Tigers hungry for bowl victory in Montgomery Bowl matchup with FAU

Memphis football is set to take on Florida Atlantic at 6 p.m. on Dec. 23 in the first and only scheduled Montgomery Bowl. The matchup will be televised on ESPN.

"Our young men are excited to play a great opponent on national television," said Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield. "I think our guys have the right mindset. We're going to go out there and give it everything we have for the last time this season."

The two programs are meeting for the second time. FAU won the only previous meeting 44-27 in the 2007 New Orleans Bowl.

Montgomery Bowl details

Memphis (7-3, 5-3 American Athletic Conference) vs. FAU (5-3, 4-2 Conference USA)
When: Wednesday, Dec. 23, 6 p.m. CT
Where: Cramton Bowl; Montgomery, Ala.
TV: ESPN
Radio: 102.7 FM/600 AM

About the Owls

FAU is in its first season under head coach Willie Taggart, who is 61-65 overall and 0-1 in bowl games as a head coach. The Owls are the fifth program Taggart has led after stints at Western Kentucky (2010-12), South Florida (2013-16), Oregon (2017) and Florida State (2018-19). He faced Memphis in AAC play all four seasons at USF, going 1-3 against the Tigers.

The Owls fell to Southern Miss, 45-31, in their regular-season finale. The loss on Dec. 10 came just five days after a 20-3 defeat at Georgia Southern. Prior to the two-game losing streak, FAU had won four in a row.

FAU has been led by its defense much of the season, holding three of its eight opponents to six points or less. Defensive end Leighton McCarthy leads C-USA and is tied for second nationally with nine sacks this season.

Offensively, the Owls average 20 points per game while alternating between junior Nick Tronti and redshirt freshman Javion Posey at quarterback throughout the season.

Bowl streaks

Memphis is in search of its first bowl victory since a 55-48 win over BYU in the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl. The Tigers have dropped five consecutive bowl games since, including two by three points or less.

"A lot of our guys understand the recent history of what has happened here in bowl games," Silverfield. "I think that's huge for them. It's a chance for a lot of them to go out as bowl winners, which is something we haven't been able to do here lately."

FAU is a perfect 4-0 in bowl appearances. The Owls appeared in their first bowl game in 2007, defeating Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl. They have since won the Motor City bowl in 2008 and the Boca Raton Bowl twice in 2017 and 2019.

Leavitt connections

FAU defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt served as the linebackers coach at Kansas State all five years Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch (1990-94) played linebacker for the Wildcats. Leavitt was also co-defensive coordinator the final three years Veatch played at K-State.

While head coach at Colorado in 2015, Memphis defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre hired Leavitt to serve as the Buffaloes defensive coordinator. Leavitt spent two seasons in the role, which included going 10-4 and winning the Pac 12 South title in 2016. MacIntyre was awarded several national coach of the year honors that season. Memphis defensive backs coach Charles Clark was also on the Colorado staff with McIntyre and Leavitt.

As a head coach at USF, Leavitt was 3-2 against Memphis from 1997-09. He is USF's all-time winningest coach, going 95-57 (.625) over 13 seasons.

University of Memphis Athletics