University of Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch and the Tiger offense put on another offensive masterpiece in its 66-42 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Friday night. Memphis is now 7-0 on the season and ranked No. 16 in both the Amway Coaches Poll and the AP Poll, its highest ever ranking in both polls. Here is a deeper look, by the numbers, inside the Tigers’ performance in the highest scoring college football game this season.
704: The 2015 Tiger offense had already threatened to break the team’s total offense yardage record in Memphis’ 55-23 win demolition of the Kansas Jayhawks in September. Memphis had 651 yards of total offense in its week two win; Friday night they had 704, a new team record. Lynch threw for a career-high 447 yards on 32-44 passing.
Also the Tiger running game looked back to its best as redshirt sophomore Doroland Dorceus and freshman Jamarius Henderson combined for 250 rushing yards. Which makes their performance even more impressive given fellow running backs Jarvis Cooper and Sam Craft were both banged up. With Cooper and Craft back in the fold for this week’s game against Tulane, the four Tiger running backs could be a handful for the remaining teams on its schedule.
66: While racking up yards is important, it doesn’t matter much unless they are converted into points and Memphis had no problem doing so Friday night. The 66 points the Tigers scored was the third highest in team history, and only four points off the team record set against Tampa in 1949.
The Memphis defense has improved, but, nevertheless, the Tigers have been involved in shootout after shootout and Lynch and company continue to excel under pressure. Whether it was comeback wins against Bowling Green, Cincinnati or Friday’s win against Tulsa. If the Tiger offense can keep up its performance for the remainder of the season, this offense could be talked about for a long time to come in the Bluff City.
5: Lynch accounted for five total touchdowns in Friday’s win (four pass, one rushing). At this point, there is not much else to say about Lynch other than he has probably established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in college football. As I mentioned earlier, he set another career-best in passing yards and has thrown for 300-plus passing yards in six consecutive games. A trip to New York in a couple of months for the Heisman Trophy presentation is not far out of reach for the Deltona, Florida, native.
6: The Memphis defense did not have its finest moment Friday night, giving up 42 points is still a lot even to a Tulsa offense that proved it was as talented as advertised. Nonetheless, the Tiger defense made enough plays to prevail and they did so by creating pressure and getting to the quarterback. The Tiger defense sacked Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans six times Friday. Linebacker Genard Avery, who had two sacks, led the defense that gave the Tigers enough momentum to survive a tricky midseason American Athletic Conference road game.
14: Another victory means the longest winning streak in school history has survived another week. Memphis hasn’t lost a football game since falling to Houston 28-24 last October at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. While the Tigers have survived the best team they will play this season in No. 19 Ole Miss, the undefeated talk will have to survive a grueling stretch following this week’s Tulane game. Given the unpredictable turnaround of this program over the past two seasons, nothing seems out of reach for Memphis as long as Tigers coach Justin Fuente and Paxton Lynch remain on top of their games.
Redshirt sophomore running back Doroland Dorceus rushed for a career-best 138 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries in Friday’s win over Tulsa.
