Welcome to the 2025 college football preseason
Offseason hibernation is over. The days are getting longer, but time is getting shorter until Ireland gets introduced to Farmaggedon. Now is the time to start learning about teams for the 2025 season, whether it’s the new QB for the reigning National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes or who has the best chance to win Conference-USA. This series will cover my top 100 preseason college football rankings for 2025 as we count down 100 days until Week 0. We will dive into a new team each day as we draw closer to the college football season.
Countdown to Kickoff: Day 87
Coming in at No. 87 in our 2025 preseason rankings: North Texas Mean Green
North Texas is coached by Eric Morris, who is in his 3rd year with the program and has a program record of 11-13. The Mean Green finished last year with a record of 6-7 and 9th in the American.
North Texas returns 53% of production from the 2024 team: 43% on the Offense and 64% on the Defense. According to 247Sports, the Mean Green finished the 2025 cycle with 15 recruits, landing the 111th overall ranked class, which ranked 9th in the American. Along with their high school recruiting, North Texas has brought in 38 players through the transfer portal and has a portal ranking of 97. 61% of the 2025 roster will be made up of new additions.
Offensive Coordinator Jordan Davis, heading into his 4th year with the program, will lead the offense that put up 33.4 points per game last season (20th nationally). The Mean Green finished 2024 with 73.3 plays per game (19th) and the fastest pace in the country of 19.9 seconds per play. The offense averaged 29.3 runs (121st) for 159.5 per game (67th), along with 42.9 pass attempts (2nd) for 328.8 yards per game (4th). The pass heavy offense had a 38%-62% run-pass play call split. The overall offensive success rate was 42%.
Up front, North Texas brings back 44% of its offensive line production from last year, including three clear-cut starters for 2025. With the departure of Chandler Morris to Virginia, Drew Mestemaker and Reese Poffenbarger will be competing for leadership of the offense. The starting quarterback will be tasked with following up on the good pass success rate of 44% from 2024. In 2024, Morris finished with 32 fantasy points per game. In 75% of his starts, he scored 16.7 fantasy points, with 241 passing yards and 3 touchdowns per game. He finished 2024 with a season high of 52.45 and a low of 4.4 fantasy points.
The Mean Green return 44% of the receiving production in 2025, but lose the top 3 receivers from 2024. North Texas will rely on Miles Coleman, Dolton Carnes, and transfer Simeon Evans to improve as pass-catching threats. 2024 leader, DT Sheffield, totaled 822 yards, 11 touchdowns, 66 receptions, and averaged 18.3 fantasy points per game. In 75% of his games, he scored at least 7.3 fantasy points, with a season high of 43.4 and a low of 0 fantasy points. His best game was against Memphis, where he caught 8 passes for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns and added a 75-yard touchdown rush.
The Mean Green returns 43% of the rushing production in 2025, with Makenzie McGill II being the main returning contributor after the transfer of Shane Porter to Sam Houston State. In 2024, McGill totaled 470 yards and 10 touchdowns off 78 carries and averaged 9.4 fantasy points per game. Porter’s skillset, mixed with the game script, led him to 97 carries, 648 yards, and 5 touchdowns for an average of 9.2 fantasy points per game.
North Texas enters 2025 with the 122nd-ranked strength of schedule. The Mean Green will play in front of their home fans 7 times, with 3 home games in a row from Weeks 5 through 8.
Our model predicts a 7-5 record for the Mean Green. Our model gives the team a 75+% win expectancy in 3 games, a 50-75% win expectancy in 4 games, a 25-49% win expectancy in 5 game, and a <25% win expectancy in 0 games.
According to their conference championship odds of +2500 at DraftKings, the Mean Green are predicted to finish 8th in the American.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to return tomorrow as we continue the countdown with Team 86.
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Returning Production for all teams can be found at Punt and Rally
Stats for all players can be found at College Football Team Stats | TeamRankings.com
