Frankly I am quite ready for conference season. One more non-conference game that could be ugly but also will be an opportunity to figure out where we stand, continue forging the identity, and make improvements.
Series
- We beat Memphis 52-35 in the 2004 GMAC bowl. I have that game on DVD - it is one of the most fun games you will find. That game matched up two high-powered offenses, years before matchups with high-powered offenses were an everyday affair.
- Last year was I think the best overall game of the 2015 season nationwide. We lost to Memphis 44-41 where Roger Lewis came up with 261 yards and 3 TDs, ranging from 62 to 94 yards and yet we still lost. Memphis had one of the strongest armed QBs I've ever seen in Paxton Lynch. Now a Bronco and surely soon a starter.
- It is supposed to be hard to replace a legend at QB as we are right now discovering. Memphis apparently missed the memo with junior college transfer Riley Ferguson.
- He won't make you forget Paxton Lynch but he's awfully good
- He's a big guy at 6'4 210 and makes some accurate throws all over the field.
- Against Kansas, he was 15/24 189 2 TDs 0 interceptions.
- In week one vs Southeast Missouri State, he went 26/40, 3 TDs 2 interceptions. Good numbers, especially for a guy who was playing junior college last year.
- He is mobile enough but not exactly a scrambler.
- Our pass defense has not exactly been great this year. Lots of new starters. And it does not help that there are some defensive injuries.
- The top receiving threat is 5-11 junior Anthony Miller. He has got some serious speed.
- He burned Kansas on an 84 yard TD reception on a go route. Overall on the season, he is nearly at 200 yards.
- Junior Phil Mayhue is a bigger guy at 6-3 210. He is a danger in the red zone. Against Kansas, he caught a textbook fade for a TD where the corner had no real chance.
- Also starting is a good possession receiver, senior Daniel Hurd. 6-2 220. 5 catches for 58 so far on the season.
- Memphis has given up 8 sacks on the season, 5 against Kansas.
- I hope our pass rush can make something happen. Schwieterman has 3 sacks so far and has been our most effective pass rusher.
- Memphis splits the carries around and also uses receivers as part of the run game with misdirections.
- The top back is the big true freshman Patrick Taylor Jr. He's a big guy - 6'3 216 - that can move and he is hard to tackle.
- He rushed for 86 against Southeast Missouri State and then 88 against Kansas while sharing rushing duties with the receivers.
- The next leading rusher is junior Doroland Dorceus. 5-10 215 and has around 60 yards and a TD on the season.
- Showing off some depth, freshman back Darrell Henderson played some against Kansas, including a 20 yard rush on the opening drive.
- Memphis opened up the Kansas game gouging the defense for big run after big run. Memphis uses misdirections to spring big runs from both their backs and receivers.
- In that opening drive, the big threat receiver Anthony Miller came up with a 41 yard rush.
- In short, this run offense uses a lot of players, a whole lot of speed, and they like to be a step ahead of the defense with using a handoff to set up a jet sweep or vice versa.
- Our run defense had some moments against MTSU. Overall I would say MTSU represented our best defensive effort of the season ... even with that awful almost 80 yard screen pass to start the 3rd.
- My biggest worry here is the misdirections. Our defense has some good size and speed but they were out of position at some key times against MTSU. If you are out of position against Memphis, you may give up a TD in a hurry.
- Also, health. Austin Valdez has been fighting minor injury since UND. This would be a great game for him to be 100%.
- First, to address the QB situation. I listened to Jinks' presser. Some notes regarding QB play:
- Knapke is still the starter though coaches are evaluating
- As a team, we cannot continue to have the same turnover issues
- In other news, water was discovered to be wet
- Morgan needs reps, we may need him.
- Jinks defended Knapke and said it is not fair to judge him off of weather.
- Coaching staff wants a definitive starter by conference schedule
- Said we'll see how Knapke does against Memphis
- None of this was exactly a glowing endorsement of Knapke. Coach defended his QB but didn't praise him. Coach also said little about where Morgan is at this point.
- Southeast Missouri State had limited success through the air against Memphis. Under 150 yards, barely completing 50%.
- Kansas went through 3 QBs and came up with nearly 200 yards along with 2 interceptions.
- The secondary is fast and they tackle well. Though of the 3 interceptions on the season, only one is by the secondary.
- Corner Jonathan Cook is passed on quite a bit. He is the leader with 15 solo tackles on the season.
- The Memphis defense has 3 sacks on the season. They had a ton of hurries against Kansas as KU has an elusive QB. The sack count could be a lot higher.
- Obviously we have problems in the passing game. We have a starting QB who is simply not getting the job done, a backup who is not seeing much playing time, and an athletic set of receivers who are not seeing eye to eye with the QB.
- At some point, this passing game will hopefully get it together. I guess we should look for weekly improvements and small wins.
