‘A Power Four team’: Memphis coach has ‘appropriate fear’ facing Boise State

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Boise State’s next opponent, Memphis, has started the season 2-0, but the Tigers’ first-year head coach hasn’t had much sleep the past couple of nights.

Charles Huff fielded over half an hour of questions on Tuesday ahead of this weekend’s massive game at Albertsons Stadium. He spoke for several minutes specifically about Boise State, and he was nothing but complimentary of the Broncos — who are scaring him.

“I haven’t slept since Saturday night,” Huff said Tuesday, perhaps only somewhat joking. As for how he feels about facing Boise State?

“Fear. Appropriate fear. They’re a good team,” Huff said. “You don’t go into Eugene and battle the No. 2 team in the country the way they did with confidence, and it wasn’t a bunch of fluke stuff… you put the film on, and they’re running real football plays, they’re tackling real football players.”

Huff was referencing Boise State’s opening game last weekend, a 34-27 road loss to then-No. 2 Oregon that saw the Broncos take a 10-point lead in the first half and have the score tied into the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Memphis opened the season with a 27-21 win over a team BSU knows very well — the Mountain West’s UNLV — before beating Arkansas State 42-24.

Memphis is Huff’s third head coaching gig, having enjoyed success leading both Marshall (2021-24) and Southern Miss (2025). But prior to those stops, he was the running backs coach at multiple Power Four schools, including at Penn State and under Nick Saban at Alabama, where he won a national championship ring and eventually became associate head coach.

That means Huff knows a thing or two about big-time programs, and he said Tuesday that he sees those characteristics in Boise State.

“I’m being dead honest? I don’t believe in trying to pump up a team, but that’s a real football team,” Huff said. “They should be a Power Four team, in my opinion. When you look at them, that’s how they look. That’s how they play. That’s how the culture is driven.”

The Broncos, of course, have never backed away from such praise, working hard the past 20 years to elevate themselves to national prominence. What does Huff like specifically about this Boise State team? He was massively impressed by the tackling against Oregon, for instance, calling the Broncos the “best tackling team I’ve seen on film in a long time.”

Boise State recorded 63 tackles against the Ducks, but it was the team’s ability to bring down talented players in the open field to stop explosive plays that stood out.

That will be important against Memphis, too — Huff’s team has recorded 28 explosive plays (15-yard passes, 10-yard runs) through two games. Huff also praised how Boise State’s run game generally performs, often wearing down defenses, and he was impressed that against a very talented Oregon front, the Broncos ran the ball 36 times and didn’t back down.

“They ran the ball on Oregon. I don’t know if I would have been that committed, but when you are convicted about who you are and what you do, it’s what you do,” Huff said. “It’s not about are we capable of stopping the run, we can do that. But are we willing to get bludgeoned for 60 minutes?”

Boise State vs. Memphis

When: 4 p.m. Mountain time Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium (34,423, Turf)
TV: USA Sports (Nate Gatter, Ryan Leaf, Lauren Green)
Radio: KBOI 670-AM and KBOI 93.1-FM/Sirius XM Ch. 84 (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 0-1, 0-0; Memphis 2-0, 0-0
Series: Memphis leads the series 1-0
Vegas line: Boise State by 9 points
Weather: High of 86, low of 56, humidity 26%, partly sunny, 5% chance of rain.