Everyone loves the bye week.
For the healthy, it's a time to rest, and for the injured, it's a time to recover, but in The University of Memphis football team's case, there really wasn't much need for recovery.
"Really, I don't know of anyone that's hurting," Tigers quarterback Danny Wimprine said. "We're just lucky right now. Most injuries are unavoidable, so I don't think it's anything we're preventing. So far, we're just lucky."
Memphis coach Tommy West said he thinks the reason the Tigers are injury free is a little more than just luck.
"I believe you can help (yourself from getting injured)," West said. "We don't run our teams down in August. I used to, but they always ran out of gas in November and I think there is a direct correlation."
Senior starting safety Scott Vogel is the only question mark on the Tigers' roster.
Vogel is recovering from surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee. West said his status would be assessed in the coming week.
"Scott will try to practice (Tuesday) and we'll see what happens," West said. "He's really, really close. If he wasn't pretty close, I don't think I would play him in this game."
With the 6 foot-1 inch senior not playing, the Tigers are missing more than just a quality deep man. He's also the morale leader of The U of M defense.
"Scott's kind of the glue for us defensively," West said. "We all look better when he's out there."
Vogel suffered the injury following a fumble recovery at UAB.
One of Vogel's partners in the secondary, Wesley Smith, is back to full strength. Smith played in the Tigers' win over Houston, but was hampered by a sprained right shoulder. West said the defensive back is '100 percent.'
Another advantage of the free weekend is the chance to iron out kinks and try new things.
After so much success against the Cougars in the one-back set, the Tigers had talked about moving fullback Robert Douglas to another position for at least some of the plays.
Douglas saw some limited action at tight end in practice over the last week.
"We didn't work on a lot of different things with him (at tight end)," West said. "The reason is because of the rhythm we're in (offensively) and I really didn't want to bust up that rhythm."
West thinks the 6 foot-3 inch, 235-pounder can also provide a new dimension to the Tigers running attack as a power-style back, possibly in short-yardage situations.
"What we did look at with Robert is using him more at the one-back," West said. "We really need a power type of back."
Memphis' running backs, DeAngelo Williams, Jamarcus Gaither and Joseph Doss, are much smaller than Douglas and tend to be outside runners.
The healthy Tigers will try to earn their fifth win of the season when they host Tulane this Saturday.
