Meet Your Insider
Well, hello there, friends. I'm Otis Delaney-Crum, your Memphis insider at The Cover Window. I'm a Memphis native. I play blues guitar on weeknights and sing bass in the gospel choir on Sunday mornings, and to me football and music are the same thing. A good drive has a groove. A great one has a backbeat.
Here's how I work. I hum a riff whenever the Tigers score, and I rank opposing fight songs on my personal soul scale. I'm smooth and I laugh loud, but I don't play loose with facts. Every number I give you has a source. If I don't know something, I'll tell you I'm still tuning that string. I celebrate our players as young men first, and I respect every opponent who walks into our house. Go Tigers Go.
The School in 60 Seconds
Memphis started playing football in 1912. Since then the Tigers have won more than 500 games and appeared in 17 bowl games. For a long stretch, football lived in the shadow of the university's basketball program. Things changed starting with coach Justin Fuente's tenure. As of the end of the 2025 season, Memphis has been bowl-eligible every year since 2014. That's more than a decade of steady rhythm.
The Tigers play in the American Conference at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. CFBD lists it at 58,325 seats, built in 1965, with an artificial surface. The last five seasons went 6-6, 7-6, 10-3, 11-2 and 8-5. That 11-2 in 2024 is a record I play on repeat.
The Coach and the Scheme
Charles Huff is new on the bandstand. CFBD records his hire date as Dec. 8, 2025. Wikipedia says he coached Southern Miss in 2025 and Marshall from 2021 to 2024. Before that he was associate head coach and running backs coach at Alabama, with stints at Mississippi State and Penn State. He's known as one of the top recruiters in college football. He was born in 1983, so he's a young bandleader.
Huff's first Memphis offense really swings. The Tigers gain 512.6 yards per game, 6th in FBS. They run for 237.7 yards per game (8th) and throw for 274.9 (25th). They score 35.4 points per game (35th). They're disciplined too, with 44.3 penalty yards per game (22nd).
The defense is a mixed song. It allows 372.4 yards per game (89th) and 172.9 rushing yards (104th). But it shines when it matters. Opponents convert just 31.5% of third downs (20th), and the red-zone defense ranks 6th at 66.7%. Points allowed sit at 22.3 per game (58th).
Players to Know
QB Marcus Stokes: 1,841 yards, 18 TD, 6 INT, 66.9%. At Tulane he threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-37 passing. AP's preview counts three interceptions in that game and the AP recap counts four, so that count is conflicting. He also lost two fumbles there.
RB Jaylin Carter: 780 yards on 112 carries, eight touchdowns. He ran 23 times for 135 yards at Tulane. That's the bass guitar of this offense.
WR Hunter Tipton: 22 catches, 380 yards, five touchdowns.
WR Stonka Burnside: seven catches for 151 yards at Tulane, including a 76-yard touchdown. AP's preview prints a different name for this receiver; the roster and the AP recap say Stonka Burnside, so I'm going with that.
DL Elijah Kinsler: team-high 4.5 sacks.
LB Mike Montgomery: team-high 47 tackles.
K Philippe Laforge: opened the Tulane game with a 44-yard field goal.
The Conference Picture
Memphis is 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the American. The Tigers are 3-0 at home and 2-2 on the road. The wins: 27-21 at UNLV, 42-24 over Arkansas State, 45-21 over UT Martin, 59-8 at Charlotte and 38-13 over UAB. The losses came at Boise State (38-20) and at Tulane (31-17).
Both losses were on the road. Thursday brings the Tigers home, where they're unbeaten. Next comes Army at home on Oct. 31, then South Florida, Navy and Temple to finish.
This Week: Game Preview from Both Sides
East Carolina (3-3) at Memphis (5-2) · Thursday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m. ET · Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, Memphis, Tenn. · ESPN2
Last time out. That one hit a sour note. Tulane forced six turnovers and won 31-17. Memphis led 10-3 after Burnside's long touchdown. Tulane answered with three field goals, a touchdown pass and a 76-yard interception return at halftime. ECU fell 30-17 in overtime at UAB on Oct. 15 after leading 14-0.
Memphis' offense vs. ECU's defense. ECU's defense is solid. It allows 326.5 yards per game (38th) and 187.5 passing yards (34th). Its run defense is more ordinary, at 139.0 yards per game (63rd). I want Carter and the ground game setting the tempo, then Stokes finding Tipton deep. Most of all, I want the ball held tight. ECU's defense has two interception-return touchdowns this year.
ECU's offense vs. Memphis' defense. ECU gains 339.5 yards per game (112th) and scores 23.5 points (99th). TJ Engleman Jr. has 490 rushing yards and ran for 104 at UAB. Our run defense ranks 104th, so he's the man to watch. But ECU converts only 31.3% on third down (125th), and its red-zone rate ranks 125th. Our third-down and red-zone defenses rank 20th and 6th. That's harmony.
Series. ECU's athletics site lists the Pirates ahead 18-8 all-time. ECU won last year's meeting 31-27 in Greenville on Nov. 15, 2025. That's from a search summary, so I'll call it thin. Either way, the Pirates hold the bragging rights until we earn them back.
Availability. No official conference availability report has been published. I found no confirmed Memphis injury news, so I won't speculate.
Three questions that decide it:
1. Can Memphis protect the ball after six turnovers at Tulane?
2. Can the run defense (104th) slow Engleman?
3. Can the red-zone defense (6th) keep forcing field goals?
Local Flavor
Thursday night football in Memphis is a show. On ESPN2, the whole country gets to hear the Bluff City sing. I'll post confirmed spots for game-night barbecue before kickoff. Not an ad. Come early, come loud, love your neighbor, and if you hear a man humming a riff after a touchdown, come say hello.
My call: Memphis Tigers 33, East Carolina Pirates 21.