Houston Baptist at North Texas 9/5/20 - College Football Picks & Predictions

The Houston Baptist Huskies visit Apogee Stadium in Denton, Texas on Saturday to play the North Texas Mean Green. Houston Baptist finished 5-7 last season and was 2-6 in Southland Conference action, where they finished next-to-last in the conference standings. Head coach Vic Shealy returns for the Huskies as does quarterback Bailey Zappe, who is back for a final season. The Huskies will play just three non-conference games this fall before moving the rest of their schedule to the spring. 

Last season, Zappe threw for 3,811 yards and 35 touchdowns, and led the FCS with 35 TD passes, completions with 357, attempts with 560, while finishing second in yards. Ben Ratzlaff returns as Zappe’s favorite target after catching 87 receptions a season ago for 1,139 yards with 12 TDs. Jerreth Sterns also returns and last season caught 105 passes for 833 yards with nine TDs. Eight starters on defense return with the linebackers corps the heart and soul of that side of the line of scrimmage. 

The North Texas offense disappointed in 2019 as the Mean Green finished 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the Conference-USA. Head coach Seth Littrell returns to lead a passing oriented attack that averaged 283 yards per game through the air in 2019. Jason Bean and Austin Aune will be the top two candidates to start on Saturday at quarterback. Tre Siggers led the running game last season with 853 yards and six touchdowns and returns as does DeAndre Torrey who rushed for 380 yards and two TDs.

Jaylon Darden returns as the top receiver who last season caught 76 passes with 12 for touchdowns, while Greg White and Jason Pirtle have size at tight end. The defense has a new coordinator in Clint Bowen from Kansas. Linebackers Tyreke Davis and KD Davis, who combined for 168 tackles last season, return but the line must replace its top pass rusher and the secondary lost its top three tacklers and has plenty of holes to fill.