Let’s go ahead and say it. There was too much Sincerity at the Liberty Bowl Saturday afternoon. UTSA’s junior tailback, Sincere McCormick, carried the football 42 times for 184 yards and three touchdowns to help the Roadrunners upset the Memphis Tigers and end the home team’s 17-game winning streak at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. When Hunter Duplessis split the uprights on a 42-yard field goal as time expired, the Roadrunners stormed the field, road victors (31-28) in this stadium for the first time since UCF on October 13, 2018.
The Tigers took a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, knocking the country’s 10th-ranked defense on its heels, particularly on a 60-yard scoring strike from Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan to Calvin Austin III. The Tigers led 28-14 entering the fourth quarter, but a pair of lost fumbles — one by Henigan and another by Tiger running back Brandon Thomas — proved decisive. The first misplay set up UTSA for McCormick’s third touchdown, and the second ended a Tiger drive in Roadrunner territory when a score could have secured a fourth win Memphis. Instead, the Tigers fall to 3-1 for the season while UTSA of Conference USA improves to 4-0.
“I’m glad [our players] are angry,” said Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield after the game. “I’m glad they’re pissed off. We have to put our hard hats on and get back to work. One game doesn’t define us, but this wasn’t our best effort. We know what’s ahead of us. We’ve got to be ready.”
What can be gleaned from such a heartbreaking end to that program-record winning streak? Foremost, every opponent remains a threat for Memphis. A week after their big win over Mississippi State and a week before traveling to Temple for their American Athletic Conference opener, the Tigers fell in a classic “trap game.” But for UTSA, a fourth win — and in Memphis, no less — would get them closer to the kind of national attention few C-USA teams enjoy. A motivated opponent is dangerous. The Tigers found this out on a warm, late-September afternoon on their home turf.
Then there are the shortcomings on offense. Memphis gained only 78 yards on the ground, part of the reason UTSA dominated possession time (35:42). Deep strikes to Austin and tight end Sean Dykes (six receptions for 167 yards) got the crowd (29,264) to its feet, but an inability to sustain a lengthy drive or two cost the Tigers at game’s end.
Then finally, those turnovers. Henigan was again interception-free (completing 15 of 25 passes for 329 yards), but that fumble inside the Tigers’ 10-yard line in the fourth quarter . . . it was a killer.
“They out-executed us,” emphasized Silverfield. “It’s as simple as that. We didn’t play clean football. [Memphis committed seven penalties.] They were able to establish their running game. There’s a lot to clean up.”
The Tigers travel to Philadelphia to play Temple next Saturday and will only have one home game (against Navy on October 14th) the next six weeks. A road trip to Tulsa awaits. A visit to, gulp, UCF is on the horizon. The silver lining in a loss is learning one’s flaws, and knowing they need to be addressed before another winning streak can be started.
Memphis remains undefeated in conference play. Of course, by that standard, the Tigers are also winless. As the calendar soon turns to October, a football team aims to start anew, with the goal of transforming weaknesses into strengths. The kind of task requiring collective devotion and, yes, sincerity.
