An occasional series looking ahead to what USF will face in its American Conference schedule
Memphis at USF at East Carolina, November 12 (Thursday), Kickoff time 8 p.m. TV: ESPN or ESPN2.
The Tigers can relate to USF’s season of massive change. Memphis also has a new head coach following the departure of Ryan Silverfield to Arkansas.
Charles Huff takes over after one season at Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles were 1-11 when he arrived but they finished 7-5 in the regular season under Huff.
Before that, Huff was the head man at Marshall from 2021 to 2024. The Thundering Herd won the Sun Belt Conference in 2024.
He was also the associate head coach and running backs coach under Nick Saban at Alabama starting in 2019.
At Memphis, Huff had to lean heavily on the Transfer Portal (sound familiar, USF?) to rebuild the roster after 49 players transferred out.
Why Memphis could be really good:Â Huff has installed a go-go spread offense and he has a pair of interesting quarterback transfers to make it go.
Marcus Stokes, who came from West Florida, is in a battle with South Carolina transfer Air Noland to win the starting job. Hartline should be at least a little familiar with Noland. Both were at Ohio State in 2024, although Noland never saw the field and transferred to South Carolina in 2025. Now he is on the move again.
Linebacker Mike Montgomery was a key cog in the Southern Miss defense last year and followed Huff to Memphis.
Like USF, Memphis has invested heavily in the trenches, particularly on the defensive front. J`Mond Tapp also moved over from Southern Miss. He was a first-team All-Sun Belt pick last season
We’ll find out quickly how that looks. Two of the Tigers first three games are at UNLV and at Boise State.
Charles Huff on the depth of Memphis’ defensive line
— Landon Speck (@landonspeck2) April 7, 2026
“When the first group’s out there we can’t move the ball. We can’t run a play.” pic.twitter.com/Wy20b7e3Ya
Why Memphis might struggle: The Tigers have 53 incoming transfers coming from all over the country, so taking so many separate parts and blending them into a cohesive team is a serious challenge.
It is possible that 20 of 22 starters for the Tigers will have come from the portal.
Of course, USF’s Brian Hartline faced the nearly the same challenge, so may be and Huff can swap stories later.
At this point, a major eyebrow-raiser for the Tigers is whether a team with 17 transfers from Southern Miss can make the leap from the Sun Belt to the American Conference.
Until they prove they can, they haven’t done it.
X factors: Memphis has had the mojo on USF. The Tigers have beaten the Bulls eight of the last nine times they played, including last year’s 34-31 gut punch.
The Bulls led by two touchdowns entering the fourth quarter but were outscored 17-0 over the final 15 minutes. Combined with a loss after that to Navy, also by three points, the Bulls fell a game short of qualifying for the American title game.
This game has the look and feel for something special. It’s on a Thursday night and will be one of the last games USF will play at Raymond James Stadium.
Also, with so many newcomers on both teams, most of USF’s players and coaches don’t carry the weight of negative history against Memphis.
And with the same amount of turnover at Memphis and so few players with any history against the Bulls, the Tigers probably won’t feel like they are USF’s daddy.
Previously in this series:
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