For now, Memphis coordinator Mike MacIntyre focused on shoring up Tigers' pass defense

The Memphis defense, in its first season under new coordinator Mike MacIntyre, won't have the luxury of easing into things when the season kicks off on Sept. 5. 

Never mind for now that four Football Bowl Subdivision conferences – the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mid-American and Mountain West – have opted out for the fall. Never mind for now the potential that the rest of college football could be headed toward the same fate, as the Power Five leagues still standing – the Big 12, SEC and ACC – consider their next move. 

For now, the AAC is planning to play football games in 2020. The first one is scheduled for Sept. 5 against Arkansas State at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Last season, Memphis ranked 58th in the country in scoring defense (allowing 26.4 points per game) and 61st in total defense (giving up 383.5 yards per game). 

MacIntyre is charged with seeing that the Tigers improve on those statistics. He believes the biggest room for progress is in pass defense, even though Memphis ranked 20th in the nation, allowing only 195.9 yards per game through the air. 

“The improvement they made last year, they want to show they can do that again,” MacIntyre said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to cause lost yardage plays like they did last year. That’s a big deal. We have a lot of quick D-linemen that are very good at that type of thing. (But) I would hope we improve in the pass defense aspect of it. I think that’s an area we can improve and make a jump with the defense.”

The first test is a Red Wolves team that scored 33.7 points and put up more than 435 yards a game. All five starters on the offensive line and leading rusher Marcel Murray return. Quarterback Logan Bonner, who missed most of last season with an injury, is battling to get his starting job back from former second-stringer Layne Hatcher, who threw for nearly 3,000 yards last season. 

MacIntyre said one of the biggest keys for his defense this season will be flexibility. 

“The way offenses are today, OK, we’re going to play teams that are spread, teams that are (run-pass option), teams that are option. We’re going to play power teams. We have to be flexible,” MacIntyre said. “We’ll be a 3-4 and a four-down team. You have to do that against these different things.”

But Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield has as much confidence in the Tigers' defense than he's had since joining the staff in 2016 as the offensive line coach.

"I think when they play, they roll," he said. "I think we'll see the best defensive line we've seen since we've been here at Memphis. That's no disrespect to the players that came before, because we've had a lot of great defensive linemen here. (But), we really like that group up there."

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.