Memphis Looks to Bounce Back from Embarrassing Loss to UCF

On Friday night, week 6 of the college football regular season continues with an American Athletic Conference matchup when the Memphis Tigers visit the Connecticut Huskies. The current line has Memphis favored by 14 points with the over/under point total on 70.5.

Entering this game, Memphis on the season is 3-1 straight up and 1-3 against the spread. On the road, the Tigers are 0-1 SU and ATS. Connecticut on the season is 1-3 SU and 0-4 ATS. At home, the Huskies are 1-1 SU and 0-2 ATS.

Memphis was embarrassed last week after starting the season strongly and hopes that visiting a struggling Connecticut team will help them forget about their poor play last weekend. The Tigers averaged nearly 43 points in their first three games of the season that were all victories.

One of their victories was a huge upset over UCLA, but the Tigers were brought down to earth when pummeled by Central Florida last Saturday 40-13.

Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson threw for six touchdowns versus UCLA, but last week threw three interceptions.

Connecticut quarterback Bryant Shirreffs is one of the few bright spots on the Huskies. The senior signal caller has thrown for over 400 yards against SMU and East Carolina the past two games, but both resulted in losses.

The Huskies defense allowed a combined 128 points across three straight losses after opening the season with a victory over Holy Cross. The UConn secondary is allowing the most yards through the air in the nation at 379.9 per game.

Memphis gave up 603 total yards of offense to UCF last week with 350 yards on the ground. The Tigers need to run the ball on offense more successfully in order to keep opposing offenses off the field, as the defense remains the team’s weak link.

Connecticut is averaging close to 28 points per game, as Shirreffs had 8 touchdown passes to only 2 interceptions. The running game has faltered as Nate Hopkins accumulated 130 yards on the ground against Holy Cross, but has averaged just 31 yards per game since in the Huskies three straight losses.

The teams are 1-1 in all time head to head matchups, with Memphis winning 41-10 in 2014, and Connecticut winning 45-10 in 2013.

Memphis is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games on the road.

Connecticut is 7-19 ATS in its last 26 AAC games.

Prediction: Memphis has been hot and cold this season, look for the hot to show up Friday night in Connecticut.