(09-07-2014 11:41 AM)BlueRaiderBoy Wrote:  

(09-07-2014 11:29 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(09-07-2014 11:03 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  I am happy to see Memphis put up some big time points on a ranked team...

however, to compete for a league title, as the op suggested, you gotta play some defense. So unless Memphis finds some d, I don't think they will compete for the league title. Unless every team sucks on defense and then every game is a shootout but I don't think that will be the case.

One thing for sure, they won't be bottom dwellers so if you are a Memphis fan, even finishing middle of the pack has to be considered a win this year.

We were missing our top defender due to an injury. Had he been in the game, Hundley would have been doing good to remember his name at half time.

The safety's may have been biting too much on short routes due to Ifedi being out , which caused some wide open UCLA receivers. That and stupid-ass penalties cost us the game. Had Ifedi been there, it may have been a really ugly game for UCLA.

Compliments and Kudos to the West Tennessee State Teacher's College from your ne'er do well cousins at Middle Tennessee State Teacher's College for keeping it very close against the highly ranked Bruins! I think we have a HUGE BATTLE BREWING in 2 weeks at the Liberty Bowl! Will this be the LAST GAME OF the RIVALRY (current 5 GAME CONTRACT EXPIRES AND HAS NOT BEEN RENEWED)? How will the Final Chapter play out?!@#$%^

What is that series' record?

(09-07-2014 11:41 AM)BlueRaiderBoy Wrote:  

(09-07-2014 11:29 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(09-07-2014 11:03 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  I am happy to see Memphis put up some big time points on a ranked team...

however, to compete for a league title, as the op suggested, you gotta play some defense. So unless Memphis finds some d, I don't think they will compete for the league title. Unless every team sucks on defense and then every game is a shootout but I don't think that will be the case.

One thing for sure, they won't be bottom dwellers so if you are a Memphis fan, even finishing middle of the pack has to be considered a win this year.

We were missing our top defender due to an injury. Had he been in the game, Hundley would have been doing good to remember his name at half time.

The safety's may have been biting too much on short routes due to Ifedi being out , which caused some wide open UCLA receivers. That and stupid-ass penalties cost us the game. Had Ifedi been there, it may have been a really ugly game for UCLA.

Compliments and Kudos to the West Tennessee State Teacher's College from your ne'er do well cousins at Middle Tennessee State Teacher's College for keeping it very close against the highly ranked Bruins! I think we have a HUGE BATTLE BREWING in 2 weeks at the Liberty Bowl! Will this be the LAST GAME OF the RIVALRY (current 5 GAME CONTRACT EXPIRES AND HAS NOT BEEN RENEWED)? How will the Final Chapter play out?!@#$%^

Rivalry

Don't assume from the UCLA game that Memphis has no defense. Last season, until we rolled over the last 2 games (perhaps due to losing our bowl opportunity), we were in the Top 20 in the country on D. And, we have almost everyone back. Losing Ifedi was a huge blow, but he could be back for our next game in 2 weeks.

With our talent and staff, and 2 weeks off, I think we'll see a marked improvement in the weeks to come.

IMO, the keys to our season are whether the O line can hold up, and whether our secondary can figure it out.

^this

Can we save the basketball threads for December? It's football season!

(09-08-2014 03:09 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Don't assume from the UCLA game that Memphis has no defense. Last season, until we rolled over the last 2 games (perhaps due to losing our bowl opportunity), we were in the Top 20 in the country on D. And, we have almost everyone back. Losing Ifedi was a huge blow, but he could be back for our next game in 2 weeks.

With our talent and staff, and 2 weeks off, I think we'll see a marked improvement in the weeks to come.

IMO, the keys to our season are whether the O line can hold up, and whether our secondary can figure it out.

y'll have no defence

Memphis is certainly one of the better football teams in this conference and might be the best --- that's a wait and see. The Tigers have come a long ways in a very short period of time. Amazing what a little (or a lot) of attention to a program will do.

