College Football Rankings 2017: Projected Week 9 AP Top 25 Poll
By Zach Bigalke
At halftime of their American Athletic Conference tilt against Houston, No. 25 Memphis looked dead in the water. The Tigers went to the locker room down 17-0, shut out after Major Applewhite called three straight timeouts to ice freshman kicker Riley Patterson on the final play of the first half.
Whatever adjustments took place during the intermission, they worked. Veteran quarterback Riley Ferguson threw for 471 yards to pace the Tigers to victory on the road. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but the 42-38 result gives Memphis tiebreakers over both of its primary divisional challengers. The Tigers will stay in the AP Top 25 and could bump up a few spots, setting up strong for a run at a New Year’s Six berth.
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All that stands in the way of a trip to the American Athletic Conference championship game are four games against Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, and East Carolina. If the Tigers can take down all four, then upset either UCF or South Florida in the title game, they would have a strong case to put before the College Football Playoff selection committee in December.