FILE PHOTO: Utah State football takes the field before their football game against Air Force on October 8th in Logan. Photo by Lorene Hale
LOGAN – Utah State knew it was going to a bowl for several weeks but just didn’t know the where and who of its eventual bowl appearance. Well, those two things are known. The Aggies will taken on the Memphis Tigers in Dallas in the First Responder Bowl.
The quick run-down of the Tigers is that they concluded the regular season with the same record as the Aggies: 6-6. Memphis also became bowl eligible on the same day as the Aggies, Nov. 19, when the Tigers downed North Alabama 59-0 (a little less dramatic than USU’s 35-31 win over San Jose State). Memphis finished eighth in the American Athletic Conference, going 3-5 in league play.
“Love the matchup against Memphis. Really good football team,” USU head coach Blake Anderson said. “(I’m) Familiar with those guys, Coach Silverfield and their program having played them and been there during my time at Arkansas State. I have watched them play several times this year and know what kind of challenge that’ll be.”
In terms of momentum, the Aggies and Tigers are on two different planes. Utah State ended the regular season with five wins in its last seven, while Memphis lost five of its last seven games.
There isn’t much history between Utah State and Memphis, especially recent history. The two schools haven’t faced off since 1977. Between 1965 and 1977 the Aggies and Tigers faced off seven times including four straight years from 1969-72. Memphis is up in the overall series record 4-3 including wins in the last two matchups (31-26 in 1977 and 38-29 in 1972). Anderson himself does have a bit of history with Memphis though not much more than Utah State.
Anderson spent time in the same geographical region as an assistant and head coach from 2002 to 2020 and coached against them four times, three of those coming when he was a run game coordinator and quarterback coach for Southern Mississippi between 2008 and 2011. The Golden Eagles went 2-1 in those games (36-30 loss in 2008, 36-16 win in 2009, and 44-7 win in 2011) . In 2020 when Anderson was the head coach at Arkansas State, the Red Wolves lost to Memphis 37-24 in the season opener (fun fact, Logan Bonner started in that game, going 14-23 for 133 yards, one TD and two INTs).
With the history between these two schools taken care of, here’s a breakdown of the offense and defense of the Memphis Tigers and how they match up with the Utah State Aggies.
Offense
- Points per game – 35.1 (22nd)
- Yards per game – 420.7 (42nd)
- Passing Yards per game – 278.8 (22nd)
- Rushing Yards per game – 141.9 (81st)
Stat Leaders
Passing
- Seth Henigan – 265/416 (63.7%) | 3,275 yards | 19 TD, 8 INT
Rushing
- Jevyon Ducker – 97 rush | 461 yards | 5 TD
- Seth Henigan – 135 rush | 313 yards | 4 TD
Receiving
- Caden Prieskorn – 46 receptions | 593 yards | 6 TD
- Jason Ivory – 46 receptions | 586 yards | 2 TD
The Tigers are among the most prolific offenses in the country, ranking 22nd in points per game. Memphis was also one of three teams to score at least 23 points in every game they played this year (minimum of 12 games played). The team also scored 40-plus points on four occasions.
The undisputed lead producer of yards is quarterback Seth Henigan. He ranks 19th in the country in passing yards (3,275) and is 49th in points responsible for (23 total touchdowns, 19 passing, four rushing). Henigan also leads his team in rush attempts at 135 and is third in yards. Adjusting for rushing yards lost on sacks (assuming Henigan was the only Memphis QB sacked this season), Henigan’s rushing numbers would be 103 carries for 510 yards, both of which would still be first on the Tigers.
Utah State has at times managed to slow down duel-threat quarterbacks but struggled numerous other times. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young ran for 100 yards against the Aggies and Boise State QB Taylen Green broke a 91-yard run against USU. But San Jose State’s Chevan Cordeiro was bottled up and not allowed to get many yards.
Henigan will be the fourth quarterback the Aggies will face that has averaged more than 260 passing yards per game this year. The others are Young, Cordeiro and BYU’s Jaren Hall. Utah State went 1-2 in those matchups and averaged 41.3 points allowed on average (55 to Alabama, 38 to BYU and 31 to San Jose State).
