Group of Five: 2017 college football Week 3 power rankings

Though they were not personally in the path of Hurricane Irma, the storm nevertheless impacted Memphis in Week 2. The Tigers were slated to travel to Orlando to take on UCF in both teams’ American Athletic Conference opener. Now the game will likely be canceled, leaving Memphis in a similar situation to other Group of Five schools that lost a critical data point in the New Year’s Six race.

At this point, we don’t really know much about the Tigers. Returning starter Riley Ferguson looked mediocre (at best) throwing the football against Louisiana-Monroe in Week 1. The quarterback completed just 10 of his 25 passing attempts against the Warhawks, throwing for less than 100 yards.

He has yet to throw a touchdown pass this season, though Ferguson does have one interception to his name. Instead, Mike Norvell relied on a punishing ground game to take down ULM in the opener. Darrell Henderson rushed 12 times for 169 yards and two scores. Patrick Taylor Jr. also topped 100 yards rushing, with 15 carries for 131 yards and a score.

Ferguson punched in a touchdown on a run as well, as the Tigers finished with 319 rushing yards and four touchdowns in their only game so far in 2017. The level of competition rises when UCLA comes to the Liberty Bowl this weekend. Memphis has an opportunity to take down one of the hottest Power Five programs of September, but Ferguson will need to be much better to pull off the upset.