The Memphis Tigers (5-4, 2-3 American Athletic Conference) will face the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (2-7, 1-4 AAC) this Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
During Memphis’ last game against the ECU Pirates, their offensive game saw a return to form as they finished the game with a 59-41 victory. By comparison, Tulsa mounted a strong comeback against their conference rival, the UConn Huskies, and won 49-19 after a rough first quarter.
The last time the Tigers and Golden Hurricane faced off, the Tigers were victorious 41-14 after a strong showing from running back Darrell Henderson.
Memphis Tigers
It did not take long for Memphis’ offense to get things rolling last game as quarterback Brady White played one of his better games of the season, completing 21 of his 30 passes, 362 passing yards and three touchdowns.
A big reason for White’s strong performance is wide receiver Damonte Coxie’s performance, which was his best as a Tiger. Coxie finished the game with 10 receptions, 176 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.
Head coach Mike Norvell praised Coxie during his weekly press conference.
“Saturday was probably his best performance,” Norvell said. “He was dominant throughout that game, and it forced East Carolina to change some things defensively, which opened up some bigger seams in the run game. It was definitely great to see.”
Memphis’ run game benefited from the team’s impressive passing day, accounting for five of the team’s eight touchdowns. Leading rushers Henderson, Tony Pollard and Patrick Taylor Jr. each rushed for at least one touchdown and had a run of at least 10 yards.
Defensively, it was a completely different story for the Tigers, showing that they still have a lot of work to do on that side of the ball. ECU’s freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers statistically had his way with the Tigers’ secondary, even if the secondary did make him work for it.
The team totaled 15 quarterback hurries and two sacks against the Pirates’ inconsistent line. Defensive linemen O’Bryan Goodson and Joseph Dorceus led the charge with four hurries each.
To Memphis’ credit, they held Ahlers to a 54.8 percent completion percentage, only allowing completions on 34 of his 62 passes. Despite this, he still passed for 449 yards and three touchdowns, with 193 of those yards and two touchdowns coming from wide receiver Trevon Brown.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
As previously mentioned, Tulsa came back from a deficit in the first quarter of their last game to defeat the UConn Huskies. Even though quarterback Seth Boomer threw for four touchdowns, the team’s offense truly prevailed thanks to their strong run game.
Prior to last Saturday’s game, the team had the 52nd ranked rushing attack in the nation, averaging 178.7 yards per game. By the end of the game, however, they managed to get 470 rushing yards. Running backs Shamari Brooks and Corey Taylor II both ran for more than 130 yards on less than 20 rushing attempts.
Defensively, the team struggled to stop UConn’s athletic quarterback David Pindell on the ground, where he had 150 rushing yards, but they were able to limit him through the air. He only completed half of his passes and threw an interception in the third quarter, helping to seal the game for the Golden Hurricane.
They also adequately stifled the Huskies’ running backs, even forcing Zavier Scott to fumble in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Philip Montgomery was proud of his team’s showing and praised them for the resiliency.
“I’m really happy for our football team, more than anything else,” Montgomery said. “We had some adversity early in this game, and seeing them continue to grind, fight and make plays and continue to do the things that we keep talking about, I couldn’t be more proud of their effort and dedication and the way they go about their job.”
Opinion: Game prediction
For Memphis to win this game, they will need to both maintain ball security and stop runs.
Memphis isn’t known for turning the ball over much, but Tulsa does have the 38th ranked defense nationally when it comes to creating turnovers, with an average rate of 1.8 takeaways per game. As good as Memphis’ offense can be, they have coughed the ball up at inopportune times this season, and although Tulsa may not seem to pose much of a threat, any offense can be dangerous when they’re given enough possessions, especially with good field position.
As far as stopping the run, Memphis has had a rough go of it this season, allowing an average of 189.9 rushing yards per game, and Tulsa’s two talented running backs could cause a problem for the defense.
Still, I think Memphis will find a way to pull out a convincing victory, especially if Coxie has a blockbuster game like he did last weekend.
Final score prediction: Memphis 42, Tulsa 17
Running back Darrell Henderson breaks loose from UCF defenders.
