Saturday, October 28
Denton, Texas
2 PM CT
University of North Texas
vs
Memphis
Football Set For Homecoming Game Against Memphis
10/24/2023 1:56:00 PM | Football
DENTON – The UNT football team will look to bounce back from a late loss to a ranked Tulane team as the Mean Green return to DATCU Stadium on Saturday for Homecoming to face Memphis at 2 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+ with the radio broadcast set for 97.1 The Freak/The Varsity Network.
Head coach Eric Morris and selected players spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, the excitement of a first UNT Homecoming game for Morris, Ja'Mori Maclin continuing his season-long tear, a rebound on the horizon for the running game and a continued streak for Chandler Rogers.
Morris excited for first Homecoming experience
Morris laid out all the reasons to be excited about this week's Homecoming game – among them, the hope of a good crowd – but there's one thing that might excite him most about this week's festivities.
"I gotta go speak at a bonfire, so I'm excited about that," Morris said. "My son is excited about it, too. I'm a small-town kid from Shallowater, Texas, and bonfires were a pretty big deal back in the day, so I'm pretty excited about it, to be honest with you. Thursday's my birthday, so I'll be 38, so a bonfire on my birthday. I guess the last time I went to one, I was probably 18 years old in Shallowater, Texas, so I'm excited about that."
Morris also said he understands fans want to see a good product on the field but is confident his team can give them something to be proud of before challenging the fan base and community to come out for Saturday's game.
"Everyone likes when we win football games," Morris said. "It takes some time to build these things the right way, but it makes all the difference in the world when we have a student body show up like at that Cal game. Do we need to give them something to cheer for? Absolutely. We need to do our part but as this thing continues to grow. We need the community, the alumni base, the students - we need everybody out in full force to come give us a homefield advantage in this beautiful stadium in a great conference. Let's get everybody out there. That's a challenge to the Mean Green Nation to come out and support these guys who are pouring their heart and souls into it.
"They're playing extremely hard right now and I'm proud of that. That's something I couldn't say five weeks ago but the growth is there and in due time I think we're gonna build a damn good football team and if we play up to our capabilities like we did in the second half (last week), we're pretty damn good right now."
Maclin continues tear, among nation's top WRs
After finding the end zone again in Saturday's loss at Tulane, sophomore wide receiver Ja'Mori Maclin has nine touchdown receptions and is the only player in FBS to catch a touchdown pass in every game his team has played this season. He leads the conference in yards, touchdowns and yards per catch.
"As a coach it's never good enough," said Morris, who played wide receiver at Texas Tech and has spent his entire coaching career working with receivers at his numerous stops. "I played that position, so I'm probably harder on the receivers than any other position. It's my baby. It's what I grew up playing and coaching. I played with multiple NFL guys and coached multiple NFL guys. As a coach, I just have to continue to challenge him so he can have a chance to play on Sundays because he has the tools."
Maclin said he entered the season knowing he had to step up his game on the field and his role with the team off it. He said he wanted to set an example of how to prepare during the week for success on Saturdays.
"Building the connection with my guys and with my QB has been huge," Maclin said. "And I have to give credit to coach Morris for his play-calling and putting me in position to make those plays. I practice hard so when I get to games it's easy."
Run game looking for rebound performance
In the five games prior to Saturday's loss at Tulane, UNT averaged 226.2 yards per game on the ground.
On Saturday, the Mean Green rushed for 83 yards as game situations and game script dictated more passing, especially in the second half. That was successful, as junior quarterback Chandler Rogers threw for 343 yards and is averaging more than 300 yards per game since taking over as the starter under center.
Morris said he knows his offense is more effective with some more balance and hopes to get back to that success on the ground against Memphis.
"Hopefully we can run the ball more efficiently than last week," Morris said. "That was the one negative last week. But it was just the nature of the game that got me away from calling the runs. But we have to get back to being balanced and get the ball to Ayo (Adeyi) and Oscar (Adaway). They've done a great job this year."
Tackle Jett Duncan said the success through the air in the second half against Tulane got the Mean Green away from running the ball, but he's confident the effectiveness of the running game is still the same as before.
"I don't think we need to correct anything," Duncan said. "It was a slow start and we got the passing game going in the second half against Tulane, and we said, 'Why stop that?' We ran OK, but I think we'll run more against Memphis and hopefully have another good game."
Rogers streak still alive
After setting new career-highs for completions and pass attempts last week against Tulane, Rogers kept a really impressive streak intact.
The junior signal-caller has now thrown 215 passes without an interception, which is the second-longest streak among active FBS quarterbacks and the longest for a UNT quarterback since 2018 when Mason Fine had 300 straight attempts without an interception.
Rogers ranks second in the AAC in passer rating (151.69), third in completion percentage (65%), fourth in touchdowns (14) and sixth in yards (1,762). His completion percentage is on track to be the second-best at UNT since at least 2000 when Riley Dodge completed 67.7% of his passes in 2009.