- Memphis uses a 3 man front which allows the back 8 to swarm to running plays. And swarm they do. They play excellent team defense.
- Seriously, watch the Memphis / Kansas game on WatchESPN. The defense is impressive to watch. They have the same hustle we saw in our 2012 defense, though a different scheme.
- UND also used a 3 man front which was highly effective at stuffing our run play.
- The stats against Kansas were impressive. Kansas came up with one big run play, a 66 yard TD run. Aside from that one run, Memphis held Kansas to 55 yards on 30 attempts, or less than 2 a carry.
- The Southeast Missouri game was a similar story. A back came up with a 61 yard carry. Aside from that one run, SEMO came up with less than 50 yards on 28 attempts.
- Junior LB Genard Avery is the TFL leader with 4 on the season.
- Our run offense came to life last week. Coppett, Cleveland, and Wilson all bring different styles of running and they all did great.
- The BG run game can be used to open up the pass game. Once the pass game gets going, we are going to have a solid offense.
- Memphis has given up a big run in each of their games. We have Cleveland who is a home run threat. Perhaps we can come up with a big one.
- If we can consistently gain 3 to 4 a run, we will do far better than Memphis' previous opponents and give the pass game some wiggle room.
- Memphis has a great kicker. Senior Jake Elliott. Big leg, may be up for the Groza if he keeps playing this way. If the Memphis offense gets to the 35, they feel like they are guaranteed at least 3 points.
- They use two punters. One for booms, one for pins within the 20. The latter was devastating against Kansas as they forced KU to start so many drives within the 10.
- I would say it is too early to evaluate kick and punt returns. I will say that Memphis plays great football with great athletes so I expect excellent return units.
- If we want a puncher's chance in this one, we cannot give up big plays on special teams.
- Memphis is favored by 17. That is fair considering how our season has gone so far.
- Small chance of rain with temps in the 90s and humid. Ouch.
- Memphis has played two teams so far - FCS Southeast Missouri State, who is bad, and Kansas, who is arguably worse.
- Memphis is 2-0. combined score of 78-24.
- I would propose that Bowling Green and all three of our opponents are better than anyone Memphis has faced.
- No, I don't see us winning. I do see Memphis having much more of a challenge than they did the previous weeks.
- Here's what I know. Memphis is a good football team.
- They have showed solid fundamentals at all stages of the game.
- They run block very well.
- Memphis has solid ball security and the defense forces turnovers.
- For example, they only out-yarded Kansas 394-314. But Memphis won the turnover battle 6-0 including a pick 6 at the worst possible time for Kansas.
- Special teams plays the field position game so well. Punts consistently put Kansas in awful field position which gave KU no chance at scoring.
- What I don't know is exactly how good they are.
- Kansas is bad. Like option pitch to nobody bad. Like low snaps which screw plays from the beginning bad. Like completely wrong pursuit angles on returns bad. Like throwing a pick 6 straight to a defender after just coming up with a great field position gift bad.
- You can only take stats or a final score so far against a team like Kansas. It is hard to tell just how good Memphis is at this point.
- The Memphis offense slowed down a lot in the second half.
- You can surely count some of the slowdown to different playcalling with the lead.
- Still, the edge just was not there in the second half. They were going through the motions with the lead.
- Kansas is bad. Like option pitch to nobody bad. Like low snaps which screw plays from the beginning bad. Like completely wrong pursuit angles on returns bad. Like throwing a pick 6 straight to a defender after just coming up with a great field position gift bad.
- Overall, I just am not seeing a win here. I felt far better about beating MTSU than Memphis.
- If we do want to have a chance at the win, here is a list of things we must do:
- Defensively, be in position all game long. Out of position = give up a big play or a score
- Come up with some sacks. KU came up with 5 sacks, some of which completely stalled the Memphis offense
- Win the turnover battle. Stat-to-stat, Memphis was not completely dominant against Kansas in any stat except for two - turnovers and starting field position.
- Turnovers have been our biggest problem this year. We have forced a few but we keep giving the opposition gifts. That must stop now.
- Pick the running game up right where they left off.
- Use the running game to complete simple passes. We don't need to come up with too many explosive plays, just little pick-ups here and there to compliment the running game.
- Get the ball to Ronnie Moore. He has been awfully quiet this season yet he is our big play guy. Set up some tunnels for him.
- Score every time we are in the red zone. I don't know how many chances we will get so every opportunity must count.
- What I want out of this game ...
- No injuries. We had some major injuries in camp but so far in game play our team has played mostly injury free.
- Improvement in the passing game. If we can pass for 200+, I will feel much better in this regard going into conference play.
- The best defensive effort of the season. While I expect we will get carved up by Memphis' speed, I would feel very good about seeing effort, speed, and few mistakes.
- And finally, no matter how this game ends, I'd like to point out a great moment in Memphis football history. Seriously, read this story.
