After Memphis football lost to Boise State on Sept. 12, coach Charles Huff challenged his team.
Not just as football players, he said. As men.
"I told them," Huff said after the Tigers beat UT Martin 45-21 on Sept. 19 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. "I said, 'Yes, I'm challenging you. I'm challenging you as a man.' Why? Because you have two options when you're challenged as a man. You stand up and you make a difference, or you quit.
"And I told them: It has nothing to do with this game. I'm challenging you as a man because at some point in your life, you're going to get challenged. And I want you guys to stand up and make a difference."
The Tigers responded to that by cruising to the win over the FCS-level Skyhawks, thanks to four touchdown passes
from quarterback Marcus Stokes. Memphis entered as a five-touchdown favorite, and the result was never really in doubt.
Still, Memphis has a roster made up almost entirely of transfers. And Huff didn't know how the Tigers would respond to a loss.
"They really challenged us this week," linebacker Tre McDonald said. "We got back into the facility after Boise, and a lot of us didn't feel great about the game, obviously. The coaches really put it on us to step up as men, and I think a lot of guys really put their focus into practice, their focus into what they needed to improve upon."
It was clear early that the game wasn't going to be particularly competitive. Huff pulled Stokes in the third quarter and replaced him with backup quarterback Air Noland, then pulled Noland to insert third-string Denzel Gardner. Other backups got opportunities, too, including running back Jordan Thompson (110 yards and a touchdown).
"We could have kept the 1's in and scored 87 points," Huff said in an apparent reference to James Madison's 87-3 win over Wagner on Sept. 12. "I think that's what people are scoring now. But, to me, for us and for our program, we need to know how many guys we have that can play winning football. Because at some point down the line, we're going to need as many of these players to perform as possible. The only way to get true live reps is to try to get them in a game."
Memphis is going into its first bye week at 3-1. It had a mostly positive nonconference slate, opening the season with a statement win over UNLV before beating Arkansas State and losing to Boise State.
The Tigers will open American Conference play on Oct. 3 at Charlotte. They'll go in as one of the favorites to win the American title, but there's still plenty to improve on before they get there.
On offense, that's cutting down on turnovers and sustaining drives. On defense, it's tackling and playing with more consistency.
Against the Skyhawks, Huff and his staff had a rare chance to evaluate the roster in live game scenarios.
"I think we've got an opportunity as a staff to go into this bye week and evaluate: Do we have more guys that can play winning football? We're going to need them for this stretch," Huff said. "So it was a really good opportunity today to get them in some live action to actually go execute in-game."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Charles Huff challenged Memphis football after loss to Boise State, how Tigers responded