Head coach Eric Morris and selected players spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, the excitement of a first UNT Homecoming game for Morris, Ja'Mori Maclin continuing his season-long tear, a rebound on the horizon for the running game and a continued streak for Chandler Rogers.
Morris excited for first Homecoming experience
Morris laid out all the reasons to be excited about this week's Homecoming game – among them, the hope of a good crowd – but there's one thing that might excite him most about this week's festivities.
"I gotta go speak at a bonfire, so I'm excited about that," Morris said. "My son is excited about it, too. I'm a small-town kid from Shallowater, Texas, and bonfires were a pretty big deal back in the day, so I'm pretty excited about it, to be honest with you. Thursday's my birthday, so I'll be 38, so a bonfire on my birthday. I guess the last time I went to one, I was probably 18 years old in Shallowater, Texas, so I'm excited about that."
Morris also said he understands fans want to see a good product on the field but is confident his team can give them something to be proud of before challenging the fan base and community to come out for Saturday's game.
"Everyone likes when we win football games," Morris said. "It takes some time to build these things the right way, but it makes all the difference in the world when we have a student body show up like at that Cal game. Do we need to give them something to cheer for? Absolutely. We need to do our part but as this thing continues to grow. We need the community, the alumni base, the students - we need everybody out in full force to come give us a homefield advantage in this beautiful stadium in a great conference. Let's get everybody out there. That's a challenge to the Mean Green Nation to come out and support these guys who are pouring their heart and souls into it.
"They're playing extremely hard right now and I'm proud of that. That's something I couldn't say five weeks ago but the growth is there and in due time I think we're gonna build a damn good football team and if we play up to our capabilities like we did in the second half (last week), we're pretty damn good right now."
Maclin continues tear, among nation's top WRs
After finding the end zone again in Saturday's loss at Tulane, sophomore wide receiver Ja'Mori Maclin has nine touchdown receptions and is the only player in FBS to catch a touchdown pass in every game his team has played this season. He leads the conference in yards, touchdowns and yards per catch.
"As a coach it's never good enough," said Morris, who played wide receiver at Texas Tech and has spent his entire coaching career working with receivers at his numerous stops. "I played that position, so I'm probably harder on the receivers than any other position. It's my baby. It's what I grew up playing and coaching. I played with multiple NFL guys and coached multiple NFL guys. As a coach, I just have to continue to challenge him so he can have a chance to play on Sundays because he has the tools."
Maclin said he entered the season knowing he had to step up his game on the field and his role with the team off it. He said he wanted to set an example of how to prepare during the week for success on Saturdays.
"Building the connection with my guys and with my QB has been huge," Maclin said. "And I have to give credit to coach Morris for his play-calling and putting me in position to make those plays. I practice hard so when I get to games it's easy."
Run game looking for rebound performance
In the five games prior to Saturday's loss at Tulane, UNT averaged 226.2 yards per game on the ground.
On Saturday, the Mean Green rushed for 83 yards as game situations and game script dictated more passing, especially in the second half. That was successful, as junior quarterback Chandler Rogers threw for 343 yards and is averaging more than 300 yards per game since taking over as the starter under center.
Morris said he knows his offense is more effective with some more balance and hopes to get back to that success on the ground against Memphis.
"Hopefully we can run the ball more efficiently than last week," Morris said. "That was the one negative last week. But it was just the nature of the game that got me away from calling the runs. But we have to get back to being balanced and get the ball to Ayo (Adeyi) and Oscar (Adaway). They've done a great job this year."
Tackle Jett Duncan said the success through the air in the second half against Tulane got the Mean Green away from running the ball, but he's confident the effectiveness of the running game is still the same as before.
"I don't think we need to correct anything," Duncan said. "It was a slow start and we got the passing game going in the second half against Tulane, and we said, 'Why stop that?' We ran OK, but I think we'll run more against Memphis and hopefully have another good game."
Rogers streak still alive
After setting new career-highs for completions and pass attempts last week against Tulane, Rogers kept a really impressive streak intact.
The junior signal-caller has now thrown 215 passes without an interception, which is the second-longest streak among active FBS quarterbacks and the longest for a UNT quarterback since 2018 when Mason Fine had 300 straight attempts without an interception.
Rogers ranks second in the AAC in passer rating (151.69), third in completion percentage (65%), fourth in touchdowns (14) and sixth in yards (1,762). His completion percentage is on track to be the second-best at UNT since at least 2000 when Riley Dodge completed 67.7% of his passes in 2009.
Players Mentioned
Eric Morris Weekly Press Conference vs. Washington State | Mean Green FB
Tuesday, September 09
Broadcast Highlights vs Western Michigan | Mean Green Football
Monday, September 08
Recap vs Western Michigan | Mean Green FB '25
Monday, September 08
Eric Morris Weekly Press Conference vs. Western Michigan| Mean Green FB
Tuesday, September 02