At 7-3 (5-1), the Memphis Tigers find themselves in a much better position than many prognosticators anticipated coming in to the season. Head coach Justin Fuente had won just seven games during his first two seasons at the helm of Tigers, and while the number of wins is surprising, what may be more surprising is how they are winning.
When Fuente was hired at Memphis, he was thought to be an offensive guru. The former TCU offensive coordinator oversaw and aided in the development of Andy Dalton from being a no-name coming out of high school to a $100 million NFL quarterback. In addition his development of Dalton, some of TCU’s best seasons offensively came when with Fuente running the offense. So it seemed natural that Fuente would come to Memphis and just simply try to out-score opponents with his high-flying, unconventional spread offense.
That has been mostly true, with the offense scoring 34.4 points and racking up 423 yards per game this season.
But the reason Memphis has been dominant this season—the Tigers have outscored AAC opponents by a total of 115 points in six conference games—has been its defense. Despite having a head coach with a high decorated offensive background, it has been defensive coordinator Barry Odom’s crew that has been among the nation’s elite this season.
Let’s take a look at some key numbers for Memphis’ defense in 2014:
17.5 – The number of points per game given up by the Tigers which ranks No. 8 nationally. Other notable top 10 scoring defenses: Ole Miss, Alabama, Wisconsin, LSU, and Louisville.
28 – This is where Memphis ranks in terms of total defense. The Tigers are giving up just 345.4 yards per game which is a 25-yard per game improvement over last season when they finished ranked No. 39 in total defense.
66.67 – This number represents the percentage of times an opposing offense scores when in the red zone. That is absolutely astounding, and it ranks second in the country behind No. 4-ranked Mississippi State.
24 – The number of times opposing offenses have reached the red zone versus Memphis. That number is tied with Ole Miss and Tennessee for the fourth fewest opponent red zones trips in the country. (Side note: Baylor, which ranks No. 3 in this category, has played one fewer game than Memphis.)
75 – This represents the number of times Memphis has forced opponents to punt the ball, which ranks as the fourth most forced punts nationally.
9 – The Tigers are plus nine in turnover margin this season, which is tied for 11th in the country with Minnesota, Baylor, and USC. Memphis has forced 24 turnovers—12th-most in the NCAA—while turning it over 15 times.
4 – The number of times Memphis has scored defensively this season. Bobby McCain, Fritz Etienne, and Dontrell Nelson have all scored on interceptions returned for touchdowns, and McCain has also recovered a fumble for a touchdown.
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