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
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
Seasons ← 2016 2018 →

2017 American Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
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.

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.

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.^[1]

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.^[2]

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. 23	H. A. Chapman Stadium Tulsa, OK	ESPN2	W 41–14	17,383
November 18	11:00 a.m.	SMU	No. 21	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPNews	W 66–45	35,329
November 25	11:00 a.m.	East Carolina	No. 20	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	ESPNU	W 70–13	41,517
December 2	11:00 a.m.	at No. 14 UCF	No. 20	Spectrum Stadium Orlando, FL (The American Championship)	ABC	L 55–62 ^2OT	41,433
December 30	11:30 a.m.	Iowa State*	No. 20	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	ABC	L 20–21	57,266
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings after October 31 released prior to game All times are in Central time

^[3]

Game summaries

Louisiana–Monroe

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

UCLA

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

Southern Illinois

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

At UCF

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

At UConn

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

Navy

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

At Houston

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

Tulane

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

At Tulsa

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

SMU

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

East Carolina

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

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

Vs. Iowa State–Liberty Bowl

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

Rankings

Further information: 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	—	—	—	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

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

References

^ "USF Is The Favorite In 2017 American Athletic Conference Media Poll". theamerican.org. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
^ "Tigers Football Announces 2017 Schedule" (Press release). University of Memphis Department of Athletics. February 9, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
^ "2017 Memphis Tigers Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved March 10, 2017.

v t e Memphis Tigers football
Venues	Normal Field (1912–1916) Russwood Park (1912–1915, 1918–1920, 1922–1924) Hodges Field (1917, 1919, 1921–1923, 1926–1929) Memorial Field (1924–1936) Fairgrounds Stadium (1937) Crump Stadium (1937–1964) Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium (1965–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas State: Paint Bucket Bowl Cincinnati Louisville Ole Miss Southern Miss: Black and Blue Bowl UAB: Battle for the Bones
Culture & lore	Pouncer TOM (mascot) "Go Tigers Go" Mighty Sound of the South Miami Beach Brawl
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024