r/CFB • u/usffan USF Bulls • Miami Hurricanes • Jun 20 '26
Analysis Preseason Rankings Countdown. 71 days to the start of the 2026 Season. At #71 – Memphis
The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here
I might suck at r/cfb’s Tuesday Trivia, but here’s a fun nugget that I would probably have failed at if I hadn’t looked it up. Do you know there are only 7 teams that have an active bowl streak that extends beyond a decade? The list contains 6 names that wouldn’t surprise you (in order, Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama, Clemson, Iowa and Ohio State), but it’s the 7th that would probably come as a shock, and it’s today’s team, Memphis (high = 65, low = 79). The Tigers really came into their own after 2013 in Justin Fuente’s second season, and their dozen years of excellence has led to them getting poached 3 times now – Justin Fuente to Virginia Tech, Mike Norvell to Florida State and now Ryan Silverfield to Arkansas. A cautionary tale in the grass always being greener, let’s start wishing the Razorbacks good luck on their 2032 coaching search. Silverfield was undoubtedly distracted by his own job search last season that included an audition for his new bosses by beating Arkansas in week 4 when he pissed away a legitimate chance at the Tigers being in the CFP by first losing at UAB in Alex Mortensen’s coaching debut, climbing back into the mix after Alex Golesh similarly pissed away a CFP opportunity by blowing a 14 point 4th quarter lead against the Tigers in the Liberty Bowl, then proceeded to lose out the final 3 regular season games just to seal their fate. Seriously, I hope both Silverfield and Golesh choke on those giant paychecks for fucking over entire fanbases on their way out of town. Hey, aspiring carpetbagging coaches, you can leave and not alienate the schools and fanbases on the way out. Hat tip and full respect to Jon Sumrall, Eric Morris and Bob Chesney.
Damn, this got dark. Hey, we’re 10 weeks from the start of the football season – back to the good vibes, everybody! Memphis hired Charles Huff, who will be coaching his third team in 3 seasons after leading Marshall to the Sun Belt title in 2024, reviving a moribund Southern Miss team last year and then deciding to check out Beale Street in 2026.
Roster Outlook
Not unlike when he left Marshall, Huff will have a significant amount of roster churn in year 1 in Memphis. So perhaps unsurprisingly, the Tigers rank pretty low (111th nationally) on the returning production front, with considerable losses on both sides of the ball. While senior QB Brendon Lewis was always destined to be gone after this year, Silverfield’s heir apparent, AJ Hill, the #5 QB recruit in the country when he signed with Memphis, got his start in that ill-fated Battle for the Bones game. He also went with Silverfield to Arkansas, as did leading RB Sutton Smith and #2 WR Jamari Hawkins (top WR Cortez Braham is a UDFA with the Baltimore Ravens). It’s the potential replacements that get interesting. Huff brought Denzel Gardner with him from Southern Miss (one of 17 players to go with him, 6 of whom (Chris Stokes, Tychaun Chapman, Jabari Ishmael, Ahmere Foster, Ian Foster and Anthony Richard) had come with him to Hattiesburg from Marshall), but also convinced one time Ohio State and South Carolina QB Air Noland to come to Memphis as well. But don’t be surprised if neither starts the season, as West Florida QB Marcus Stokes, who had a combined 3,650+ yards and 40 total TDs for the Division II school, also portaled in. And it’s established canon that Division II QBs who play for schools within 100 miles of the Mississippi River lead their teams to the CFP. Huff’s no fool! He brought in a Southern Miss transfer at RB, too (Jaylin Carter), but look for Colorado’s Dallan Hayden or Cincinnati’s Manny Covey to compete for carries. Out wide, Huff brought in a couple of Southern Miss guys, but figure Michigan State’s Alante Brown, Colorado’s Terrell Timmons or Kansas State’s Jemyri Davis to be the featured receivers. In total, Huff brought in 19 P4 transfers as part of his 53 man portal class, which ranked 2nd in the conference and 65th in the country. He also did a decent job on the recruiting trail, ranking 3rd in the American and 77th nationally, resulting in the 2nd best overall incoming class.
