DeAngelo Williams accomplished a lot of things in his time at the University of Memphis. He was never picked first in his conference. Paxton Lynch was never picked to finish first in his conference. Brady White holds the passing records at Memphis, but he wasn’t picked to finish first, either. 

Without playing a single snap, Seth Henigan, Roc Taylor, and the 2024 Memphis football team have already done something that’s never before been done at Memphis; they were picked to win their conference in the preseason. The Tigers received 23 of a possible 30 first-place votes in Tuesday’s American Athletic Conference media poll.

That’s to be celebrated. Sure, some part of that is because so many peer programs have defected to larger leagues. But it’s also because of the work that has been done by Ryan Silverfield and the players on the team. Henigan stayed. Taylor stayed. Silverfield fortified the defensive secondary. FedEx has stepped up with a generous NIL partnership. That’s a credit not just to Silverfield and his staff, but also to the community around Memphis that has invested completely into the success of the program.

Memphis Tigers picked to win AAC football championship

But now comes the challenge: When you’re the first Memphis team to be picked number one, you have higher expectations than any team in Memphis history.

Not only that, the responsibility is higher. This is a critical time for the Memphis athletic department — and football, most specifically. The program has to prove that it is the overwhelming best outside of the power structure. You can’t do that by winning basketball games. You can’t do it by winning women’s soccer games, or men’s tennis matches. You can only do it the way that UCF and Cincinnati did — by being the best football program in the Group of Five.

So this Memphis football team has more expectations, more pressure than any other that came before it. The good news is that a Memphis football team has probably never been more equipped to meet those expectations.

Henigan figures to be one of the best quarterbacks in college football next season. The Tigers brought in an SEC running back in Mario Anderson. Most of the receiving corps from a year ago — Taylor, Coby Drake, Demeer Blankumsee, to name a few — have returned. Silverfield added multiple Power 5 transfers to his defense, including Tennessee’s leading tackler a season ago.

“Personally, as a head coach, I haven’t accomplished anything I want to in this conference,” he said Tuesday. “The goal is to win the conference championship. And that’s the goal every year.”

The thing about expectations is you’d rather have them than not. It means that there’s a program and team in place that’s worthy of lofty hopes. But, again, they also have to be met. That’s not to say Silverfield would be fired if Memphis doesn’t win the AAC; he just got a brand new 5-year deal. But there’s a massive difference between not being fired and being celebrated as the coach who made history at Memphis. Silverfield isn’t in this profession to not be fired. He wants to be acclaimed as a successful coach.

Need inspiration? Tigers QB Seth Henigan looks in the mirror

The truth is, even with a new deal, winning 10 games a year ago and NIL momentum, he just has never been celebrated the way that Justin Fuente and Mike Norvell were. Whether that is fair or not is a separate issue altogether. This is the moment when Silverfield can change all of that. So the pressure is undeniably on.

Tuesday was a great day in Memphis football history. The Tigers are No. 1 in the preseason for the first time ever. Now all they have to do is go out and be No. 1 when the season ends.