Memphis Football Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

Memphis College Football Preview 2024

Everything is set up perfectly for Memphis to be the first Group of Five program to make the expanded College Football Playoff.

Call this the one silver lining for being disrespected by the Big 12 in the expansion fun.

No, Memphis probably won’t be good enough to be in the top 12 in the CFP rankings - unless it beats Florida State in Tallahassee, and then that spot will be there for the taking.

But that doesn’t matter for the top-ranked champion from the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and Sun Belt - just be the best of those five leagues, and get in.

The schedule in the weakened AAC is made for at least a nine-win regular season, and more like ten if Memphis is really that good. But it’s more than just that for the 2024 team.

With QB Seth Henigan and a loaded group of skill guys, and just enough parts to be strong on the O line and better on defense, anything less than winning the conference championship - and being in the CFP mix - will be unacceptable.

For all of the good things head coach Ryan Silverfield has done in his four years - 31 wins, three bowl victories, the fourth double-digit win season in school history - Memphis hasn’t even played for the AAC title since Mike Norvell did it in 2019.

That should change this year.

This is when the program has to be the new signature star of the conference, and it can happen from another huge season from …

Memphis Football Preview 2024: Offense

- The offense ripped through just about everyone, and will do it again. The Tigers finished sixth in the nation in scoring offense, 14th in total offense, and the playmakers are all there to be fantastic as long as the front five does its job.

It was okay for the running game when called upon, and was decent enough in pass protection, but four starters have to be replaced and some shuffling has to be done.

Tackle Jaylen Nichols (South Carolina) and guard Trent Holler (Marshall) have to be great right away on the left side. Xavier Hill is a versatile option who can play either spot on the right.

- The running game averaged over 4.6 yards per carry with Blake Watson tearing off 1,152 yards and 14 scores, but he’s done. No. 2 man Sutton Smith is back, and coming in is Mario Anderson, who ran for over 700 yards last year for South Carolina. Also adding to the rushing mix is …

- Seth Henigan - yeah, fine, the star quarterback should’ve led off this whole Memphis offense part of the preview. Consistent and outstanding over the last three seasons, he's thrown 79 touchdown passes, 10,764 yards, and just 25 picks so far. He’s not necessarily a runner, but he can take off with over 700 yards in his career with nine touchdowns.

The receiving corps returns loaded. Roc Taylor led the team with 69 catches and close to 1,000 yards, Demeer Blankumsee is a strong No. 2 who led the team with seven touchdown catches and a 17 yard average, and the transfer portal has helped out the depth.

Memphis Football Preview 2024: Defense

- The defense has to be just a wee bit better. It wasn’t horrible on third downs, but it couldn’t generate enough pressure and finished 111th in the nation in total defense.

The Tigers loaded up through the transfer portal, especially in the secondary with safeties Kourtlan Marsh (Samford), Tahj Ra-El (Old Dominion) and AJ Watts (ULM) all proven tacklers to work around Greg Rubin. The corners need some seasoning, but there’s enough depth to come up with a few options.

- Chandler Martin is one of the nation’s best all-around linebackers. A smallish 6-0, 215-pound flash, he made 95 tackles with three sacks, 17 tackles for loss, two picks, and two forced fumbles - he even scored a touchdown.

Martin is the star, but Arkansas State transfer Javante Mackey should lead the team in tackles from his spot in the middle, and Harvard transfer Matt Hudson can hit on the outside.

- The line needs to get in the backfield more. There’s size, with DT Keveion’ta Spears pushing 300 pounds. Indiana transfer Patrick Lucas is a 320-pound block of granite on the nose, and now the big ends - CorMontae Hamilton and William Whitlow - have to be more disruptive.

Key To The Memphis Football Season

Don’t forget about the running game.
Seth Henigan is too good of a passer to not let wing it around, but the Tigers have a problem when they don’t run enough.

They were 10-0 when running for 100 yards or more, and 0-3 when they didn’t.