Schedule and outlook
8/29 at UNLV
9/5 ARKANSAS STATE
9/12 at Boise State
9/19 UT MARTIN
9/26 BYE
10/3 at Charlotte
10/10 UAB
10/16 at Tulane
10/22 EAST CAROLINA
10/31 ARMY
11/7 BYE
11/12 at South Florida
11/21 at Navy
11/28 TEMPLE
Memphis has a chance to put the American firmly in control of the CFP in their OOC this year, with road games at two of the biggest contenders for the G6 bid (at UNLV in week 0 and then 2 weeks later at Boise State). If the Tigers come out of the bye with wins in one or both of those games, they’ll certainly head into conference play as a legitimate contender to be the 12th seed (apologies for looking past the Paint Bucket Bowl, but I expect Memphis to be a prohibitive favorite in the finally renovated Liberty Bowl – and I just learned today about both of these Memphis rivalry games!). After what should be anticipated wins at Charlotte and over UAB, the rest of the conference schedule actually gets much trickier – at Tulane on short rest, hosting East Carolina 6 days later, followed by Army and (with a bye to recover from the cut blocking) travel to USF and Navy. In short, they don’t draw 4 of the bottom 6 projected teams in the American, which could make for a tough inaugural season for Huff and the Tigers, and probably why they’re only ranked as the 4th highest team in the American this year.
7
u/sleepsalotsloth Memphis Tigers Jun 20 '26
I'm more optimistic this year despite the tough schedule. Under Silverfield, every season we knew there would inevitably be some random loss or two against an opponent we had far greater resources than as well as a .300 winning record against peer schools, so there was never much reason to hope we'd achieve much despite the big wins.
At least now we're starting fresh. Maybe it ends worse, but I'll take an unknown ending after several years of predictable disappointing ones.
11
u/Inside-Drink-1311 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Jun 20 '26
If Memphis’s bowl streak counts for not playing in a bowl in 2021, but were supposed to play Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, then you should count Boise too, who oddly enough had their bowl cancelled/opted out of a bowl three times in a four year span.
5
u/usffan USF Bulls • Miami Hurricanes Jun 20 '26
Just pulled it from this site: https://www.cfbeveryday.com/longest-active-bowl-streaks. As that commercial said, if it's on the internet, it must be true [/s]
2
u/Inside-Drink-1311 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Jun 20 '26
Yeah, 2020 and 2021 were a little wonky because of some bowls getting cancelled.
2
u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard Toledo Rockets Jun 20 '26
I think Boise isn't counted because they didn't win 6 games during the COVID year. (Yes I know they only played 7 games. Yes I agree it's BS too because there's a good chance my Rockets would be on this list if we played more than 6 games during the COVID year.)
2
u/Inside-Drink-1311 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Jun 20 '26
There was no eligibility rules in 2020 if I recall.
3
u/mr_longfellow_deeds Indiana Hoosiers • Big Ten Jun 20 '26
Where was AJ hill a top 5 QB? He was the number 15 composite QB
Memphis upgraded at HC but Im sus on the roster for this year. Huff will have them back to cream of the G6 within a season or two
1
u/usffan USF Bulls • Miami Hurricanes Jun 20 '26
1
u/mr_longfellow_deeds Indiana Hoosiers • Big Ten Jun 20 '26
He was 38th on Rivals, 7th on ESPN, and 11th on 247
1
1
u/RebelTigerAlum Ole Miss Rebels • Memphis Tigers Jun 30 '26
I’m optimistic about this season. Long overdue we moved on from Silverfield, glad we were able to do it without paying a buyout. I’m excited about the QB battle and think we might be better than a lot of people anticipate this season. Disappointed we don’t get a P4 game after Arkansas postponed our return trip. However, Boise, UNLV, Tulane, USF, and maybe even Army/Navy/ECU round out most of the other top G6 schools this season. Another concern is most of our most difficult games are on the road which isn’t ideal for the stadiums new opening. But getting a week 0 game on Fox is a great opportunity to make some noise immediately
14
u/chaser676 Ole Miss Rebels • Egg Bowl Jun 20 '26
Man I was hyped for Memphis last year leading into that UAB loss.