The clamor for an on-campus football stadium at the University of Memphis may gather some momentum after this weekend.

The Tigers play their Conference USA opener against Central Florida at the Orlando-based school’s new Bright House Networks Stadium. The U of M fans who make the trip will witness firsthand the atmosphere an on-campus facility generates.

UCF opened the 45,000-seat stadium last weekend against nationally ranked Texas and nearly christened the facility with an upset victory. Knights coach George O’Leary, the former Georgia Tech boss, spoke glowingly about the stadium’s impact. Its opening leaves Memphis, Tulane and UAB as the only programs in the 12-team league without an on-campus home.

If the Knights parlay the move to the on-campus stadium into a promotion to a Bowl Championship Series conference in the near future, the grassroots movement to put a facility on the U of M’s campus will gather additional momentum.

A few years ago, before Louisville left C-USA to join the Big East, I remember a U of M official walking into Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, the then-new on-campus facility, during a light practice before a Tigers-Cardinals game and proclaiming: `Oh, no, they’ve passed us by.’ Will similar words be uttered Saturday in Orlando?