Austin Peay @ Memphis preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 17, 2011 ) Austin Peay 6, Memphis 27

Justin Fuente enters his third season at Memphis' helm hoping to get the Tigers back to their winning ways, starting with Saturday's season opener against visiting Austin Peay. Fuente has a 7-17 record in his first two campaigns, but with 53 lettermen returning, he's hoping to turn things around in 2014. Paxton Lynch will be the first quarterback to start back-to-back seasons at Memphis since 2008 and 2009.

Austin Peay comes off a winless campaign under coach Kirby Cannon, who can go nowhere but up in his second season. The Governors played three FBS opponents a year ago, losing to Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Ohio by a combined score of 121-3. Unfortunately, with 38 freshmen or redshirt freshmen on Austin Peay's roster, it could be another long season for Cannon at the helm.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3. LINE: N/A.

ABOUT AUSTIN PEAY (2013: 0-12): The Governors have had a new energy in the days approaching the season opener, helped in part by getting to practice for the first time on the new turf of the new Governors Stadium. “We are excited to be on this field,” Cannon told the Leaf Chronicle. “You try to plan some things out for game week. Just by being game week, a certain level of excitement should occur. Doing this and a few other things this week, you try to build up the momentum and excitement for the game on Saturday.”

ABOUT MEMPHIS (2013: 3-9): A number of new faces could see their way onto the field in the season opener - including one of the most anticipated in redshirt freshman defensive end Ernest Suttles, who was a member of the 2013 Nebraska signing class. Suttles sat out last season but was named the Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year for the team. “He is a big body, but he's explosive,” defensive line coach Ricky Hunley told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “That's what you like to see. You want that explosiveness matched up with the finish. Somewhere down the road, he's going to be a good football player, a very good football player.”

EXTRA POINTS

1. Tigers RB Brandon Hayes enters the season 16th on the school's all-time rushing list with 1,436 yards - just 328 outside of the school's top 10.

2. Governors RB Rashaan Coleman likely will see a majority of the carries for Austin Peay after lining up as a slot receiver for most of the 2013 campaign.

3. Memphis has won all seven of the previous meetings between the schools, posting shutouts in five of those contests.

PREDICTION: Memphis 42, Austin Peay 6