Category: Sports Feature

In what is probably Rip Scherer’s last home game at the University of Memphis, the Tigers lost to Cincinnati 13-10 in overtime. It was Memphis’ fourth consecutive loss. Two of the four went to overtime. The average margin of victory in the four games was a field goal — three points.

The game, which was played in front of 21,862 at the Liberty Bowl, ensured Memphis will have a sixth straight losing season under Scherer. That hasn’t happened at the school since 1922.

Scherer alluded to the uncertainty of his job both to the team and to reporters after the game. “We don’t know what the future holds. All we know is we’ve got one game to play,” Scherer said. “You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out.”

Once again the Memphis defense did a tremendous job, holding Cincinnati to 190 yards and no touchdowns. The only Bearcat touchdown came in the first quarter on a 82-yard fumble return. Memphis squandered numerous opportunities to score in the first half and went into the locker room at halftime trailing 7-3. Four first half turnovers came inside Cincinnati territory, including a fumble at the 18 and another at the goal line.

The Tigers had seven turnovers in the game, including one on the last play of the game, a Scott Scherer interception in the first overtime. Jonathan Ruffin kicked a 37-yard field goal on the Bearcats first overtime possession.

“I respect Scott because he was playing with more pressure than anyone out there,” Scherer said of his son. “Everybody out there is playing to win. He’s playing to win and fighting for his dad’s job. That’s a lot of pressure for a 21-year-old kid.”

Memphis had its biggest offensive production of the season against the porous Bearcat defense. Scott Scherer completed 20 of 32 passes for 203 yards. Tailback Sugar Sanders ran 21 times for 122 yards. Ryan Johnson had 73 yards on six receptions and added 92 yards on three punt returns. He set up Memphis’ only touchdown with an 82-yard punt return to the one-yard line late in the third quarter. Sanders ran it in to put Memphis ahead 10-7. Ruffin kicked a field goal from 30 yards out with 10 minutes to tie the game.

Memphis chose to play for overtime late in the fourth quarter when they got the ball on their own 19 with 1:21 and all three time outs left. The crowd booed when Memphis ran the ball and did not call timeout.

“We didn’t want to do anything dumb,” Scherer explained. “I didn’t think they could score a touchdown in overtime. We wanted to make sure that we got it into overtime, that we didn’t make a mistake that took away our opportunity to go into overtime.”

Memphis (4-6) closes out the season next week at New Orleans against Tulane. An announcement about Scherer’s future could come before then, perhaps as early as Monday.

(You can write Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com.)

This is what its like to be in purgatory.

This is what it must have been like to be Sisyphus.

This is Memphis football.

For the second consecutive season, Tennessee scored the winning points in the final minute of the game as the Vols beat the Tigers 19-17 before 63,121 rain-soaked fans at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Saturday.

After Scott Scherer hit senior tight end Billy Kendall with a 24-yard touchdown pass with 2:56 to go in the game it looked like a repeat of last season’s final score in Knoxville, when Tennessee scored with a minute to go for a 17-16 win. But Memphis couldn’t make the score stick.

As it has for most of this season of disappointment, Memphis had a special teams’ breakdown in a crucial moment. Leonard Scott returned Ryan White’s kickoff 44 yards to the Tennessee 48. Freshman quarterback Casey Clausen then drove the Vols to the Memphis 17 where Alex Walls kicked his fourth field goal of the game with 13 seconds left.

After the game, just as he did following the disappointing loss in Knoxville last season, Memphis head coach Rip Scherer lashed out at certain members of the Memphis media who he thinks have been negative in reporting about his program.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of this football team. These kids are good kids and they deserve better. I wouldn’t trade this football team for any other team in the country,” an emotional Scherer said after the game. “This week we circled the wagons and hung in there and competed. We didn’t let this negative stuff bother us, divide us, or create doubt.”

Both teams came into the game wanting to play a conservative, ball-control offense. In the first quarter Tennessee did just that, keeping the ball for more than 10 minutes of the period. The Vols average starting position was its own 47; Memphis its own 12.

The Tigers suffered yet another special team mistake when senior punter Ben Graves mishandled a high snap and barely got a punt off from his own end zone. Tennessee got the ball at the Memphis 21-yard-line and Alex Walls kicked a 42-yard field goal with 53 seconds left for a 3-0 lead.

