Cal football 2023 opponent first looks: North Texas

[Coach Andy Mac]

Cal is rebooting their entire offense, but they aren’t exactly given much of a chance to rest before conference play begins. Cal’s B opponent this year and their season opener is a road game against the North Texas Mean Green, a team that took them to the wire in Berkeley a half-decade ago.

North Texas did employ Mike Bloesch last year as the team’s offensive coordinator (and tight end Asher Alberding came in tow as well), so the Bears should have plenty of familiarity with how these players operate. But this offense that Bloesch left behind is no joke.

New coach

Cal’s first coaching faceoff will be against a familiar face. After North Texas made the decision to part with Seth Littrell after a 7-6 2022 regular season, the Mean Green turned to Eric Morris, the offensive coordinator at Washington State last season.

Morris is best known for coaching Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech as his offensive coordinator, as the Red Raiders spit out historic offensive numbers in Lubbock. The decision by Morris and Kliff Kingsbury to pick Mahomes as the Red Raiders starting quarterback led to Davis Webb transferring to Cal. Dominoes!

Morris moved onto Incarnate Word as the head coach where he led them to two playoff appearances, including a quarterfinal bid in 2021. Morris then brought his quarterback Cam Ward to Washington State as Jake Dickert’s offensive coordinator.

Although Wazzu’s offense was fairly average for most of the season (and mediocre in Pac-12 play), it did best Justin Wilcox’s Cal defense in a 28-9 loss that everyone forgot about the moment it ended.

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