In the first of six first-time matchups this year, the undefeated Cougars will head to Denton, Texas, to face the North Texas Mean Green on Saturday. Despite no prior matchup history, the two programs have ties through Mean Green head coach Eric Morris, who served as the first Offensive Coordinator under Jake Dickert’s full-time tenure in 2022.
Morris came over after the conclusion of the 2021 season after a successful stint as head coach at Incarnate Word, bringing a talented, but largely unknown
quarterback named Cameron Ward with him. Prior to his tenure at Incarnate Word, Morris served as wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator at Texas Tech. In that time, he coached Patrick Mahomes before he won two NFL MVP awards and three Super Bowls.
In his lone year as Offensive Coordinator in Pullman, Morris led an offense that showed moments of excellence, but ultimately resulted in comparable results on the field. Within the context of the 2022 season, the seemingly lateral offensive production could certainly be viewed as a success. From the 2021 to 2022 seasons, the Cougs scored 23 fewer points, gained 19 fewer yards per game, and turned the ball over at a near equal rate. With a quarterback coming up from the FCS level, maintaining offensive levels in the face of a large roster overhaul set the scene for a breakthrough in the years to come.
That breakthrough would have to be seen through by Ben Arbuckle, however, as on December 13, 2022, Eric Morris was announced as the new head coach at North Texas. The 2023 season for Washington State was a less successful overall performance than the previous two campaigns, missing out on bowl eligibility at 5-7, but the offense rattled off the highest scoring and yardage numbers of the three years in question.
In his tenure as Mean Green Head Coach, Morris has a combined 13-14 record. The 2024 season saw the Mean Green make the First Responder Bowl, though they were defeated by the Texas State Bobcats 30-28. Both off to a 2-0 start this year, neither team wants to lose their ‘0’ and coach Morris will certainly be looking to win bragging rights over the school he once coached for.