In the second quarter, the table turned. Memphis completely dominated the period with Scott Scherer leading the Tigers on a 82-yard, 14-play drive culminating in a Dernice Wherry touchdown with 9:15 to go in the first half. Tennessee committed a special teams’ mistake of its own and Memphis extended its lead to 10-3 when the Tigers turned a fumbled punt return with 11 seconds to go into a 43-yard Ryan White field goal.

Tennessee came out of the locker room strong in the second half. Walls connected on a 30-yard field goal and Tennessee later drove 93 yards to take a 13-10 lead with 4:54 left in the period. The big play in the drive was a 60-yard Clausen to Donte Stallworth pass.

The Vols seemed about to take control of the game when Clausen hit Memphis native Burney Veazey with a 19-yard scoring strike at the start of the fourth quarter, but the touchdown was nullified by an illegal motion penalty. David Martin fumbled the ball on the next play. Memphis senior Jarvis Slaton recovered at the Tiger 18.

Memphis fumbled the ball back, leading to Walls’ third field goal and a 16-10 lead. But with five minutes to go in the game Ryan Johnson returned a Tennessee punt 50 yards to the Tennessee 36. Five plays later Kendall caught the touchdown pass and Memphis only had to hold the Vols one last time to get their second win in the series.

They couldn’t do it.

Scott Scherer, named the starter just before kickoff, played the entire game completing 15 of 27 for 137 yards. But he often had to run for his life as Tennessee had five sacks. Kendall caught four passes for 57 yards and the touchdown. Sugar Sanders was the leading ball carrier for Memphis with 59 yards.

Neither team could run the ball. Tennessee had 99 yards rushing, with Travis Henry getting 50. Clausen hit 19 of 30 passes for 224 yards and an interception. He was at his best at the end of the game, hitting back-up receiver David Martin three times for 20 yards in the final, decisive drive.

Memphis falls to 4-5, and saw dreams of a seven-win season pass them by. Tennessee, winners of three straight, is now 5-3. Both teams play at home next week, with the Vols hosting Arkansas and Memphis taking on Cincinnati.

GAME NOTES:

As they did in the 1996 upset, Memphis wore blue pants with blue jerseys. It was the first time this season the team had worn all blue. . . . Dernice Wherry’s second-quarter touchdown was the first of the junior’s career. . . . The attendance of 63,121 is the fifth largest at the Liberty Bowl. The record was set in 1996 when the Memphis-Tennessee game drew 65,885. . . . Ben Graves had one of his worst days of the season, averaging 32.4 on 8 punts and mishandling a snap in the Memphis end zone, leading to Walls first field goal. . . . Memphis struggled again converting third-downs, making only 2 of 13. The Tigers were only 43 of 135 (32 percent) on third-down conversions before today. . . . The Tigers rushed for less than 100 yards for the fifth time this season. In those games they are 0-5. In the four games that they surpassed the century mark, Memphis is 4-0. . . . Memphis was worried about containing huge Tennessee defensive lineman John Henderson. The concern was justified. Henderson had two tackles for lost yardage, forced one fumble, and recovered another. . . . Junior Andre Arnold got his 11th sack of the season, setting the single-season record for sacks at the school. . . .Nose tackle Marcus Bell was instrumental in the Vols’ inability to run the football. The senior had four tackles for lost yardage and consistently clogged the middle.

(You can write Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com)

Gary Michael Cappetta relates over 21 years of experience in the world of professional wrestling in his new book, Bodyslams! The book is a personal account of Cappetta’s experience in and out of the ring as one of wrestling’s more important in-ring announcers. Cappetta has worked in both the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Cappetta sheds light into the mysteriously private world of professional wrestlers that he describes as “a game of deception” in which performers regularly take advantage of each other, promoters ruthlessly lie and cheat to maintain power, and where the ultimate “con” has nothing to do with what goes on inside the ring.

