2020-21 Season Preview: Memphis Tigers
By: Dakota Isgrigg | June 17th | @dakota_isgrigg | @BoilerInTexas
***Here is the link to the podcast preview for Purdue’s match up with Memphis! (The Runaway Train Sports Podcast)
We are officially on the countdown to the 2020-21 Purdue football season! Even though there are still a lot of details to be figured out because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems as though the precautions taken in early 2020 will allow us to have college football in some form or fashion. So we here at Boiler In Texas will continue as if the season will be taking place and Purdue will be suiting up this fall. So over the weeks leading up to the presumptive start to the season, we will be going week by week and taking a look at the season for our Boilermakers and their opponents every week.
Purdue 2020 Football Schedule:
9/5: @Nebraska
9/12: Memphis
9/19: Air Force
9:26: @Boston College
10/10: Rutgers
10/17: @Illinois
10/24: @Michigan
10/31: Northwestern
11/7: @Minnesota
11/14: Wisconsin
11/21: Iowa
11/28: @Indiana
Welcome to week two of the Purdue 2020 football season and Purdue returns to West Lafayette from their trip to Lincoln in week 1. The opponent for Purdue’s home opener? The Memphis Tigers make a trip north to visit West Lafayette. Purdue couldn’t have picked a worse time to have the Tigers on the schedule as they come off arguably the best season in program history. In 2019 Mike Norvell and co. finished 12-2 and the American Conference champions. Their two losses on the season come in a 30-28 game to Temple, and the second in Cotton Bowl to Penn State 53-39. It was an impressive season for the Tigers.
After the finish of the regular season and before the bowl game, Mike Norvell and a few other members of the coaching staff leave Memphis to take the Florida State job. Ryan Silverfield has stepped into the role of the head man and so far, the transition has gone smoothly. Memphis is returning close to 75% of their players, including some of their most dangerous offensive weapons, and is replacing the losses with one of the better-recruiting classes they’ve seen since Norvell and Silverfield arrived in town.
Memphis 2020-21 Football Schedule
9/5: Arkansas State
9/12: @Purdue
9/19: Houston
9:26: @UTSA
10/1: @SMU
10/16: UCF
10/24: Temple
10/31: @Cincinnati
11/7: USF
11/14: @Navy
11/21: UT Martin
11/27: @Tulane
Last Season for Memphis was one to remember for Tigers fans. They finished the year by winning the American and a final record of 12-2 and living up to the high expectations they had going into the 2019 season. They began the season 5-0 with wins over Ole Miss and Navy, this is followed by their 2-point loss to Temple. They then rattled off 7 straight wins including back-to-back wins against Cincinnati to win the conference. Then came the 53-39 loss to Penn State in the Cotton Bowl. All in all, it was a very successful season for the Tigers and they are looking to keep the momentum rolling into 2020.
Memphis Offense
The good news for Memphis is that some of their most productive offensive players return in 2020 that should help the transition to a new head coach. This was an offense that reached 40 points in 9 of their 14 games, and 50, 3 times.
Brady White: QB
The senior quarterback returns to Memphis and this should be cause for concern for any team lining up opposite him. In his career, he has thrown for more than 7,500 yards and 61 touchdowns with only 21 interceptions to his name. Last year alone he threw for more than 4,000 yards and 33 touchdowns. He will be looking to continue this success as a pocket passer in an offense that loves to score points.
Kenneth Gainwell: RB
The redshirt sophomore provided tremendous balance to an explosive offense last season by rushing for 1,459 yards(!) and 13 touchdowns on the ground. This in itself would be a very successful season but Gainwell also added 51 receptions for 610 receiving yards and 3 more touchdowns. He will be running behind an offensive line that is in some flux, they lose 2 starters from last year but return Dylan Parham and Dustin Woodard. The other three line spots seem to be up in the air.
Damonte Coxie/Kedarian Jones: WR
You can’t have a great quarterback without having scary receivers, and Memphis is no exception. The Tigers return their top receiver Damonte Coxie (76 receptions, 1.276 yards, 9 TD’s) to pair with White in the throwing game. They also return Kedarian Jones who caught 29 passes for 609 yards and 4 scores.
Memphis will return one of the most explosive offensive units in the country and it will provide an early-season test against a young Boilermaker secondary that has installed a new defensive scheme. With the return of White, Gainwell, Coxie, and Jones for Memphis, it will provide a lot of points and will be an offense to watch in 2020.
