After a blowout homecoming win over Tulsa Friday night, the University of Memphis football team (5-3, 3-1 AAC) finds itself in a five-way tie for first place in the American Athletic Conference.
This week the Tigers face their toughest challenge remaining on the schedule, a 5-3 Temple squad coming off of a 20-10 victory over then No. 21 East Carolina.
“They’re very good defensively,” Memphis coach Justin Fuente said. “Coach Rhule has done an incredible job with that program. They have just a couple seniors on their two-deep. They’re very young, but playing at a high level.”
On the season, Temple is giving up an average of just 18.4 points per contest, good for 11th in the country, and has held its opponents to 10 points or less in four of eight games. The Owls are especially proficient at shutting down the passing game, limiting opponents to 197 yards per game through the air. Last week, ECU’s 26th-ranked scoring offense turned the ball over five times and managed to put up only 10 points on the Owls.
“They were swarming to the football,” Fuente said of Temple’s performance against ECU. “They had a lot of hats to the ball. That’s what happens when you play with that kind of effort. When you’re in the right position on a consistent basis you have a chance to force turnovers. It was remarkable to see someone turn someone over that many times.”
Temple’s defense has kept the Owls in games throughout the season, but the team has struggled on the offensive end. Temple’s passing offense and rushing offense rank among the worst in Division I football. On the other end of the spectrum, Memphis boasts the highest-scoring offense in the American Athletic Conference to go along with the nation’s 15th-ranked scoring defense.
The Owls’ offense is led by sophomore quarterback P.J. Walker, who’s had a down season after throwing for 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions as a freshman. So far in 2014 Walker has put up 11 touchdowns to nine interceptions, and his completion percentage is also down to 56.2 percent from 60.8 a season ago.
Memphis and Temple last met a season ago when the Tigers were taken down 41-21 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. In that contest, both Memphis’ rushing and passing attacks were shut down, as the Tigers mustered only 228 yards of total offense. Walker had a field day on the Memphis defense, throwing for 328 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
“It definitely left us with a bad feeling last year towards the end of the season,” Memphis senior offensive lineman Al Bond said. “It will motivate us to come more prepared and realize we can’t take them for granted. We take it personally because it is the next opponent. They did beat us last year obviously, so we are going to try and come out ready to go.”
With Memphis having five wins on the season a victory Friday will officially make the Tigers bowl-eligible. Memphis last participated in a bowl game in 2008, losing 41-14 to South Florida in the St. Petersburg Bowl.
The Tigers and Owls will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. from Lincoln Financial Field on Friday night, and ESPNU plans to televise the game nationally.
