The Memphis Tigers delivered a Thanksgiving special as they rolled into Yulam Stadium and dominated the Green Wave to earn Ryan Silverfield a massive 10th win for a second straight season. When the schedules were released and the conference announced Memphis would head south for Thanksgiving, the vibes around the program shifted to taking advantage of the spotlight of being the solo college football game on Thanksgiving, usually a spot reserved for the Egg Bowl. With no hope of playing the American Championship game, Memphis shifted the focus to ruining the day of Tulane on Thursday night by playing Memphis Tigers Football.

Memphis jumped out on Tulane with a quick touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead over the Green Wave. Tulane responded with ten unanswered to retake the lead at 10-7 over the Memphis Tigers. In Memphis fashion, the Tigers would close out the first half with a touchdown and a field goal to make it 17-10 in favor of the Tigers at the break.

As the second half rolled around for Memphis and Tulane, the Tigers would open the second half with a massive touchdown to make it 24-10 over the Green Wave before adding a field goal to make it 27-10. As it would be on Thanksgiving night, Tulane got weird with a touchdown to make things interesting at 27-17. With the pressure cooking, the Memphis defense rallied for a game-ending interception that propelled the Tigers to a 34-24 win over Tulane after a 47-yard run from Mario Anderson. Tulane added a garbage time touchdown with 1:10 on the clock to make it 34-24 in favor of the Tigers.

Sure, not playing for the American Athletic Championship game stings, but Coach Silverfield once again proved that Memphis Football’s future is heading in the right direction under his leadership. Memphis will await the bowl selection next Sunday following the final College Football Playoff rankings and will have a shot at finishing the 2024 season with 11 wins for the first time since the magical 2019 season. Looking back over the program’s history, it’s easy to see the sustained success maintained by Coach Silverfield and his staff since taking over for Mike Norvell before the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at the end of the 2019 season. Thursday night was a statement win for the Memphis Tigers as they showed who Memphis Football stands for and what Memphis Football stands for over a program in Tualne the Tigers use as a measuring stick to gauge its success.

Photo Credits- Memphis Football on X