In terms of running the ball, the Tigers may be a bit underrated, at least based on what Anderson had to say about them. Memphis ranks 81st in FBS in rushing offense at 141.9 ground yards per game along with 86th in yards per attempt (3.82). But Anderson praised the Tigers’ rushing attack.
“They run the ball and run it extremely well,” Anderson said.
Memphis is capable of running the ball well with specific players. Jevyon Ducker, the team’s leader in rushing yards has averaged 4.8 yards per carry this season and Asa Martin, second in ground yards for the Tigers, averages 5.2. If you take the estimate of Henigan’s sack-adjusted rushing yards he would average 4.95 yards per carry. The Tigers do seem capable of having a balanced offense. In fact, the ground game is the preferred way of scoring for Memphis as it has 28 rushing touchdowns to just 20 passing scores.
Defense
- Points allowed per game – 27.3 (75th)
- Yards allowed per game – 371.9 (63rd)
- Passing Yards allowed per game – 250.2 (98th)
- Rushing Yards allowed per game –121.8 (26th)
Stat Leaders
Tackles
- Xavier Cullens – 104 (55 solo, 49 assisted)
Tackles for Loss
- Jaylon Allen – 9.0 (5.0 TFL, 4.0 sack)
- Xavier Cullens – 7.5 (5.5 TFL, 2.0 sack)
Sacks
- Cormontae Hamilton – 4.5
- Jaylon Allen – 4.0
Interceptions
- Quindell Johnson – 4
- Xavier Cullens – 3
For a team that was top-30 in points per game but only went 6-6 on the year, it follows that the defense had more than its fair share of struggles throughout the year. Memphis had eight games throughout the year where it allowed at least 30 points – tied for eighth-most in FBS – and were 2-8 overall in those games.
The Tigers did have several games where they stepped up on defense, including a shut-out and one game without a touchdown allowed. Four times Memphis allowed 13 or fewer points. Those games were largely against lesser opponents (the shutout was against a non-FBS school) but Tulsa, which averaged 30.6 points per game this year, only scored 10 against the Tigers.
The bulk of yards allowed by Memphis have come through the air. The Tigers allow 250.2 passing yards per game which ranks 98th. Compare that to their rushing defense that ranks 26th in the country, allowing a mere 121.8 yards on the ground per game.
Part of why the Tigers allow so many passing yards is the fact they’ve faced five quarterbacks that rank inside the top 20 in passing yards per game. Four other QBs Memphis faced rank inside the top 51. In the games against those top-20 QBs the Tigers allowed 335.2 yards per game, 11 touchdown passes and intercepted five passes. Only one of those matchups resulted in a win for the Tigers and, not coincidently, it was the one game where they had a decent game defending the pass. Temple, who’s quarterback E.J. Warner is 18th in passing yards per game (275.3) threw for just 245, completed a mere 48.6 percent of his passes and was intercepted three times.
Utah State are currently on a run of good passing games as quarterback Cooper Legas is coming into his own in regards to throwing the ball. After averaging 184.0 yards in three starts (excluding Colorado State where he started, but didn’t play the full game), Legas has averaged 262.7 yards per game over his last three outings. The Aggies have been able to move the ball effectively and consistently through the air for the first time this season.
Memphis’ run defense will be a major challenge. As noted, the Tigers rank 26th in yards allowed on the ground. That’s not to say the Aggies have no chance to move the ball on the ground. USU’s two most recent opponents, Boise State and San Jose State, rank 24th and 28th, respectively, in run defense but the Aggies gained 348 combined yards (174.0 on average) on an average of 3.7 yards per carry and five total rushing touchdowns. Those numbers aren’t dominant, but they can be good enough to win a game.
A do-it-all defensive player to watch for from the Tigers is linebacker Xavier Cullens. He’s filled the defensive stat sheet with 104 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, three interceptions (two of which he returned for a touchdown), four fumbles recovered and one fumble forced. Since 2000, Cullens is one of two players to reach all of those statistical marks in a single season (Gionni Paul of Utah is the other, who did it in 2015).
