2024 North Texas College Football Preview: Key Players, Game Schedule, Season Predictions

North Texas College Football Preview 2024

Give North Texas a little time to figure it all out.

The American Athletic Conference is the new Conference USA, but it’s still a decent Group of Five league with enough good teams to make life tough. Under second-year head coach Eric Morris, North Texas will make life hard in the Year Two in the league.

The program has been a bit stuck. The promise of the back-to-back nine-win seasons of 2017 and 2018 flew out the window with inconsistencies and a painful lack of defense, but helped by the weirdness of 2020, the six bowl games in seven years - even though it lost all six - kept North Texas relevant enough to pay attention to.

This year's team has to be noticed because it'll be fun. Morris showed just how dangerous his offense will be - and it’s not stopping.

It’ll be balanced, explosive, and once again it should be relatively consistent even though the transfer portal came calling for a slew of key players.

Start with that. The defense will be the defense - it’ll have more rough patches - but a few more of the games with over 800 yards of total offense and 65ish points should fall on the Mean Green side.

If Morris can get his team to be one win better and go 6-6, that’s the step needed. Get a little luck/prodiction out of the D, though, and look out because ...

North Texas Football Preview 2024: Offense

- The offense had a lot of fun. When it scored 40 points or more the team was 4-0. The attack cranked up close to 500 yards per game - best in the AAC - and averaged 35 points per outing. It should continue.

The quarterback room is very, very thin, but getting Chandler Morris from TCU gives the team a solid starter. He has to stay healthy, or there's huge problem.

- The balanced offense has the running backs to keep on going. Leading rusher Ayo Adeyi left for James Madison, but Ikaika Ragsdale is a talented back who would’ve been the main man last year if he didn’t get hurt early on. He’s good, Minnesota transfer Zach Evans is strong, and the rebuilt line should be okay - not amazing, but it’ll be good enough - thanks to the transfer portal.

- Leading receiver Ja’Mori Maclin is gone to Kentucky, but Damon Ward is back after finishing second on the team with 487 yards and five scores. The transfer portal is a huge help, too, helped by getting Jeremiah Aaron from West Virginia for the outside.

North Texas Football Preview 2024: Defense

- The new coaching staff didn’t do too much for the defense. There wasn’t any pass rush, the takeaways weren’t there, and the scoring D was among the worst in the nation allowing 37 points per game. This is where the transfer portal needs to help, especially in …

- The secondary. Ridge Texada is a solid veteran corner who makes plenty of stops, but the other four spots will almost certainly be new guys. Isheem Young is a nice safety get from Ole Miss, and corner X’Avion Brice from Texas should be a factor.

- The front six has more home grown players, but the portal is helping the depth on the line. Roderick Brown is a fire-hydrant of a nose tackle and Fatafehi Vailea has decent size and experience.

Leading tackler Jordan Brown is the team’s top defensive playmaker - 83 tackles with 3.5 sacks - and Ethan Weslowski is a quick outside linebacker who should get into the backfield more.

Key To The North Texas Football Season

Don’t be SO awful defensively.
The Mean Green were able to stay in most games when the D didn’t get ripped to shreds. It gave up at least 45 points and 510 yards four times and lost all four. They were 5-1 when allowing fewer than 245 rushing yards and 0-6 when they did.

Just be not miserable on D, and the O will take care of the rest.

North Texas Key Player

Jake Shipley, DE Sr.
The North Texas defense needs a pass rush. Someone has to be dangerous enough to make offenses worry, and the 6-3, 255-pound Oregon transfer will give it a shot. He made just 15 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss in his three seasons, and now he’ll get every chance to let it rip on the outside.

North Texas Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: Chandler Morris, QB Jr.
The talented quarterback started out at Oklahoma, was seemingly ready to roll at TCU, and then he got hurt. Max Duggan turned into the star of the 2022 show, Morris got his chances last year, and he was okay. As long as he stays healthy, he should rock in this attack.

Top Transfer Out: Ja’Mori Maclin, WR Jr.
Name the position and North Texas lost an important player, but knocking out a 1,000-yard receiver who averaged close to 19 yards per catch in his career and scored 11 touchdowns last year hurts. He started his career at Missouri, and now he’s back in the SEC at Kentucky.

North Texas Key Game

at South Alabama, Aug. 31
How good is North Texas right out of the gate? With so many changes and so many new parts, can the Mean Green steal one right out of the gate?

The home game against Wyoming isn’t a sure thing, and going to Texas Tech is dangerous, so lose this, and 1-3 before starting the AAC season is possible.

10 Best North Texas Football Players

1. Jordan Brown, LB Sr.
2. Chandler Morris, QB TCU
3. Ethan Wesloski, LB Soph.
4. Ikaika Ragsdale, RB Jr.
5. Ridge Texada, CB Sr.
6. Damon Ward, WR Sr.
7. Landon Sides, WR Soph.
8. Roderick Brown, NT Sr.
9. Isheem Young, S Sr.
10. Ma’Kyi Lee, OT Jr.

North Texas 2023 Fun Stats

- Sacks: Opponents 38 for 249 yards, North Texas 18 for 90 yards

- Onside Kicks: Opponents 1-for-1, North Texas 1-for-1

- Fumbles: North Texas 21 (lost 10), Opponents 8 (lost 4)

North Texas Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season

It should be more of the same.

The defense will be a wee bit better - the transfers in the secondary will boost things up a bit - and the options on the line will help.

It’s the offensive side that will be even more dangerous. As long as the new parts on the line come together quickly, good luck stopping anything this bunch will do.

The schedule is manageable enough to get to a bowl game, but there aren’t enough sure things. Dealing with the Army offense at home is just as tough as handling it on the road, Tulane is a problem everywhere, and forget about road games at Memphis and UTSA without being ready to hang 45 on the board.

It’ll be a ragged year, but the Mean Green will come together in time for a strong November to get to six wins.

Set The North Texas Win Total At … 5.5

Likely Wins: Stephen F. Austin

50/50 Games: Army, East Carolina, at Florida Atlantic, at South Alabama, at Temple, Tulsa, Wyoming

Likely Losses: at Memphis, at Texas Tech, Tulane, at UTSA

2024 North Texas Football Schedule

Aug 31 at South Alabama
Sept 7 Stephen F Austin
Sept 14 at Texas Tech
Sept 21 Wyoming
Sept 28 Tulsa
Oct 5 OPEN DATE
Oct 12 at Florida Atlantic
Oct 19 at Memphis
Oct 26 Tulane
Nov 2 OPEN DATE
Nov 9 Army
Nov 15 at UTSA
Nov 23 East Carolina
Nov 30 at Temple