It’s not just they lost to Missouri, SMU, and Tulane when they didn’t run well - those were the three games when they didn’t average over three yards per carry - but they were also the three games with the fewest carries.

Along those lines …

Memphis Key Player

Mario Anderson, RB Sr.
Blake Watson was stuffed three times last year, and as you can guess from the Key To the Memphis Football Season, those were the three games Memphis lost.

Anderson led a bad South Carolina running game with 707 yards - the No. 2 back gained 120 yards.

The 5-9, 208-pound tough back was bottled up too often, but that wasn’t his fault. As long as he’s effective averaging close to five yards per carry, the offense will have a bit of balance.

Memphis Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: Javante Mackey, LB Soph.
He’s a young, tough 222-pound middle linebacker who rocked for Arkansas State last season making 84 tackles with two sacks and seven tackles for loss. Next to Chandler Martin he should crank up the stats with his new team.

Top Transfer Out: Makylan Pounders, OT Jr.
The Memphis offensive front went big on the transfer portal to fill in the holes and come up with the depth, but it would’ve been nice to have the starting left tackle back. The 6-5, 290-pound Pounders will now be a key part of the Mississippi State blocking scheme.

Memphis Key Game

at Florida State, Sept. 14
Flip a coin here on this. The regular season finale at Tulane might decide a spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship, and going to USF is a concern, but for a Memphis team with realistic dreams of being in the expanded College Football Playoff, its performance in Tallahassee matters.

Memphis doesn’t even have to beat Florida State and former Tiger head coach Mike Norvell - although, that would obviously be a massive plus. As long as it plays well and looks the part, that should be enough to impress the CFP committee.

10 Best Memphis Football Players

1. Seth Henigan, QB Sr.
2. Chandler Martin, LB Jr.
3. Xavier Hill, OG Jr.
4. Demeer Blankumsee, WR Sr.
5. Roc Taylor, WR Sr.
6. Greg Rubin, S Sr.
7. Mario Anderson, RB Sr.
8. Kourtlan Marsh, S Sr.
9. Javante Mackey, LB Soph.
10. Jaylen Nichols, OT Sr.

Memphis 2023 Fun Stats

- 4th Quarter Scoring: Memphis 119, Opponents 115

- 2 Point Conversions: Opponents 5-of-7, Memphis 2-of-3

- 4th Down Conversions: Memphis 18-of-28 (64%), Opponents 9-of-31 (29%)

Memphis Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season

There’s no reason to push for anything less than another ten-win campaign, only this time it needs to be in the regular season.

There’s no reason to push for anything less than an American Athletic Conference championship, too.

This isn’t anywhere near the conference its as a few years ago. UCF is gone, so is Cincinnati, so is Houston, and now, so is SMU. So what’s left?

On the down side, the conference is so mediocre that it hurts to not play East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, and in all, five teams that didn’t go bowling. On the plus side, the rest of the slate isn’t all that bad.

USF? That’s a problem, but the Tigers get a week off before going to Tampa. Tulane? Yeah, but they get a week off before that, too.

Outside of the chance to make a statement at Florida State, the non-conference schedule isn’t a problem - Troy isn’t what it was over the last few years.

At the very least, Memphis should get to the AAC title game with ten wins. Take that down, and a spot in the CFP is very, very possible

Set The Memphis Win Total At … 9.5

Likely Wins: at Charlotte, Middle Tennessee, North Alabama, Troy, UAB

50/50 Games: at Navy, North Texas, Rice, at Tulane, at USF, UTSA

Likely Losses: at Florida State

2024 Memphis Football Schedule

Aug 31 North Alabama
Sept 7 Troy
Sept 14 at Florida State
Sept 21 at Navy
Sept 28 Middle Tennessee
Oct 5 OPEN DATE
Oct 11 at USF
Oct 19 North Texas
Oct 26 at Charlotte
Nov 2 UTSA
Nov 8 Rice
Nov 16 UAB
Nov 23 OPEN DATE
Nov 28 at Tulane

Missing: Army, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Temple, Tulsa