Memphis Football: 3 takeaways from big road win over SMU
By Zach Bigalke
3. The Tigers showed defensive fortitude against SMU
Memphis was hardly the perfect team defensively against SMU in Dallas on Friday. They allowed Mustangs quarterback Ben Hicks to throw for 344 yards and two touchdowns, as he did his best to keep the hosts in the contest as long as possible. But Hicks also threw a pick, and he needed 55 passing attempts to reach 344 yards.
But when it mattered most, the Tigers proved more than capable of ruining the day for the home side. Memphis forced two fumbles and an interception by the Mustangs, winning the turnover battle as they won the larger battle between the two programs.
In addition to those three turnovers, Memphis forced two more turnovers on downs and five punts by SMU punter Jamie Sackville.
Memphis eventually allowed the Mustangs to pull back into the contest slightly, but they held the SMU offense to 366 total yards of offense because the Mustangs ground game couldn’t do anything more. Let’s look at that in more detail in the next takeaway.