Fresh off one of the biggest victories in program history, the Tiger football team doesn’t have time to celebrate as they face a short turnaround before returning to American Athletic Conference play on the road at Tulsa this Friday.
The Golden Hurricane (3-3, 0-2 AAC) are off to a rough start to conference play, losing their first two AAC games to Houston and East Carolina, but Memphis having a short week after a big win the matchup in Tulsa could be a proverbial “trap game.”
“As I told you guys last week, win or lose, we got to be able to turn the page after Ole Miss to prepare for Tulsa in a short week,” Memphis coach Justin Fuente said. “Tulsa is a very explosive team. They play in a similar fashion to Bowling Green. We have a great challenge on both sides of the football.”
Tulsa is a team very similar to a couple of the other opponents the Tigers have already played this season, most notably Bowling Green and Cincinnati, with the common link being high-powered offenses and sub-par defenses. The Golden Hurricane have put up some big point totals this season, including 47 in an overtime win over Florida Atlantic University and 38 in a loss at then-No. 16 Oklahoma.
Tulsa ranks sixth in the FBS in total offense, averaging 550 yards per game, but are in the bottom 10 in total defense ranking 121st, yielding an average of 525 yards. For comparison, Bowling Green clocks in at fourth in offense and 109th in defense, while Cincinnati is seventh and 78th.
While Ole Miss doesn’t exactly fit the mold because of its defense, the Rebels are also somewhat similar because of their 11th ranked offense, so Memphis has become quite accustomed to facing tremendous offenses throughout the season.
Again just like Ole Miss, Cincinnati and Bowling Green, the Golden Hurricane’s offensive attack is centered around the play of their quarterback. Tulsa’s Dane Evans has been one of the premier quarterbacks in college football when it comes to racking up yardage through the air. Evans is averaging just over 350 passing yards per game and has tossed for 11 touchdowns and only four interceptions, but has completed only 59.5 percent of his passes.
Evans is coming off of arguably his worst performance of the season at East Carolina, in which he completed only 19-of-40 passes while throwing one touchdown and one interception in a 30-17 loss.
“They are much more mature than last year,” Fuente said of the Tulsa team that finished 2-10 last season. “Their quarterback is back and he has got game experience. They got good skill kids and Keyarris Garrett is a big wide receiver from East Texas that we had in camp when we were at TCU that I really liked.”
Garrett has been the Golden Hurricanes’ leading receiver this season, totaling 698 yards and two touchdowns on 45 receptions. Garrett could be poised for a big game against the Tigers, who let Ole Miss star receiver Laquon Treadwell run rampant on Saturday. Treadwell had his best game of the season against Memphis, catching a career-high 14 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown.
Memphis will face the Golden Hurricanes Friday night at 7 p.m. in Tulsa, and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
The Tiger defense, which was maligned earlier this season, has improved in recent weeks in wins against South Florida and Ole Miss ahead of its clash with Tulsa Friday.
