Everyone expected a shootout when Memphis and Bowling Green clashed on Saturday, and that’s exactly what happened. The Tigers made just enough plays and earned a hard-fought 44-41 victory. As a result, Memphis is now 3-0 for the first time since 2004. Here’s a look by the numbers at the win.
0: After committing three turnovers two weeks ago in their 55-23 victory against the Kansas Jayhawks, Memphis committed zero in Saturday’s win. The two teams combined for 1120 yards of total offense and 85 points. However, the key stat for the Tigers in this game, being they were playing on the road, was always going to be the turnover margin. They couldn’t afford to give Falcons quarterback Matt Johnson extra possessions, and to the Tiger offense’s credit they didn’t.
386: Just as I wrote here last week, Memphis redshirt junior quarterback Paxton Lynch had not thrown his last 300-yard game in a Blue and Gray jersey. On Saturday, they needed every one of his new career-high 386 passing yards. Especially since Johnson threw for 443 yards and four touchdowns. Lynch matched him stride-for-stride Saturday, and threw three touchdown passes, including the “Flipper” double-reverse, which resulted in a Lynch 48-yard dot to Tevin Jones, which tied the contest at 41-all. Lynch seems to be taking his game to another level week-by-week, and has clearly shown last season’s performance was no fluke.
50: Yes, the Tigers averaged just 3.1 yards per carry on the ground Saturday. Nevertheless, Memphis ran the ball 50 times for 155 yards, and rushed for two touchdowns. Once again showing their commitment to their running game and most importantly remaining balanced. Redshirt sophomore running back Doroland Dorceus seemed to emerge as the “lead” back as he had 16 carries for 75 yards in the victory. Dorceus, junior Sam Craft and sophomore Jarvis Cooper combined for 36 of those 50 carries, showing the running back rotation is starting to settle itself out.
4: The Tiger defense did not have a great showing on Saturday, but ultimately made plays when they needed to be made, including stopping the Falcons’ offense on their final three possessions of the game. They also recorded four sacks on the day, which matched their season total heading into the contest. In addition, four different players (linebackers Genard Avery and Wynton McManis, defensive tackle Donald Pennington and defensive end Christian Johnson) had one sack each, showing pressure may be able to come from all sides of the Memphis defense, which given the rise in the level of competition in the next few weeks is crucial.
10: The most important fact about last week’s win was the fact that Memphis won, again. It’s now the Tigers’ 10th consecutive victory and only nationally ranked TCU (11) and Ohio State (16) have longer winning streaks than Memphis. It’s been 347 days since Memphis last tasted defeat (Houston). Very few people could have imagined this happening at all given the turmoil with Tiger football in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but it shows just how far Memphis coach Justin Fuente and his team have come in such a short amount of time.
Redshirt sophomore running back Doroland Dorceus rushed for a team-high 75 yards on 16 carries Saturday with one touchdown.
