Tulsa needs a win at Memphis on Thursday night

Perhaps it is fortunate for Tulsa that it is playing a team that is snakebitten even more so than TU.

Memphis (4-5, 2-4 AAC) has been a hard luck team this season, losing many close, highly contested games to quality teams.

Tulsa (3-6, 1-4 AAC) hopes to rebound Thursday night when it plays 400 miles away from home in Memphis.

The Memphis game starts a three-game stretch which is followed by hapless USF at home, and then finishes the season at Houston. Tulsa must win out to finish the regular season at .500 and become bowl eligible.

Currently, Memphis is riding a 4-game losing streak in which the last two games were dropped to teams ranked No. 25 at the time. The Tigers lost 35-28 at home to UCF last week after a bye week, and lost 38-28 the game before at Tulane.

The toughest loss to take in that streak may have been a four overtime, 47-45 loss at East Carolina (6-3, 3-2) the week after a 33-32 home loss to Houston (5-4 3-2). Memphis' other loss was 49-23 at Mississippi State (6-3) in the season opener.

So Memphis has been losing to some good teams. But on the flip side, the Tigers have only beaten one decent team, North Texas (6-4). Navy (3-6, 3-4), Temple (3-6, 1-4), and Arkansas State (2-7), the other Memphis wins, came against teams that aren't very good.

But when people look at Tulsa, they would probably say Tulsa isn't very good, either. Tulsa's only FBS wins have been against Temple and Northern Illinois (2-7). Tulsa did beat a Jacksonville State team that is 7-2, but is an FCS opponent.

More discouraging is that Tulsa's last four losses have been by an average of 16.8 points per game. And three of those losses have been at home.

So is it possible that Tulsa can turn things around this year and win its last three regular season games, just like it did last year, to become bowl eligible?

"We have to scratch and claw and find a way to win," said TU coach Philip Montgomery.

Tulsa has not been opportunistic. Chances for big plays on offense have been there, but misconnections in the passing game, where passes should have been caught by Tulsa's outstanding group of receivers, weren't made in the 27-13 home loss to No. 19 Tulane last Saturday.

And on defense, Tulsa has been, quite honestly, horrible lately against the run. Allowing 357 yards is, quite frankly, ridiculously bad. You aren't going to win games being that bad against the run.

For the season, Tulsa is giving up 226.3 yards per game. Again, not good. At all. Memphis is a decent running team, averaging 136.4 yards per game.

But the good news for Tulsa may be that the Hurricane's strength, by far, on defense has been defending the pass, allowing only 176.4 yards per game.

Seth Henigan is a good quarterback for Memphis, averaging 280 yards per game while completing 65.1 percent of his passes. He also is mobile, rushing for 289 yards, only 11 yards away from leading the Tigers in rushing. If you take away sack yardage, Henigan is by far Memphis' leading rusher.

"Henigan has done a really good job operating their offense. Spreads the football around," Montgomery said.

If Tulsa can muster even a decent defensive effort, it must come through on offense. Since Memphis allows 31.6 points per game, this should be possible

It starts with the young offensive line, which too often has left Tulsa quarterbacks Davis Brin and Braylon Braxton running for their lives, or getting sacked a lot. Or both. Braxton, by far the more mobile of the two quarterbacks, has still had to take key sacks the last two weeks after replacing the injured Brin.

Brin, listed as day-to-day, may play, and that could help. He is the more polished passer, and Memphis is giving up 276.8 yards per game through the air.

So Tulsa could, and quite frankly, should light up the Tigers through the air. Keylon Stokes is still third in receiving yards in the nation with 964. He is always a threat, as are JuanCarlos Santana, Isaiah Epps and Malachai Jones.

If Tulsa can exploit a weak Memphis pass defense, and somehow stop a mediocre Memphis running game, winning at Memphis, despite the Tigers being favored by 6.5 points, is definitely possible.

A win at Memphis could jump start the Tulsa season and give the Golden Hurricane some much-needed confidence.

With awful USF (1-8, 0-5) coming to Tulsa next week, TU could be 5-6 going into the regular season finale at Houston, looking at a chance to go bowling again.

But the keys of connecting in the passing game and stopping the run must be accomplished if Tulsa is to have a chance of pulling off the upset against a down but very capable Memphis squad.