Ask anyone connected with a college football program if the upcoming year is a big year, and they’ll reach deep into the bag of cliches.

Every year is a big year.

Our goal is to win a championship every season.

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Our expectations never change.

So imagine my surprise when I asked Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch this exact question the other day.

“There’s no shying away from it,” he said. “It’s a big year.”

EXACTLY.

The 2022 Memphis football season may be as important as any in the history of the program.

Not long ago, Memphis football was the best program outside the five power conferences. It was a dynamic — and wildly entertaining — program on the rise.

The 2019 Memphis Tigers went 12-2, won the conference championship and finished the season in the Cotton Bowl. The high-flying offense averaged 40.4 points a game. That Memphis team finished No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25, ahead of Cincinnati (No. 21) and Central Florida (No. 24). The Tigers brought ESPN’s GameDay to Beale Street and drew an average of 38,816 fans to the Liberty Bowl.

Two seasons later, the program has receded. The 2021 Tigers finished with a 3-5 conference record — they were 6-6 overall — which ranked seventh in the American Athletic Conference. That 40.4 scoring average dipped to 30.1. Average home attendance was down to 31,295 per game. Cincinnati, UCF and Houston are headed off to join the Big 12 conference next season. Memphis remains in the AAC.

So, yeah, it’s a big year. It’s the year to prove that last year was not the norm. It’s the year to reestablish Memphis as one of the best programs outside the power conferences. And it’s the year to determine whether head coach Ryan Silverfield — who will address the program’s status at the AAC’s media day later this week — can do the job.

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We don’t know the answer to that yet, do we? This year should tell us a lot.

We know Silverfield is a decent man. We know he cares about the right things. We know he worked valiantly to keep the program together during COVID and we know he assembles highly-ranked recruiting classes every season. We know Veatch admires him for all of that.

“One of the things I appreciate about Ryan is that he’s really buttoned-up and in charge of everything and runs a very, very sound program,” Veatch said. “He’s one of those people that pays attention to detail, who’s on top of everything. How things are done is as important to him as the outcome.”

Which is all great, isn’t it?

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But the outcome is everything in college football. It matters on the field and in the stands. It matters to the people who make decisions about realignment. It may matter, more than ever, this year.

Look, it’s unfair to judge Silverfield against the 2019 season. That may have been the best season in the history of Memphis football. Should all Memphis basketball coaches be measured against what John Calipari did in 2007-2008? Every year can’t be better than the best that has ever been.

But there’s a reason Veatch publicly acknowledged this is an important season. The trajectory has been pointing the wrong way. The program is at this very moment trying to 1) reestablish itself as a compelling option in future realignment decisions, and 2) generate enough local enthusiasm to raise $150 million to remake the Liberty Bowl.

Another 6-6 season won’t help with any of that. A 7-5 season won’t do much, either. Memphis will never be the biggest, most glamorous television market. But it can build a program that is impossible to resist.

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“There’s a lot of reasons why this (season) is really important,” Veatch said. “We want to get that trajectory back in the direction that everybody wants.”

The hope is that this is that season for Silverfield. There are reasons to think it may be. It was Year Three when Justin Fuente broke through at Memphis, after all. Like Fuente that season, Silverfield has a gifted returning starter at quarterback. Can Seth Henigan do what Paxton Lynch did in 2014, and lead Memphis to double digit wins?

That would sure go a long way to restablishing the program’s momentum, to proving that the glory days are not done.

It is not just another big season for Memphis football. It may be the biggest one yet.