In a Protective Stadium hallway in October 2025, Memphis football linebacker Drue Watts summed up what had just happened with three short sentences.
"Lack of focus," he said. "Lack of communication. Lack of everything, really."
The Tigers lost 31-24 in one of the most shocking upsets of the entire 2025 season. They'd entered the game as 23.5-point favorites, with a potential spot hosting "College GameDay" for the following week, and as a Group of Six leader to reach the College Football Playoff. UAB had gone in with an interim coach who'd never been in charge for a game at any level and a quarterback who'd never started a game in college.
But that's why they play the games.
"I just remember that we just kind of let up," Memphis defensive lineman
Taylor Burton said Oct. 6. "We played decent, kind of, first half. But I feel like we just let up. And we gave them life where we shouldn't have."
A year later, Burton is one of only a handful of returning players on the Tigers' roster. Memphis (4-1, 1-0 American Conference) will host UAB (3-2, 1-0) on Oct. 10 (6 p.m. CT, ESPN2) at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.
While there's always plenty of discussion among Memphis fans about the validity of the rivalry, the fact is that the 94-pound bronze rack of ribs that serves as the trophy for the annual game has been in Birmingham for the past year. And while Memphis has a new coach in Charles Huff and a depth chart that's made up almost entirely of transfers, he still wants the Tigers to understand that this game has extra importance for the Memphis fans.
"Our players truly believe if something's important to our fans, then it needs to be important to us," Huff said. "This is one of those things."
One thing Huff isn't doing, though? Talking about last year's game.
"I've been looking forward to this one after seeing it on the schedule," said receiver Brady Kluse, who has been at Memphis since 2024. "It's the 'Battle for the Bones.' Really focused on trying to get the ribs back here in Memphis and just kind of get that bad taste out of our mouths from last year."
Both teams look drastically different this season. UAB looks like a much-improved team from the dumpster fire that coach Alex Mortensen inherited, and the Blazers already earned an upset win over Navy to start conference play.
Memphis looks nothing like the Tigers teams of the past couple of years and are coming off a 59-8 drubbing of Charlotte to open conference play on Oct. 3.
"Obviously there's still going to be some kids that remember what happened last year," UAB quarterback Ryder Burton told The Commercial Appeal at American Conference media days in July. "I mean, it was point-blank settled, they were going to have 'College GameDay' if they beat us. So I'm sure there's a lot of hard feelings there. And I don't think I'd have it any other way."
Taylor Burton said he has had a few teammates ask him about it. And he said he has used that opportunity to tell them about how important it'll be to play a complete 60 minutes.
"It's going to be a dogfight," he said. "And we've got to keep our foot on their neck when it comes to whatever. Whether we're up, we're down, we've got to keep playing. And that's something I really tried to emphasize to them."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What Memphis football's returning players remember from UAB upset in 2025
