Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

9/8/2011 at 11:00am

Hugh Freeze makes no secret of his desire to recruit the city of Memphis. Arkansas State’s campus is about an hour away and Freeze has ties to the area after years as a high school coach in the city.

Beating the University of Memphis in ASU Stadium on Saturday wouldn’t be a bad way to raise the Red Wolves’ profile across the river.

ASU fans have often looked at the game as a rivalry. Memphis currently leads the series 28-21-5, but lost 35-31 the last time the two teams met in Jonesboro.

Freeze said he doesn’t know about the rivalry aspect first-hand. But he does know that the two schools are competing for similar players, particularly in the city of Memphis. Currently, ASU has 17 players on the roster from Tennessee and 11 from the Memphis area.

“I haven’t experienced this rivalry before so I don’t know exactly what that means when we say ‘rivalry’ with them, but I do think that it is important for recruiting because we compete for a lot of the same kids,” Freeze said. “The most important thing right now is that we get better from Week 1 to Week 2, and hopefully that results in a win.”

An ASU (0-1) victory against the Tigers (0-1) would snap an eight-game losing streak in non-conference games. Improving the rushing attack (only 60 yards in a 33-15 loss to Illinois) and tightening up a defense that allowed 473 yards will be key this week.

Beating Memphis will also require better ball security from the Red Wolves than they showed in a loss to Illinois. ASU has spent time this week working on eliminating and forcing turnovers after finishing with two more than Illinois in an 18-point loss. Memphis, which will start freshman El Dorado native Taylor Reed at quarterback, lost by 45 last week to Mississippi State.

“Turnovers are huge in any game. We were minus?2 last Saturday and it showed in the score,” Freeze said. “Our defense has got to get more takeaways also. We’ll pay close attention to ball security and staying on schedule.”

ASU’s turnover margin is currently tied for No. 95 nationally. Below we look at that and other key stats.

Arkansas State and Memphis kick off at 6 p.m. ESPN3.com will broadcast the game online.

Tagged: Arkansas State Red Wolves, ASU Stadium, Hugh Freeze, Larry Porter, Memphis Tigers, ASU Red Wolves, Taylor Reed