Week 7: Louisville at Memphis

From the outside looking in, it may be hard to believe.

Memphis has lost to Ole Miss (41-24), Rice (42-35) and Marshall (17-16). The Tigers’ wins have come over Nicholls State, Arkansas State and Alabama-Birmingham.

And the U of M players are using the word... swagger?

You read correctly.

"We’ve kind of got our swagger back," said Tiger quarterback Arkelon Hall. "We’ve got our groove back."

Hey, whatever works for you, right? Memphis is on a three-game winning streak. But the Tigers have a difficult task ahead against Louisville, which defeated Kansas State before falling to Connecticut prior to an off-week.

The reason Memphis has such a tough task is because its tackling against UAB was called "pitiful" by coach Tommy West. The Tigers had trouble bringing down Blazer backs Rashaud Slaughter and Aaron Johns as well as QB Joe Webb.

Now, in this game, Memphis will have to contend with one of the Big East’s brightest rising stars in freshman Victor Anderson, third in the conference in rushing with a 165.3 yard per game average. He’s ranked 20th nationally.

Memphis counters with running back Curtis Steele, who has three straight 100-yard games and 578 yards on 90 carries (a 6.4 per play average). Louisville, however, seems more prepared to handle Steele, boasting the NCAA’s No. 9 and Big East’s No. 1 rush defense. The Cardinals are allowing an average of but 70.8 yards a game.

So it seems Memphis will have to rely on Hall, who has completed 116 of 199 passes for 1,456 yards and eight touchdowns with five interceptions. The U of L is allowing an average of 181 yards through the air.

Notes:

Memphis and Louisville are renewing a rivalry after meeting every year from 1968 to 2004. The Cardinals hold a 21-19 series lead and won the last game, a 56-49 decision in 2004.

In Louisville’s two victories, the Cardinals scored at least 38 points. In the school’s losses, it scored under 22 points.

The beat has gone on for U of L coach Steve Kragthorpe. This week the coach announced placekicker Tim Dougherty has been suspended. Kragthorpe said Ryan Payne and Chris Philpott would battle through the week for the job.

Key Player (Cardinals) – Hunter Cantwell, QB

Cantwell, who leads the Big East in passing yards, averaging 219 per game, could really open up the running lanes for Victor Anderson with a big night.

Key Player (Tigers) – Clinton McDonald, DT

If McDonald can apply pressure as he has in the last couple of games (four sacks against Arkansas State; 1.5 versus UAB), Louisville QB Hunter Cantwell could be slowed.

Louisville by 9