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WEB EXTRA: Just Ballin’ with JB – USC football is back

We jack up expectations out of single-game performances because hey, it’s fun. Or we tank our expectations out of single-game performances because we̵...
Jessica Benson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com) – USC football is back. That’s my post this week. No further questions. I respect your, the reader’s, time.

That’s crazy though right? USC, my alma mater, isn’t back. Just because Kedon Slovis is the second-coming of Sam Darnold and the Trojans are going to run the table and go to the Rose Bowl doesn’t mean anything because all those words you just read probably aren’t true.

That’s the great thing about college football. That’s the problem with college football. We jack up expectations out of single-game performances because hey, it’s fun. Or we tank our expectations out of single-game performances because we’re apathetic.

(Note: If you’re a Tennessee Volunteers fan I actually support you tanking your expectations at this time because you’ve already been hurt enough.)

The Memphis Tigers are 2-0. That’s all we know. We saw a nice offensive performance against an FCS opponent featuring Kenneth Gainwell’s coming out party and an increase in Brady White deep balls. We saw a defense make nice adjustments in the second half against the run. We saw week one opponent Ole Miss look pretty good running the football against Arkansas, so voila, by transitive property, the Memphis defense might actually be good?

We do know that if you have a questionable punt formation, the Tigers will destroy your soul. That we definitely know. But there’s so much we don’t know about the Tigers.

We’ll get a little better idea against South Alabama this week. Don’t raise your eyebrows, the Jags pushed Nebraska to the wire in week one.

We’ll get a little better idea against Navy. It’s Navy. It’s a Thursday game. The Midshipmen always seem to have the Tigers’ number.

We’ll get a little better idea against ULM. I’m not pulling your leg. ULM nearly lit Willie Taggert’s hot seat at Florida State on fire.

Then we’ll hit the flow of AAC play, and we can have a legitimate conversation about expectations. Let’s see if the Tigers are in the hunt for another AAC West title before crowning them G5 champions.

Maybe don’t book your Cotton Bowl flights just yet, says the woman looking up flights to Pasadena for January 1, 2020.

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