Grind City Football: With AAC titles and major bowl within reach, Tigers embark on biggest breakthrough stretch in program history
Michael WallaceBy Phil Stukenborg
Grind City Media CorrespondentMEMPHIS – SMU at home on Saturday, East Carolina at home on Nov. 25 and a potential rematch with Central Florida in early December in the American Athletic Conference title game.
Never have three games meant so much in University of Memphis football history. Never have the stakes been higher. If the Tigers (8-1, 5-1 AAC) pull off an end-of-the-season sweep of SMU, ECU and UCF (or South Florida), the prize will be a New Year’s Day invitation to the Peach Bowl.
First wins first, of course.
A victory Saturday clinches the West Division title and begins what could be a historic stretch.
“This opportunity, Saturday at 11 o’clock, is the greatest challenge we’ve had, but it’s also probably one of the greatest opportunities that have been in front of this program since I’ve been here,” Memphis coach Mike Norvell said. “Our kids feel it. I think our city feels it. We talk about showcase games. This is a showcase game. This is one that if we can go out there and find a way to have success, everybody around this community is going to be able to celebrate that.”
In some ways, the scenario seems unimaginable.
All of the Tigers goals are within reach – AAC division title, conference championship and major bowl game – if they can first get past SMU on Saturday at the Liberty Bowl. Photo Credit: Mikel Galicia/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
Six years ago – before Norvell, before former coach Justin Fuente – Memphis was in a freefall. Former Tigers running back Larry Porter, in his first head coaching stint, had been dismissed after two dismal seasons that netted only three wins. The season before Porter arrived, Memphis had finished 2-10.
As the Tigers prepare for a difficult test against SMU (6-4, 3-3), the program is in a remarkably solid place. Memphis has been nationally ranked for a month. The Tigers are No. 21 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and the senior class has set a record for most wins (35) in a four-year period.
Before this stretch, Memphis had its moments to celebrate. In the school’s 100-plus years of football, consider the other major moments:
- A 0-0 tie with No. 2-ranked Ole Miss during the Tigers’ 9-0-1 season in 1963.
- The win over unranked Ole Miss in 1967 that was Memphis’ first against the Rebels.
- That shocking season-opening win at No. 16 Southern Cal in 1991.
- The upset of Peyton Manning and No. 6 Tennessee in 1996.
- The DeAngelo Williams-led team’s return to the postseason in 2003 after a 32-year bowl drought.
Longtime former Tigers sports information director Bob Winn said it’s been rewarding to watch the program’s rise to respectability. Memphis will be playing in a fourth consecutive bowl game, a first for the program. Winn, who serves as the school’s M Club executive director, recalls an upset of Auburn in the mid-1970s that prompted a memorable call to him in the press box.
“A reporter from the Associated Press was calling to confirm the final score (Memphis 31, Auburn 20),” Winn explained with a laugh. “He told me there had been a misprint on the wire. It said ‘Memphis State beat Auburn.’”
Senior Tigers receiver Phil Mayhue (No. 89) is part of the winningest four-year class in Memphis football history, with 35 victories entering Saturday’s game against SMU. Photo Credit: Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Winn believes the scoreless tie with Ole Miss in the early 1960s was considered the moment that elevated Memphis football. This current stretch of sustained success could lift the program even further.
“We know where we can go,” Tigers receiver Phil Mayhue said. “We also know where we came from. We’ve got to remain focused and dedicated.”
Mayhue said being part of a class – and team – that has made Memphis football nationally relevant is confirmation he made the right choice to attend Memphis. Despite the pockets of success through the years, there’s never been a prize like what might await Jan. 1.
The Tigers never have been to a major bowl, instead playing in a variety of postseason games from the New Orleans Bowl to the Boca Raton Bowl. Not only would a New Year’s Day invitation bring prestige, but a significant boost in bowl revenue. Dreaming big is one thing. Winning out is quite another, and that would give Memphis its second 10-win season in four years, and only its third in school history.
Momentum is on the Tigers’ sideline.
Memphis enters on a five-game winning streak, including back-to-back blowouts over Tulane and Tulsa.
“For us, it’s the first time we’ve actually been able to mention the word championship,” Norvell said. “That is there in front of us, to be Western Division champions. That is a goal we set out on at the beginning of the year. If we can find a way to be successful, then it’s there for us to achieve.”
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 Nov 16, 2016
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