Tigers Football Preview: Southern Illinois

Saturday, September 23

Memphis, Tenn.

7:00 p.m. CT

University of Memphis

Southern Illinois

Tickets

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Sep 22, 2017 | Football

2017 Memphis FB Notes 09 23 SIU SIU FB Game Notes 092317 2017 American FB release 4b

Saturday is Memphis' Homecoming game.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis football squad takes the field Saturday, Sept. 23 against Southern Illinois, and for the fourth-straight week, makes program history – in some fashion.

In the season opener, the Tigers hosted Louisiana Monroe in what is believed to be the first time Memphis played a contest in the remnants of a hurricane (Hurricane Harvey). A week later, the Tigers' American Athletic Conference opener Sept. 9 was postponed as a result of Hurricane Irma. It was the first postponement of a Memphis football game since 2007. The UCF contest now is slated for Sept. 30.

Then, just last week, the Tigers hosted their first Pac-12 Conference and West Coast opponent (UCLA) at the Liberty Bowl in program history. Memphis made the most of that opportunity with a 48-45 upset victory over the No. 25 Bruins.

On Saturday, the Tigers make more history when they host Southern Illinois in the earliest – by date (Sept. 23) – Homecoming game in school history. Saturday's Homecoming date barely edges out the previous earliest by a day, which was in the 2011 campaign (Sept. 24).

Memphis has an overall Homecoming record of 47-34-1 in its history, but recent success in this game has eluded the Tigers. Memphis dropped its last two Homecoming games and five of its last seven. The Tigers' last Homecoming victory was a 40-20 win over Tulsa in 2014.

Quick Game Facts

Opponent	Southern Illinois
Day/Date	Saturday, Sept. 23
Time	7 p.m. (CT)
Site	Memphis, Tenn./Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Television	WMC Channel 5/WatchESPN.com
Radio (Flagship)	600 WREC AM/Rock 103 (102.7 FM)

Memphis Head Coach Mike Norvell comments
"It was an exciting game last Saturday. I really appreciate all Memphians and all Tiger Nation that came out and supported our guys. It was a wonderful atmosphere, starting with the Tiger Walk that morning. I'm proud of our players. They came out and battled for 60 minutes. It was a game that was so back-and-forth. You had two quality football teams going after it. Our guys had great heart. They played until the very end and made the plays necessary to win the game. We played well, but we didn't play a perfect game. There's a lot of things that we have been able to take from our film study that can help us the rest of the season.

Pick up you Homecoming game program Saturday. — *Pick up your Homecoming game program Saturday.*

"This week, we have Homecoming. We have an opportunity to achieve one of the goals that we set out at the beginning of the year and that is to be undefeated in non-conference play. We have handled business in the first two games, and we have another quality opponent coming to the Liberty Bowl Saturday. We are definitely excited about it and proud of our team, our players, coaches and everybody associated with our program."

(On Southern Illinois)
"SIU has started off the season in great fashion. They are scoring 45 points a game and only giving up 10. They are very balanced on offense, running for close to 200 yards a game and also throwing for over 200. Defensively, they have been able to do a great job of stopping the run. It's a really balanced football team so we know we are going to have a challenge. We have to play at a high level and make sure we are putting ourselves in the best position to be successful."

Tigers Tidbits/Five Notes To Know

Saturday's game is the first meeting between the two programs. To take it further, the Salukis are only the second Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) program the Tigers have faced in school history. The only other MVFC foe Memphis previously played is Missouri State.
Since the turn of the century, Memphis has played a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS; formerly NCAA Division I-AA) 15 times. The Tigers have a 14-1 record in those match-ups, with the lone setback coming to UT Martin 20-17 in the 2012 season opener. That contest was played in a torrential downpour following a 2:40 lightning delay. Last season, Memphis posted a 35-17 win over FCS foe Southeast Missouri in head coach Mike Norvell's debut.
The Tigers coaching staff has been stressing to the squad not to overlook this week's foe in Southern Illinois. And, for good reason. The Salukis have a history of playing Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) foes tough – and have even won a couple of those games in recent seasons. Although Southern Illinois has only three wins over FBS foes in its history, two have come since 2006. The Salukis posted victories over Indiana in 2006 and Northern Illinois in 2007. The quarterback that engineered those two Southern Illinois' wins: current head coach Nick Hill. Other recent tight (one-possession) games with FBS opponents include Illinois (2013), Indiana (2015) and Florida Atlantic (2016).
Saturday's game brings another first-time foe into Tigers' history. Southern Illinois is the 16^th first-time opponent for Memphis since the turn of the century. The Tigers have an 8-7 record in their previous 15 first-time match-ups since 2000. The last time Memphis played a first-time opponent was in the 2015 campaign. In fact, the Tigers encountered two first-time foes that season in Kansas (55-23 win) and Navy (45-20 loss).
Although not planned, the Tigers open a second-straight campaign with three-consecutive home games. As a result of the UCF game being moved from Sept. 9 to Sept. 30, Memphis begins 2017 with three home games in a row. The Tigers defeated Louisiana Monroe Aug. 31 and No. 25 UCLA Sept. 16 and host Southern Illinois Saturday. It is the first time in program history that Memphis has opened back-to-back seasons with three-straight home contests. In the modern era (since World War II), it is the fourth time the Tigers opened a season with three-straight home games. In addition to 2016 and 2017, Memphis also played three home games in a row to start a season in 1950 and 1971.

Know Your Foe/Southern Illinois Facts-Stats Leaders

Quick Facts	2017 Statistical Leaders (2 games)
2017 Record: 2-0/0-0 MVFC	Rushing: Daquan Isom (126 yds/TD)
Head Coach/Yrs: Nick Hill/2^nd in 2017	Passing: Sam Straub (397 yds/6 TD)
Starters Returning: 15 (7 Off/6 Def/2 Special Teams)	Receiving: Darrell James (7 rec/127 yds/2 TD); Connor Iwema (5 rec/93 yds/TD)
Letterwinners Returning: 50	Tackles: Ryan Neal (12 total/9 solo/INT)