The University of Memphis Football team is in desperate need ofa win this Saturday at Houston.
The Tigers need to go 4-2 the rest of the season in order tocapture a bowl berth.
They would have to win four of the final six to get above a .500record in Conference USA.
Due to lots of mistakes on offense, defense and the specialteams this past Saturday against Mississippi State, the U of M hastaken a promising start to the season and threatened to turn itinto another typical Tiger tank job.
"We've had some errors in special teams that we have to getcorrected for us to win the way we want to win," said head coachTommy West. "When you make errors that give up points, that reallyhurts you."
The task of defeating the white-hot Houston Cougars (5-1) ontheir home field is not going to be an easy job for Memphis's twostar offensive players Danny Wimprine and DeAngelo Williams.
Houston is led by a very young but explosive offense whosetrigger man is freshman quarterback Kevin Kolb who is familiar withthe Cougar offensive scheme.
"They've got a freshman quarterback but he's been in thisoffense a long time," said West.
Not only does Houston have quality playmakers on offense,according to coach West they have a very good offensive linetoo.
"Their line is very mature, they have a veteran offensive line,"said West.
Between Houston's quarterback, tailback and offensive line, thebest player on their team is quite possibly wide-receiver BrandonMiddleton, who is averaging 25 yards per catch, good enough for thetop spot in the conference in overall receiving yards and second inthe country in yards-per-catch.
"I've watched him for three years and he's a really goodplayer," said West, referring to Middleton. Houston's only losscame from then No.7 Michigan, a 50-3 embarrassment in Ann Arbor,Mich. Since then, the Cougars have gone 4-0 with wins againstLouisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State, East Carolina andTulane.
The Tiger defense is going to have to step it up a notch becauseif they don't, this season could be in jeopardy.
Memphis quarterback Danny Wimprine is averaging 282yards-per-game, second in the conference, and tailback DeAngeloWilliams is at 144 yards a game thus far, first in theconference.
They will have to keep doing what they do best and hope thedefense can slow down the Houston scoring machine in a virtualmust-win game in Texas.
