Memphis beats Cincinnati 41-14 in AAC opener

CINCINNATI (AP) — Memphis extended its best start in 10 years by knocking off the team favored to win the American Athletic Conference.

Paxton Lynch threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more on Saturday night, leading Memphis to a 41-14 victory over Cincinnati, which lost quarterback Gunner Kiel to a rib injury.

Memphis (3-2, 1-0) took advantage of a struggling defense and dominated the team that was picked to win the conference in the preseason poll. Instead, the Tigers are the ones on top.

"We were talking all week about making a statement," Lynch said. "They were picked to win the conference. It shows we can control our own destiny."

The Tigers also knocked Kiel out of the game on the final play of the first half. Linebacker Tank Jakes hit him in the lower right side as he threw a desperation pass. X-rays were negative, but Kiel didn't return. Munchie Legaux took over in the second half as Memphis pulled away.

"Gunner's probably going to be down for a while," coach Tommy Tuberville said. "He's having a pretty tough time."

Cincinnati (2-2, 0-1) suffered its worst home loss since a 38-0 defeat to West Virginia on Nov. 9, 2005.

"We built this game up all week," Memphis coach Justin Fuente said. "It was important to us. I'm awfully proud of them."

Lynch led an offense that piled up 610 yards, the third-most in school history and the most since the Tigers had 630 against Cincinnati in 1984. The second-year starter was 18 of 25 for 311 yards. He also ran 12 times for 45 yards.

"We had a lot of plays installed for this defense," Lynch said.

Sam Craft led a depleted backfield, running for 170 yards and a touchdown. Jake Elliott added a pair of field goals.

The Bearcats allowed 710 yards and an NCAA-record 45 first downs during a 50-28 loss at Ohio State a week ago and couldn't stop the Tigers, either, who were coming off a tough game. Memphis managed only 104 yards during a 24-3 loss at Mississippi.

"It's not good," Tuberville said. "We haven't stopped anybody. This is not new, now."

Lynch got the Tigers going by completing his first five passes, including touchdowns of 9 and 29 yards. He also ran 10 yards on a draw play for another score as Memphis went up 27-7 at halftime.

His 10-yard touchdown run in the third quarter essentially put it away.

The Bearcats have given up 40 points in consecutive games for the first time since 2009.

"It's pretty maddening right now, but we're not going to let that break us," Cincinnati linebacker Nick Temple said. "I'm not sure what happened out there tonight. Nothing's going on with the defense."

Kiel threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Mekale McKay on the game's opening play, his 15th touchdown pass in four games.

"We had a breakdown on that first play," Jakes said. "We talked about it on the sidelines with no coaches around. The coaches had a good game plan. We had to make sure that we executed it.

"This was a statement game for us."

The Bearcats' offense then came apart. Kiel threw an interception and fumbled. The Bearcats repeatedly dropped passes and couldn't get anything out of their running game, which was missing injured running back Tion Green.

They also had Kiel's 6-yard touchdown pass late in the first half nullified by an offensive interference penalty.

Kiel was 11 of 27 for 216 yards with the two turnovers and two sacks. Legaux got his first significant playing time since returning from a gruesome injury to his left knee last season and completed 5 of 13 for 39 yards.

___

Follow Joe Kay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apjoekay