With the opening of USF’s football season less than two months away, Green, Gold, and Bold will examine each opponent the Bulls will face in the 2025 season.
Here’s the eighth in the series.
Team: Memphis Tigers
When: Saturday, October 25, Game Time TBA, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Head coach: Ryan Silverfield. As he enters his sixth season as the Memphis head coach, Silverfield is 42-20 overall, including 21-5 over the last two seasons. This is the first time the Tigers have had consecutive double-digit win seasons in program history.
Last year’s record: 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the American Athletic Conference. However, that was a disappointment as an upset loss at UTSA ultimately cost the Tigers a spot in the conference championship game.
Name to know: Brendon Lewis. This is his third stop after stints at Nevada and Colorado, where he combined for more than 5,300 yards passing and, watch out now, 2,108 rushing yards. He’ll replace four-year starter Seth Henigan, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a free agent. The Bulls aren’t sorry to see him go. He was 2-0 against USF while leading the Tigers to 80 points combined in those games.
The biggest potential weakness: Only two starters return – one on each side of the ball – as the Tigers experienced mass migration after last season. Silverfield turned to the transfer portal and had an impressive haul by most accounts.
Still, needing “Hi, My Name Is…” tags for so many players and coaches can be a difficult hurdle to overcome, at least in the early part of the season.
The biggest question mark: Leave it to ESPN’s Bill Connelly to come up with this gem.
Of the Tigers’ 22 defenders playing at least 100 snaps last season, only three are still on the roster.
The first couple of games – Chattanooga and Georgia State – could give the new-look defense time to find its bearings, but a Week 3 game at Troy could be telling. The AAC schedule is kind. Memphis should win its first three AAC games against Florida Atlantic, Tulsa, and UAB before playing the Bulls. If USF’s offense is cooking like it has the potential to do, that could be a serious test for Memphis defenders.
Interesting things to know: The Tigers have been playing football since 1912. Memphis has had 139 NFL and AFL draft selections, including Hall of Fame wide receiver Isaac Bruce.
The Tigers have been to a bowl game every year since 2014, with the exception of the 2021 COVID-19 season.
A massive renovation of Simmons Bank Stadium is underway and is scheduled for completion by 2026. It will modernize a facility that opened in 1965.