The Athletic updated its 138-team rankings after week three, and they ranked the Tigers No. 48 in the country. Memphis dropped five spots after beating UT Martin by 24 points.
There wasn’t any explanation for the Tigers’ fall, but several teams jumped them in the rankings, including Arizona State, James Madison and Virginia Tech.
Both the Sun Devils and 2-1, while the Dukes and Hokies are both undefeated. James Franklin took over at Virginia Tech, and he has won all three games by nine or more points.
James Madison is starting to gain some traction as a Group of Six dark horse after a 3-0 start with wins over Liberty, Wagner and San Diego State, and it’s currently the overwhelming favorite to win the Sun Belt.
Memphis is 3-1 after starting the season a week early in Las Vegas against UNLV, but all three of Charles Huff’s wins are against teams currently under .500. The Rebels and Arkansas State are both 1-2, while UT Martin is 1-3.
There’s also an argument that the Tigers didn’t beat the Skyhawks by “enough points”, but Huff was very clear after the game that the plan was to play younger players, rather than running up the score.
“We could’ve kept the ones in and scored 70 or 87 points,” Huff said. “I think that’s what people are scoring now, but to me, for us and our program, we need to know how many guys we have that can play winning football because at some point down the line we’re going to need as many of these players to perform as possible. So, the only way to get true lie reps is to try to get them in a game. It was a really good opportunity for that.”
Memphis is the sixth top ranked Group of Six team, according to the Athletic, and it ranks behind James Madison, New Mexico, Western Michigan, Boise State and Tulsa.
Tulsa is the only team in the American ahead of the Tigers, and it has an opportunity to improve to 4-0 this weekend against Arkansas. The Golden Hurricane made headlines by beating Oklahoma State a week before the Cowboys beat Oregon.
Memphis has the week off after playing four games to start the season, and it will start conference play on October 3 on the road against Charlotte. The 49ers are 0-3 with losses against The Citadel, App State and Ole Miss.
