Memphis Tigers

Memphis Tigers
Donning blue and gray, the Memphis football has emerged as a strong contender amid its Conference USA rivals under the guidance of head coach Tommy West. All home games are played at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium located at 335 South Hollywood Street in Memphis.

Team History
Memphis Tigers went to three consecutive bowl games between 2004 and 2006. The Tigers won the 2003 New Orleans Bowl but lost the 2004 GMAC Bowl. In 2005 the tigers again won the Motor City Bowl led by DeAngelo Williams, a then-senior All-American running back, Heisman candidate, and eventual first-round draft pick by the Carolina Panthers of the NFL.

When the Tigers earned three straight bowl trips from 2003-05, they earned a reputation for their fourth-quarter success. However, no one suffered the 2006 Tiger football season more than Tommy West. The combination of physical and mental woes combined to make it the most challenging season in his 28-year coaching career. Having built a program to the point it reached an unprecedented three straight bowl games, West saw last year's team lose nine straight games and give up an average of 30 points per game.

Junior safety Brandon Patterson has been an integral part of the 2007 Memphis Tiger football team. Patterson is second only to Jake Kasser in tackles and has three interceptions to his credit. Patterson was named a second-team Academic All-America by ESPN the Magazine. According to U of M athletic media-relations director Jennifer Rodrigues, Patterson is the first Tiger to earn such an honor in 15 years. A native of Germantown, Patterson holds a 3.7 GPA and is working toward a master's degree in business administration. He's worthy of applause.

Starting with the midseason dismissal of defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn last September, West has overhauled his staff. Passing for 2,939 yards and 22 TDs in 10 games QB Martin Hankins is impressive enough, but Hankins has been done a good job cutting down on turnovers, making better decisions and coming through in the clutch as a senior. He was at his best throwing a game-winning touchdown against Tulane with 36 seconds left and throwing two TD passes in the final 4:21 against Southern Miss. WR Duke Calhoun has emerged as Memphis' go-to receiver as a true sophomore with 58 receptions for 850 yards and five TDs, despite missing most of two games with a knee injury. He has caught a pass in all 23 games in his college career and has surpassed 100 receiving yards four times in the past six games.

The 6-foot-9 receiver, WR Carlos Singleton, is getting stronger and better with time and experience and leads the team with 10 TD receptions to go with 47 catches and 704 yards. Another one is Jake Kasser. With 28 tackles over the past three games, he leads Memphis with 95 tackles and three fumble recoveries. With the loss of three starting linebackers, Kasser is the lone survivor among the original three who started the opener.

Jake Kasser and grad student Brandon Patterson were both honored with ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team selections and Patterson was named to the Academic All-America second team.

Sad times for the Tigers
On the night of September 30th 2007, Tigers' 5-foot-11, 300-pound defensive lineman, Bradford, 21, apparently was shot near his apartment complex then crashed a car he was driving into a tree a short distance away on campus. Police were responding to the crash when they found Bradford slumped over in the car. Bradford was a junior who transferred to Memphis last year after two seasons at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. The Nashville resident was to play for the Tigers this season. The next day, several football players and others tied a large red ribbon to the tree Bradford struck with his car and put up a large poster board for friends and acquaintances to leave personal notes. Three men have been arrested and charged with murder in the perpetration of attempted aggravated robbery in connection with the shooting death of a popular Memphis University football player.

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is the home ground of the Memphis Tigers football. The stadium is a memorial to the veterans of World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Built in 1965 at a cost of $3.7 million by the city of Memphis and renovated in 1987 for $19.5 million, the arena is operated by the Memphis Park Commission. The Tigers inaugurated the stadium in the fall of 1965 and in 41 years, have compiled a 130-106-7 record in the Liberty Bowl.

The renovated 62,380-seat stadium features a synthetic FieldTurf playing surface, spacious locker rooms and a four-level press box, which features a stadium club for VIPs. The playing surface, which had been natural grass through the 2004 season, was replaced with the new FieldTurf surface that is used in more than 25 NCAA Division IA football stadiums.

Included in the 1987 stadium renovation were the addition of the sky-suites located on the east side of the stadium, approximately 12,000 seats in the stands and a stadium club to accommodate donors. In addition, several areas of the stadium were vastly improved, including the lighting system, playing surface, handicap seating area, concession stands and restroom facilities. In 1984, the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Memphis added a new scoreboard and sound system to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium/Rex Dockery Field. The computer operated scoreboard is 100-feet long and stands 23-feet high. It has a 16' x 32' message center and is the largest scoreboard in the Mid-South. In 1999, the city of Memphis and Jumbotron entered into an agreement which placed a new video scoreboard system in the stadium.

League Honors
Recently, five tigers earned the C-USA Honors. Offensive lineman Andy Smith was picked to the first team by the coaches and the second team by the media. He has been commended several times for his leadership, and was one of five Tigers selected as a permanent captain for the 2007 squad by his fellow teammates. Smith played all 108 snaps in the season finale which was a career high. He has helped pave the way for a Tiger offense that ranks 13th nationally in passing offense and 23rd in total offense. The Tigers also rank 10th nationally and lead Conference USA for the fourth straight year in sacks allowed with just 13 in 12 total games. For the season, Smith has participated in 849 of Memphis' 939 total offensive plays. Last weekend, Smith was named the Offensive Lineman of the Year at the team banquet. He is the first Tiger o-lineman to earn first-team honors since Andrew Handy in 2005.

Joining Smith in earning league honors are wide receiver Duke Calhoun and linebacker Jake Kasser who were named to the C-USA Second Team as well as offensive lineman Dominik Riley and deep snapper Keenan Bratcher who were selected to the All-Freshman Team.

Season 2007-2008
This year it is the fourth bowl in the past five years for Memphis, perpetuating a period of unmatched postseason success in the program's history. For the fourth straight year (and sixth out of the last ten), the Tigers opened against the Ole Miss Rebels, a regional rival. Even in an era in which so many teams are willing to spread the field and throw the ball early and often, Memphis has the potential to be as much fun to watch as any offensive team in the postseason.

Memphis' emergence from the doldrums after an Oct. 13 loss to Middle Tennessee is based on sharper play from quarterback Martin Hankins, a hint of a running game at times and a defense that has gotten better despite a rash of injuries.Hankins returned from a hip injury five games ago, and since that time has completed 63.2 percent of his passes and is averaging 354.2 yards a game through the air over that span. Those completions include 13 touchdown passes. Duke Calhoun had a career-high 159 yards on four catches, including a pair of 70-yard receptions in the Tigers' 25-9 win over UAB. The Tiger running game made a surprise appearance in the UAB win as Joseph Doss collected 168 yards on 19 carries, only the second time this season a Tiger back has run for more than 100 yards. The Tigers coach, West talks about his teams finishing strong and being better at the end of the year.