(09-08-2014 07:51 AM)Stookey57 Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 03:09 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Don't assume from the UCLA game that Memphis has no defense. Last season, until we rolled over the last 2 games (perhaps due to losing our bowl opportunity), we were in the Top 20 in the country on D. And, we have almost everyone back. Losing Ifedi was a huge blow, but he could be back for our next game in 2 weeks.

With our talent and staff, and 2 weeks off, I think we'll see a marked improvement in the weeks to come.

IMO, the keys to our season are whether the O line can hold up, and whether our secondary can figure it out.

y'll have no defence

If you're going to imitate southern speak, it's "ya'll".....and around here, it's "defense"; so I'm not sure if your comment was meant to be serious or not.

I realize that you didn't claim that UConn had a defense either, but.....
NCAA Stats Total Defense:
Tied #55 Memphis Average Total Yards Allowed: 343
#82 UConn Average Total Yards Allowed: 406.5

...just sayin

(09-08-2014 08:16 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  Memphis is certainly one of the better football teams in this conference and might be the best --- that's a wait and see. The Tigers have come a long ways in a very short period of time. Amazing what a little (or a lot) of attention to a program will do.

We saw hints of this last season against teams like UCF and Louisville. I think the difference this season is that we're a little deeper and might be able to stick with these types of teams for longer periods. We simply ran out of gas at the end of games and at the end of the season. Plus these players are now better schooled in the Fuente system.

(09-08-2014 08:49 AM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 08:16 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  Memphis is certainly one of the better football teams in this conference and might be the best --- that's a wait and see. The Tigers have come a long ways in a very short period of time. Amazing what a little (or a lot) of attention to a program will do.

We saw hints of this last season against teams like UCF and Louisville. I think the difference this season is that we're a little deeper and might be able to stick with these types of teams for longer periods. We simply ran out of gas at the end of games and at the end of the season. Plus these players are now better schooled in the Fuente system.

I think one of the biggest factors is that we no longer have a freshman QB. Lynch is looking light years better this season.

(09-08-2014 09:01 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 08:49 AM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 08:16 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  Memphis is certainly one of the better football teams in this conference and might be the best --- that's a wait and see. The Tigers have come a long ways in a very short period of time. Amazing what a little (or a lot) of attention to a program will do.

We saw hints of this last season against teams like UCF and Louisville. I think the difference this season is that we're a little deeper and might be able to stick with these types of teams for longer periods. We simply ran out of gas at the end of games and at the end of the season. Plus these players are now better schooled in the Fuente system.

I think one of the biggest factors is that we no longer have a freshman QB. Lynch is looking light years better this season.

Have admit that I had a problem with Fuente's decision to start Lynch as a freshman last season. His inexperience hurt us. *But* that was last season and it sure looks like we're ready to get the pay off this year. Lynch looks really good. Just hope it continues because if it does ...

(09-07-2014 06:13 AM)DiamondKnight Wrote:  I still don't know what I'm looking at when I watch a UCLA game.

I was thinking the same thing. So far they have two close against teams who struggled a lot last year. Either Memphis and Virginia are much better than people expected, or UCLA is vastly overrated. Perhaps the next two weeks can answer all three questions.

(09-08-2014 09:50 AM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 09:01 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 08:49 AM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 08:16 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  Memphis is certainly one of the better football teams in this conference and might be the best --- that's a wait and see. The Tigers have come a long ways in a very short period of time. Amazing what a little (or a lot) of attention to a program will do.

We saw hints of this last season against teams like UCF and Louisville. I think the difference this season is that we're a little deeper and might be able to stick with these types of teams for longer periods. We simply ran out of gas at the end of games and at the end of the season. Plus these players are now better schooled in the Fuente system.

I think one of the biggest factors is that we no longer have a freshman QB. Lynch is looking light years better this season.

