Grind City Football: Erratic schedule as tough as any opponent nationally-ranked Memphis Tigers face this season
Michael WallaceBy Phil Stukenborg
Grind City Media CorrespondentMEMPHIS – Several years ago, a former coach of an American Athletic Conference football team was looking at a schedule filled with non-Saturday games, a then-unorthodox approach to accommodate expanded television coverage.
He quickly turned to a media member and, with a half-hearted smile, said he needed to hire an assistant to remind him when they were playing. University of Memphis football coach Mike Norvell gets the joke. This season, Norvell is leading the nationally ranked Tigers through an unconventional fall lineup.
When the No. 25 Tigers (5-1 overall, 2-1 AAC) play at Houston (4-2, 2-1) in a key West Division matchup Thursday, it will mark the Tigers’ third non-Saturday kickoff. Two more – Friday, Oct. 27 at home against Tulane and Friday, Nov. 3 at Tulsa – remain, giving Memphis a league-high five weekday games.
No other AAC teams plays more than four, and five league programs play two or fewer. Memphis would have played six such games, but a Friday matchup at UCF in early September was postponed due to Hurricane Irma-related concerns in the Orlando area.
“We have two Saturday games left,” Norvell said, flatly. “There are five games left in the (regular) season and we have two Saturday games.”
The tradeoff for giving up a Saturday has been gaining a national audience on a Thursday and Friday when there is no competition for the college football fan. ESPN carried Memphis’ 70-31 win at UConn Oct. 6, a Friday, and will carry Thursday’s game at Houston.
Memphis’ Austin Hall (No. 25) received National Player of the Week honors after registering 10 tackles and two interceptions in last Saturday’s home win over Navy that propelled the Tigers into the national rankings. Photo Credit: Joe Murphy/Getty Images
“We love the exposure,” Norvell said. “It’s great for our program.”
For Norvell, this week’s preparations have been just another cram course for his staff and players. He said he and his staff devoured a pizza shortly after last weekend’s upset win over then-No. 25 Navy and immediately turned their attention to Houston. It’s a challenging turnaround, going from a Saturday game to playing just five days later.
“Your players don’t have a lot of time to recoup physically,” Memphis defensive coordinator Chris Ball said. “So you’ve got to be creative, practice-wise.”
In essence, Ball said, the team loses two practice days in such a quick turnaround.
“You can’t really go and put new things in,” Ball said of adjusting from Navy’s unique triple-option offense to Houston’s more pass-friendly pro style of attack. “You don’t have time to work on them. So you have to pick and choose.”
Ball said playing an afternoon game at home on Saturday before playing the following game on Thursday helps somewhat. Had the Tigers played an away night game and flown back home for the short turnaround, it would have presented an even greater challenge.
“Regardless, it’s really, really tough on the kids,” Ball said. “On a short week, you are scrambling.”
Austin Hall, named the national player of the week for his two-interception, 10-tackle performance against Navy, said the toughest part is recovering physically. He was extremely active playing free safety against Navy instead of his normal outside linebacker position.
“You play on Saturday and when you practice on Monday (normally an off day) it’s a `Tuesday’ in your head” Hall said. “Sometimes it’s hard, but it’s harder being banged up and trying to get (treatment). It seems so fast. You are trying to hustle it up. It’s just part of what we’re having to do this year. So we’ve got to handle it the right way and the training staff is good at doing that stuff.”
For Houston, Thursday’s game is one of only two mid-week games the Cougars will play this season, with the other coming the Friday after Thanksgiving against Navy. Houston coach Major Applewhite understands the benefits to the conference and accepts the hardships a non-Saturday game creates.
“In terms of your preparations as a coach, everything is just sped up,” Applewhite said. “In terms of practice reps on the field for your players, there are some things you have to be careful of because they are coming off a game on Saturday. You have to be smart about what you are doing on a Sunday and a Monday because these guys are, sometimes, less than 24 hours removed from a game.”
Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson, who has nine touchdown passes and no interceptions the past two games, said the Tigers have become accustomed to the non-traditional game days.
“It helps we’ve had some prior to this one,” Ferguson said. “We’re going to (approach) it like every other one we’ve had.”
In addition to the weekday games, the first-half of the season included a strange series of events for Memphis. The game against UCF was moved from a Saturday to a Friday in an attempt to beat Hurricane Irma’s impact, but was postponed after the Tigers had landed in Orlando. Eventually, the two teams played Sept. 30 and Memphis was handed its only loss, 40-13.
“So, yes, we’ve had no routine this year,” Norvell said. “It’s a wonderful compliment to the young men and the coaches within this program (to have had success).”
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Memphis Grizzlies. All opinions expressed by Michael Wallace and/or Phil Stukenborg are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Memphis Grizzlies or its Basketball Operations staff, owners, parent companies, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Memphis Grizzlies and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
Published on Oct 19, 2016
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