The University of Memphis football team looks to earn its fourth-straight victory and seventh win of the season on Saturday, as they travel to New Orleans to take on the Tulane Green Wave.
The Tigers enter Saturday’s game at 6-3, after a grind-it-out victory over Temple. The 16-13 victory granted Memphis its first bowl-eligible team since 2008.
Senior linebacker Charles Harris revealed what it meant to him to finally be bowl eligible for the first time in his career at Memphis.
“My emotions were unexplainable,” he said. “It was just such a relief to finally get over that hump and finally get to that bowl eligibility that I've been longing for so long.”
Tulane enters the Saturday’s contest at 3-6, coming off a convincing 31-24 victory over Houston.
Tigers coach Justin Fuente said Tulane will be a very tough test for his team.
“We have a great challenge this week,” Fuente said in his weekly press conference on Monday. “We've got to go to Tulane. They're coming off of a fantastic victory at Houston.”
Tulane is a very inexperienced team, led by freshman quarterback Tanner Lee and freshman running back Sherman Badie. Lee has completed 55.7 percent of his passes this season for 1,356 yards and 12 touchdown passes. Badie leads the Green Wave with 598 rushing yards on the year along with 3 rushing touchdowns.
Fuente said he believes that Tulane is a very talented football team in all facets of the game.
“They are loaded with talented football players,” Fuente said. “They're very young offensively, but very talented. They've got four running backs. They got their quarterback back. They're huge on the offensive line. They've done a very good job defensively in mixing up their looks, bringing pressure and playing man-coverage. They're also very sound in the kicking game. So this will be a great challenge for us.”
Tulane’s biggest struggle this season has been putting points on the board. The Green Wave averages only 19.6 points per game, which ranks 115th in the country in points per game.
On the other hand, Memphis is ranked 13th in the nation in points against, only giving up 18.7 points per contest.
Though Tulane has some very talented freshmen, the biggest challenge for the Tigers will be staying focused after becoming bowl eligible.
Fuente said there is still more to accomplish this season, and he believes his team is ready to keep pushing forward.
“A season, and this is an obvious statement, it's long,” Fuente said. “You go through ups and downs. You have to replace guys. You have guys that have to fill in. That's part of the battle and the strain of going through a season. For us, it's the challenge of continuing to play. We have a lot to practice and play for. I didn't get the sense from the kids at practice that they were ready to take it easy. I got the sense that they were absolutely ready to get back to work and go see what we can accomplish.”
According to Harris, keeping the younger players motivated won’t be a problem because of the senior leadership on this Tigers squad.
“The freshmen have done a great job coming in and buying into the program and following the leadership of the seniors,” Harris said. “As long as the seniors stay focused and stay grounded in our principles of what we do every day and staying focused on going 1-0 every week, the freshmen will follow suit.”
The game is set to kickoff at 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon, at Yulman Stadium. The game will also air on ESPNU.
