Reggie Reed
The Tigers are heading into this week’s game confident, but careful, after taking care of business against American Athletic Conference foe Navy last week 35-23.
Now, the team is back on the road to play a 2-2 UL Monroe team that can score points themselves. They average 31.3 points per game and rack up 443 yards of offense.
That will change as Memphis has been awesome on defense so far this season. Averaging 15 points allowed and only allowing 260 yards total, so my educated guess will be that the Tigers defense will dominate.
The Warhawk’s defense is miserable in itself. They allow more points than they score and more yards than they gain. Memphis will be in cruise control from start to finish in this contest. Bold prediction for this game, backup quarterback Connor Adair will get fourth-quarter reps.
Score Prediction: Memphis 59-0 ULM
Jacob Rice
The Tigers will travel to Louisiana to play another Sun Belt team in a game that will put Memphis in both top-twenty five polls if someone relevant loses. The previous meeting was the season opener in 2017. The game was played in a hurricane, and the Tigers won 37-29. The Warhawks were 4-8 in the 2017 season, and it is no different this year.
ULM beat South Alabama in Monroe, 30-17. Compared to what the Tigers did to the Jaguars in Mobile, 42-6. The Warhawks will rely on Caleb Evans to carry the offense production. Evans passed was responsible for all four touchdowns in the game against South Alabama and should be the first-person ULM looks to for an answer. Evans has already accumulated 11 touchdowns in four games.
The Tigers defense will get to stop a good passing attack for four quarters. As well as the defense has been playing, it will likely continue for another week. Memphis will probably put in the backups by the third quarter, and ULM will possibly squeeze in a few points before the final whistle. The best victory would be keeping the team healthy before they enter the real games in the rest of October.
Score Prediction: Memphis 45-16 ULM
Zach Thompson
The 4-0 Tigers football team is back on the road this week, set to do battle with Louisiana-Monroe. Memphis was finally able to get over their Navy struggles last week and will now be looking to start stacking wins, but the Warhawks may present a stiffer test than some of their other nonconference does thus far.
In their biggest game to date, a 45-44 loss at Florida State, the Warhawks led late in the fourth quarter before ultimately falling in overtime. Monroe is coming off a 31-17 win over South Alabama, a team that Memphis steamrolled 42-6 earlier this season, and they currently sit at 2-2 and third in the Sun Belt.
For the Tigers, the formula will remain the same: limit the mistakes and get the ball to Kenneth Gainwell in space. The freshman tailback once again paced the attack against the Midshipmen and is again poised to be the focal point of Mike Norvell’s offense.
Monroe will be looking to feed their ball to Josh Johnson, their dynamic redshirt junior running back who is leading the team with 479 yards and four touchdowns on the ground through four games. While the Warhawks will prove to be a tougher opponent than South Alabama or Southern, expect the talent level of Memphis to eventually win out in what has the potential to be a shootout.
Score prediction: Memphis 45-27 ULM
Frank Ramirez
In the last nonconference matchup of the year, the Memphis Tigers will look to continue the momentum after a solid conference start against Navy.
ULM will look to upset a Tigers team that is teetering near the top-twenty five rankings, and running back Josh Johnson will look to disrupt a No. 11 ranked Memphis defense. Johnson averages nearly 120 yards rushing per game, and will be someone to keep an eye on.
Again, like last week, it will be key for Brady White to keep calm under center, and Kenneth Gainwell needs to continue his consistency. It will not be a surprise if White has a breakout game after his second-half eruption last week, where he ended with 196 yards passing with three touchdowns.
Memphis should win in a calm fashion.
Score prediction: Memphis 47-21 ULM
