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Athlon Sports
North Texas Football: 2024 Mean Green Season Preview and Prediction
By Athlon Sports,
4 hours ago
For North Texas, letting go of former head coach Seth Littrell following the 2022 season was something of a gamble. Eric Morris’ 5-7 record in his debut season was worse than either of Littrell’s final two seasons in Denton. That’s not to say that the year was a failure for the second-time head coach, but it’s fair to say that things simply have to click more often, particularly on defense, for the Mean Green to get where they want to go.
Even with a few growing pains under new head coach Eric Morris, the North Texas offense wasn’t to blame for the team’s losing record last season. Averaging 495.8 yards per game, the Mean Green were sixth in FBS in that category and first in the American Athletic Conference.
UNT lost its starting quarterback from last season, Chandler Rogers, to the transfer portal. TCU transfer Chandler Morris is expected to take over the No. 1 spot on the depth chart, especially after Stone Earle opted to not return to the team this summer. In 20 games in his collegiate career (Oklahoma and TCU), Morris has passed for 2,433 yards and 16 touchdowns and rushed for 400 yards and six scores.
The offense has a handful of other interesting pieces as well, including running back Ikaika Ragsdale, who started seven games and scored 10 total touchdowns in 2022. He missed nearly all of 2023 with an injury but is expected to be healthy this fall.
TCU transfer QB Chandler Morris is expected to start under center for the Mean Green in 2024.
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Previewing North Texas' Defense for 2024
Plain and simple, North Texas was one of the worst defensive teams in the nation in 2023, ranking last in FBS with 476.4 total yards allowed per game. Surrendering 37.1 points per game put them in the bottom three nationally in scoring defense. Obviously, things have to improve on this side of the ball. Five returning starters should help the first and second levels be a bit stingier.
On the backline, one of the conference’s better performers returns in defensive back Ridge Texada. The three-year starter has been among the top defensive backs first in Conference USA and now in the AAC —racking up 96 tackles, four interceptions and 28 passes defended during his time in Denton.
Kicker Blake Ford arrives after two seasons at Arkansas. He was a kickoff specialist for the Razorbacks last year. At punter, senior Sawyer Evans returns after averaging 43.3 yards per punt with 12 downed inside the 20 and six punts of at least 50 yards. UNT’s return game was nothing special last season with averages of 4.5 yards on punt returns and 19.5 on kick returns.
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