The 2022 college football season kicks off with a seven-game slate on Saturday. One such battle will be a Conference USA showdown between the North Texas Mean Green and the UTEP Miners. In 2021, North Texas finished just ahead of the Miners in 3rd place in the Western Division of Conference USA. Head-to-head, the Mean Green squeaked out a 20-17 victory over UTEP in Dallas. Conference USA has undergone significant changes this offseason with the departures of three schools and six more to leave after this season, while four more will hop aboard. With that in mind, the conference has gone away from having two divisions and just one 11-team conference. Last season, eight of the 14 teams in the conference were bowl eligible. Saturday's matchup against two bowl teams in 2021 could be a critical opening week matchup. Kickoff for the opening game for both schools is set for 8:00pm EST in El Paso, Texas.
North Texas comes into the 2022 campaign off of a very strong finish in 2021. The team started the season at 1-6 but then rebounded to win five-straight games and earn a bowl game trip. The highlight of their season was an upset victory over previously undefeated UTSA, 45-23 to even their record at 6-6. The win secured the Mean Green bowl eligibility for the fifth time in six seasons under head coach Seth Littrell. It was their 13th bowl appearance all-time. They would fall to Miami of Ohio 23-14 to finish the season at 6-7. The Mean Green are now 3-10 bowl games. in their history.
?? Last 5?? vs. UTEP ??
2021: @mooney_ethan called game.#GMG pic.twitter.com/C7FG5JmRCA
— North Texas Football (@MeanGreenFB) August 21, 2022
North Texas changed their fortunes in 2021 when the team went to a more ground-based attack. In the team's season-closing five-game winning streak, they averaged 283 rushing yards per game. There are three viable candidates to start at running back this season with both Ikaika Ragsdale and Ayo Adeyi back after combining for 1,030 yards last season as well as Oscar Adaway, who is returning from an injury that cost him the entire 2021 season. The Mean Green quarterback position is putting a new spin on veteran leadership with 28-year old Austin Aune earning the starting spot again this season. His primary role will be to take advantage of play-action opportunities as the Mean Green's ground attack tries to chew up yards and time.
Defensively, North Texas will be led by senior linebacker, KD Davis, a preseason Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year candidate. The fifth-year senior has led the team in tackles in each of the last thre e seasons and earned All-Conference honors in 2021. Davis may be looking for help, however, as the Mean Green only return three other starters from last year's defense. This could be an issue considering that North Texas was one of the worst defensive teams in the conference in 2020 and showed some improvement last year but still were among the bottom half of defensive units in Conference USA.