Martin: How Memphis football went from College GameDay to ‘shame’
Memphis receiver Roc Taylor (3) during the Tigers’ game against UTSA on Saturday, Nov. 2, in San Antonio. (Courtesy Memphis Athletics)
John Martin
John Martin is a contributing college sports columnist for The Daily Memphian. Martin is a lifelong Memphian who’s covered the Memphis Tigers’ basketball program for more than a decade. Before joining The Daily Memphian team, he was the Memphis beat writer for The Athletic. Currently, he is the co-host of the Jason and John Show on 92.9 FM ESPN, weekdays at 11 a.m. Martin is a graduate of White Station High School and the University of Memphis.
On Nov. 2, 2019, the University of Memphis was at the center of the college football universe. For the first time in program history, College GameDay came to town. Thousands packed Beale Street with Memphis regalia and their signs to celebrate the moment.
As the ESPN SkyCam flew down Beale, Rece Davis started the show with the famous Chuck Berry lyric: “Give me Memphis, Tennessee!”
It was the culmination of so many years of pain, of hard work, of the magnificent turnaround of a college football program once left virtually for dead. You can’t help but get chills rewatching the intro. Oh, and Memphis ended SMU’s unbeaten streak that day. Excitement over Memphis football reached a fever pitch.
Five years later — to the exact day — the Tigers lost to the UTSA Roadrunners, 44-36. Whatever hopes anybody was still clinging to of the Tigers reaching the American Athletic Conference title game have now been all but dashed. The most anticipated football season in program history is likely to end with an appearance in a mediocre bowl game.
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