2017 Memphis Tigers football team

The 2017 Memphis Tigers football team represented the University of Memphis in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Tigers played their home games at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee and competed in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference. They were led by second-year head coach Mike Norvell. They finished the season 10–3, 7–1 in AAC play to be champions of the West Division. They represented the West Division in The American Championship Game where they lost to East Division champions UCF. They were invited to the Liberty Bowl where they lost to Iowa State.

2017 Memphis Tigers football
AAC West Division champion
The American Championship, L 55–62 ^2OT vs. UCF
Liberty Bowl, L 20–21 vs. Iowa State
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Division	West Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 24
AP	No. 25
2017 record	10–3 (7–1 American)
Head coach	Mike Norvell (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Darrell Dickey (1st;6th overall season)
Defensive coordinator	Chris Ball (2nd season)
Home stadium	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 59,308)

2017 American Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
No. 6 UCF xy$		8	–	0					13	–	0
No. 21 South Florida		6	–	2					10	–	2
Temple		4	–	4					7	–	6
Cincinnati		2	–	6					4	–	8
UConn		2	–	6					3	–	9
East Carolina		2	–	6					3	–	9
West Division
No. 25 Memphis xy		7	–	1					10	–	3
Houston		5	–	3					7	–	5
Navy		4	–	4					7	–	6
SMU		4	–	4					7	–	6
Tulane		3	–	5					5	–	7
Tulsa		1	–	7					2	–	10
Championship: UCF 62, Memphis 55
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant As of January 9, 2018; Rankings from AP Poll.

Previous season

The Tigers finished the 2016 season 8–5, 5–3 in American Athletic play to finish in a tie for third place in the West Division. They were invited to the Boca Raton Bowl where they lost to Western Kentucky.[1]

Preseason

In the preseason AAC media poll, the Tigers were picked to finish first in the West Division of the AAC, receiving 22 of 30 first place votes.[2]

Schedule

Memphis announced its 2017 football schedule on February 9, 2017. The 2017 schedule consists of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Tigers will host AAC foes East Carolina, Navy, SMU, and Tulane, and will travel to UConn, Houston, Tulsa, and UCF.[3]

The Tigers will host three of the four non-conference opponents, Louisiana-Monroe from the Sun Belt Conference, Southern Illinois from the Missouri Valley Football Conference and UCLA from the Pac-12 Conference. Memphis was supposed travel to Georgia State from the Sun Belt Conference before Hurricane Irma caused their conference opener at UCF to be rescheduled over the Georgia State game.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	8:00 p.m.	Louisiana–Monroe*		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	CBSSN	W 37–29	10,263
September 16	11:00 a.m.	No. 25 UCLA*		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ABC	W 48–45	46,291
September 23	7:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois*		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	WMC	W 44–31	41,584
September 30	6:00 p.m.	at UCF		Spectrum Stadium Orlando, FL	ESPN2	L 13–40	34,022
September 30		at Georgia State*		Georgia State Stadium Atlanta, GA		Cancelled
October 6	6:00 p.m.	at UConn		Rentschler Field East Hartford, CT	ESPN	W 70–31	19,230
October 14	2:45 p.m.	No. 25 Navy		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPNU	W 30–27	40,177
October 19	7:00 p.m.	at Houston	No. 25	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX	ESPN	W 42–38	30,001
October 27	7:00 p.m.	Tulane	No. 24	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	CBSSN	W 56–26	17,989
November 3	7:00 p.m.	at Tulsa	No. 22	H. A. Chapman Stadium Tulsa, OK	ESPN2	W 41–14	17,383
November 18	11:00 a.m.	SMU	No. 18	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPNews	W 66–45	35,329
November 25	11:00 a.m.	East Carolina	No. 17	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPNU	W 70–13	41,517
December 2	11:00 a.m.	at No. 12 UCF	No. 16	Spectrum Stadium Orlando, FL (The American Championship)	ABC	L 55–62 ^2OT	41,433
December 30	11:30 a.m.	Iowa State*	No. 19	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	ABC	L 20–21	57,266
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source:[4]

Game summaries

Louisiana–Monroe

	1	2	3	4	Total
Warhawks	7	0	7	15	29
Tigers	7	13	17	0	37

See also: 2017 Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	2000	W, 28–0

UCLA

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Bruins	7	17	14	7	45
Tigers	7	20	14	7	48

See also: 2017 UCLA Bruins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2014	L, 35–42

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	14	7	3	7	31
Tigers	7	10	17	10	44

See also: 2017 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at UCF

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	7	0	0	6	13
Knights	6	17	7	10	40

See also: 2017 UCF Knights football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–9	2013	L, 17–24

at UConn

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	7	28	21	14	70
Huskies	14	10	0	7	31

See also: 2017 UConn Huskies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	2014	W, 41–10

Navy

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Midshipmen	10	0	9	8	27
Tigers	7	3	10	10	30

See also: 2017 Navy Midshipmen football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	2016	L, 28–42

at Houston

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Tigers	0	0	21	21	42
Cougars	7	10	14	7	38

See also: 2017 Houston Cougars football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–15	2016	W, 48–44

Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
Green Wave	0	12	7	7	26
No. 24 Tigers	14	21	0	21	56

See also: 2017 Tulane Green Wave football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
21–11–1	2016	W, 24–14

at Tulsa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Tigers	14	7	10	10	41
Golden Hurricane	7	7	0	0	14

See also: 2017 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–11	2016	L, 30–59

SMU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	10	14	14	7	45
No. 18 Tigers	10	21	14	21	66

See also: 2017 SMU Mustangs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–3	2016	W, 51–7

East Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pirates	0	0	13	0	13
No. 17 Tigers	28	21	14	7	70

See also: 2017 East Carolina Pirates football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–15	2012	L, 7–41

at UCF–AAC Championship

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
No. 16 Tigers	7	24	3	14	7	0	55
No. 12 Knights	17	7	21	3	7	7	62

See also: 2017 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–10	09/30/2017	L, 13–40

vs. Iowa State–Liberty Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cyclones	7	7	7	0	21
No. 19 Tigers	7	3	10	0	20

See also: 2017 Iowa State Cyclones football team and 2017 Liberty Bowl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Rankings

Further information: 2017 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	25	24	22	20	18	17	16	19	25
Coaches	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	21	19	17	16	14	18	24
CFP	Not released									23	22	21	20	20	20	Not released

Players in the 2018 NFL Draft

See also: 2018 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Anthony Miller	WR	2	51	Chicago Bears
Genard Avery	LB	5	150	Cleveland Browns

References

1. services, Tribune news. "Western Kentucky beats Memphis in Boca Raton Bowl, 51-31". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
2. "USF Is The Favorite In 2017 American Athletic Conference Media Poll". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
3. "Tigers Football Announces 2017 Schedule" (Press release). University of Memphis Department of Athletics. February 9, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
4. "2017 Memphis Tigers Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved March 10, 2017.

Notes