2015 Memphis Tigers football team

The 2015 Memphis Tigers football team represented the University of Memphis in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Tigers were led by fourth-year head coach Justin Fuente and played their home games at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. The Tigers competed as a member of the West Division of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 5–3 in American Athletic play to finish in third place in the West Division. They were invited to the Birmingham Bowl where they lost to Auburn.

2015 Memphis Tigers football
Birmingham Bowl, L 10–31 vs. Auburn
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Division	West Division
2015 record	9–4 (5–3 The American)
Head coach	Justin Fuente (4th year; regular season) Darrell Dickey (interim; bowl game)
Offensive coordinator	Darrell Dickey
Defensive coordinator	Galen Scott
Home stadium	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 59,308)

2015 American Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Temple x		7	–	1					10	–	4
South Florida		6	–	2					8	–	5
Cincinnati		4	–	4					7	–	6
UConn		4	–	4					6	–	7
East Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	7
UCF		0	–	8					0	–	12
West Division
No. 8 Houston xy$		7	–	1					13	–	1
No. 18 Navy x		7	–	1					11	–	2
Memphis		5	–	3					9	–	4
Tulsa		3	–	5					6	–	7
Tulane		1	–	7					3	–	9
SMU		1	–	7					2	–	10
Championship: Houston 24, Temple 13
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant As of December 31, 2015; Rankings from AP Poll

On October 17, the Tigers defeated Ole Miss which led them to a #18 ranking in polls after the Tigers began the season with an 8–0 record. Before they were defeated by Navy three weeks later, the Tigers were ranked as high as #13 in the polls, which was the highest ever ranking for the program in school history.

On November 29, head coach Justin Fuente resigned to become the head coach at Virginia Tech.[1] He finished at Memphis with a four year record of 26–23. The Tigers were led by interim head coach Darrell Dickey in the Birmingham Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	6:00 p.m.	Missouri State*		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPN3	W 63–7	41,730
September 12	6:00 p.m.	at Kansas*		Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	JTV/ESPN3	W 55–23	37,798
September 19	2:00 p.m.	at Bowling Green*		Doyt Perry Stadium Bowling Green, OH	ASN	W 44–41	21,178
September 24	6:30 p.m.	Cincinnati		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPN	W 53–46	45,172
October 2	6:00 p.m.	at South Florida		Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL	ESPN2	W 24–17	22,546
October 17	11:00 a.m.	No. 13 Ole Miss*		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (rivalry)	ABC/ESPN2	W 37–24	60,241
October 23	7:00 p.m.	at Tulsa	No. 18	Chapman Stadium Tulsa, OK	ESPN	W 66–42	20,216
October 31	6:00 p.m.	Tulane	No. 16	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	CBSSN	W 41–13	30,381
November 7	6:00 p.m.	Navy	No. 15	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPN2	L 20–45	55,212
November 14	6:00 p.m.	at No. 16 Houston	No. 25	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX	ESPN2	L 34–35	42,159
November 21	11:00 a.m.	at Temple		Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	ESPNU	L 12–31	31,708
November 28	11:00 a.m.	SMU		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPNews	W 63–0	30,075
December 30	11:00 a.m.	vs. Auburn*		Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Birmingham Bowl)	ESPN	L 10–31	59,430
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source:[2]

Rankings

Further information: 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	18	16	15	25	RV	NR	RV	RV	NR
Coaches	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	22	17	16	16	25	RV	NR	RV	RV	RV
CFP	Not released									13	21	21	NR	NR	NR	Not released

Game summaries

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	7	0	7
Tigers	28	14	14	7	63

See also: 2015 Missouri State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	1942	MEM, 6–0

at Kansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	10	14	24	7	55
Jayhawks	10	3	7	3	23

See also: 2015 Kansas Jayhawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First Meeting

Bowling Green

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	10	7	17	10	44
Falcons	14	13	7	7	41

See also: 2015 Bowling Green Falcons football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2004	BGSU, 52–35

Cincinnati

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bearcats	10	20	3	13	46
Tigers	14	14	3	22	53

See also: 2015 Cincinnati Bearcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–13	2014	MEM, 41–14

at South Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	0	7	10	7	24
Bulls	7	3	0	7	17

See also: 2015 South Florida Bulls football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–3	2014	MEM, 31–20

Ole Miss

	1	2	3	4	Total
#13 Rebels	14	0	10	0	24
Tigers	7	17	7	6	37

See also: 2015 Ole Miss Rebels football team and Memphis–Ole Miss football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–48–2	2014	MISS, 24–3

at Tulsa

	1	2	3	4	Total
#18 Tigers	14	21	17	14	66
Golden Hurricane	7	14	14	7	42

See also: 2015 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
15–10	2014	MEM, 40–20

Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
Green Wave	6	7	0	0	13
#16 Tigers	0	15	12	14	41

See also: 2015 Tulane Green Wave football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–11–1	2014	MEM, 38–7

Navy

	1	2	3	4	Total
Midshipmen	7	10	14	14	45
#15 Tigers	10	0	10	0	20

See also: 2015 Navy Midshipmen football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First Meeting

at Houston

	1	2	3	4	Total
#25 Tigers	3	17	7	7	34
#16 Cougars	0	7	7	21	35

See also: 2015 Houston Cougars football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–14	2014	UH, 28–24

at Temple

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	3	6	3	0	12
Owls	0	14	0	17	31

See also: 2015 Temple Owls football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	2014	MEM, 16–13

SMU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	0	0	0	0	0
Tigers	28	28	7	0	63

See also: 2015 SMU Mustangs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–3	2014	MEM, 48–10

vs. Auburn–Birmingham Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
Auburn Tigers	10	0	7	14	31
Memphis Tigers	0	10	0	0	10

See also: 2015 Auburn Tigers football team and 2015 Birmingham Bowl (December)

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–0	1976	MEM, 28–27

References

1. http://www.richmond.com/sports/college/football/article_52875be9-9455-57d4-8efe-6f75b0cc857a.html
2. "2015 Memphis Tigers Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved February 25, 2015.