It is borderline unfathomable what could take place on Saturday: the Memphis Tigers could win the American Athletic Conference title. No, not in basketball. In football.
Memphis has always been a basketball school in a basketball city. Ever since the Grizzlies came to town, the city has nicknamed itself “Hoop City,” and rightfully so. The roots of basketball run deep throughout Memphis whether it be in high school, college, or now, professionally.
But this Saturday, football– specifically Memphis Tiger football– will take center stage in Hoop City. That’s because Memphis has an opportunity to win its first conference title in football since their days in the Missouri Valley Conference.
The conference title trophy has been delivered to Memphis in preparation for what could take place on Saturday. With a win, the Tigers would move to 9-3, 7-1 on the season. But Memphis would need some help to win the conference outright.
Currently, both UCF and Cincinnati only have one conference loss. Memphis has the head-to-head advantage over the Bearcats with a 41-14 win back in early October. But Memphis and UCF did not play this season, so the Tigers would need the Knights to lose either this Friday at South Florida or next Thursday at East Carolina.
UCF is 1-3 when playing away from home this season, and their lone conference defeat came in a surprising upset at UConn, 37-29. All of Memphis– while enjoying some Thanksgiving leftovers– should be rooting for South Florida to pick off UCF come Friday evening.
As for UConn, it has had its struggles this season. The Huskies come in with a record of just 2-8, and they have been outscored by 134 points in those ten games. Outside of their surprising win against UCF, UConn’s only other victory came in a three point win against Stony Brook, a 5-7 FCS school.
The Huskies bring the nation’s 126th ranked total offense to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Saturday to face Memphis’ ninth-ranked scoring defense and 31st ranked total defense. Assuming that the Tigers show up ready, and they limit their number of mistakes, they should take care of business.
By the time the game kicks off on Saturday, UCF will have already played, so Memphis will know whether or not they are playing for a chance to break out the shiny conference title trophy that has already made its way to the Bluff City, or, if they will have to wait until next Thursday to see if they will be crowned sole champions.
Regardless of the outcomes of other games, the Tigers know that if they beat UConn, they will, at worst, win a share of the conference title and have a shot at winning 10 games with a victory in a bowl game — a feat that has never been accomplished in program history.
The senior leaders, Al Bond, Joe Craig, Charles Harris, Brandon Hayes, Martin Ifedi, Tank Jakes, Keiwone Malone, Bobby McCain, and Terry Redden, have endured more than their fair share of hard times at Memphis. Through the two and three win seasons and coaching changes, these guys have stuck with Memphis football, and it is satisfying to see these players have the chance to go down as the most successful Tiger football team in the history of the program.
Edited By: Ali Balchunas
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