Cal Football: 5 Questions About North Texas for Mean Green Beat Writer
Cal is preparing for its season opener on Saturday at North Texas (1 p.m. Pacific time), so to get to know the Mean Green a little better when asked Brett Vito of the Denton (Texas) Record Chronicle five questions about the team he covers:
--1. Why did North Texas fire Seth Littrell after he got the Mean Green to the conference title game last season, and how are things different under former Washington State offensive coordinator Eric Morris?
“Seth enjoyed a ton of success at North Texas,” Vito said in the video atop this story. “He took over a team that had won just one game [the previous season], immediately took them to a bowl game in his first season, six bowls in in seven years.”
Littrell took North Texas to six bowls in his seven seasons as head coach.
“Just a feeling that the program had kind of plateaued, never broke through to win the bowl game, lost both their title games,” Vito said. “The powers that be thought that things had gotten stale and they needed a refresh. Eric Morris has even come out and said the program isn’t broken.”
Morris got the enthusiasm going against at North Texas, according to Vito.
In some ways Littrell was a victim of his own success, establishing a higher bar for himself.
--2. Why did North Texas change conferences from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference this season, and how are things different for the football program in the AAC?
“SMU is in the conference [the AAC], and that’s their longtime rival,” Vito said. “You’ve also got Tulane [which finished 2022 ranked No. 9] in that league and a lot of other pretty good programs. UTSA came over. The feeling is that the league is going to have the argument to be the preeminent Group of Five conference in all of college athletics. It's a huge opportunity for North Texas in terms of level of competition and in terms of regional rivalries.”
“It’s just a higher level league all the way around, And you look at the financial end, they’ll end up getting a whole lot more – at least as it stands now – in the media rights deal as opposed to what they got in Conference-USA.”
--3. How did Stone Earle win the quarterback battle after most reports suggested Louisiana-Monroe transfer Chandler Rogers would get the job?
“That was a shocker,” said Vito. “In the spring he was clearly third in the pecking order. Coach even said he was third going into fall practice. Stone just improved dramatically and managed to win the job. The caveat is they’re saying they’re going to play both of them. Stone is going to start, but we’re going to get Chandler Rodgers in there, so this may extend into the season a little bit.”
Rogers seriously considered transferring to Cal from Louisiana-Monroe, and he visited the Cal campus before deciding in January to transfer to North Texas instead.
--4. How good do you expect North Texas to be this season?
“I don’t think anyone really knows,” said Vito
He noted North Texas lost a lot of players from last year including Conference-USA defending player of the year linebacker KD Davis, starting quarterback Austin Aune. He also said a host of talented players transferred out, and the Mean Green’s recruiting class was not highly rated.
“New coach, new defensive system, and their schedule is really tough,” Vito said. “So on paper it doesn’t look all that promising. If they can get to six wins and bowl game that would be a huge win for North Texas in their first year [in the AAC].”
--5. Who are the best four or five North Texas players, and how could they impact the game against Cal?
“Have to start with that running back room because they’re got four of those guys that are absolutely terrific,” said Vito. “They had almost 2,400 yards between them and they’re all back.”
Vito was referring to Ayo Adeyi (807 yards last season), Ikaika Ragsdale (755), Oscar Adaway III (583) and Isaiah Johnson (246).
He also mentioned receiver Roderic Burns (40 receptions in 2022), defensive end Mazin Richards (7.5 sacks in 2022) and cornerback Ridge Texada (3 interceptions in 2022).
The mystery man is linebacker Kevin Wood, who missed nearly all of fall camp with an injury but is a big part of the Mean Green’s defense and is expected to play against Cal.
Cover photo of Ayo Adeyi by Tim Heitman, USA TODAY Sports
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