Just six days removed from a crushing win over the now-crippled Cincinnati Bearcats, talks have been flying around about Memphis having a chance to climb to the top of the American Athletic Conference.
In fact, going into its competition against the Bearcats, Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch had this to say, according to 247sports:
“We came into this game wanting to tell the American conference that we are here and that we are contenders. We’re not coming just to play anymore. We are coming to win it.”
I unequivocally, emphatically agree. This is the attitude that we should have been hearing all season long from each and every Tiger player, as the expectations of a higher level of competition being mounted against Memphis were not completely unfounded.
Based off of its impressive – yet far from perfect – victories over Austin Peay (63-0), Middle Tennessee (36-17), and Cincinnati (41-14), and the solid efforts that were exerted against UCLA (42-35) and Ole Miss (24-3) in losses, Memphis is finally transforming into the team that fans have been anxiously awaiting.
And as is evident from what Lynch articulated above, this more veteran group of players are beginning to believe in what they are capable of doing; in what their head coach Justin Fuente has been tirelessly laboring to build since 2012. Apart from the confidence and belief that this team is building, these Tigers have been fighting to become the newfound force that the AAC needs in order to bring some competition to the conference.
In the AAC preseason polls, for example, Cincinnati, East Carolina, and Central Florida were all but shoo-ins to overpower the entire conference.
Memphis’ program has shaped itself into something different than where it started at the beginning of the season, so who is to say that ECU and UCF aren’t also as dominant of teams as they were touted as being a couple of months ago? Now, I do realize that if you take even a peek at the countless ECU highlights around the internet, you would be written off as a fool for not believing it’s the top force in the AAC.
This is all I have to say about that: Memphis dodged two potential bullets. I am absolutely not about say that Memphis would have lost a meeting with ECU or UCF. We all saw how flawlessly Fuente and his team were able to dismantle Cincinnati. In fact, I strongly believe that a very similar situation would have revealed itself were the Pirates or Knights on the 2014 Memphis schedule.
They are not, though, and this means a title chance for Memphis is within reach.
With a defense led by Tank Jakes, the top defensive player in the AAC, and the likes of Lynch and a strong committee of running backs driving the Tigers’ offense down the field, championship talks should remain existent—but in hushed tones.
They have the talent. They have the experience. They have the coaching. And even the schedule is on their side, avoiding two potential losses to AAC powerhouses. As for talks in the locker room, though, it’s a bit of a different story.
“Let’s search for validation at the end,” Fuente said. “Let’s get through the entire thing and see exactly where it’s at. The bottom line is that we are about to play Houston which is another really, really good football team. This is a tremendous challenge for us. To me, we are a ways away from patting ourselves on the back and saying ‘job well done.’ We’ve got a lot of work left to do.”
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