Arkansas St. visits Memphis on Saturday, and the Indians should hang close enough to the Tigers to make the visiting dogs the right pick.
Arkansas St. picked up an impressive last minute win against UL-Monroe last weekend and would like nothing more than to take out a team from C-USA.
The Indians played Southern Mississippi very tough in the New Orleans Bowl last December and the Golden Eagles are a much tougher C-USA team than the Tigers. Arkansas St. has now won two straight games, allowing just six points in each and its three wins have all resulted in the defense allowing that amount.
Memphis is coming off a disappointing conference loss at UAB last weekend and, with a game at home against Tulsa next Saturday, the Tigers could really care less about showing too much. They won’t be going out and tanking anything, but they certainly aren’t going to be pulling out everything in the playbook in this non-conference tilt. Memphis has only one win on the season and that was against I-AA Chattanooga, so asking them to go out and win this game by double-digits is incongruous.
Head coach Tommy West said the defense likely would struggle before it grasped the change in schemes and the newfound responsibilities after he took over two games ago. He said if the program wants to entertain realistic thoughts of competing for conference championships in the future, the defense had to be reconstructed showing that while not giving up, he knows there will be no improvement in the near future. The new 4-3 scheme has actually gotten worse. Through five games, the Tiger defense is ranked 102nd in total defense (395.6 ypg), 104th in scoring defense (30.6 ppg), 114th in rushing defense (207.8 ypg), 117th in sacks (five) and 119th in tackles for loss (3.0 per game).
Arkansas St. is once again a strong rushing team, ranked 40th in the country, and it should have no problems running through this defense. The scoring has been inconsistent but the Indians can generate points similar to what it did two weeks ago against Florida International. Many might not realize it but this is a fairly big rivalry, especially for Arkansas St. No opponent is closer geographically than Memphis, and no opponent has appeared on the Indians’ schedule more frequently. Arkansas St. players are talking this up as an added conference game.
Memphis has owned this series, winning 10 straight games. But this is not the same Tigers team as in the prior meetings. Add to that four key defensive players are out for Memphis making this a very competitive game.
I got to watch Arky St. for the first time on tape today and they aren't that bad...I think Memphis is horrible...at DD's I would have considered a play on Arky St., but I think it's down to 8ish now...
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Matt Fargo: Play Ark St at Memphis
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