Editor's Note: Dick Weiss, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, has covered college sports in Philadelphia and New York for more than 40 years. He will be providing regular commentary for the American Athletic Conference during the 2014-15 season.
Most of the pre-season hype in the American Athletic Conference's second football season centered around Cincinnati, East Carolina and defending champion UCF, primarily because of proven, experienced coaching, and specific skill position players.
But now that the dust of a balanced league season has started to settle, Memphis is the surprise team in The American and looks like it has the best chance to steal at least a piece of the league championship.
The Tigers, who were 3-9 last season, have given The American another competitive presence in the South. They are 7-3 overall and 5-1 in conference with two home games remaining - against USF and Tulsa at the Liberty Bowl. The school is hoping for crowds of 40,000 plus as the excitement grows.
“It's a big deal,” senior cornerback Bobby McCain said. “We play for the city. We play for ourselves. We play for everything that goes into a big-time football program. But we're going to play ball whether there are 500 or 50,000 people in the stands.”
Memphis has always been a great sports town. In the past, it had been trapped in the shadow of the SEC, but this city, which was the birthplace of rock n roll with Elvis and Sun Records, suddenly is sending out a sound that that has the local fans developing a newfound respect for football at a school that has always been one of the great destinations for college basketball.
The Tigers are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2007, a year when they had their last winning season.
“It's great,” said senior running back Brandon Hayes, who has been through the tough times. “Since I've been here, Memphis has always been known as a basketball school Now, the sky's the limit for us. We're in a good position and as long as we continue to keep doing what we've been doing, great things are going to keep happening.”
“The city seems to be excited about what we're doing,” senior linebacker Charles Harris added. “We're trying to do something the university hasn’t done in a long time.”
The man who has been the catalyst for this renaissance has been 38-year-old, third year coach Justin Fuente, who started his playing career as a quarterback at Oklahoma, then transferred to Murray State, where he set 11 school records and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award as the Division I-AA national player of the year in 1999.
Fuente’s resume took off after he joined the Gary Patterson's TCU staff in 2007 and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in February of 2009.
It hasn't taken long for Fuente, who is rapidly turning into one of the hot coaches in the country, to bring a stagnant program back to life.
The Tigers gave us hints in the nonleague schedule when they played close games against two teams, Ole Miss and UCLA, which figure prominently in the College Football Playoff rankings and could both be playing in New Year’s bowl games.
Fuente did catch a huge scheduling break in The American, since the Tigers do not play either East Carolina or UCF this season. But they deserve credit for gathering steam with a four-game winning streak that includes a 38-7 victory over Tulane that ruined the Green Wave's homecoming.
Ironically, for as much success Fuente has had generating success on offense both as a player and coach, his newfound success at Memphis has been based on defense and an upgraded emphasis on focus and senior leadership. Through 10 games, Memphis is eighth in the country in scoring defense, giving up just 17.5 points per game.
“The biggest thing is we're a much less selfish group than were a year ago,” Fuente said. “Our team is much tighter than had in the past. Guys are concerned about getting the job done and not necessarily who gets the credit for it. We have tried to make a point of dialing out distractions and made focus a point of emphasis.
“It's not specific to the city of Memphis. But our culture is over-reactionary, good or bad. You win one game, you're going to win them all. You lose one game, you're going to lose them all. That's for other people’s consumption. What's for our consumption is how we control ourselves, how we prepare and ultimately play. It's a continuing battle.”
Last Saturday against Tulane, McCain, one of the best cover corners in the conference, and Dontrell Nelson each had interception returns for touchdowns as the Tigers forced a season-high five turnovers. Much improved quarterback Paxton Lynch completed 14 of 25 passes for 178 yards and a score and added a 4-yard rushing touchdown, his eighth of the season.
“To be honest, we just wanted to focus on winning, not look ahead to anything else,” Hayes said. “We really don’t look that far into it as far as being conference champs but we knew that if we won a lot of games, then we would go to a bowl game and that there could be a possibility of becoming conference champs. I think we've done a great job of staying focused and not looking ahead.”
A strong finish, coupled with solid fan support, could influence Memphis’ bowl destination, which will be announced Dec. 7. The American has tie-ins with bowls in Miami, St. Petersburg, Fort Worth, Birmingham and Annapolis.
It is a conversation the Tigers can finally have in two weeks.