2009 NCAA - Memphis
Key depth, an infusion of talented transfers and JUCOs, and an excited head coach are the highlights for Memphis heading in 2009. Ninth-year coach Tommy West believes this could be the season where the Tigers finally get over the hump. They finished 6-7 last fall after an 0-3 start and were blasted in the bowl game at South Florida, but four of the seven losses were by seven points or fewer. Memphis returns as many as four QBs who can contribute (if Will Hudgens is granted a sixth-year of eligibility), and the Tiger rushing attack (4.7 yards per carry) hopes to improve with two solid backups to Curtis Steele. The trouble lies in the offensive line, which loses four starters from a unit that allowed only 16 sacks in all of 2008.
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Memphis
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The Tigers have quality depth in their front seven, though this is also a unit that allowed 4.7 yards per carry last fall. Two transfers in from the SEC are eligible this season and should shore up some of those shortcomings. West himself, an eternal optimist, has even labeled his secondary 'a work in progress', though it did improve from 100th in 2007 to a middle-of-the-pack 57th last season. The Tigers picked off only seven passes in 2008, a number that needs to go up against some of the aerially-advanced offenses in C-USA. |
| ASK the bookie? - The Tigers will know their pecking order in the C-USA totem pole by the end of November. They play four of their five division games from Sept. 26 through Oct. 27. But late-season trips to Houston and Tulsa to end the season could well determine whether West's team will go bowling again at the end of the 2009 season for the sixth time in seven years. The O-line and its early development will be crucial. |
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