The North Texas Mean Green increased their wins to four from just one in 2016. Amazingly, their resume’ was good enough to earn head coach Seth Littrell a trip to a bowl. The Mean Green can thank the APR scores for that one. Now, with a contract extension, can the second year coach produce once again?
The Mean Green offense is still a work in progress. Especially, the passing game. Last year, North Texas finished 91st in the Division I standings. Even worse, their running attack barely did any damage. They finished 109th, with only 133 yards per contest.
The North Texas’ defense needs more production from the front four as well as the line backing corps. Fortunately, the Mean Green should be set in the secondary with a solid group coming back. There are a lot of unknowns as they venture onward into the 2017 season. As of now, there are enough reasons to believe that North Texas can get ahead in the win column this year.
Offense
The Mean Green made some pretty good improvements on offense in 2016. Yes, their numbers were towards the bottom of the ranks but they did improve as a team. North Texas jumped from 15.2 points per game in 2015 to 24.8 last season. The Mean Green’s transition from a running offense to Coach Littrell’s spread passing attack still has some kinks to work out.
Freshman quarterback Mason Fine showed some promise in his first year under center. Last year, he threw the ball for 1,572 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions. He split time with teammate Alec Morris so his numbers reflect what he did splitting time in ten games. Now, he must work with a rebuilt receiving corps to get the air attack flying down the field.
Wide out Turner Smiley churned out 33 receptions and almost 400 yards in 2016. He is the only top-four target returning from last season. Obviously, inexperienced wide receivers must step up to help out their quarterback.
North Texas expects Kelvin Smith to catch more passes at H-back. The Mean Green also hope that and North Texas hopes junior college transfer Jalen Guyton can produce right out of the gate.
The offensive design is to toss the ball all over the place but North Texas’ best player is running back Jeffery Wilson. As a sophomore, Wilson carried the ball 169 times for almost 1,000 yards and a team-high 14 scores. Expect the Mean Green to look to get Wilson more involved in the passing game. In 2016, he also caught 29 balls for another 247 yards and a touchdown.
Last season, only five teams in Division I football allowed more sacks (43) than North Texas. Their solution to the problem was hiring new offensive line coach Chuck Langston.
Defense
There were a lot of similarities in improvement on the defensive side of the ball. North Texas improved from 41.3 points allowed per game in 2015 to 32.6 last season. Even still, that’s still a far cry from where the Mean Green want to be. Case in point. The defense finished 117th against the run, allowing 240 yards per game. They also were 89th in total yards, giving way to 440 a contest.
The combination of linebackers E.J. Ejiya, Joshua Wheeler and Brandon Garner combined for 17 tackles for a loss last season. They are bound to improve on those stats with a full year of experience under their belts. They will have the benefit of playing in a much more aggressive defense in 2017.
With numbers like those above, thank goodness the secondary pulled their weight and then some. The back half was solid, ranking 27th against the pass. The Mean Green covering machines only surrendered 200 yards per match.
If the front six can find ways to improve, it will only benefit an experienced secondary. North Texas ranked second in Conference USA in both passing defense and interceptions (14) in 2016.
Safety Kishawn McClain, an All-Conference USA selection, is possibly the club’s best player. Last year, he posted a team-high 91 tackles and three interceptions. At cornerback, Nate Brooks led the team with four interceptions, and Eric Jenkins had a pair of pick-sixes.
Prediction
North Texas had a nice turnaround in 2016. They went from 1–11 in 2015 to 5–8 Last season. The Mean Green were even gifted an appearance in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Coach Littrell was rewarded with a new five-year contract in the offseason, but he has a lot more work ahead of him.
If running back Jeffery Wilson can stay healthy and bolster the ground game, it should allow the passing attack time to flourish. Also, the re-tooling of the Mean Green defensive line needs happen sooner than later. The front seven needs to put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks and the talented secondary will make the most of their opportunities.
For another bowl bid to occur, North Texas will have to scrape up a few non-conference wins. Winning at Iowa probably won’t happen, but Army is doable later in the year. Line setters have the Mean Green’s team total at 4.5 and -110. I like this line. The over is very playable with a favorable schedule plus a win versus Army. They also have North Texas at 40 to 1 (+4000) to win the conference. They are nowhere near capable of that.
Schedule
Sept. 2: Lamar
Sept. 9: at SMU
Sept. 16: at Iowa
Sept. 23: UAB
Sept. 30: at Southern Miss
Oct. 7: OPEN DATE
Oct. 14: UTSA
Oct. 21: at Florida Atlantic
Oct. 28: Old Dominion
Nov. 4: at Louisiana Tech
Nov. 11: UTEP
Nov. 18: Army
Nov. 25: at Rice
The getmoresports.com NCAA College Football Throwdown Podcast will be returning to the air on August 24th. We will be highlighting the first five games on August 26th of the 2017 NCAA College Football season. That will be the first of three installments leading into the first week of the season. We also we will be covering our expectations for the Heisman Trophy front runners as well as predictions for conference winners and team totals.
Our second NCAA College Football Throwdown is penciled in for August 29th. In that installment, we will be discussing all the games that will be played on August 31st and the 1st of September.
Our third segment will officially be airing on August 31st. In this edition of the NCAA College Football Throwdown, we will be covering all the relevant games for Sept 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
Keeping with tradition, EJ the Rainmaker and Erik the Hun will give their predictions for the contests. On top of that, we will be providing our dog play of the podcast as well as cash money plays for the week. Join us for all three opening episodes and improve your college football knowledge while increasing the size of your sports book betting account. Come join us and help everyone make it rain. #moneytreesgrow Also, feel free to download the
Join us for all three opening episodes and improve your college football knowledge while increasing the size of your sports book betting account. Come join us and help everyone make it rain. #moneytreesgrow Also, feel free to download the getmoresports app from the Google Play Store. It makes finding all your sporting information easy and available with just a touch of an icon on your mobile device.
