Memphis moves up one spot in the Athletic’s update 138-team rankings after week 5

The Athletic updated its 138-team college football rankings after the week 5 results, and Memphis moved up one spot to No. 49 in the ranking. The bump up makes them the No. 5 ranked team from the Group of Six and the top team in the American conference.

It’s hard to take much away from the last two games the Tigers have played. Over the last three weeks, they have beaten an FCS team, had an open date and beat the Athletic’s No. 138 team.

Charles Huff’s team looked good in both of those games, but they were playing inferior opponents. At the end of the day, a win is a win, and they will continue to move up in the rankings if they continue to win games. 

It’s likely they will continue to move up slowly throughout the season if they start stacking wins, and it will be interesting to see how high they can get if they continue to have success.

Boise State, who beat Memphis in week 2, is the top Group of Six team in the Athletic’s rankings, and it sits at No. 19, a spot behind Tennessee.

The next group of six team behind the Broncos is James Madison, who sits at No. 40, followed by Western Michigan (No. 44) and New Mexico (No. 46) before the Tigers at No. 49. 

Four teams from the American are ranked inside the top 70, and UTSA (No. 59) are the closest to Memphis. North Texas (No. 60) and FAU (No. 65) are the other two teams in the top 70 or the rankings. 

Former Tiger head coach Ryan Silverfield’s Arkansas team ranks No. 71 in the rankings, but it isn’t the lowest ranked Power Four team. That title belongs to Maryland, who sits at No. 86.

Memphis’ opponent this week, UAB, sits at No. 100, and it it will be interesting to see how the Tigers move if they beat the Blazers.

CBS Sports also does a weekly 138-team ranking, but it moved the Tigers down two spots following their win over the 49ers, who also sits at No.138 in the CBS Sports poll. The CBS ranking has Memphis at No. 57, which is much lower than where the Athletic lists them. 

According to CBS Sports, the Tigers are the No. 7 team among the Group of Six and the No. 2 team in the American behind UTSA. The Roadrunners play on Thursday against South Florida.