With three games remaining, two of which come at home, Coach Ryan Silverfield and the Memphis Tigers have fully embraced the journey as they make a run at not only hosting and winning the American Championship but taking Memphis football to its first-ever College Football Playoff. This level of excitement has only been reached once in the history of the program; that other time was in 2019 when Coach Norvell led the Tigers to a home AAC Championship victory before making a magical end to the season in the school’s first New Year’s Six Bowl game as they faced Penn State in the 2019 Goodyear Cotton Bowl. In many ways, there are numerous similarities between the two seasons, including a bad October loss they had no business losing. The 2019 team lost at Temple, and the 2025 Tigers team lost a road game to UAB, both of which were embarrassingly bad. 

Following the loss to UAB, the noise out of the program was all negative, but Coach Silverfield repositioned his team to hit the ground running as they put together a different mindset to rattle off a massive comeback win over South Florida and a beatdown of Rice, setting the scene for a massive rivalry showdown with Tulane on Friday at the Liberty Bowl. Instead of hiding from the fact that Memphis has the chance to win out and not only host the American Championship game, but also to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. Two things, in fact, that have haunted Coach Silverfield since he took over as Head Coach, but have been close but just out of reach, unable to obtain, which makes the great Memphis coaches in the next tier of elite. 

All of that chatter starts on Friday night as the Tigers welcome a familiar powerhouse for a rivalry, where the stakes have never been higher for either team. For Tulane, they’re coming to Memphis off a playoff-ending loss last week to UTSA, where the Roadrunners thumped the Green Wave, creating a hole too big for Tulane to climb out of for the College Football Playoff. Reaching the American Championship is still within reach, but the Green Wave needs a lot of help to even qualify for the American Championship, starting with a win over a ranked Memphis team on the road. 

For the Tigers, staying the course and trusting the process is the key to success nowadays. These next three games against Tulane, East Carolina, and Navy won’t be easy by imagination, but the Tigers have everything in front of them. That UAB loss doesn’t matter now, like Coach Silverfield says, focus on going 1-0 each day, and let the rest take care of itself. 

As for Memphis, there’s a core group of about 25,000 to 30,000 people who will pack Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium on any given night; this message is for the other 600,000 within the city limits. Go out and support the Tigers, representing your city proudly. There’s no excuse for why the stadium on Friday night against Tulane or on Thanksgiving against Navy can’t be among the toughest environments in college football; the team deserves the city’s support. After all, per the College Football Playoff Rankings on Tuesday night, if Memphis were to win out, they would reach the College Football Playoff. That alone should be the motivation needed to put butts in seats and support the program, as Coach Silverfield does everything he can to lead them to the College Football Playoff. 

Memphis will return to action on Friday night as the Tigers welcome the Green Wave of Tulane to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium for another monster matchup. 

Photo Credits- Memphis Football on X