Do not stumble. Do not get upset.

Again.

That’s the mission for the Tigers on Friday in Houston, where No. 25 Memphis takes on Rice in a 6 p.m. ESPN2-televised game that has all the potential pitfalls of one that bit coach Ryan Silverfield’s program hard once already this season.

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The 7-1 Tigers have some huge games left on their schedule, chiefly ones against Tulane on Nov. 7 and Navy on Nov. 27 – both at home.

But first they must face some Owls on Halloween.

Scary – especially the way things have gone for the Tigers lately.

Silverfield, make no mistake, has a knack for winning the big one.

Not always, mind you, but often.

His Tigers did that just last Saturday, knocking off nationally ranked South Florida and knocking the then-No. 18 Bulls out of the Associated Press Top 25. Earlier this season Arkansas came to town, and Memphis had the Hogs’ number. A week later, the Razorbacks fired affable coach Sam Pittman.

The win over Arkansas pushed Silvefield’s record against power conference teams to an impressive 5-2. He’s also 4-0 in bowl games since being elevated full-time to Memphis’ head coaching post after spending time as an assistant on Mike Norvell’s former Tigers staff.

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Last season Silverfield’s 11-2 team beat two power conference opponents and one, Tulane, that was nationally ranked at the time. Never mind that early season victim Florida State of the ACC, now coached by Norvell, finished the year 2-10 and that Big 12-member West Virginia, which Memphis disposed of in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl, wound up under .500 at 6-7.

In 2023 the Tigers lost to Missouri of the SEC, but they did put a Big 12 program in their belt of notches by beating Iowa State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

The 2022 season wasn’t nearly so kind to Memphis: an early loss to Mississippi State in Starkville followed by losses to both of the nationally ranked American Athletic Conference opponents it faced, Central Florida, now in the Big 12, and Tulane.

But Memphis memorably upended Mississippi State in 2021, doing so in the friendly confines of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. Later that year the Tigers split with the two nationally ranked then-American opponents they faced, beating SMU but getting pounded by Houston.

In addition to West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl and Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl, Silverfield has wins over Utah State in the First Responder Bowl and Florida Atlantic in the Montgomery Bowl.

Big games, nice victories.

Along the way, however, the Tigers have tripped more than once with disappointing losses – especially lately.

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Some of the losses have proven quite costly, as Silverfield’s Tigers – as has been chronicled ad nauseum – still haven’t found a way to the American Conference title game, let alone into the postseason playoffs.

It remains to be seen what the price tag of another, one this season to UAB, ultimately will be.

The sting still is fresh from last season, when Memphis got beat by a not-so-great UTSA team – one, granted, traditionally good at home – and by typically tough-to-play Navy, which was hot at the time. Win either one of those two and the Tigers could have been playing in the conference title game.

In 2023 all Memphis needed to do to get to the league championship game was beat one of two strong conference opponents, ranked SMU or Tulane. Both games were at home, which should have worked in the Tigers’ favor.

It did not.

And in 2022 the biggest loss wasn’t costly so much as it was painful: Up 19 late, at home, only to lose 33-32 to Houston. Amid a 7-6 season the Tigers weren’t going to make the conference championship had they won that one, but the agony was real because of how everything unfolded.

Then there was that time earlier this month that the Tigers made their way down to Birmingham for what should have been an easy one before their showdown with South Florida, only to return to Memphis with tails tucked after UAB, playing without its injured starting quarterback, held on to win 31-24.

Another one that got away.

The hurt for Tiger fans was palpable.

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Memphis made amends, to some degree, by beating South Florida. It rallied from 14 down in the fourth quarter, exhibiting some of the same resiliency it showed in September against Arkansas.

Afterward some hailed Silverfield again for preparing his teams well when the stakes are obviously high.

He shooed away the praise, as coaches with a conscience tend to do.

“It’s all about the players,” Silverfield said in the immediate aftermath of the win.

“It has nothing to do with me, other than telling them, ‘Hey, we’ve got to believe, and we’ve got to fight.’”

The Tigers did believe. They certainly did fight, when a ton was on the line.

A loss to USF would have all but mathematically knocked Memphis out of contention for the American title game and, by extension, a ticket to the College Football Playoff.

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But the Tigers did not lose, much to Silverfield’s credit, so all that remains within reach.

Now it’s time to show that same belief, that same fight, when access to the same two things – conference championship game appearance, possible CFP bid – again is at risk, and the opponent, 4-4 Rice, again is not nearly so showy.

Time, that is, for the Tigers to avoid another stumble.