What started as a season full of promise has all of a sudden crashed down to earth for Memphis Football. The Tigers started the season 6-0, were the first FBS team in the country to reach bowl eligibility, spent multiple weeks in the AP Top 25, became the favorite to have an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff (CFP) and were even in the running for a visit from ESPN’s College Gameday.
It all came crashing down after last week’s upset loss to UAB.
While Memphis still has a chance to make The American Conference championship and the CFP, it has to win-out with the hardest part of the schedule right in front of them, starting with the No. 18 South Florida Bulls. To help dissect the matchup, The Daily Helmsman reached out to Tobey Blair, who is the assistant sports editor for USF’s student newspaper, The Oracle.
“The preseason expectations were just something better than 7-6,” Blair said. In both of the last two seasons, USF went 7-6 with bowl wins against Syracuse and San Jose State, respectively.
“And then obviously now, you have this crazy schedule that [they] have against Miami and Florida and Boise, where there was an expectation that if you can take one of those and then go on with your life, you’re in good shape,” he continued.
Those expectations were raised tenfold when the Bulls beat Boise State and upset Florida in Gainesville, catapulting themselves into Group of Five conversations surrounding the CFP.
“After they beat Boise, I was pretty shocked, but it wasn’t a crazy thing,” Blair said. “I was at the game [they] beat Florida. I was shaking. I couldn’t believe it.”
USF had shocked the college football world, and they kept that momentum going into conference play after dropping a game to No. 5 Miami. Meanwhile, Memphis made its presence known after defeating Arkansas and rattling off impressive wins over FAU and Tulsa.
Since entering their American Conference slate, the Bulls are averaging 55 points a game with an offense that has weapons everywhere you look. Blair said that USF has a “flavor of the week” offense with just how many playmakers are on that side of the ball, you never know who is going to show out. While a lot of the success lays on the shoulders of senior quarterback Byrum Brown, guys like Nykahi Davenport, Jeremiah Koger, Alvon Issac and Keshaun Singleton have all had great performances.
While the offense has been the star of the show for most of the season, the Bulls’ defense will have an opportunity to come alive against a Memphis offense that has question marks around the quarterback room this week after Brendon Lewis’ injury.
“Mac Harris and Jhalyn Shuler are probably the best tandem of linebackers in the country,” Blair said. “They’re quick, they’re very large human beings, they’re best friends. They are really special football players.”
If the Tigers manage to pull the home upset, they put themselves right back in the thick of things for both an American Conference title and a potential CFP berth, but a loss could signal the start to an ugly collapse to a season that started full of promise.
With the blue and gray backdrop of homecoming surrounding the city on Saturday, all of the pressure is on for Memphis in what is likely its biggest game of the season.
The Tigers and USF will kickoff Saturday at 11 a.m. at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. The game will also be broadcasted live on ESPN2.
Nick New can be contacted at ntnew@memphis.edu.