Have admit that I had a problem with Fuente's decision to start Lynch as a freshman last season. His inexperience hurt us. *But* that was last season and it sure looks like we're ready to get the pay off this year. Lynch looks really good. Just hope it continues because if it does ...

Paxton Lynch - the AAC Offensive Player of the Week

(09-08-2014 09:54 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(09-07-2014 06:13 AM)DiamondKnight Wrote:  I still don't know what I'm looking at when I watch a UCLA game.

I was thinking the same thing. So far they have two close against teams who struggled a lot last year. Either Memphis and Virginia are much better than people expected, or UCLA is vastly overrated. Perhaps the next two weeks can answer all three questions.

We played you to a TD last year. Were you overrated?

Memphis looks good but this early in the season it's impossible to tell. For all we know, UCLA may end up being an average team. Or not.

(09-08-2014 10:23 AM)The Knight Time Wrote:  Memphis looks good but this early in the season it's impossible to tell. For all we know, UCLA may end up being an average team. Or not.

4 years ago, average teams were blowing us off the field, especially at their home.

2 years ago, average teams were beating us by 2 touchdowns.

I like the direction our program is headed. I understand why you wouldn't.

I am high on our team, but I am thinking we still have a bit to go before I start talking about conference titles. We have proven we are better, but now we have to prove we can win tough games in the closing minutes. We gave away several last year at the end.

(09-08-2014 10:29 AM)oldtiger Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 10:23 AM)The Knight Time Wrote:  Memphis looks good but this early in the season it's impossible to tell. For all we know, UCLA may end up being an average team. Or not.

4 years ago, average teams were blowing us off the field, especially at their home.

2 years ago, average teams were beating us by 2 touchdowns.

I like the direction our program is headed. I understand why you wouldn't.

Jeez you're touchy. I welcome a more competitive Memphis program.

I simply think it may take more than a moral victory to declare this a top tier AAC program.

(09-08-2014 12:55 PM)The Knight Time Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 10:29 AM)oldtiger Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 10:23 AM)The Knight Time Wrote:  Memphis looks good but this early in the season it's impossible to tell. For all we know, UCLA may end up being an average team. Or not.

4 years ago, average teams were blowing us off the field, especially at their home.

2 years ago, average teams were beating us by 2 touchdowns.

I like the direction our program is headed. I understand why you wouldn't.

Jeez you're touchy. I welcome a more competitive Memphis program.

I simply think it may take more than a moral victory to declare this a top tier AAC program.

Honestly, I'm not touchy at all. In fact, below is my comment regarding "Memphis will compete for conference title", which makes almost the same point you have in your most recent comment. I was merely pointing out that even if UCLA is average, we've struggled with those type teams in the past. IMHO, while the balance of he UCLA squad might possibly be average, adding that QB to the mix makes them above average at worst.

(09-07-2014 01:16 AM)oldtiger Wrote:  We've looked better than anticipated very early in the season and overall the conference has looked worse than expected. I expect us to compete much, much better than we have the last 8 years, but predicting that we compete for the conference championship just demonstrates the outlandish expectations of some of our fans if anything good at all happens to us.

I'll be happier than anyone if we can compete for the championship, and it could possibly happen. However, to expect it after 2 games against a very weak team and playing well offensively against a good team is just weird at this point.

...

(09-08-2014 10:12 AM)Ramen_Tiger Wrote:  

(09-08-2014 09:54 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(09-07-2014 06:13 AM)DiamondKnight Wrote:  I still don't know what I'm looking at when I watch a UCLA game.

I was thinking the same thing. So far they have two close against teams who struggled a lot last year. Either Memphis and Virginia are much better than people expected, or UCLA is vastly overrated. Perhaps the next two weeks can answer all three questions.

We played you to a TD last year. Were you overrated?

Margin of victory is not always good to determine if a said team is overrated or not, especially this early in the season. I am not even a UCF fan.