With the opening of USF’s football season just two months away, Green, Gold, and Bold will examine each opponent the Bulls will face in the 2025 season.
Here’s the sixth in the series.
Team: North Texas Mean Green
When: Friday, October 10, 7:30 p.m. at DATCU Stadium, Denton, Texas
Head coach: Eric Morris. He is 11-14 in two seasons at NTU and 35-32 overall, including four seasons at Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
Last year’s record: 6-7, including a 30-28 loss to Texas State in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
Name to know: Briceon Hayes. He’s an edge rusher the Mean Green collected from Sam Houston State in the transfer portal. The pass rush needs help. North Texas ranked 73rd in the country last season with just 24 sacks, compared to 32 for USF. Hayes could give that unit some juice.
The biggest potential weakness: The Mean Green will score points. They had the American Athletic Conference's third-ranked offense in 2024, but can they score enough to overcome a defense that ranked 128th in the country last season?
North Texas hit the portal hard to shore up that unit. 247Sports reported that 10 defensive players joined the Mean Green via the portal, including five linemen, two cornerbacks, two safeties, and one linebacker
The biggest question mark: The offensive line will have a total makeover as all five starters from the bowl game are gone. Can the new unit come together quickly enough to keep the offense humming? Inquiring minds want to know. They will also be protecting a new quarterback as Chandler Morris, last year's starter, is gone.
The battle to replace him should come down to Miami transfer Reese Poffenbarger and holdover Drew Mestemaker.
Mestemaker started the First Responder Bowl and made quite an impression. He was 26 of 41 for 393 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a 70-yard touchdown run.
Interesting things to know: There have been lean times lately in Denton. North Texas hasn’t had a winning season since 2018 and has only two plus-years in the last 11 seasons.
NFL Hall of Famer “Mean” Joe Greene is a proud alum. While he was there, North Texas was 23-5-1.
With more than 47,000 students, North Texas is the third-largest university in the state. It trails Texas A&M and the University of Texas-Austin.