No. 20 Mean Green Set For Conference Championship

DENTON – The UNT football team is set for its first American Conference Championship game and a possible College Football Playoff berth that could come with a win, as the 20th-ranked Mean Green will travel to New Orleans to face host Tulane on Friday night at Yulman Stadium. UNT, which is looking to notch its 12th victory and earn a spot in the CFP, will face the Green Wave on ABC with kickoff set for 7 p.m. The radio broadcast can be found on 1190 AM/The Varsity Network.

Head coach Eric Morris and select players spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, a well-rounded physical Tulane team awaiting them, a key showdown between much different star quarterbacks, the Mean Green counting on youth on a massive stage, a look back on a standout career for Gabe Blair and a premonition from David Fisher that is close to coming true.

Well-rounded Green Wave awaiting UNT
It's only fitting that UNT's biggest game of the season, if not all time, is coming against quite possibly the best team the Mean Green have faced this season.

No. 21 Tulane (10-2, 7-1 American) is set to play in its fourth-straight American Championship game, while No. 20 UNT (11-1, 7-1) will play in its first.

Head coach Eric Morris knows what's awaiting he and his team come Friday night in what should be a rainy Yulman Stadium.

"Overall, this is the best defense we've played in quite some time, maybe the whole year," Morris said. "It's one of the top run defenses. They have an interior guy as good as anyone we've played. (Their) Safety makes tackles all over the place. I like both of their corners. They're very well coached and play extremely hard. That's a great combination to have. There's no coincidence that (Tulane head coach) Jon (Sumrall), the last 4-5 years, has been in a conference championship wherever he's been. It's a challenge at every level. Some teams we've thought we have clear advantages over in certain areas. We'll have to play a really clean game and play really well in all three phases."

From an offensive perspective, the Green Wave are No. 39 nationally in total offense but generally follow their physical defense's lead with a smashmouth style that has been led by transfer quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who has been a weapon in the air and on the ground.

Senior cornerback David Fisher said while the Green Wave's offensive identity might come from their defensive minded head coach, they aren't lacking in skill talent.

"This will definitely be the best offense, skill-wise, that we've faced," he said. "They have great speed on the outside, great running backs, a great scheme, so it'll definitely be a challenge for us."

Championship features key showdown under center
There aren't many similarities between the games of Retzlaff and UNT star quarterback Drew Mestemaker.

One has as many rushing touchdowns as passing touchdowns. And that total number is still one fewer than the other's passing touchdowns alone.

Retzlaff's gritty style has suited the Green Wave well this year, as he's rushed and passed for 14 touchdowns apiece and is the team's leading rusher while throwing for 2,717 yards. Mestemaker has set the college football world on fire as a redshirt freshman and leads the nation in passing yards while piloting the nation's top scoring offense and total offense. He's also the team's fifth leading rusher and has added five scores on the ground.

"Their game is completely different," Morris said, when asked to compare the two signal-callers. "They're both winners is what sticks out to me. You can skin the cat a lot of different ways. He (Retzlaff) has a freakishly strong arm and can make all the throws but also the way they use him in the run game - it's super impressive. They can get real multiple and balanced in the QB run game and you have to add a hat in the run game. They're really good up front and have some really good O-linemen.

"It's two different ways of doing it between him Drew, but it shows there's different ways to win football games and it'll be really fun to watch them battle it out."

Mean Green counting on youth on biggest stage
What's made this year's UNT team so special, Morris said, among other things, is the mix of experienced, mature guys who have brought a lot to the table, even if it's just their first year in the program, and some big-name youngsters who were recruited out of high school and have made splashes on the national stage this season.

While all of that experience is so important to UNT's success, the headlines on offense have gone to the Mean Green's redshirt freshman, record-setting quarterback and the true freshman standing next to him in the backfield in running back Caleb Hawkins.

So will the Mean Green's youth be able to handle the biggest of stages coming up on Friday with possibly an even bigger one awaiting in the College Football Playoff win a win?

"There's only one way to find out," Morris said. "We'll find out Friday night. The way they've grown throughout the season, I talk to other head coaches before our games who know how good they are. That's gonna be their plan is to stop those guys just like everyone else wants to. They've continued to answer the bell."

Senior guard Gabe Blair, who was named First Team All-Conference on Tuesday (his third First Team nod of his career and second in the American), raved about his two younger teammates, and said blocking for a runner like Hawkins, who leads the nation in rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns, has been a pleasure.

"He's unstoppable," Blair said. "It's crazy to watch him, especially when you're blocking for him. You'll be blocking and then you'll watch and three people will try to tackle him and he'll just run through it. No one can take him down. He's been a beast. It's been crazy to watch."

As for that stage, Morris said he and his players know what a special opportunity is in front of this team.

"There's only one Group of 5 school that's getting a (CFP) bid right now," he said. "You look at how many good Group of 5 programs there are and good coaches and players and it'd be a huge feat for not only our football team and players and staff but for this whole university to continue to get national exposure. There's not many teams left playing this week. The feeling you get when it's finally cold outside and you playing more and more meaningful games into December, it's special for everyone involved in this university."

Blair reminisces on journey and change in Mean Green pride
When Blair was a senior at Guyer High School just down the road and starring up front for one of the state's best offenses on the biggest stages in high school football, he might have seen himself eventually ending up in a position to play in some of college football's biggest games.

He just wasn't sure where he'd be playing.

Blair held a bevy of offers from some of the country's top programs but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his class' recruiting process and he couldn't go on visits. So he decided to stay home and roll the dice at UNT. He admits now, in his fifth year in the program, he never saw himself in this position, especially after struggling for several years just to earn bowl eligibility.

"I never thought we'd ever get close to something like this," Blair said. "My first couple of years we were just struggling to get into a bowl game."

Blair, who missed all of last season with an injury before playing in the First Responder Bowl and committing to return for one more year, said he can easily put a finger on the difference between the teams in his previous years and this year's squad.

"Every year I've been here we've barely made a bowl game, but we've been in a lot of close games. But this year, I feel like we've been able to get over the hump. Even last year against Tulane, and in other games, we'd be in a lot of close games but this year I feel like we've been able to finish those games."

So while he might have thought of leaving in previous seasons, Blair said he now has a new sense of Mean Green pride.

"I definitely have some pride I didn't before," Blair said. "My first couple of years, I probably wouldn't say that. I came here because of some circumstances and Covid, but now I definitely have pride and I'm definitely thankful to leave with a winning season and not just maybe making a bowl game."

Fisher ready to make good on his prediction
Unlike Blair, who has spent his entire college career in Denton, senior cornerback David Fisher is one of the one-year players who has made a big impact in his short time with the Mean Green.

When he came from Sam Houston along with first-year defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity, he told anyone who would listen when he arrived that this team had the chance to win a conference championship and play in the CFP, which might have elicited some internal eye rolls from some of his new teammates.

Now, the Mean Green are on the brink of making him look like a genius.

"I remember when I first got here and told the guys, some of them looked at me crazy," he said. "We're so close to the end of the year and reaching our goals... We are chasing a ring."

Fisher had a few options to weigh last season, but when he knew his defensive coordinator was headed to Denton and saw what UNT's offense had been able to do under Morris for the previous two seasons, he said his decision was easy.

"I saw the offense they had," Fisher said. "With us bringing over the defense that I knew worked, it made sense. I knew if we brought that defense over here and the offense worked with the defense and defense worked with the offense, I knew we'd be here."

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Drew Mestemaker

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