A win for the Tigers in Saturday’s 1 p.m. football contest against Army (2-7, 2-4 in Conference USA) at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium could boost Memphis’ overall record to 5-5 before the team’s regular-season finale against Cincinnati next weekend.
And with both games winnable, Tiger head coach Tommy West is feeling the pressure of getting to a bowl game and capturing the winning season the Tigers have been chasing since 1994.
“We have to win this game or play for pride, and I’m not into all that playing for pride stuff,” West said. “One of our main goals at the beginning of the year was having a winning season. We’ve got to worry about getting to five (wins), then we worry about six.”
In order to get that elusive fifth win (the Tigers have dropped three in a row), Memphis will have to outscore an Army team that West said knows how to put points on the board.
“They’re continuing from a year ago to improve their offense,” West said. “They move the ball on just about anybody they play. Most of their games have been scoring matches, which is not what I want to get into.”
Offensively for the Tigers, West said running back Dante Brown should be available after being injured in the first half of last weekend’s game against No. 6 Tennessee.
“He got a really nasty gash,” West said, referring to Brown’s injury, which required 20 stitches at halftime. “He wanted to go back in, but he couldn’t bend his arm enough to hold the ball.”
As has been the case over the last few weeks, the Tiger starting quarterback position will be given to whomever West deems fit by gametime. Against the Vols, freshman Danny Wimprine had been penciled in as the starter before senior Neil Suber was given the starting nod just before gametime. After nine games, West said he would like to have a permanent signal caller.
“Right now I want to be the back-up quarterback,” West said jokingly. “Everybody has had the chance to be a starter and nobody has taken it over. It’s time for somebody to take that job.”
Though he doesn’t have a full-time quarterback, West said the area he’s seen the most improvement from all season is in his offensive line’s protection of whomever is in at quarterback.
Defensively West said he would like to penetrate an Army offensive line that hasn’t allowed much access to their quarterback.
“They’ve frustrated me trying to blitz,” West said. “They won’t let you get at them.”
What West hopes will be the difference in the game is an all-around effort from his team.
“I expect our team to play well in all three phases (offensively, defensively and on special teams),” West said. “It’s time for us to put it all together.”
