Memphis hasn’t made a conference championship game appearance since 2019 and just ended the regular season with an 8-4 record. If the last two years of 10-3 and 11-2 were disappointing, then this year was a late season catastrophe.
Memphis had playoff hopes at the start of this season and started 6-0. They were even placed as the predicted 12 seed during the first College Football Playoff ranking on Nov. 4. Since then, Memphis lost their last three games in a row, their last coming on Thanksgiving to Navy. That loss to Navy ended Memphis’s streak of 51 straight games scoring at least 20 points, lasting back to 2021.
Ryan Silverfield has a record of 50-24 in his six seasons at Memphis. He is the second winningest coach in school history yet has no conference championship appearances to show for it. Memphis does not have much past football success. Despite this, they have not had a losing season since 2013 and have won two conference championships since then. Memphis is now one of the top contenders to join a power-4 conference. Winning bowl games is fine, but the expectations have risen to new heights that have not been met since Mike Norvell won the conference championship in the historic 2019 season.
“It’s a results-driven business. 8-4 is not good enough here,” said Silverfield after the Navy loss.
The high expectations are also justified by Memphis having the top-rated transfer portal in the American conference this season, while also having the top ranked recruiting class. Memphis ranks near the top of these metrics every year. Most of the top teams in the conference have moved on to power-4 conferences in the last few years, leaving Memphis as one of the favorites every year.
Some of this year’s setbacks can be excused. The team brought in 70 new players over the off-season; it was always going to be difficult to meet the expectations with that much roster turnaround. Quarterback Brendon Lewis had nagging injuries throughout the year, and, for two of the losses, game-winning drives that came up short were led by backups. When Silverfield took the job over in 2020, he had never been a college head coach before and is still learning and improving as well as his staff.
Despite all of this, fans are getting restless with the lack of conference championships and big game wins. Silverfield has earned himself grace with multiple 10-win seasons and consistently being good, but good isn’t enough anymore. There are multiple head coaching vacancies across college football and rumors surrounding them and Silverfield, but he has publicly stated that he is committed to Memphis.
“Look, I’m the head coach of the Memphis Tigers,” said Silverfield after the loss to Navy. “I’m going to wake up tomorrow and still plan to be the head coach of the Memphis Tigers.”
After this season’s collapse, both him and the Tigers are going to have to bounce back over the next few years and prove that they are legitimate contenders in the American conference and for the College Football Playoffs.
