Tiger football head coach Tommy West said he knows his team has a tough task ahead of itself with Saturday’s 1 p.m. game against No. 6 Tennessee looming.
But West, whose Memphis team comes into the game on a two-game losing skid, is hoping the Tigers’ week off last week has helped his squad get back to doing the fundamental things winning teams must do.
“We’ve used the off week just like everybody does – to try and improve fundamentally and to keep moving our team in the direction we want to go,” West said on the Conference USA Teleconference earlier this week. “We worked especially hard on special teams, which have not been good for us so far this year and I think we made some improvement.”
Special teams mistakes have hurt the Tigers (4-4), especially against Alabama-Birmingham two weeks ago when a blocked 43-yard, Ryan White field goal attempt cost Memphis a chance at overtime.
West knows his team must limit similar mistakes against the Volunteers (6-1), who are playing in their homecoming game Saturday.
“They’re good all the way across the board,” West said. “So it’ll be a great challenge for us going to their place and playing them at their homecoming.”
The Vols enter Saturday’s contest on a three-game winning streak after beating Notre Dame, 28-18, last week.
“They present a million (challenges),” West said. “They’re an awful good football team that offensively creates all kinds of problems for you with a (running) back that is really, really good. Then, the two wide receivers are outstanding.”
Stopping senior running back Travis Stephens and wide receivers Donte Stallworth and Kelley Washington will indeed be a challenge for Memphis.
Stephens leads the Southeastern Conference in rushing at 133 yards per game and is second in all-purpose yards with 1,311. Washington ranks among the SEC’s top receivers, averaging 102 receiving yards and six catches per game, while Stallworth, who caught 35 balls last season, is returning to form after an early-season injury.
“They don’t have weaknesses,” West said. “They’re the sixth-ranked team in the country and I think they’re very deserving of it, if not higher.”
Tennessee is just as solid defensively as it is offensively. The Vols are tops in the SEC in total defense, giving up just 271.3 yards per game, meaning Memphis will face one of the country’s toughest defenses for the second straight game.
For Memphis, consistency at quarterback will be a major factor if the Tigers are to have any success against Tennessee, which has beaten Memphis 17 of 18 times overall. The Tigers, who rank second-to-last in C-USA in passing offense, must keep Tennessee’s defense honest by showing an ability to move the ball downfield through the air. If not, it’ll be a long day for U of M running back Dante Brown as the Vols will stack eight men in the box to stop him.
The Memphis-Tennessee series has been extremely close over the past three games, with Memphis winning, 21-17, in 1996 before losing its next two in heartbreaking fashion by a combined score of 36-33.
Last season, it was a 34-yard, Alex Walls field goal with 13 seconds left that helped the Vols steal a 19-17 win from Memphis at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Memphis is hoping the past doesn’t repeat itself Saturday.
