Memphis Football: Tigers should repeat atop AAC West in 2018

A quietly poor unit in 2017

There are probably two different ways to look at the Tigers’ defense in 2018. One involves taking note of just how rough a time Memphis had on defense last season – the Tigers gave up 32.6 points per game, which ranked 94th in the nation – and assuming that the deficiencies of this unit will come to light more often this coming season. Memphis’ tremendous offense often masked their leaky defense in 2017 (the Tigers won a pair of games in which they surrendered 45 points, and another in which they gave up 38). Without Ferguson and Miller, they won’t be putting up quite as many points this time around. The defense will need to improve if this team is to successfully defend their AAC West crown.

Throw in the fact that the Tigers are losing First Team All-AAC honoree Genard Avery to the NFL (80 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks last season), and it’s reasonable to think that this defense will struggle once again.

Reasons for optimism

But will they? The Tigers return seven starters from last season’s D, so there’s a lot to work with here. And there are some big pieces returning, at that: cornerback T.J. Carter was named Second Team All-AAC as a freshman, and leading tackler Curtis Akins returns to anchor the linebacker corps. Throw in a young defensive line that loses just one starter from a season ago, and you’ve got yourself a unit with some potential.

At this point, it’s just potential. Until proven otherwise, it stands to reason that Norvell and company will still be trying to win shootouts in 2018. But even modest improvement from the defense would make the Tigers very, very tough to beat.