2018 Football Preview -Conference USA – Mean Green
Looking for 2018 North Texas Mean Green predictions? The Mean Green come in as one of the favorites to contend for the Conference USA crown and knock FAU off the perch. Can the conference’s best QB lead this team to a 10 win season?
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2018-19 College Football Preview – North Texas Mean Green
Head Coach: Seth Litrell
2017 Record: 9-5
North Texas Mean Green Odds to win the 2018 FBS Championship: OFF
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The Mean Green bring back one of the best offenses in the conference, will it be enough to take down FAU in a possible C-USA Championship game rematch?
2018 North Texas Mean Green Predictions: Team Strengths
The best player in the conference: The North Texas offense starts with Mason Fine. The reigning conference offensive player of the year showed tremendous improvement from 2016 to 2017.
Last season he threw for over 4,000 yards with 31 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He was also a major threat running the ball as he racked up over 300 yards rushing on the ground.
One thing that really stood out to me in regards to Fine’s play was his ability to put up major points in conference play.
He led the Mean Green offense to 21+ points in all of their conference games last season, with 4 games with the team scoring over 40.
If Fine can improve on his numbers from last year and cut down on the picks, he shouldn’t have too much trouble snagging his second Offensive player of the year award in 2018.
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Talented Group of Wideouts: The reigning player of the year can’t throw for over 4,000 yards without an excellent group of receivers at his disposal.
Led by former Notre Dame transfer Jalen Guyton Jr, the Mean Green receiving corps gave secondaries fits all season long.
Guyton Jr led the team in touchdown receptions with 9, and the explosive junior should have an opportunity to reach double-digit touchdowns this season.
On the other side of the field is junior Michael Lawrence, who led the team in receiving yards (819) and receptions (62). He is the more consistent threat for Fine and should be one of the key people to get the ball to on clutch third-down situations.
The final big threat catching the ball is Rico Bussey, who started 10 games as a junior and racked up over 650 yards on 14.4 yards per reception.
If these guys can get into open space you could be looking at a team with at least two 1,000 yard receivers on their roster.
2018 North Texas Mean Green Predictions: Team Weaknesses
Running the ball could be tough: The Mean Green lose their top running back from last year. Jeffrey Wilson ran for over 1,200 yards last season while still missing the last 3 contests.
In his place stepped in redshirt freshman Nic Smith. Considered by many to be one of the top 100 running backs coming out of high school, he quickly asserted himself into the backfield.
He had an excellent game against Rice in his first career start as he rambled for 178. He finished second on the team in rushing with 648 yards on the year and should continue to be productive in the backfield.
So why is this considered a weakness? It’s the only unit on the team that loses a major contributor without the potential for improved production from replacements.
Backing up Smith will be true sophomore Evan Johnson, who averaged 5.6 yards per carry, but I still believe the unit won’t be as good as last year.
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North Texas Mean Green Prediction: 6-6
North Texas has a lot of games that could be toss-ups, which is why I am staying conservative at 6-6.
Their schedule starts with a big game against SMU, a team breaking in a new head coach, which could have been a probable loss if Chad Morris was still running the show.
The game against Arkansas should be a loss, with 2 games against FCS opponents to round out the first 4 games of the season.
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Tough matchups against La Tech, FAU, and the first trip to Old Dominion can make or break this season for North Texas.
2018 North Texas Mean Green Football Schedule
- 9/1/18 7:30 PM ET SMU
- 9/8/18 7:30 PM ET IW
- 9/15/18 4:00 PM ET @ARK
- 9/22/18 6:00 PM ET @LIB
- 9/29/18 7:30 PM ET LT
- 10/6/18 7:30 PM ET @UTEP
- 10/13/18 2:00 PM ET SOMIS
- 10/20/18 7:30 PM ET @UAB
- 10/27/18 4:00 PM ET RICE
- 11/10/18 2:00 PM ET @ODU
- 11/15/18 9:30 PM ET FAU
- 11/24/18 7:00 PM ET @UTSA
What do you think about our 2018 North Texas Mean Green predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2018!
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