On December 22, 2014, the Miami Beach Bowl will officially join the college football bowl circuit, hosting, on paper, a very entertaining game that features the Memphis Tigers (9-3. 7-1)—co-champions of the American Athletic Conference—and BYU (8-4).
Memphis entered the season with raised expectations and cautious optimism. After getting off to just a 3-3 start that included respectable losses to No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 14 UCLA and a stunning home defeat to conference rival Houston, the Tigers have reeled off six straight wins. Justin Fuente has quickly become one of the hottest coaching names in college football, and rightfully so. The third year head coach turned a 3-9 football team in 2013 to a 9-3, co-conference champion 2014 team. Memphis is headed for its first bowl game since 2008, and is seeking its first 10-win season in school history.
On the flip side. Bronco Mendenhall has lead his BYU Cougars to their 10th straight bowl game during his tenure. The Cougars lost their starting quarterback, Taysom Hill, during the season forcing them to somewhat alter their offensive style of play. Christian Stewart, who replaced Hill at quarterback, is much less of a threat to the ball but a better pocket passer, and, as a result, the team averaged just under 65 more passing yards per game with Stewart at quarterback.
BYU’s 2014 season has been the very definition of up and down. The team started out 4-0. After that, Hill went down with his injury, and it lost four straight. But the Cougars finished their season on a four-game winning streak, and are looking to avoid finishing 8-5 for the third straight season.
The Miami Beach Bowl will mark the first ever meeting between Memphis and BYU. The teams faced two common opponents this season, MTSU and Houston. The games against MTSU resulted in a 20-point win for BYU and a 19-point win for Memphis, but the Houston games went a bit differently. Memphis fell to Houston 28-24 at home while BYU won 33-25 at home. The Cougars faced one other AAC opponent this season—co-AAC champion UCF—a game in which BYU lost 31-24.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIUd8zESqk0?list=UUzWw4a6Lp2uq891HbAT7ANw]Memphis vs. BYU
Kickoff: Monday, December 22nd at 2:00 p.m. ET
TV Channel: ESPN
Spread: Memphis -1
Three Things To Watch
Two Teams Riding Momentum
While it will have been over three weeks since either of these teams has played, both of them are riding winning streaks and playing some of their best football of the season.
Memphis heads to Miami with a six-game winning streak, all over conference opponents. Since their 3-3 start, the Tigers have been thoroughly dominating opponents over their last six games, winning by an average of 22.3 points per game.
The Tigers are now a battle tested team. They have won games on a field goal at the buzzer, beaten four opponents by 31 points or more, and everything in between. While some may wonder how a team like Memphis will respond to being in their first bowl game in six seasons, the senior-laden Tigers have yet to find a moment this season—outside of the Houston game back in early October—that was too big for them.
BYU enters the Miami Beach Bowl with its own four-game winning streak on the line. It took the Cougars some time to adjust to Stewart playing quarterback, but once they did, they looked like a vintage BYU football team.
The Cougars have beaten their last four opponents by an average of 27.5 point per game, and they got their biggest post-Hill injury win of the season when they defeated Cal in Berkley 42-35 to close the season.
BYU Offense vs. Memphis Defense
Memphis brings one of the nation’s truly elite defenses to Miami lead by senior middle linebacker Tank Jakes (85 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, four forced fumbles, and one interception). Jakes is just one of eight senior starters on the defensive side of the football for Memphis. The Tigers finished the season giving up just 17.1 points per game which ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense behind only Ole Miss, Stanford, LSU, and Alabama, respectively. Additionally, Memphis surrenders merely 343.3 yards per game, good enough for 22nd nationally in total defense. Opponents only made it into the red zone 29 times against Memphis (fourth fewest in the country), and when they did, they only scored 65.5 percent of the time which is the second lowest percentage nationally.
On the other hand, BYU has flourished with Stewart under center. The Cougars score 36.2 points per game offensively which ranked 20th nationally. On top of that, BYU ranks 26th in total offense racking up 463.4 yards per game. The Cougars have scored on 49 of their 56 red zone attempts this season and 40 of those 49 scores have been touchdowns. BYU’s 71.4 percent touchdown percentage in the red zone ranks 14th best in the country.
Whichever team wins the battle of BYU’s offense vs. Memphis’ defense should like their chances on the scoreboard.
Great Coaching Match-up
BYU’s Mendenhall vs. Memphis’ Fuente makes for one of best coaching match-ups of any pre-Christmas bowl game. Mendenhall has established himself as one of the best coaches in all of college football. BYU’s head man holds a record of 90-38 overall and 6-3 bowl record. During his tenure, BYU has finished ranked in the Coaches Poll five times (four times in the AP poll), and he has turned down other opportunities to remain at BYU.
Fuente is in just his third season at Memphis, but the former TCU offensive coordinator has completely turned the fortunes of the Memphis program in that short amount of time. Fuente won just seven games in his first two seasons at Memphis before exploding for nine wins and a conference championship this season. Rumors and speculation have already begun to swirl regarding whether Fuente will remain at Memphis or leave for one of the bigger programs in search of a head coach. On thing is for certain, Tiger fans will be hoping that Fuente follows Mendenhall’s lead and remains at Memphis for many years to come.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ_eZ0iod0s?list=UUzWw4a6Lp2uq891HbAT7ANw]Key Player: Paxton Lynch, QB, Memphis
So much has been made about the BYU offense and the Memphis defense, but Memphis has an offense that has scored 35 or more points eight times this season. That offense is lead by sophomore quarterback Paxton Lynch. The second year starter from Deltona, Florida, has improved drastically from his freshman to his sophomore season. The 6-foot-7 quarterback has compiled over 3,000 total yards of offense and has scored 28 total touchdowns (18 passing and 10 rushing). Lynch finished the season with 3:1 touchdown to interception ratio, and he has become the unquestioned offensive leader for the Tigers. BYU finished the season with the nation’s 110th-ranked pass defense, so look for Fuente to allow his big gunslinger to open it up against a shaky-at-best Cougar secondary.
Final Analysis
This year’s inaugural Miami Beach Bowl will showcase one team that has been one of college football’s best over the last decade against an up-and-coming Memphis team hoping to put itself on the map with its first 10-win season in school history. Both of these teams come in red hot and want to end their season with some momentum heading into 2015.
Memphis has to avoid being just “happy to be in a bowl” and come out swinging against one of the best teams they will have faced all season, and certainly the best team they’ve faced since early October. For BYU, one does not have to worry about them being shell-shocked by being in a bowl game, but their defense is cause for concern against a Memphis that torched many sub-par defenses this season. The game will ultimately come down to which one gets the better of the other: BYU’s offense or Memphis’ defense?
Prediction: Memphis 34, BYU 28
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