Kickoff: Saturday, September 5 at 6:00 PM CT
Location: Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium
TV: ESPN+
DraftKings line (Aug. 30): MEM -9.5
Over/under: 53.5

The setup

This is meeting No. 63 in Arkansas State’s most-played series. Memphis leads 33-24-5, has won five straight and took the last one 37-3, so the Red Wolves are trying to revive a rivalry that recently became one-sided.

Personnel snapshot

• Arkansas State: Butch Jones enters Year 6 as head coach. 10 starters return—7 on offense and 3 on defense. Key offensive linemen back include Mason Myers, Wil Saxton, and Tristian Smith. Arkansas State’s offense averaged 382.7 yards and 25.2 points per game last season.
• Arkansas State quarterback: Trey Owens is projected to start for Arkansas State. He had no meaningful passing sample in 2025.
• Memphis: Charles Huff continues Year 1 as head coach. 1 starter returns—1 on offense and 0 on defense. A key offensive lineman back is Parker Mitchell. Memphis’ offense averaged 411.6 yards and 32.5 points per game last season.
• Memphis quarterback: Marcus Stokes started Memphis’ Week 0 win over UNLV and completed 15 of 26 passes for 223 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Three quick analysis points

• The schedule twist: Arkansas State is opening on the road for the 22nd time as an FBS program, and its only road-opening win was 18-14 at Texas A&M in 2008. Memphis is daring the Red Wolves to repeat a trick they have pulled once in 21 tries.
• The opener trend: Memphis has won 12 straight home openers and owns 67 home wins since 2014, tied for fifth nationally. Arkansas State’s road-opener history meets one of the country’s most reliable home calendars.
• A first real test at quarterback: Memphis has named Marcus Stokes the starter. He completed 15 of 26 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns without an interception in the Week 0 win over UNLV. Arkansas St returns 3 defensive starters and ranked No. 6 in FBS sacks per game (3.00), finishing with 39. Memphis returns only one starting offensive lineman, raising the degree of difficulty.

Prediction

I make final predictions on my TikTok/YouTube/Instagram/Facebook pages @uthinkuknowsports.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.