Tiger defense hits stride vs. Rebels
Unit’s improvement key to success
Jackson Dillon had grown accustomed to defensive dominance.
In each of his first two years on the University of Memphis football team, the defense had been more experienced and effective than the offense. In 2013, despite the team’s 3-9 record, it ranked 44th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring defense, allowing only 24.6 points per game. Last year, it was 11th, one of the elite defenses in college football.
The first five games of 2015 were a different story. “We’ve kind of had our ups and downs,” Dillon said. And that, he continued, is what made the 18thranked Tigers’ 37-24 win over then-No. 13 Ole Miss on Saturday so satisfying.
“It feels good for our defense to really set the tone and know how good we can play,” Dillon said.
Memphis has won 13 consecutive games spanning more than a full calendar year, and its defense against the Rebels is one of the major reasons. The Tigers scored 31 unanswered points in one stretch, and though Paxton
Lynch and company were responsible for those points, the defense is the reason they went unanswered.
A unit that had been thrashed by Cincinnati to the tune of 752 yards intercepted Chad Kelly twice Saturday and held the Rebels to 40 rushing yards, less than one-fourth of their season average.
“The off week, we really stepped it up,” safety Dion Witty said. “We had a lot of competition with our offense, so like ones against ones. We just kept going like that. That actually showed a little bit (Saturday) during the game. Hopefully we can just continue to build off that and go into next week fighting.”
At his weekly media luncheon Monday afternoon, Memphis coach Justin Fuente pointed to two major ingredients behind the defense’s improvement: an ability to create pressure and minimize big plays.
After getting beat on a trick play for a 68-yard pass on the opening drive of the game, the Tigers prevented completed passes from becoming gamechanging plays. Kelly finished with 372 passing yards, but much of that yardage came incrementally. His longest completion went for 26 yards.
“I know (Laquon) Treadwell caught some slants and caught some balls underneath and we gave up a little bit of yardage there, but we didn’t give up the big play,” Fuente said. “And you’ve got to be careful. It’s like playing with dynamite with those guys. They’re so talented that they can pile them up pretty quickly on you.”
Sustaining a pass rush helped. Fuente said Memphis used linebacker Genard Avery, who is perhaps the team’s best natural pass-rusher, as a defensive end at times to help collapse the pocket. Others along the defensive line simply stepped up.
“We lost a lot of starters and a lot of senior leadership last year, so it’s basically just young people stepping up, filling those roles,” said defensive end Christian Johnson, who had one of Memphis’ two sacks Saturday. “We’re still coming together and still jelling as a defense. Every day we’ve just got to come back and work harder.”
Memphis was able to execute its game plan efficiently, but Fuente said it also had a good game plan going in. For that, he explained, the credit goes to first-year defensive coordinator Galen Scott and his staff.
“They sat in there during the bye week and said, ‘OK, what do we need to do to give our kids a chance to succeed?’ ” Fuente said. “Whether it’s thinking outside the box or trying to light a fire under somebody or getting somebody to improve technique-wise. And for one week, we made some improvement. The challenge is, can we continue to do that.”