Memphis Defense
For as frightening as the Tigers offense will be in 2020, the good news for opponents is that the defense struggled at points last season. They gave up 26 points per game and struggled in rush defense, but did hold teams below 200 yards per game through the air.
Secondary
In the secondary, Quindall Johnson returns after a 48 tackle, pair of interceptions season. Jacobi Francis and La’Andre Thomas also return for the Tigers. They will also get T.J. Carter back after he suffered a season-ending injury towards the end of 2019. The secondary will be a position of strength in 2020 with the level of experience returning for a pass defense that held opposing offenses to under 200 yards per game in 2019.
Linebackers
Names to look out for at the linebacker position include Xavier Cullens and Tim Hart. Cullens had a nice season tallying 69 tackles, 1 sack, and an interception while Hart contributed 34 tackles and 2 sacks. Past these two, there are more players with experience in the reserves who saw quite a lot of playing time last season. This experience off the bench should provide confidence should they need to play.
Defensive Line
The defensive line loses a key contributor from the 2019 campaign in leading pass rusher Bryce Huff. They do return Joseph Dorceus who finished the season with 5 sacks, and 5 QB hits. Then there is Morris Joseph, a second-year junior college transfer, who should take control of a larger role after finishing with 27 tackles and 2 sacks. The defensive line will be a pivotal piece of the Tigers defense considering the issues that they had last season in stopping the run.
Looking at the Purdue game, it will be interesting to see the match-up of a solid secondary attempting to shut down Purdue’s offensive weapons at receiver, and a Purdue offense that struggled to run the ball going up against a Tiger defense that struggled to stop the run. If Purdue can run the ball on Memphis to set up some form of offensive balance for the passing game? This could be a fun game to watch.
Memphis Special Teams
Adams Williams: Punter
Williams should have our respect in the Big Ten considering he had an excellent year kicking the ball for the Tigers last season. He averaged almost 45 yards per kick while also downing 29.5% of his punts inside the 20.
Riley Patterson: Kicker
Unlike Nebraska, Memphis only employs one kicker and Patterson got the job done well. He went 23-25 with a long of 52 yards in 2019. He should be a consistent piece for a Memphis team that likes to score points.
Kick Returners
Memphis returned three kickoffs for touchdowns last season with Gabriel Rogers, Antonio Gibson, and Chris Claybrooks all taking one to the house with 90+ yard returns. This will be a play to stay and watch live instead of trying to make a quick trip to the bathroom after a score.
Memphis has a solid core on special teams that should help them continue to win games. Their punter and kicker are both very accurate and very consistent, and they have some of the most electric kick returners in the country. It should be an exciting set of plays to see when the game is played.
Game Outlook
This Memphis game has the feeling of the Missouri match-up from 2018. Both teams will be able to score and this may be a case of who blinks first. Considering that Purdue is rebuilding and re-tooling their defense into the new Bob Diaco 3-4, Memphis may have the edge when it comes to the two defensive match-ups. If the defensive switch goes well for Purdue it may be a bit more even since the 3-4 is designed to cover the pass a bit more. That being said, the 3-4 is also reliant on getting pressure on the QB with just three. That will be something to watch out for. I believe this could be a first to 40 wins and the fact that it will be in Ross-Ade helps Purdue. It may come down to whether or not the Boilermaker defense can get enough stops to let the offense do its thing. Either way, some things are going to have to go Purdue’s way, whether it be turnovers or defensive stops.
Score Prediction
This is a tough game to predict as Memphis is a good team and Purdue has struggled to beat some good teams (Ohio State not included). With the COVID-19 pandemic likely limiting the capacity of Ross-Ade, Purdue loses the home-field advantage that they need when teams like Memphis come to West Lafayette. Purdue will likely be the underdog in this match-up and will need some breaks to win. The good news for the Boilers is that they still have a guy named Rondale Moore and another named David Bell. These two will always give Purdue a chance to win and this one will be no different. It will need to be a full team effort to beat this explosive Memphis team and as much as I want to be confident that Purdue will be able to pull it off, I think the offensive weapons that Memphis returns will be too much for a new Boiler defense and while the Purdue offense can be explosive, the uncertainty at the quarterback position could cause issues down the stretch. Either way, if you like offense, this will be a fun one to watch!
Score Prediction: Memphis 45 - Purdue 31
What do you think will come from Purdue’s home opener?
As Always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!
