The East Carolina Pirates (3-3) will host the Memphis Tigers (4-2) Saturday night in an AAC matchup. East Carolina beat Memphis 30-29 last season in overtime as a four-point road dog.
Memphis begin the season with a 49-23 loss to Mississippi State, before then rolling off four straight double-digit victories. Last Friday, Memphis looked to be on their way to a fifth straight victory as they led the Houston Cougars 32-19 with 4:04 left. The Cougars would end up scoring a touchdown with 1:17 left in the game, and then recovered an onside kick which led to the game winning touchdown with 18 seconds left, handing Memphis a 33-32 loss.
Final. pic.twitter.com/sCwMrM1sZ0
— Memphis Football (@MemphisFB) October 8, 2022
Memphis averages 34 ppg and ranks 65th with 408.3 yards per game of total offense. The passing attack is 48th in yards per game, led by sophomore quarterback Seth Henigan has completed 63.6% of his passes for 1,517 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception.
Memphis has been well balanced using a committee of three running backs. Jevyon Ducker has a team best 225 yards on 5.0 yards per attempt, followed by Asa Martin with 223 yards on 6.4 yards per carry. Brandon Thomas leads the team with seven rushing touchdowns and has 221 yards on 3.6 yards per attempt. Henigan has also added another 173 rushing yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers are 74th with 148.7 rushing yards per game.
The Memphis defense is 98th allowing 410.7 total yards per game. The rush defense is 25th allowing 109.7 yards per game, but that could have a lot to do with the success of their opponents' passing attacks which have put up 301 yards pe r game, leaving the Tigers rated 125th.