University of Memphis Athletics
Tigers Meet Louisville Cardinals On The Road Saturday
Oct 07, 2010 | Football
Oct. 7, 2010
MEMPHIS, TENN. -
The Memphis Tigers will play their fourth road game of the 2010 season when they travel to Louisville, Ky., for a rivalry game versus the Cardinals at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET, and the game will be carried online through ESPN3.com. The announcers for the game are B.J. Schaben and Curt Warner.
ESPN3 is ESPN's broadband network for live sports programming and delivers online sports programming to fans through a rich, interactive, and easy-to-use experience. ESPN3 broadcasts thousands of live games and events online each year. A majority of the events are exclusive to ESPN3, while others are broadband-enhanced versions of games from one of ESPN's TV networks. The direct link for the game is http://cot.ag/cVohtl .
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Saturday's game will be the 42nd overall meeting between the two longtime rivals, and only the second encounter between the two schools since 2004. Louisville holds a narrow 22-19 advantage in the series. The Cardinals won the last meeting in the 2008 season, a 35-28 shootout at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Memphis' last victory in the series was a dominating 37-7 performance at Louisville in 2003.
The Cardinals hold an 11-8 series edge in games played in the "Derby City." The last time the two rivals played in Louisville was in 2003, and the Tigers posted an impressive 37-7 win. Louisville's last home win over Memphis came in the 2001 campaign, a 38-21 victory. Prior to their 2008 meeting, Memphis and Louisville did not play for three seasons (2005-07) as a result of the Cardinals moving to the Big East Conference. Before the rivals went their separate ways, the Tigers and Cardinals had met 17 of the previous 18 years.The two schools played 14-straight years from 1986-99. Memphis and Louisville also met 16-consecutive years from 1968-83.
First-Timers Day In Louisville
For the second time this season, the Tigers play a contest that features two first-year head coaches. Larry Porter (Memphis) and Charlie Strong (Louisville) are in their first seasons as collegiate head coaches at their respective schools. Earlier this year, Porter faced off against another first-year head coach when the Tigers played Ruffin McNeill's East Carolina squad. In November, Memphis plays in a third match-up of first-year head coaches when Porter's Tigers meets Doc Holliday's Marshall team.
Porter Versus Louisville
Saturday's game is the first for Larry Porter versus the rival Cardinals in his role as a head coach. However, Porter has a history with Louisville as a player. During his years wearing the Blue and Gray from 1990-93, Porter met the Cardinals four times, and Louisville won three of those four games. Porter's Tigers posted a 35-7 victory over Louisville in 1991, and dropped narrow decisions to the Cardinals in 1990 (19-17) and 1992 (16-15).
On This Date
Memphis has an all-time record of 7-5-1 when playing on Oct. 9 in its history. The Tigers won their last three Oct. 9 games, including their last one in 1999. That season, Memphis posted a 38-14 win over UAB on Oct. 9. One of the most memorable Oct. 9 games is the 1976 victory over Auburn at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The home Tigers pulled out a come-from-behind Homecoming victory over the visiting Tigers 28-27, before a crowd of over 48,000. Memphis and Louisville played one previous Oct. 9 game. The contest was played in the 1971 campaign, and the Cardinals pulled out a narrow 26-20 victory at the Liberty Bowl.
Memphis Versus The Big East
The Tigers have an all-time record of 39-37 against members of the Big East Conference, but Memphis played the three foes -- Cincinnati, Louisville and USF -- all but twice when they were members of the Metro Conference and Conference USA. The last two encounters (vs. Louisville and USF in 2008) were played when Memphis was a member of C-USA and Louisville and USF were Big East Conference schools. The Tigers lead the Cincinnati series 18-12, while Louisville holds a narrow 22-19 series advantage. With its 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl win over the Tigers, USF now leads the series 3-2 over Memphis.
Henriques Leads Tigers In Scoring
Sophomore kicker Paulo Henriques hit two field goals and a PAT against UTEP to take the scoring lead for the Tigers. With his one PAT vs. Tulsa, he totals 24 points off five FGs and nine PATs. Senior running back Gregory Ray leads the Tigers in scoring, by a non-kicker, this season with 18 points off three touchdowns. He has tallied two rushing TDs (both vs MTSU) and one receiving TD (vs ECU).
Hughes In National Top 10 In Tackles
Senior linebacker Jamon Hughes led the Tigers for the fifth-straight week in tackles with 12 stops versus Tulsa, his third double-digit tackle effort this season. Against ECU, he posted 17 tackles, which included 12 assisted tackles - a total that tied Hughes' career best and tied for fifth all-time in school history. Dating back to last season, Hughes has made six or more tackles in 11-straight games and has made 14 or more tackles in four of those games. Hughes leads the team with 58 tackles and is tied for 8th in the nation and third in Conference USA in total tackles.
Streaking Tigers
Four Tiger receivers have caught at least one pass in each of the five games, including Marcus Rucker, Jermaine McKenzie, Tannar Rehrer and Curtis Johnson. Johnson's streak is actually at six games, though, dating to the `09 season finale versus Tulsa.
Young Cubs
Of the 100 players listed on the current roster, 58 percent of the players are either freshmen or sophomores. The largest class on the squad this season are freshmen, which number 41. On the flip side, there are only 20 seniors this year.
In the season opener against Mississippi State, 10 freshmen played in the game, including six true freshmen (Ryan Williams, Jerrell Rhodes, Todd Washington, Tom Hornsey, Justin Henderson and Johnnie Farms.) With two more true freshmen seeing action against ECU (Anthony Hayes, Corey Jones); Lonnie Ballentine coming in against MTSU; and Taurean Nixon starting in the secondary vs. UTEP, Memphis ranks tied for 14th nationally, having played 10 true freshmen.
Todd Washington was the first true freshman to start for the Tigers this season, making a start at corner against ECU. Other true freshmen to make starts are Ryan Williams and Corey Jones, who both made their first starts vs. MTSU, and Taurean Nixon who started in the secondary against UTEP.
Eight Freshmen Earn Starting Roles
Of the 10 true freshmen to see action this season, five have made it into the starting lineup. The five true freshmen to start are: Ryan Williams (QB), Todd Washington (CB), Corey Jones (DL), Jerrell Rhodes (RB) and Taurean Nixon (DB). In addition, three redshirt-freshmen have started this season, including Ricky Hart (OL), Mohammed Seisay (CB) and Brooks Johnson (TE). Hart started against UTEP for Dominik Riley, who suffered a knee injury versus Middle Tennessee. Seisay has started all five games at cornerback.
Up Next
Following the Louisville game, Memphis will play its next three straight games at the Liberty Bowl (vs. USM on Oct. 16, vs. Houston on Oct . 30 and vs. Tennessee on Nov. 6). This will be the first time since the 2006 season that Memphis will have played three straight home games. The Houston game on Oct. 30 has been designated as Memphis' Homecoming Game, and will also be the weekend of the Athletic Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.
See below for interviews with linebacker Winston Bowens and offensive lineman Dominik Riley.
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