Off to the program’s best start to a season since 2004, the 3-0 Memphis Tigers football team has a quick turnaround from their thrilling 44-41 victory against Bowling Green as they open up conference play against the Cincinnati Bearcats Thursday night.
The Bearcats are 2-1 on the season and coming off of a lackluster 37-33 win on the road to Miami Ohio on Saturday, so the short week will have an effect on both sides in the mid-week contest.
“Fortunately I have had some practice with this when I was at TCU, where we played in some Thursday night games,” Memphis head coach Justin Fuente said. “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.”
The limited time to prepare for Cincinnati may not be as big of a problem for the Tigers, since the Bearcats are a similar team to the Tigers’ last opponent, Bowling Green. Both teams boast high-powered offenses that are primarily powered by the passing game. Bowling Green is first in the FBS in passing offense, averaging 455.7 yards through the air each game, while Cincinnati is 13th out of 127 teams, averaging 343.3 yards.
Bearcats quarterback Gunner Kiel has thrown for 805 yards while completing 63 percent of his passes, although he’s also tossed four interceptions to only five touchdowns. Kiel’s status for Thursday’s game is uncertain after suffering an injury in Cincinnati’s win on Saturday.
The main difference between the two offenses is in their dedication to the run game (or lack thereof). Memphis had to do very little preparation for a running attack last week since Bowling Green sticks almost entirely to the aerial assault, and only really uses runs to set up the passing game. Cincinnati on the other hand, ranks 24th in the FBS with 236 rushing yards per game, forcing the Tigers to prepare for both forms of attack.
“(Cincinnati) has explosive players on both sides of the ball,” Fuente said. “Fantastic running backs, quarterback, five senior wide receivers that have caught balls, and their defense that is very physical and fundamentally sound.”
While the Bearcats’ have a strong passing defense, yielding only 152.3 yards per game, their run defense is much more vulnerable. Cincinnati is 83rd in the FBS in rushing defense, giving up 177.7 yards per game. Thus far in the 2015 the Tigers have shown that they are dedicated to the run game, and the Memphis running backs may be able to find success against Cincinnati’s shaky run defense.
The Tigers will need their running backs to take advantage of the limited Cincinnati run defense, but the game may ultimately be decided on how well quarterback Paxton Lynch plays against the solid pass defense of the Bearcats. Lynch has been by far the Tigers’ best player this season — completing 77 percent of his passes and throwing six touchdowns to zero interceptions — and will need him to perform well again to come away with the victory.
The game will be nationally televised by ESPN, and kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday night at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Redshirt junior quarterback Paxton Lynch threw for a then career-high 311 yards and two touchdowns in Memphis’ 41-14 victory against Cincinnati last season.
