“To the city of Memphis thank you for showing the world what Memphis is all about.” Coach Huff
by Don Mooney
Sophmore running back from Valdosta, Ga Gaylin Carter setting a early career high bar with 183-yard, four touchdown night. photo by Altonita Washington
MEMPHIS, Tenn.— The University of Memphis football team christened the newly renovated Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium with a 42-24 win over Arkansas State Saturday night. Career night for running back Jaylin Carter with 183 yards on the ground and four touchdowns, the Tigers totaled 523 yards of total offense and picked off Arkansas State quarterback Trey Owens four times.
Fans enjoy fresh new stadium facelift makes victory really sweet. photo by Altonita Washington
Coach Charles Huff became the third coach in the footballs program history to start their tenure with a 2-0 record, joining Bill Murphy and Mike Norvell. In the win, he also led Memphis to its 13th-straight home opener win and its 16th-consecutive win against active Sun Belt programs. The Tigers also extended their active streak of scoring 15-plus points at home to 86 games, the second-longest active streak in the FBS and the fourth-longest streak overall since 1978.
photo by Altonita Washington
Memphis’ defense also added to a dominant stretch with 61 takeaways (36 INT, 25 FR) in its last 34 games, causing a turnover in 28 of those contests.
After five drives resulting in a three-point lead for the Red Wolves, Memphis answered at the beginning of the second quarter on a two-yard direct snap to Jaylin Carter. Arkansas State answered with a short rushing touchdown of its own, followed by a nine-play, 85-yard scoring drive capped off by a seven-yard pass from Marcus Stokes to Aidan O’Callaghan for O’Callaghan’s first career touchdown after spending last season as a linebacker at Weber State.
photo by Altonita Washington
Arkansas State answered with a one-play drive to go back up by three before the half. That score was followed with a seven-play drive ending with a 31-yard pass from Stokes to a wide-open Jermane Hayes for Hayes’ first collegiate touchdown reception.
Memphis began the second half with a heavy dose of Carter, with the sophomore rushing three times, including a 13-yard scamper for his second of the game. After a pair of stalled-out drives, Arkansas State retook the lead before Carter took it upon himself to rush for 84 yards on the next drive, highlighted by a 74-yard spring on the second play of the drive for his third rushing touchdown of the game.
The Tiger defense stepped up in the fourth quarter for a second game in a row, this time led by the safeties as Ahmere Foster and Dylan Smith ended back-to-back Arkansas State drives with interceptions, split by another rushing touchdown by Carter for his fourth of the win.
photo by Altonita Washington
Carter and Manny Covey became the first Tiger duo to both have 100-plus rushing yards since Sutton Smith and Brendon Lewis achieved the same feat against Arkansas State last season. Carter, who finished with 183 rushing yards and four touchdowns, recorded the most rushing yards by a Tiger since Greg Desrosiers Jr.’s 204 against Florida Atlantic last season and the most rushing touchdowns since Mario Anderson Jr. also had four against North Texas in 2024.
As a team, Memphis put up its highest rushing-yard total since rushing for 401 yards against UCF in the 2018 American Conference Championship game. The offense as a whole recorded more than 500 yards for the first time since a 2024 win over UAB.
photo by Altonita Washington
Defensively, the Tigers picked off four passes for the first time since a 44-38 overtime win at Charlotte. Dylan Smith‘s two interceptions mark the first multi-interception game by a Tiger defender since Sylvonta Oliver picked off two passes in the 2022 SERVPRO First Responder Bowl.
Tigers travels back out west to face fellow Group of Six contender, Boise State, in a 5 p.m. CT matchup on USA Network between two programs both gaining momentum on the national stage.