Much of the book relates Cappetta’s experiences traveling with the wrestlers. In one story, Cappetta tells of traveling with a young Mark Calloway, who WWF fans know as the Undertaker. According to Cappetta, Calloway met up with a fellow wrestler who had earlier swindled the younger athlete by running out on a wrestling school contract with Calloway, leaving the future wrestling star with a great deal of debt. Though Calloway never personally exacted revenge, the rogue wrestler that was Calloway’s target died of an overdose 2 years later. Cappetta says that the Calloway story is a good example of how “some of the wrestlers feed on the younger guys.”

In addition to Cappetta’s experiences with the wrestlers, the book describes Cappetta’s own dealings with the television executives who hold a power over the performers. In one instance, Cappetta recounts his falling out with WCW due to the shenanigans of one Eric Bishchoff, then executive vice-president of Turner broadcasting, directly in charge of wrestling operations.

According to Cappetta, Bishchoff repeatedly brushed off Cappetta’s interest in renewing his contract with WCW and even forced Cappetta into an agreement where Cappetta would work with WCW, without a contract. However, Cappetta decided to buck the entire system and walked out on WCW, and the wrestling world.

However, Cappetta is not bitter about his experiences. About Bodyslams!, he says, “It’s my desire that when the public reads Bodyslams! they will think they have read an honest, even account of an industry twisted by personal gain.” He goes on to say, “There are a lot of people I praise.”

Cappetta is currently working on a second book, this one about a fictional wrestler’s rise to the top and eventual fall.

Bodyslams! is available by calling 1-800-BODYSLAMS or through the book’s website, www.bodyslams.com.

(You can write Chris Przybyszewski at chris@memphisflyer.com)

No matter how much my stomach turns as the Yankees and Mets clash in this stop-the-presses Subway Series — a New York team has to lose, I remind myself — there remains a transcendent quality to the World Series from which I simply cannot turn away. The Super Bowl is a one-day extravaganza, to say the least. The Final Four, the Kentucky Derby, even the Daytona 500, all have their virtues as classic championships. But for the most sports-intoxicated country on earth, the definitive American contest is still the World Series. (Remember Jack Nicholson’s impassioned plea in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? “It’s the World Series, Nurse Ratched! The World Series!!”)

The time has come — we’re actually overdue — for a national sports holiday. After all, how can a country so wrapped up in celebrating games not have a date on the calendar devoted to just that? And I have just the date: Game 4 of the World Series. Now hear me out on this.

Sadly, America is generally falling out of touch with its national pastime. This is due in part to outrageous salaries, superstars jumping from team to team, and the saturation of the sports page by the likes of the NFL, NASCAR, and the NBA. Whatever the reason, the most important step baseball must take to return to the front of the line is to re-establiish the connection with its very lifeblood: children.

As almighty network television currently has it, every World Series game begins in prime time. The final out is often recorded well beyond midnight on the east coast. Ten-year-old boys and girls have to be in bed by the third or fourth inning for crying out loud. Money makes the TV world go round, though, so how to get the Series back under sunshine? This is where our holiday comes in.

Every fall, on the Wednesday of World Series week — typically when Game 4 is played — Americans should get a day off from work. Government offices close for the day. Banks close for the day. And, most importantly, all schools close for the day.

With our holiday — let’s call it National Baseball Day — television would have no excuse for forcing the World Series into prime time. We’ll see the first pitch of Game 4 no later than two o’clock Eastern. Baseball with shadows, eye black, outfielders with sunglasses . . . the way the game should be seen. And with a nationwide audience of children able to watch every last pitch.

We’d have to really make it an event. Perhaps the season’s batting and home run champions could be honored before Game 4. Instead of mind-numbing analysis from media types, maybe the pre-game festivities could include an annual legends tribute, where each league can be represented by a hero of days gone by. (This year? How about Whitey Ford and Tom Seaver?) Something, anything to remind us all that baseball is a part of this country’s fabric.

Would everybody tune in for the game on National Baseball Day? Of course not. And that’s fine. Go to the lake. Picnic with your family. Visit a museum. Take the dog to the park. Just remind yourself, however you enjoy the day: baseball — and the World Series — got you there.

(You can write Frank Murtaugh at murtaugh@memphismagazine.com)

A game which had been sleep-inducing for more than three quarters, erupted into a barn burner as Houston beat Memphis 33-30 in three overtimes. It was the first overtime football game in University of Memphis history and was the longest game ever played between two Conference USA teams.

