Boise State will christen its newly renovated Albertsons Stadium with a tough one.
The Broncos open the 2026 season on Labor Day weekend with a road trip to Oregon, then come home the next week to face Memphis in the first game at the updated stadium. It’s a matchup with a familiar edge, too. The teams met in 2023, when Memphis held on for a 35-32 win after Boise State built a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and then watched the Tigers score 28 straight points.
Memphis arrives in Boise under first-year head coach Charles Huff, who takes over a program that went 8-5 last season under Ryan Silverfield, now at Arkansas. Huff has already put his stamp on the roster, bringing 17 players and four coaches with him from Southern Miss, his previous stop.
That turnover could be massive. The Tigers may start as many as 22 new players, all of them transfer additions.
Quarterback is one of the biggest battles. Former five-star recruit Air Noland, who has been at Ohio State and South Carolina, is competing with West Florida transfer Marcus Stokes for the job. Noland brings a left-handed passing style, while Stokes offers the more familiar dual-threat profile.
Whoever ends up running the offense should have help. Tychaun Chapman arrives from Southern Miss, Terrell Timmons comes in from Colorado, and junior Brady Kluse returns as another receiving option. At running back, Dallan Hayden looks like a name to watch after stints at Ohio State and Colorado.
The line up front is a bigger concern. Memphis lost several players to the portal, including Power Four transfers Malachi Breland from Arkansas, Josiah Clemons from Arkansas and Yakiri Walker from Baylor.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Decker, who leaned on the run game at Old Dominion last season, could be more balanced or even more pass-heavy here with two quarterbacks pushing for the starting role and a deeper receiver group.
Defensively, Lance Guidry is also rebuilding almost from zero after losing nearly all of last season’s production. The front should be the strongest part of the unit, with interior linemen Jaden McKinney from Southern Miss, J’Mari Monette from Indiana and Eric Thomas from Syracuse. Former Southern Miss players Jabari Ishmael and J’Mond Tapp give the Tigers more pass-rush juice.
At linebacker, Florida State transfer Jayden Parrish joins Mike Montgomery from Southern Miss, and Montgomery is coming off a junior season with 105 total tackles. He should be in the mix for American Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
Huff also brought over five potential defensive back starters from Southern Miss, giving Memphis a chance to field a defense that could be downright nasty if everything clicks in 2026.
In Other News...
Memphis Just Got A Clearer CFP Path With Almost No Margin
The College Football Playoffs latest format tweak gives Memphis a cleaner map into the 2026 bracket, and it does so in a way that feels both helpful and unforgiving. The committee has guaranteed bids for the champions of the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12, plus the highest-ranked team from the Group of Six, which keeps the door open for a program like Memphis to win its way in from outside the power leagues.
What makes the change especially relevant for the Tigers is that the Group of Six spot no longer has to go to a conference champion, a subtle shift that broadens the path while also raising the pressure on every game. Memphis no longer has to worry quite as much about chaos in other leagues, but the margin remains razor-thin in a system that could still reward the highest-ranked non-power team, not just the team that finishes first in its own conference. [Read more 🡒]
Memphis Schedule Is Taking Shape Around An Early Dayton Test
Memphis is starting to get a clearer picture of its 2026-27 calendar, and the first nonconference measuring stick on the board is a solid one. The Tigers are set to meet Dayton on Nov. 29, 2026, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, in the Atlantic 10/American Conference Showcase, a neutral-site matchup that should tell plenty about where Penny Hardaways team stands before league play begins.
The broader schedule already has the familiar layers of a modern major-program season, with 14 nonconference games, 18 American Conference games and a trip to the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. Between the showcase date and the tournament setting, Memphis will get a chance to see how its roster handles travel, atmosphere and high-end competition long before the conference grind settles in. [Read more 🡒]