Memphis Tigers football 2017

• How significant to the Memphis program is Saturday’s game against SMU at the Liberty Bowl? For the first time — ever — the Tigers will play a game for a berth in a conference championship. We’ve read and heard lots of “1 and 0” talk since Mike Norvell took the helm two years ago. (This actually preceded him, as Justin Fuente was a master of emphasizing each week as its own mini-season.) But the first goal for any college team is to win its league crown. Memphis tied for the AAC regular-season championship (with two other teams) in 2014, but the AAC didn’t add a 12th team — and a championship game — until a year later. Conference USA held a championship the last eight seasons Memphis was a part of the league (2005-12), but the Tigers never finished a season atop their division. This is a big deal for the U of M.

The 18th-ranked Tigers actually get two chances to clinch the AAC West Division by virtue of a tiebreaker they hold over Houston (thanks to beating the Cougars last month). But if their aim is to climb the rankings and to be in the mix for the “Group of Five” berth in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day, the Tigers need to handle the Mustangs this week. SMU has lost consecutive games (to UCF and Navy) but features an offense that ranks third in the AAC in scoring (39.6 points per game) and fourth in total offense (497.1 yards per game). Memphis, of course, ranks even higher in both categories (42.3 and 502.9). There’s nothing wrong with a mid-day shootout the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Rest assured, after a bye week, the Tigers understand all there is to gain.
Larry Kuzniewski

Anthony Miller

• Enjoy Anthony Miller’s last two games at the Liberty Bowl. We won’t see another player like Miller in a while. The former walk-on(!) from Christian Brothers High School has already become the first Tiger to accumulate 3,000 career receiving yards. His fourth catch Saturday will break Duke Calhoun’s Memphis career receptions record (212). With 95 yards, Miller will become the first Tiger to have two 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Three more touchdowns would tie Miller with Dave Casinelli for second-most (36) in Memphis history. He’s accumulated these numbers with the help of two of the program’s finest quarterbacks (Paxton Lynch and Riley Ferguson), but Miller should be the next — and seventh — Tiger to see his number retired. (The man whose records Miller has broken — Isaac Bruce — is already a member of this exclusive club.)

And speaking of retired Tiger numbers, there is now a banner at the Liberty Bowl displaying the honored numbers of Bruce, Casinelli, John Bramlett, Charles Greenhill, Harry Schuh, and DeAngelo Williams. It’s directly under the press box, as though a local scribe had been clamoring for just such a display. It’s a small, but significant step toward further making the oversized Liberty Bowl a college program’s home stadium.

• With the Tennessee and Florida jobs now open, Norvell’s name is going to be discussed amid rumored hires. He’s earned this with a pair of stellar seasons in Memphis, and the buzz will only get louder if Arkansas parts ways with Bret Bielema. But for the next six weeks — certainly the next three — Tiger fans need to find a way to embrace the “now” and not fret over a decision they really cannot control. Focus is a job skill, and in the conversations I’ve had with Norvell over the last two years, he displays the focus of a trauma surgeon. I don’t see him allowing his job status to weigh on the performance (and fate) of his 2017 Memphis team. I can’t imagine compartmentalizing the wooing of other programs, but this is where Norvell’s focus will be most critical. The Tigers may or may not win the AAC championship. They may or may not achieve the unthinkable and play in a “New Year’s Six” bowl game. But I don’t think Norvell’s job status will impact either scenario. Let the chatter happen. And prepare for a “1 and 0” week.

• Since the Tigers’ remarkable win at Houston on October 19th (their sixth victory of the season), not a single person has spoken the words “bowl eligibility” to me. Remember when simply becoming eligible for one of more than 30 bowl games was a big deal for the Memphis program? When you go three decades without playing a postseason game (as Memphis did from 1972 to 2002), qualifying for an extra game in December is indeed a big deal.

Those days are gone. The Tigers will play in a bowl game for a fourth straight season, an unprecedented stretch for the program. We’ve reached the point where the strength of a bowl game matters to Memphis, and the 2017 Tigers have the chance to play on or near New Year’s Day, one sacred “Group of Five” slot open in the still-new format that sends 12 teams to “New Year’s Six” bowl games (including four to the national semifinals). The very idea of Memphis being discussed for such elite placement — here in late October — is a cultural shift that would have been impossible to envision as recently as 2011. Better yet, the Tigers control their positioning (at least until selection of the “Group of Five” representative). Win their remaining four games and Memphis plays for the American Athletic Conference championship. Win the AAC title and “bowl eligibility” will seem as distant a notion as the T formation.
Larry Kuzniewski

Tony Pollard

• If you can turn away from the heroics of Anthony Miller, Riley Ferguson, and Tony Pollard (five kickoff-return touchdowns in two seasons) just briefly, the play of Austin Hall and T.J. Carter on the Tiger defense has transformed this team. During one of the first visits I had with Memphis coach Mike Norvell, he emphasized that playmakers must be found on the defensive side of the ball. A potent offense is invaluable, but defensive playmakers can turn a tight game. That’s precisely what we saw on October 14th, when two Hall interceptions were integral in a three-point win over Navy. Then five days later, Carter grabbed his fourth interception of the season, forced a fumble, and accumulated 14 tackles in a four-point win at Houston. To no one’s surprise, Hall and Carter were each named the AAC’s Defensive Player of the Week. The Tiger defense has room to improve, starting with its pass rush. But with Hall (a sophomore) and Carter (a freshman) in the secondary, holes are going to be filled and mistakes (by opposing offenses) punished. Lots to like in this playmaking pair.

• Through four games of its seven-game home schedule, the Tigers have averaged 34,579 fans at the Liberty Bowl. This is a deceiving average, as only 10,263 tickets were sold for the season-opener against Louisiana-Monroe, a game played in near-hurricane conditions. Memphis has drawn more than 40,000 for its last three games (UCLA, Southern Illinois, and Navy). It will be interesting to see the turnout for the three remaining home games: Tulane (Friday), SMU (November 18th), and East Carolina (November 25th). These aren’t the kind of opponents that typically drive ticket sales, but the circumstances (as noted above) are unique this year. Every game the Tigers win makes the next one more significant. Memphis will surely average more than 30,000 fans a fourth straight year, a streak last seen from 2003 to 2006 (three of those “DeAngelo Years”). The question, really, is can the average climb to 40,000? It’s happened only four times in Liberty Bowl history: 1976, 2003, 2004, and 2015.