Memphis (4-4; 2-3 in conference play) either led or were tied throughout regulation, saw quarterback Jason McKinley hit tight end Stephen Cucci with a five-yard touchdown with 3:46 to go in the fourth quarter. That tied the game at 17-17. Ryan White barely missed a 48-yard touchdown at the end of regulation.

In the first overtime, White kicked a 47-yard field goal but Houston’s Mike Clark countered with a 35-yard field goal. In the second overtime McKinley hit Tommie Baldwin on a 3-yard scoring strike. The point after touchdown was blocked and returned for an apparent score by Idrees Bashir. But the officials called Memphis for “illegal batting,” saying that a Tiger player had batted the ball downfield. Houston got to kick again and hit this one, making the score 27-20. When Memphis got the ball back, Scott Scherer passed for a four-yard touchdown to Billy Kendall, sending the game to a third overtime.

On the first play of the third overtime, Scherer was sacked and offensive tackle DeCorye Hampton was called for a 15-yard personal foul penalty. Rip Scherer said after the game that Hampton punched a player. Ryan White ultimately kicked a 43-yard field goal, making the score 30-27 Memphis.

But McKinley would be the hero on this night. He hit Brian Robinson for a 18 yard touchdown over free safety Idrees Bashir and Houston won the game 33-30.

In the locker room, after the game, reporters heard shouting and objects banging, but when the doors opened they only saw a group of quiet, crest fallen football players.

The Tigers had no one to blame but themselves, with 15 penalties for 132 yards. The number of penalties tied a school record. The amount of penalty yardage was the fourth-highest in school history.

“You reap what you sow in life and you reap what you sow as a football team,” said Rip Scherer after the game. “We shot ourselves in the foot with the stupid personal foul penalty in our third overtime possession. That was very stupid. We lost our poise and this is what happens when you lose your poise.”

It was another ineffective game for the Memphis offense. All three scores in regulation came after the defense forced turnovers deep in Houston territory. Even with the extra periods, Memphis could only manage 202 yards on 72 offensive plays. Houston held the Tigers to 73 yards on the ground.

Memphis never threatened in the first quarter, accumulating only 56 yards and two first downs. The Tigers never got beyond the 50-yard line in the period. Houston’s offense could not do much better. Mike Clark attempted a 45-yard field goal, but it was blocked by Memphis cornerback Michael Stone.

Stone set up the game’s first score moments later, picking off a McKinley pass at the Houston 33 and returning it to the 6-yard line. Two plays later Sugar Sanders sprinted around left end from the two for the game’s first touchdown. White’s extra point made it 7-0 with 11:36 to go in the first half.

Houston responded with a 13-play, 80-yard drive with McKinley hitting Tommy Baldwin on a seven-yard pass for the tying touchdown at 7:17.

Special teams again proved a problem for Memphis. The Cougars partially blocked two Ben Graves punts in the first half. But Houston repaid the generosity with a bad snap which was downed at the 12 -yard line. Quarterback Scott Scherer was sacked for a loss of 8 on third down, but Ryan White hit a 38-yard field goal to send the Tigers to the locker room with a 10-7 lead.

Memphis could only muster five first downs in the first half. The Cougars offense only did marginally better. McKinley completed 16 of 24 for 116 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Houston had -7 yards rushing.

Houston tied the game at 10 all with a Clark field goal from 22 yards out late in the third quarter. Memphis nose guard Marcus Bell recovered a fumble at the Houston 25 yard line and Scherer hit Ryan Johnson with a 25 yard touchdown, making the score 17-10.

Memphis now has a week off before playing Tennessee on November 4th.

GAME NOTES:

Joey Gerda was replaced in the starting lineup by Jason Austin at the left guard spot that has been troublesome all year. Last year’s starter, David Sherrod, left the team after the 1999 season. His replacement, Josh Eargle suffered an ACL injury in the second game of the season. Trey Erye and Joey Gerda have started there. Austin becomes the fourth player to start at left guard.

