Spring practices for the University of Memphis football team culminated in the Blue-Gray game Friday night at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Some 7,000 fans showed up to support the Tigers in a high-scoring scrimmage, unlike last spring's defensive contest. The Blue team defeated the Gray 42-21, and both the first and second team offenses showed an up-tempo style of play, a new wrinkle in the Memphis offensive attack.
Throughout the contest, quarterback Paxton Lynch was passing the ball efficiently. The redshirt sophomore started out by completing his first nine throws along with a touchdown. He ended the game 17-20 for 200 yards with competitions to seven different receivers.
These are promising signs from a young quarterback coming into his second season with the Tigers.
"It has been really different, I feel like because I know what I am doing," Lynch said. "I am really confident in what I am doing. I can just go out there and play and relax."
Consistency helped fuel an easy win for the Blue team after their offense scored on their first three drives. They were able to maintain their drives and finish them, which was a big problem for the 2013 offense.
Last year's offense finished 84th out of 125 Division one teams in first down percentage. Only 64.3 percent of U of M drives finished with either a first down or a touchdown last season, according to Footballoutsiders.com's Fremeau Efficiency Index.
The running game contributed several scores, as both Brandon Hayes and Doroland Dorceus both had impactful performances. Hayes ran for three scores in his 17 carries, while Dorceus led the Blue squad with 19 rushes for 148 yards including a 51-yard breakout run in the second quarter.
The first-team defense allowed some scores and ultimately did not perform as they had expected. Senior linebacker Charles Harris, the 2014 Jeremy Williams Award winner for spring practice most valuable player, said this was not indicative of how the team performed this spring.
"We should have came out with the expectation to come out and dominate," Harris said. "We have to minimize those things and minimize as many mistakes as possible and keep competing. The team, without a doubt, has become closer on offense and defense we have gotten better every day we step on the field, that's the only thing you can ask from us."
Although it is impossible to judge how the team will do in the fall following the spring scrimmage, head coach Justin Fuente was encouraged by the spring as an entirety.
"We have got a tremendous test coming in the fall, but I think it has been our best, complete spring," Fuente said. "I know it was a lot better than the first one and a lot more consistent than the one we had last year. It was a lot more balanced and there is a lot more give and take out there than there ever has been."
