Down to the final 2 teams, one of them is Memphis and I am predicting that they will have a big year and will win the West Division. Last season was a rebuilding year for the Memphis Tigers and they managed to average 464 yards passing per game. They are definitely the most dynamic passing team in the conference and it makes them dangerous this season. They return practically all starters from last season and will look to Darrell Dickey to continue last season’s success.
Best Case Scenario-They open with Louisiana-Monroe and then follow that up with a trip to the Bounce House against UCF. This is a best case scenario for the Memphis Tigers is they will start their season at 2-0 they then have a home game against the Bruins of UCLA. Even in this best case scenario and it being a home game I can’t see them winning this game it will be a well played and well-fought game but they will come out with a loss. Next three games are Southern Illinois, Georgia State, and UConn. Three wins so they are now sitting at 5-1 and undefeated in the conference. They have Navy, Houston, and Tulane to finish out the month of October I like their chances in all of those games the toughest one will be at Houston. I think they will come out of October at 8-1 and in the driver’s seat for the Western Division. November brings Tulsa, SMU, and East Carolina this also is a bit easy although I think they drop the road game in Tulsa but win the other 2 and finish 10-2 on the season and West Division Champs.
Worst Case Scenario- They still get the win against Louisiana-Monroe but the running game of UCF proves to be too much for Memphis and they drop to 1-1 they then lose to UCLA and are now sitting at 1-2 They still win their next 3 games against two cupcakes and UConn so that gets them back to 4-2. They lose to Navy and Houston to drop to 4-4 on the year. In their final 4 games, they win 3 out of 4 and still salvage a 7-5 season but they fail to win the West Division.
What needs to happen for the best case scenario to work out-The offensive line has to keep the good defenses out of the backfield. The Memphis Tigers allowed 35 sacks and 95 tackles for loss last season can’t have that happening again this season. The defense needs to find some more playmakers and play better against the good teams in order for the team to be successful. The run defense needs to keep the offenses under 200 yards when they did they won.