• When does a rising college football coach become a star college football coach? I think we saw the moment(s) for Tiger coach Justin Fuente Saturday afternoon at Bowling Green. Games are won by talented players, Fuente would be the first to tell us. But the guy on the sideline with a headset over his white cap did as much to win Saturday’s shootout as any player . . . because he created winning scenarios for those players. In a game dominated by two offenses, a coach with a background in play-calling (a former college quarterback, no less) can make an imprint in ways he couldn’t on the defensive side of the ball (where performance is defined as much by the way players react as it is by scheme).
Midway through the third quarter, the Tigers had the ball in Falcon territory, near (if not already inside) the range for all-conference kicker Jake Elliott. Down 27-20 and facing fourth down with a yard to go, Fuente’s decision to go for it wasn’t all that surprising. The Tigers have treated fourth down like an opportunity to advance the ball since Fuente’s arrival in 2012. What was surprising was Tiger quarterback Paxton Lynch dropping back to pass . . . and finding Tevin Jones for 32 yards, setting up a Sam Craft touchdown run that tied the score. It was a tremendous gesture in trust from coach to players (and not just trust in Lynch), and a bold statement that the Tigers will not be timid in their attack.
Then, of course, there was the double-reverse flea flicker two possessions later, a play in which four players touched the ball (Lynch twice) before Jones entered the end zone to tie the game at 41. That was recess football, the kind played with a Nerf ball, a team desperate to tie (no, win) a game before the bell rings and classes resume. The Tiger linemen held their blocks impossibly long, the Tiger skill players executed with precision, and the Tiger coach looked like he expected nothing less from his undefeated team. It was a play with star power, crafted by a star coach. 
• Speaking of stars, Paxton Lynch is setting a new standard for quarterbacking at Memphis. In an offense Fuente insists is set up on the ground, Lynch put on an aerial display at Bowling Green that will have defensive coordinators — starting with Cincinnati’s — rewinding clips all season. He completed 29 of 40 passes (72 percent) for 386 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. For the season, the junior has completed 77 percent of his passes for 818 yards, six scores and no picks. (If you pay attention to passer rating, Lynch’s was sparkling: 191.6.) Oh, and Lynch carried the ball seven times for 30 yards against Bowling Green, somehow making him even harder to defend. He’s bound to regress, if slightly, as the season grinds on. But with the number of targets at his disposal — eight Tigers caught at least three passes last Saturday — Lynch is on his way to the kind of season that ends at award shows.
• Thursday night should feel like a main event at the Liberty Bowl. The Tigers will aim to reach a 4-0 record for the first time since 1961 and become the first Memphis team — ever — to reel off 11 straight victories. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN and the visitors are the preseason favorites to win the American Athletic Conference championship. The matchup with Cincinnati could actually be a preview of the first AAC championship game (December 5), as the Tigers are favorites to win the league’s West division. The Tigers have averaged 570.3 yards of offense and surrendered an average of 354.3 yards in their first three games. The figures for Cincinnati are virtually the same: 579.3 and 330.0. Memphis has faced no AAC foe more often than the Bearcats, holding a 19-13 edge in a series that began in 1966. Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville remembers last year’s 41-14 Tiger win in Ohio, a game in which quarterback Gunner Kiel completed only 11 of 27 passes. Should the Tigers put up a similar score Thursday night in front of a crowd nearing 50,000 (could that happen?), it might go down as one of the top Memphis wins in Liberty Bowl history.
