Congratulations Memphis, You Have College Football’s Worst Team

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Not that this will come as any surprise to those that follow the University of Memphis football team – what few there are – but the Tigers are college football’s worst program.

It wasn’t long ago when Memphis fielded respectable teams and was consistently making bowl game appearances under former coach Tommy West.

But following a losing season in 2009, West was fired and Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson hired LSU assistant and former Tigers’ player Larry Porter to take over the program.

In Porter’s first season at the helm, Memphis posted a 1-11 record in 2010. This season, the Tigers have lost their first two games against Mississippi State and Arkansas State.

Actually, Memphis didn’t lose those games, they got killed. Embarrassed. Whipped. Crunched. Destroyed. I can keep going, but you get the idea.

In a year where Porter proclaimed that the Tigers were going to start a revolution, Memphis has truly been revolting.

The Tigers lost to Mississippi State 59-14 and last Saturday they got their doors blown off by Arkansas State 47-3.

The loss to the Indians was particularly galling since former Memphis high school coach Hugh Freeze is now the head coach at Arkansas State, and believe or not, he really wanted the job that Porter eventually got.

In their game against Mississippi State, Memphis generated 338 yards of offense – not bad considering the lack of talent that exists on the Tigers roster.

But against Arkansas State the Tigers could only muster 169 yards, meaning after their first two games Memphis ranks 113th in total offense out of 120 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

And if you think that’s bad, well, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Memphis’ defense gave up 645 yards against Mississippi State and 611 yards against Arkansas State, placing the Tigers dead last among all 120 teams in the FBS in total defense.

There is one bright spot Memphis can boast about, and that’s their punter Tom Hornsey.

As you might guess, Hornsey gets a lot of opportunities to show off his leg. In fact, he’s punted 17 times in the Tigers’ two games, the second most punts in the nation behind only Kent State’s Matt Rinehart with 21.

Hornsey is 21st among all FBS punters with a 43.8 yard average and has pinned opponents inside the 20 yard line five times. Wow.

All of this would seem comical if it weren’t so sad, but the worst is yet to come for Memphis. This team is so bad that it’s unlikely they’ll win a game this season even playing in a second rate conference.

After the loss to the Indians, Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal was calling for R.C. Johnson to resign, but that won’t solve the litany of issues surrounding the Tigers’ dismal football program.

Getting rid of Johnson would be a start in the right direction though, and anything going in a direction other than the one Memphis is currently headed would be an improvement.

For the time being, the University of Memphis will hold the dubious distinction of having the worst football program in the nation, and everyone associated with the school should be thoroughly embarrassed.