Jared Pigue returned as deep snapper and for the first time in four tries Ryan White successfully completed a field goal. The kick came on the last play of the first half and gave Memphis a 10-7 halftime lead. The Tigers had suffered three consecutive blocked field goals covering the past two games. Pigue injured his knee at Army. It was his first action since then.

freeland@memphisflyer.com

If last week’s win over East Carolina was one of the biggest wins in Tiger football history, Saturday’s loss at UAB has to be one of the most disappointing. Here’s why:

* Memphis failed, once again, to build momentum after a significant victory. Tiger football could have taken a great stride towards football respectability with a follow-up win after the East Carolina game. They could be 5-2 going into this weekend’s homecoming game against Houston. Instead they lost to a team that didn’t even play football until six years ago.

* For the second game in a row, the Tigers’ all-Conference placekicker, Ryan White, had a field goal blocked. East Carolina blocked two the week before and Memphis has suffered five blocked field goals this year. For a team with as little punch as the Memphis offense, to waste a scoring machine like White is inexcusable. Even the worst teams in college football can kick field goals. Memphis has had this problem since the second game of the year. And they have not fixed it.

“Obviously that’s coaching. The responsibility falls on me,” said a dejected Rip Scherer after the game. “That’s embarrassing, it’s just plain embarrassing.”

* The special teams made plenty of other mistakes besides the blocked field goal. None was more critical than the penalty flag on the fourth quarter kickoff after UAB had taken the lead with a touchdown. Ryan Johnson took the ball one yard deep in the end zone, and ran it back 101 yards for an apparent touchdown. But a penalty flag nullified the run and Memphis never challenged again.

* The offense was again inept, gaining negative yardage in the crucial fourth quarter. The offensive line, which had played so well the week before, was completely dominated by the Blazer defensive line. Scott Scherer rarely had time to throw and the Memphis running backs could only manage 57 yards on 35 carries. The offense hasn’t gotten better. In fact, based on the results at UAB, it may have gotten worse.

* Memphis again fell apart in the fourth quarter, letting a 9-3 lead turn into a 13-9 defeat. While the Memphis offense went backwards, UAB had 52 rushing yards and 38 yards passing and, most importantly, 10 points in the final period.

It was the third consecutive game that the Tigers failed to score in the fourth period. Memphis has been outscored an astonishing 68 to 22 in the fourth period this year.

* It was another missed opportunity. In 1996, after beating Tennessee, the Tigers lost the next game. Now with a big win over East Carolina, Memphis lost a winnable game and failed in one of Scherer’s missions: to win over the hearts and minds of the Memphis sports fans. Missed opportunities are the theme of the six-year Scherer tenure.

The coach was right. It is his fault. The buck stops with him. His team wasn’t ready to play and they seemingly have not gotten better as the season had progressed. Rip Scherer is a man who takes his job personally. He must have had a long, miserable trip home from Birmingham.

(You can write Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com)

Birmingham — The glass slipper did not fit this time. UAB scored a fourth-quarter touchdown and the Blazer defense held on for a 13-9 Conference USA victory over Memphis here in historic Legion Field Saturday. Scott Scherer, making his second start of his career could not lead the team to victory as he did last week against East Carolina. The Tiger offense had negative yardage in the fourth quarter.

Ryan White, the all-conference kicker for Memphis had another field goal blocked. It was the fifth time this season the Tigers have suffered a blocked field goal. The 43-yard attempt came early in the second quarter and looked big after UAB overcame a 9-3 lead with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

“Obviously that’s coaching. The responsibility falls on me,” head coach Rip Scherer said about the blocked field goal. “That’s embarrassing, it’s just plain embarrassing.”

Memphis also had a 100-yard kickoff return by Ryan Johnson nullified by a penalty in the fourth quarter. “We had too many mistakes on the kicking teams,” said the coach.

After holding the Blazers to negative yardage in the third quarter, the Memphis defense gave up crucial plays in the fourth quarter, yielding the go-ahead touchdown with 8:41 to go and a 41-yard field goal with 1:28. UAB had 52 rushing yards and 38 yards passing in the fourth quarter. It was UAB’s first win against Memphis in three tries.

“Usually in this game the team that plays the best wins and they did,” said a dejected Rip Scherer.

