SMU football plays its second home game when it hosts the University of Memphis Saturday at 11 a.m. as part of the Family Weekend festivities.
The Mustangs came into their game against Cincinnati last weekend with a lot of momentum after putting up 24 points against East Carolina two weeks earlier. Beating the Bearcats seemed realistic, but instead they suffered a deflating 41-3 loss, dropping their win-loss record to 0-6 and 0-2 in American Athletic Conference play.
The game was close until Cincinnati scored two touchdowns in the final 1:38 of the first half to take a 28-3 lead into halftime. The second touchdown was a 27-yard return of a Garret Krstich fumble.
Krstich had his worst game as SMU’s starting quarterback, throwing for 172 yards and committing three turnovers against a poor Cincinnati defense. Backup Matt Davis played some snaps at the end of the game, and SMU Interim Head Coach Tom Mason said he will keep evaluating the quarterback position.
The Mustangs also gave up 508 yards of offense and seven yards per play. Mason attributed the problem to the season-long injury problems in the secondary.
“The biggest challenge we’ve had all fall is having a healthy secondary,” Mason said. “It’s been rotation after rotation, and you never know until Friday or Saturday morning who you’re going to go with in the game.”
Memphis (3-3, 1-1 AAC) will be well-rested coming into the game. The Tigers last played on Oct. 11, losing 28-24 to Houston. The week before they crushed Cincinnati 41-14.
The Tigers’ 3-3 record may sound unimpressive, but they played two tough nonconference opponents, UCLA and Ole Miss. They lost to the Bruins by only a touchdown. They played a close game for three quarters against Ole Miss, now the nation’s third-ranked team, before the Rebels scored 17 points in the fourth quarter en route to a 24-3 win.
The Tigers do not have much star power, but they win games by forcing turnovers and running the ball. They average 195.8 rushing yards per game, good for 27th in the country. Four Memphis players have at least 170 rushing yards. Fifteen of the Tigers’ 26 total touchdowns have come on the ground.
“We just have to understand that all we need to do is execute our assignments [on defense],” Mason said. “We don’t have to do anything special [to stop them].”
Memphis has forced multiple takeaways in all but one game this season, including four against Ole Miss. Linebacker Tank Jakes leads the AAC with six sacks.
Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch has played well this year after a rough freshman season in 2013. He has thrown nine touchdowns after throwing for nine all of last year. He also has six rushing scores and has taken only seven sacks.
SMU and Memphis are former Conference USA members who joined American Athletic Conference last season. Saturday’s game will be the seventh all-time meeting between them. The series is tied at three wins apiece, with SMU winning the last three matchups. Their last meeting was in 2013, when Mustangs beat the Tigers 34-29 in Memphis.
