The University of Memphis football team looks to continue its 10-game winning streak as it opens conference play Thursday, in a nationally televised game against the Cincinnati Bearcats.
The Tigers enter the game undefeated at 3-0 on the year, while the Bearcats, who were picked as the preseason favorites to win the American Athletic Conference, come into Thursday’s matchup at 2-1. The Tigers face Cincinnati for the 33rd time. Memphis leads the series 19-13, including a 41-14 win at Cincinnati last season.
Fourth-year Memphis coach Justin Fuente (20-20) understands his team will be playing on a big stage and said his team must be ready for the challenge.
“We are excited about the opportunity and usually when you play in these games you play against quality opponents.” he said in a press release. “They have explosive players on both sides of the ball. Fantastic running backs, quarterback, five senior wide receivers that have caught balls, and their defense that is very physical and fundamentally sound. We’re excited about this opportunity, they do not come along very often. The players understand that they have to be ready to go about their business and be ready to play the game.”
Memphis is coming off a very impressive 44-41 win over Bowling Green (1-2). The Tigers proved they could battle through adversity, battling back from a 27-17 halftime deficit to earn the victory.
Fuente acknowledged it was an intense and somewhat ugly game, but said he was just happy to come away with the victory.
“It was pretty crazy,” he said in a press release. “There were a lot of ups and downs. I think the biggest thing I would take away from it is the battling spirit of our kids. Our kids continued to battle back and kept plugging away to win the game. Who cares what it looks like as long as you find a way to get the job done. Defensively we had some struggles, but the kids kept battling. We found a way to get the stops in the fourth quarter and that ended up being the biggest difference in the game. It is definitely something to be proud of. We got plenty of things to fix and work on.”
Although the Tigers looked fantastic on offense (541 yards and 28 first downs), Memphis gave up 579 total yards and 6 touchdowns in the victory. The Tigers will have to buckle down defensively as they face yet another high-powered offense for the second straight week. Cincinnati averages over 579 yards, as well as 38.3 points through three games this season.
Quarterback Paxton Lynch will be expected to have another huge game, after setting a new career high in passing yards each of the last two weeks (354 yards at Kansas and 386 yards at Bowling Green). The six-foot-seven junior, who was recognized for the second consecutive week by the Manning Award as one of eight star quarterbacks of the week, enters the game with 818 yards and six touchdowns through the air.
Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville (156-86, 20-9 at Cincinnati) has become very familiar with Lynch’s skill set, facing him in each of his three seasons at Cincinnati. Tuberville spoke very highly of Lynch and pointed out how well rounded he has become to this point in his career.
“This is the best quarterback I’ve seen this year,” he said in a press release. "Just watching football games, he’s still the best. I don’t care who is playing at what level, any of that stuff this kid is good. He is six-foot-seven, can run, throws the ball with accuracy, and throws the deep ball well.”
Cincinnati is coming off a much-needed 37-33 victory over Miami (Ohio). Despite losing their star quarterback Gunner Kiel to a shoulder injury in the third quarter and freshman backup Hayden Moore giving up 4 turnovers—two interceptions and two fumbles—the Bearcats were able to hold on for the victory.
Before going down, Kiel racked up 15 completions for 145 yards and a touchdown.
Tuberville said Kiel has not been ruled out completely, but said he believes in Moore if Kiel is unable to play and his team must play better if they are going to have a chance of beating the Tigers.
“There is a good chance (Kiel) will play, but he has to show (in practice), again he hasn’t take a lot of reps,” he said in a press release. “So today, he’ll have to show me he understands what we’re doing, what we are trying to get out of the offense. Hayden has taken a lot of snaps. Hayden is going to be a good football player. Now we’ve got to play a lot better. We can’t play like we’ve played the last three weeks on the road against a team like Memphis. We can’t do that. We’ve got to go play better, play with more confidence and play all three phases of the game.”
Cincinnati has been hit with the injury bug hard this season, with Kiel not being the only significant injury. Linebacker Leviticus Payne, left guard Idarius Ray and Wide Receiver Mekale McKay all missed the Bearcats game against Miami (Ohio) with injuries; starting running back Mike Boone, who is expected to return against Memphis, was taken out mid-game against Miami (Ohio) with of a sore ankle; and the Bearcats also lost senior cornerback Adrian Witty to a broken ankle.
Fuente said he will prepare his team as if Kiel will start and acknowledged that if Moore does take the snaps, Cincinnati’s offense will not change very much.
“I don’t see a problem,” he said in a press release. “We will get ready for their offense. Gunner Kiel is a fantastic player and he has thrown for a bunch of yards in his time at Cincinnati. We will prepare as if he is the starter and it’s not like when he went out they went to the triple option. I am sure the other kid has a different skill set, but it is not that huge of a change.”
Kiel is not the Bearcat’s only weapon offensively though. Cincinnati has used a very balanced attack this season, with three running backs all with 220 yards or more, as well as six different wide outs with over 125 yards.
Tuberville said his team has a tough task ahead of them and said Memphis will be the best team they play all year.
“Going into the Memphis game this week, just watching Memphis on film, they will be the best team we play,” he said in a press release. They are on a roll. They have won 10 straight games. Justin Fuente has done a great job the past four years. They got a lot of speed, quickness and they attack on defense. They are very fast on offense. They do a lot of play action. They use (Lynch) with all the receivers, tight ends, wide-outs, it doesn’t make any difference they get the ball off. Along with the running game, it’s a very good offense. It kept us off balance all last year they came after us, they hit us in the mouth, we didn’t respond after getting off to a good start. Their offense has picked up. They’ve won 10 straight. That’s amazing, we are talking about Memphis, who a few years ago was not even in the ballpark to win 10 games. They have really done a good job with recruiting, getting speed on campus, and turning their guys loose and playing with a lot of confidence.”
The biggest challenge for both teams will be the short turnaround from last week. Both teams played Saturday, giving them only four days to prepare between games.
Fuente understands he must get his team to remain focused on the task at hand, but said he is experienced with short-week games.
“It is about getting everybody feeling good and knowing what to do,” he said in a press release. “Fortunately I have had some practice with this when I was at TCU, where we played in some Thursday night games. We did it a couple of different ways. The biggest challenge is that we played a physical game. We’ve got to get moving around, know what we are supposed to do and feeling good by Thursday night. You just have to have balance.”
Memphis and Cincinnati are set to clash Thursday at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium at 6:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
With Cincinnati being picked to win the conference, Fuente said he believes this is a great matchup to see where his team stands.
“I think the best measuring stick for where you’re at is playing against you peers,” he said. “You know Cincinnati is going to be considered at the tip of the league every year. I think that is as close to a fair measuring stick as you can
Memphis will look to go 4-0 when they play the Cincinnati Bearcats tonight.
