University of Memphis Athletics
Photo by: Joe Murphy
Football Announces 2018 Schedule
Feb 13, 2018 | Football
Slate includes seven home games, including five on Saturdays
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For those that can't get enough of University of Memphis football, then you're going to love the 2018 schedule the Tigers released Tuesday.
Seven home dates at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium!
Five Saturday home dates!
And, the regular-season home finale on the Friday after Thanksgiving!
So, Memphis fans, pull up the car, truck or RV, make your home on Tiger Lane, and get ready to watch head coach Mike Norvell's Tigers this fall.
The action kicks off Labor Day weekend when Memphis hosts Mercer in its home opener Sept. 1. The overall schedule highlights include:
The Tigers posted a 10-3 overall record and a 7-1 American Athletic Conference mark in 2017. Memphis won The American West Division title, earned a spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game and received an AutoZone Liberty Bowl berth. The Liberty Bowl appearance was a school-record, fourth-consecutive postseason invitation.
The 2018 Memphis squad returns 15 starters from last season (7 offense/8 defense), including All-American Athletic Conference honorees OL Trevon Tate (first team), DB TJ Carter (second team), TE Joey Magnifico (second team) and RB Darrell Henderson (second team). The special teams welcomes back K Riley Patterson and KR Tony Pollard, the two-time American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year.
The 2018 Memphis football schedule is as follows:
*American Athletic Conference Game
Seven home dates at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium!
Five Saturday home dates!
And, the regular-season home finale on the Friday after Thanksgiving!
So, Memphis fans, pull up the car, truck or RV, make your home on Tiger Lane, and get ready to watch head coach Mike Norvell's Tigers this fall.
The action kicks off Labor Day weekend when Memphis hosts Mercer in its home opener Sept. 1. The overall schedule highlights include:
- Seven home games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium for a third-straight season; first time Memphis played seven home games in three years in a row since 2006-08
- For the second-straight season, a front and back-loaded home schedule, with Memphis playing three of its first four games (Sept. 1 vs. Mercer/Sept. 14 vs. Georgia State/Sept. 22 vs. South Alabama) and two of the campaign's final three games (Nov. 10 vs. Tulsa/Nov. 23 vs. Houston) at the Liberty Bowl
- Fifth-straight season Memphis opens and closes a campaign with home games (Sept. 1 vs. Mercer/Nov. 23 vs. Houston)
- First late October bye/open date since 2008; Tigers have played the weekend of or before Halloween every season from 2009-17 (nine-straight seasons)
- Three first-time opponents in Mercer, Georgia State and South Alabama; Tigers were scheduled to meet Georgia State in 2017, but the game was pushed back to a future season due to Hurricane Irma
- First time Memphis plays three first-time opponents in the same season since 1997; played Michigan State, Minnesota and UAB (second season of FBS football) that campaign
- For the second-consecutive year, Memphis faces Connecticut (home), ECU (away) and UCF (home) from the league's East Division
- Sept. 1 vs. Mercer: The Tigers' third FBS or FCS opponent from the state of Georgia; Memphis has played only Georgia and Georgia Tech from the Peach State
- Sept. 8 at Navy: Tigers' earliest conference opener since joining The American in 2013; also earliest West Division game since league went to two divisions in 2015 (previous was Oct. 14 at Tulane in 2016; Oct. 14 vs. Navy in 2017)
- Sept. 14 vs. Georgia State: The first of only two Friday home match-ups in 2018 (Tigers only had two non-Saturday home games in 2017 also); first FBS visit by a team from Georgia since the Georgia Bulldogs played the Tigers in Memphis in 1984
- Sept. 22 vs. South Alabama: The fourth FBS program from the state of Alabama the Tigers will face in their history, leaving Troy as the only FBS team remaining Memphis has not played; Memphis has played Alabama, Auburn and UAB
- Sept. 28 at Tulane: Third-straight season the Tigers and Green Wave meet in a Friday night league clash; Memphis won the last two Friday encounters with Tulane
- Oct. 6 vs. Connecticut: The Huskies' first trip to the Liberty Bowl since the 2014 regular-season finale, a game in which Memphis won a share of the American Athletic Conference crown with a 41-10 win
- Oct. 13 vs. UCF: Tigers welcome the defending American Athletic Conference champion to the Liberty Bowl for the Knights' first visit since 2013 (inaugural season of The American)
- Oct. 20 at Missouri: Fourth time Memphis meets Missouri in program history, and the third time the two teams play each other as members of different leagues (1991: UofM/Metro vs. MU/Big 8 Conference; 1996, 1999: UofM/C-USA vs. MU/Big 12 Conference; 2018: UofM/The American vs. MU/SEC); Memphis faces former defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who enters his third season as Missouri's head coach in 2018
- Oct. 27 (BYE)
- Nov. 3 at ECU: Tigers' first trip to Greenville, N.C., since 2012, and Memphis' first trip to ECU as an American Athletic Conference foe; when last played in Greenville in 2012, both were members of Conference USA
- Nov. 10 vs. Tulsa: Tigers look to become the first home team to win this match-up since 2014 (a 40-20 Memphis win at the Liberty Bowl; Memphis won the 2015 and 2017 games in Tulsa, and the Golden Hurricane won the last meeting in the Bluff City in 2016
- Nov. 16 at SMU: The 2017 Memphis-SMU game piled up 111 points and 1,141 of total offense; the 111 combined points was a Memphis school record for two weeks before the Tigers and UCF totaled a new school record 117 points in The American Championship game
- Nov. 23 vs. Houston: Fourth-straight season the Tigers host the regular-season finale at home and the sixth-consecutive season Memphis is playing a home Thanksgiving weekend contest; only the second home Friday game of the season (same number of non-Saturday home games as in 2017)
The Tigers posted a 10-3 overall record and a 7-1 American Athletic Conference mark in 2017. Memphis won The American West Division title, earned a spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game and received an AutoZone Liberty Bowl berth. The Liberty Bowl appearance was a school-record, fourth-consecutive postseason invitation.
The 2018 Memphis squad returns 15 starters from last season (7 offense/8 defense), including All-American Athletic Conference honorees OL Trevon Tate (first team), DB TJ Carter (second team), TE Joey Magnifico (second team) and RB Darrell Henderson (second team). The special teams welcomes back K Riley Patterson and KR Tony Pollard, the two-time American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year.
The 2018 Memphis football schedule is as follows:
| Date | Day | Opponent | Site |
| Sept. 1 | Saturday | Mercer | Liberty Bowl |
| Sept. 8 | Saturday | at Navy* | Annapolis, Md. |
| Sept. 14 | Friday | Georgia State | Liberty Bowl |
| Sept. 22 | Saturday | South Alabama | Liberty Bowl |
| Sept. 28 | Friday | at Tulane* | New Orleans, La. |
| Oct. 6 | Saturday | Connecticut* | Liberty Bowl |
| Oct. 13 | Saturday | UCF* | Liberty Bowl |
| Oct. 20 | Saturday | at Missouri | Columbia, Mo. |
| Nov. 3 | Saturday | at ECU* | Greenville, N.C. |
| Nov. 10 | Saturday | Tulsa* | Liberty Bowl |
| Nov. 16 | Friday | at SMU* | Dallas, Texas |
| Nov. 23 | Friday | Houston* | Liberty Bowl |
*American Athletic Conference Game
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