Penn State and Memphis are gearing up for an intriguing bowl showdown this postseason.

For Penn State, the Nittany Lions punched a ticket to their third New Year’s Six Bowl in the past four seasons under head coach James Franklin. Unfortunately, the team missed out on the Rose Bowl, but the significance of the Cotton Bowl should not be overlooked.

For Memphis, the Tigers enter the bowl game as the Group of 5 representative for the New Year’s Six Bowls. Memphis finished the season 12-1 and ranked No. 17 on the final College Football Playoff Rankings, the highest Group of 5 teams on the list.

The two schools have never met on the gridiron, making this a particularly interesting matchup for the postseason. Here are five things to know about Memphis before the two teams square off on Dec. 28:

A team in transition

Mike Norvell did an impressive job leading the Tigers, compiling a 38-15 overall record with the team from 2016-19. Unfortunately for Memphis, Norvell has accepted the head coaching position at Florida State. As it currently stands, both Norvell and Memphis want him to coach the Cotton Bowl before leaving. However, it remains to be seen if he will accomplish that while settling into a new job in Tallahassee. Even if he is one the sidelines for the game, shuttling back and forth between the two jobs during preparation would be tough for all parties involved.

Out of UCF’s shadow

Memphis has actually been a successful program since Justin Fuente led the team to 10 wins in 2014. The Tigers have won eight games every year under Norvell, including 10 wins in 2017, but the American Athletic Conference spotlight had been dominated by UCF recently. This year, Memphis stole the show and put up impressive numbers in the march to the AAC Championship Game.

High-flying offense

Penn State’s defense will be put to the test in this game. The AAC is known for having some wide-open attacks, and Memphis’ is one of the best. The Tigers averaged 40.5 points per game and scored 40+ points eight times and 50+ points three times. Memphis was held below 20 points just once all season in a 15-10 win over Ole Miss. The Nittany Lion defense is giving up 14.1 points per game, good for seventh in the nation. Remarkably, Memphis’ scoring output ranked third in the AAC behind UCF and SMU, but the 40.5 points per game ranks eighth nationally.

A well-balanced attack

Trying to pick one element of Memphis’ attack to focus on is rather difficult. The Tigers average over 284 yards passing in a game, but they supplement that with a rushing attack that averages nearly 200 yards on the ground. Quarterback Brady White is a veteran signal-caller who began his career in the Pac-12 at Arizona State and has put up back-to-back 3,000-yard seasons. On the ground, redshirt freshman Kenny Gainwell gained over 1,400 yards rushing and led a group of four Tigers to rush for more than 300 yards on the season.

X-Factor – RB Kenny Gainwell

Believe it or not, Gainwell has an opportunity at a 2,000-yards from scrimmage season for the Tigers. In addition to his 1,425 yards on the ground, he also has 532 yards through the air. He is just 43 yards shy of 2,000 total yards on the season with 15 total touchdowns. Should he reach the mark, that would give Memphis back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons as Darrell Henderson had 2,204 yards from scrimmage in 2018. Gainwell is the team’s leading rusher, but he is also second on the team with 44 catches. If Penn State wants to come away with this win, the Nittany Lions will need to make sure to account for Gainwell on the ground and in the passing game. Thankfully, the Nittany Lions have a strong corps of linebackers that will be very active trying to keep track of Gainwell.