North Texas Mean Green vs. Texas State Bobcats Pick & Prediction JANUARY 3rd 2025
Preview and Prediction
The upcoming First Responder Bowl at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas will feature a strong representation of the Lone Star State, as North Texas takes on Texas State on Friday afternoon.
This will be the 15th edition of the bowl game, with Texas State making their second consecutive appearance after defeating Rice 45-21 in last year's matchup.
North Texas has also participated in the bowl in the past, falling to Army 38-31 in overtime in 2016 after defeating UNLV in the 2013 season.
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Both head coaches for this year's game, Eric Morris for the Mean Green and GJ Kinne for the Bobcats, are native Texans. Additionally, more than three-fourths of the players on both teams' rosters hail from the Lone Star State.
Leading up to the game, both teams have been impacted by the transfer portal, with 11 players leaving from Texas State and 16 from North Texas.
In order to secure their spot in the bowl game, North Texas had to win their final game of the season against Temple.
Unfortunately, the Mean Green will be without their star quarterback Chandler Morris, who earned third-team All-American Athletic Conference honors this season. Morris transferred to Virginia after the regular season. In his place, freshman Drew Mestemaker is expected to start. Mestemaker appeared in three games this season, completing four passes for 69 yards.
Despite the familiarity between the two teams due to their Texas connections, Texas State will have little to go on when studying tape of Mestemaker.
According to Morris, the team will focus on identifying Mestemaker's strengths and utilizing them in the game. He also noted that there is currently no tape available for other teams to study on Mestemaker.
Meanwhile, Kinne is making sure that his team does not underestimate North Texas' potent offense, which ranks third in the nation in total offense with an average of 488.7 yards per game.
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He praised coach Morris as one of the best offensive minds in the country and emphasized the importance of preparing for their opponent's strong offense, regardless of who is playing quarterback.
Texas State heads into the bowl game after winning three of their last four games, including a 45-38 victory over South Alabama in their final regular-season matchup.
Quarterback Jordan McCloud leads the Bobcats' offense, which ranks fifth in FBS with an average of 474.3 yards per game. McCloud has thrown for 2,920 yards and 29 touchdowns this season, completing 69.6% of his passes.
The Bobcats have also seen five starters declare for the transfer portal, including running back Ismail Mahdi, wide receiver Kole Wilson, defensive tackle Dominique Ratcliff, defensive end Ben Bell, and cornerback Joshua Eaton.
Kinne explained that these losses mainly consist of depth players and walk-ons who are looking for scholarship opportunities elsewhere. He also mentioned that the team has been focusing more on practicing against each other in preparation for the game.