory the Mean Green are located, but it just means the program could really take off with the right coach at the helm.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: It’s a pretty big overhaul for the Mean Green. They’re toward the bottom in returning production, this includes 36 transfers that left the program, and 28 coming in. The portal hit the offense hard their QB went to Cal, RB to JMU, top receiver to Kentucky and the offensive line scattered to various P4 programs. North Texas will go into the season with former TCU QB Chandler Morris as the starter, Morris has shown a lot of potential but staying healthy has been his issue. The Mean Green need that to change, this QB depth chart isn’t deep they have a freshman named Cash McCollum and recently it appears a 6th year Senior named Grant Tisdale who’s been to a new program about every season just joined as well. They’ll be ok at RB Ikaika Ragsdale was the original starter last season but got hurt, he’s back with a vengeance and they added Zach Evans from Minnesota to move the ball between the tackles. The portal took some from the receiving corps like I mentioned previously but the Mean Green were also able to restock options from it as well, it’s a promising unit overall. The offensive line is expected to be pieced together by some portal pickups as well. So if the offense was so good that bigger programs wanted to swoop in and steal everyone, why did North Texas go 5-7? You can look at the defense as the culprit. The Mean Green ranked 131st in defense last season, they didn’t really stop much of anything. The front of the defense will remain mostly intact but they need someone to step up to help the pass rush improve. There’s wholesale changes in the secondary, Ridge Texada (I love that name) is a good player back there but they are likely going to fill the remaining spots via the portal. Whatever combo they come up with needs to start forcing turnovers or something to get this defense off the ground.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: North Texas doesn’t have a super favorable schedule. They have some challenges in the non-conference slate the in-state game against Texas Tech is awesome but winning in Lubbock would be very difficult, the Mean Green also face South Alabama to open the season fortunately the Jaguars had a coaching change which might open some opportunity for North Texas. They play Wyoming at home, another team with a new HC and it’s a huge difference not facing them in Laramie. I wouldn’t overlook Stephen F Austin either, yes they went 3-8 last season but they’re traditionally better than that. The Lumberjacks looked awesome through 5 weeks last season they were 3-2 with their losses to playoff bound Austin Peay and a 48-30 loss to Troy. Before the season I really want to look into how SFA put up 30 points on that awesome Troy defense but collapsed during the last 5 games or the year. The conference schedule isn’t kind either the Mean Green must face 3 of the top 4 conference title contenders along with underrated sleeper teams like FAU and Army. North Texas needs a lot of improvement for a bowl.
Vegas Projection: North Texas’ win total is set at 5.5 with the odds geared toward the over. Despite the transfers and tougher schedule Vegas sees them in a bowl.
2024 Best Case: Chandler Morris steps in and the offense continues to be awesome while the defense becomes competent. The Mean Green open the season picking up a big win over South Alabama, and roll into Lubbock undefeated. Unfortunately facing Tech there will be tough so they take their lumps before taking down Wyoming the next week. North Texas gets a strong start to conference play as the Mean Green win 2 of the next 4 but then take down Army to reach bowl eligibility. On Friday night AACtion the Mean Green roll into San Antonio and pick up their biggest win of the year in an upset over UTSA. They finish the season winning their last 2 to reach 9-3. Things get even better for the Mean Green as they win their bowl to end their long bowl losing streak and their first ever 10 win season. Finally, the Mean Green are on the verge of becoming a power.
2024 Worst Case: The offense doesn’t jell and the defense somehow only finds a way to get worse. Despite the changes at South Alabama the scary version of them still exists in 2024 and North Texas is destroyed 55-3 to open the season. The Mean Green barely survive Stephen F Austin but are blown out by Texas Tech and dominated by Wyoming. They are beaten soundly by Tulsa and boatraced by FAU to begin conference play. It’s apparent from that point where this is going. The Mean Green end the season 1-11 and are in their worst spot in a long time.
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