Acceleration Ahead

The pace at which both Memphis and Kansas' offenses will attempt to race on Saturday could be staggering.

Kansas' offense ran 90 plays and generated 576 yards of total offense – 291 passing and 285 rushing – in last week's 41-38 loss to South Dakota State.

"We are going to go play an offense that is pedal to the metal every single play," said Memphis coach Justin Fuente. "They will run it and throw it, going as fast as humanly possible. They are never out of a game and no lead is safe. It is one of those games where you have to be prepared to play the whole game, regardless the circumstance."

Kickoff for Saturday's game in Lawrence, Kan., is set for 6 p.m. While the game is being televised regionally in Kansas' markets, it will also be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN.com app. The 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.

While Kansas' offense will operate at break-neck speed, so too will the Tigers. Despite a 42-0 halftime lead and running more of the play clock in the second half, Memphis still managed to run 81 total plays for 519 yards in last week's season-opening 63-7 win over Missouri State.

Memphis' offense accounted for 317 rushing yards as six running backs played for the Tigers in the opener. Sophomore Jarvis Cooper led Memphis with a career-high 102 yards and two touchdowns. Junior starter Sam Craft and freshman Jamerius Henderson each ran for over 70 yards each, while sophomore Doroland Dorceus scored two touchdowns as part of his six carries for 19 yards.

"We are trying to continue to bring them all along to be more complete players, playing with the ball in their hands or without it in blocking or route running," Fuente said. "I like the way they've gone about it. The first thing that comes to mind when you have a talented group of guys is who's going to be complaining about who's not getting carries. I don't see that as an issue for them. I see genuine joy when other guys in their room have success."

In addition to Memphis' running game, the Tigers present trouble through the air, starting with quarterback Paxton Lynch who completed 8-of-12 passes for 78 yards in less than a half of work last week against Missouri State.

"He can sling it, but he can also run it," Kansas coach David Beaty said of Lynch. "He's done as much damage with his feet as he has throwing the ball. That's the thing that you've got to be concerned about with these guys, they are very multiple."

Memphis had seven receivers catch passes despite just 21 attempts compared to the 60 times the Tigers ran the football in the opener against Missouri State.

Senior Mose Frazier led Memphis with six catches for 89 yards and had scoring receptions on the Tigers' first two possessions.

Memphis' defense is certain to be more challenged by the Jayhawks than last week when the unit held Missouri State to 125 yards, including 18 rushing.

Kansas junior quarterback Montell Cozart threw for 294 yards and ran for 94, both career highs, in last week's game against South Dakota State. Also against SDSU, junior transfer running back Ke'Aun Kinner ran for a career-high 157 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Of the top-six KU rushers of all-time, only two have done what Kinner did in his debut for the Jayhawks in rushing for 100-plus yards in a debut performance. Kinner, who transferred from Navarro Junior College equaled the accomplishment of James Sims and Gale Sayers in their KU debuts.

"Kansas has a quarterback that can ru and throw it, and is incredibly dangerous," Fuente said. "They have a tailback that is extremely quick."

Beaty spoke this week of his offense finding its identity as the South Dakota State game wore on last week.

"As the game wore on, we became more efficient at it, so that was good to see that we improved as we went," Beaty said.

The first-year coach said his squad continues to work on controlling the tempo and not necessarily always going fast.

"In this day and age, there's some really smart people defensively, and if you keep the tempo at one tempo they get pretty good at being able to defend that," he said. "Now, when you can vary the tempo and you can do some things like that to keep chalk out of their hand last, that's really what we aim for."

Saturday's game will also be a matchup of schools who excelled last week in phases of special teams.

Kansas' redshirt freshman Ryan Schadler returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown in his first game as a Jayhawk. Memphis' sophomore receiver Roderick Proctor became the first UofM return man to score on a punt return since 2004, finding the end zone on a 63-yard jaunt. Proctor's return helped him earn American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Week recognition.

"We will have to play well in all three phases to win the game," said Fuente. "We are playing a team that played an opponent that was much further along than our opponent. I think that's a fair assessment. We've got to see that for what it is and understand how we have to play on the road against a team with skilled athletes that can expose you on both sides of the ball very quickly."

Saturday's game will be the first of two straight on the road for the Tigers. The UofM plays at Bowling Green next week.

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Players Mentioned

Jarvis Cooper

Sam Craft

Doroland Dorceus

Mose Frazier

Paxton Lynch

Roderick Proctor