Curtain Call

The group will gather one last time in the tunnel beyond the south end zone of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. One by one, they will be introduced, greeted by head coach Justin Fuente and joined by their families on the field. Certainly they will each reflect on a moment from their careers as University of Memphis Tigers.

And then collectively, Memphis' 2015 Senior Classic will focus their attention on the task at hand.

The group of Memphis seniors – Reggis Ball, Alan Cross, Taylor Fallin, Isaiah Farris, Mose Frazier, Ricky Hunter, Tevin Jones, Darius Lee, Ryan Mack, Wynton McManis, Leonard Pegues, Micah Simmons, Tyler Uselton and Dion Witty – will join their teammates in an effort to make program history.

Memphis heads into Saturday's game against SMU having won eight games. Having posted a 10-3 record in 2014, this group will have an opportunity to become just the second in program history to record back-to-back, nine-win seasons. The only other time that achievement has been accomplished was 1949-50 when Memphis had a combined 18-3 record.

"It is our jobs a coaches and other players to do everything we can to send them out on the right note, to give them the opportunity to win the ninth game of the season and the 19th in a two-year period," said Memphis head coach Justin Fuente. "I think our kids understand that because I do believe we have some pretty good chemistry on the squad and guys that genuinely love and care about each other.

Memphis fans have an opportunity to show their support as well. The seniors will be individually introduced at approximately 10:30 a.m. ahead of Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff.

Black Friday online ticket specials are available at www.gotigersgotix.com and tickets go on sale at Gates 1 and 3 at the Liberty Bowl Saturday at 8 a.m. Tiger Walk will occur at 8:30 a.m.

Saturday's game can be heard locally on AM600 WREC as well as WAMB-AM 1160 in Nashville and WJAK-AM 1460 in Jackson, Tenn. For fans living outside of those radio markets, the game will be broadcast to subscribers through Memphis All-Access at www.GoTigersGo.com/Watch. The game will be broadcast on ESPNews.

Many in the Tigers' group of seniors' first game was Justin Fuente's first game at Memphis in 2012. Some had joined the program a season earlier as signees or walk-ons and were part of multiple losing seasons before the program's recent and unprecedented success.

"Along the same lines as the group last year, these young men were the foundation of what we started," Fuente said. "They are guys that have bought into what we are doing that maybe came here when they may not have had a whole lot of reasons to come here other than they believed in what we were selling.

"This is a group of guys who have made those dreams come true and have set great examples for the young guys coming through the program. They have laid the foundation for the years to come."

Memphis heads into Saturday's game against the Mustangs on the cusp of setting a couple significant school records. The 2015 Tigers have scored 449 points. The school record of 471 points was set last year. The 2014 and 2015 seasons mark two of just three seasons Memphis has scored 400+ points.

In 11 games this year, Memphis has racked up 5,642 yards of offense. The school record of 5,779 was set in 2003. Memphis 3,603 passing yards in 2015 is just shy of the school record of 3,975 yards set in 2007.

Heading into Saturday's game, junior quarterback Paxton Lynch has completed 271-of-392 passes for 3,448 yards and 21 touchdowns. Frazier has caught 64 passes for 694 yards and three touchdowns. With a catch on Saturday, the senior from Memphis will have had receptions in 25 straight games, which would move him into sole possession of the fifth-longest streak in program history.

After being held to just 76 rushing yards against Temple, Memphis will be looking to get the run game going against an SMU defense which gives up 267 rushing yards on average. UofM running back Doroland Dorceus has rushed for 580 yards and eight touchdowns. Fellow sophomore running back Jarvis Cooper has 361 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

The leading tacklers for Memphis are both seniors. Pegues leads the team with 60 tackles while McManis has 55 stops through 11 games. In addition to 48 tackles, Ball has three interceptions to lead the Tigers.

SMU (2-9, 1-6) is coming off a 49-21 win over Tulane in which the Mustangs established season highs for rushing yards (323) and rushing touchdowns (six). In the win, SMU had three scoring drives of 90 yards or more.

Xavier Jones' three rushing touchdowns against the Green Wave helped him establish an SMU freshman record with 10.

Chad Morris is in his first season as head coach at SMU. Previous to being named the head coach at SMU, he was the offensive coordinator at Tulsa (2010) and Clemson (2011-14).

SMU's losses have come to teams who entered this week a combined 72-25 with six of them either ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes.

The Mustangs have played 22 freshmen in 2015 Along with Jones' efforts on the ground, junior quarter back Matt Davis has also rushed for 10 touchdowns. He leads the team with 738 rushing yards. Jones has 640 rushing yards this season. Davis has passed for 2,235 yards and 16 touchdowns. Redshirt freshman Courtland Sutton leads the Mustangs with 47 receptions for 817 yards and nine touchdowns.

Sophomore defensive end Justin Lawler leads the Mustangs with 61 total tackles. He has nine tackles for lost yards and five quarterback sacks.

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Players Mentioned

Reggis Ball

Jarvis Cooper

Alan Cross

Doroland Dorceus

Taylor Fallin

Isaiah Farris

Mose Frazier

Ricky Hunter

Tevin Jones

Darius Lee

Paxton Lynch

Ryan Mack

Wynton McManis

Leonard Pegues

Micah Simmons

Tyler Uselton

Dion Witty

University of Memphis Athletics