LOUISIANA-MONROE at MEMPHIS
Thursday, Aug. 31 • 8 p.m. • CBS Sports Network
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (58,318/AstroTurf)
Memphis, Tennessee
Television
CBS Sports Network
John Sadak, Randy Cross and Cassie McKinney
Radio
WREC-AM 600 (Memphis flagship)
THE GAME
Thursday’s game will be the third meeting on the gridiron between Memphis and Louisiana-Monroe … The series is tied at 1-1 after Memphis’ 28-0 win Sept. 9, 2000 … The only other matchup was a 21-20 win by ULM (then named Northeast Louisiana) in the 1979 season … The Tigers will be looking for their fourth straight win in a season-opener.
LOUISIANA-MONROE
0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt
Head Coach
Matt Viator (McNeese State ’86)
4-7, second season at ULM
82-41, 12th season as collegiate head coach
Notes
Louisiana-Monroe went 4-8 last season in its first year under the direction of Matt Viator, the former head coach at McNeese State … ULM improved by two wins from the 2015 season, when the Warhawks were 2-11 … ULM has gone 2-20 in its last 22 road games … ULM returns 15 starters and 45 letterwinners from last year … The Warhawks return three quarterbacks who started at least two games last year … QB Garrett Smith started the first six games and threw for 1,237 yards and nine touchdowns before suffering a season-ending injury … RB Ben Luckett got most of the carries and rushed for 450 yards and five TDs in 2016 … LB David Griffith led the team with 78 tackles and had at least three stops in every game last season.
-/rv MEMPHIS
0-0, 0-0 American
Head Coach
Mike Norvell (Central Arkansas ’95)
8-5, second season
Notes
Memphis won eight games in 2016, as Mike Norvell led the Tigers to the most wins by a first-year coach in program history … The Tigers have won 27 games in the last three years, marking the best three-year stretch since the program began in 1912 … Memphis returns 17 starters from last year … QB Riley Ferguson led The American and set a school record with 32 touchdown passes in 2016 … Ferguson threw for 3,698 yards and completed 280 passes, ranking second on the Tigers’ single-season chart behind Paxton Lynch’s 2015 totals … WR Anthony Miller had 95 catches for 1,434 yards and 14 touchdowns on his way to second-team all-conference honors … S Jonathan Cook led the defense with 88 tackles last year … WR Tony Pollard was The American’s Special Teams Player of the Year after he had 1,068 yards and two TDs on kickoff returns.