GAME PREVIEW: TULSA TRAVELS TO MEMPHIS

TULSA CLASHES WITH TIGERS ON THURSDAY NIGHT ESPN GAME

GAME 10: TULSA (3-6, 1-4 American) vs. MEMPHIS (4-5, 2-4 American)
Date/Time:	Thursday, Nov. 10, 6:30 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Memphis, Tenn.
Stadium:	Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium (58,318)
Coaches:	TULSA – Philip Montgomery (Tarleton State '95), 8th year MEMPHIS – Ryan Silverfield (Hampden-Sydney '03), 3rd year
TV:	ESPN
Talent:	Matt Barrie (pxp), Louis Riddick (analyst), Harry Lyles Jr. (sideline)
Tickets:	Click HERE
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM or Online
Talent:	Bruce Howard (pxp), Rick Couri (analyst), Jeremie Poplin (sideline)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Memphis leads 19-12
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| Memphis \| American Athletic Conference

MEMPHIS, Tenn. –– Tulsa and Memphis clash in a Thursday night matchup at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in front of an ESPN audience at 6:30 p.m.

Tulsa (3-6, 1-4 AAC) is looking to snap a 2-game losing streak, while the Tigers come into the contest looking to end their slide at four games. Memphis (4-5, 2-4 AAC) dropped a seven-point decision to the No. 25-ranked UCF Knights a week ago, while the Hurricane fell to the 19^th-ranked Tulane Green Wave.

There are similarities when looking at these two offenses as Memphis averages 419 yards per game to Tulsa's 414 yards. The Tigers total 283 yards passing to Tulsa's 276 passing yards, while on the ground the Hurricane runs for 138 and Memphis 136 yards.

Defensively, Tulsa is ranked second in the American Athletic Conference for pass defense holding the opposition to 176 yards per game, compared to Memphis' 276 yards allowed. Tulsa's running game will need to find a way to have success against a Tiger defense that holds its opponents to 135 yards on the ground.

Let's look at the storylines …

FRIENDLY LIBERTY BOWL STADIUM
In the 2000s, Tulsa has played in Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium a total of seven times and has posted a 5-2 record, including two contests in the Liberty Bowl Game.
Tulsa won the 2005 AutoZone Liberty Bowl against Fresno State by a score of 31-24, and also defeated Iowa State 31-17 in the 2012 AutoZone Liberty Bowl. In regular season play, Tulsa has posted a 3-2 record against Memphis at Liberty Bowl Stadium in the 2000s, winning games in 2006 (35-14), 2010 (48-7), 2016 (59-30), while in Tulsa the series is tied 3-3 in the 2000s. Overall, since the first game between the two teams at Liberty Bowl Stadium in 1966, the Tigers have an 8-5 home mark against the Hurricane.

TULSA FACING ANOTHER TOUGH RUN DEFENSE
The Tulsa offense needs to be balance against the Tigers, but it won't be an easy task. Memphis holds opposing run games to 135.2 yards per game, while the Hurricane offense has averaged just 138 yards in nine games. The Tigers have held four of nine opponents to less than 100 yards on the ground, while giving up its highest season total of 215 yards against the run potent Navy offense.

THE COACHES
Memphis' Ryan Silverfield is in his third season leading the Tigers football program with an overall mark of 18-15. Before taking over the Memphis helm, Silverfield was a Tigers assistant head coach for four seasons. He was a Detroit Lions assistant coach the season before, and previously had assistant coaching stops at with Jacksonville and Minnesota on the NFL level and UCF and Toledo collegiately.
Tulsa's Philip Montgomery is in his eighth year guiding the Hurricane program, his first head coaching position. He has led Tulsa to the second-most bowl games in school history with four and the first Tulsa coach to defeat two top-20 teams in the same season and the first coach to have two No. 1 NFL Draft selections, and that came in back-to-back years (2021, 2022).

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER RECORD
Keylon Stokes became Tulsa's career receiving leader two weeks ago, breaking a 57-year-old record held by Howard Twilley (1963-65). Twilley's record of 3,343 yards had stood as Tulsa's record since 1965. Stokes now has 3,514 career receiving yards with four games remaining in the regular season.
Stokes enters the Memphis game looking to become the American Athletic Conference's all-purpose yardage leader. He is currently second behind Navy's Malcolm Perry (2016-19). Stokes needs 118 yards to tie Perry's total of 5,320 yards.
In addition, Stokes; needs 36 more receiving yards to reach 1,000 yards for the second time in his career, making him only the sixth TU player to have 1,000 yards in two separate seasons.

UP NEXT FOR TULSA
Tulsa returns home for its regular season finale next Friday night, Nov. 18 against the South Florida Bulls. Game time is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN2.

GAME PREVIEW: TULSA TRAVELS TO MEMPHIS

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