Both teams had trouble moving the ball. Memphis ended the game with 186 total yards, but only 57 on the ground. Scherer completed 10 of 21 for 130 yards. He had one interception. UAB had 200 yards, with 56 coming on the ground

The UAB offense had Memphis on its heels in the first quarter behind junior quarterback Jeff Aaron’s short passes. Aaron, making his first career start, completed six of 12 passes in the first quarter and led the Blazers to a 44-yard field goal by Rhett Gallego. Aaron completed 14 of 27 for 144 yards in the game.

Scott Scherer hit Bunkie Perkins with a 32-yard pass to the UAB two-yard line in the second quarter. Scherer ran it in two plays later and the Tigers led 7-3 midway through the second quarter. No one scored after that and Memphis went to the locker room with a four-point lead.

The first half was the sort of defensive struggle that Memphis has become accustomed to this season. The Tigers managed only five first downs in the first two quarters, gaining just 47 yards on the ground. Scherer was 6 of 11 for 104 yards passing. Memphis did not have any turnovers in the opening half. Meanwhile, UAB could only manage 116 total yards in the half. Aaron completed 9 of 18 passes for 87 yards.

Memphis returns home to play Houston Saturday in the Liberty Bowl.

GAME NOTES:

** It was a bad day for offensive football. Memphis had -7 yards in the fourth quarter. UAB had minus yardage in the third quarter.

** Ben Graves had a career best 64-yard punt in the first quarter. He averaged 43.1 on nine kicks.

** After seeing his streak of having caught a ball in 21 consecutive games end last week against East Carolina, senior tight end Billy Kendall caught a 10-yard pass in the first quarter.

** Dernice Wherry saw his first extended action since being injured in the Southern Miss game. Wherry has been unable to play in three games this year.

** Scott Scherer left the game with an ankle injury midway through the third quarter. He was replaced by Travis Anglin for the remainder of the drive. Scherer returned on the next possession.

** Memphis scored on a safety in the third quarter when a punt snap sailed over UAB punter Ross Stewart’s head. Memphis scored in the same fashion last year in Birmingham against the Blazers.

** UAB has a new athletic director for the first time in 23 years. Herman Frazier was hired in August after Gene Bartow retired. Frazier spent 23 years at Arizona State, his alma mater, moving up to senior associate athletic director for the school. Frazier is the only African-American A.D. in Conference USA.

** UAB lost the coin toss for the sixth time in six games this year. Memphis chose to defer.

(You can write Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com)

Birmingham — The glass slipper did not fit this time. UAB scored a fourth-quarter touchdown and the Blazer defense held on for a 13-9 Conference USA victory here in historic Legion Field Saturday. Scott Scherer, making his second start of his career could not lead the team to victory as he did last week against East Carolina. The Tiger offense had negative yardage in the fourth quarter.

Ryan White, the all-conference kicker for Memphis had another field goal blocked. It was the fifth time this season the Tigers have suffered a blocked field goal. The 43-yard attempt came early in the second quarter and looked big after UAB overcame a 9-3 lead with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

“Obviously that’s coaching. The responsibility falls on me,” Scherer said regarding the blocked field goal. “That’s embarrassing, it’s just plain embarrassing.”

Memphis also had a 100-yard kickoff return by Ryan Johnson nullified by a penalty in the fourth quarter. “We had too many mistakes on the kicking teams.”

After holding the Blazers to negative yardage in the third quarter, the Memphis defense gave up crucial yardage in the fourth quarter, yielding the go-ahead touchdown with 8:41 to go and a 41-yard field goal with 1:28. UAB had 52 rushing yards and 38 yards passing in the fourth quarter. It was UAB’s first win against Memphis in three tries.

“Usually in this game the team that plays the best wins and they did,” said a dejected Scherer.

Both teams had trouble moving the ball. Memphis ended the game with 186 total yards, but only 57 on the ground. Scherer completed 10 of 21 for 130 yards. He had one interception. UAB had 200 yards, with 56 coming on the ground

The UAB offense had Memphis on its heels in the first quarter behind junior quarterback Jeff Aaron’s short passes. Aaron, making his first career start, completed six of 12 passes in the first quarter and led the Blazers to a 44-yard field goal by Rhett Gallego. Aaron completed 14 of 27 for 144 yards in the game.

Scott Scherer hit Bunkie Perkins with a 32-yard pass to the UAB two-yard line. Scherer ran it in two plays later and the Tigers led 7-3 midway through the second quarter. No one scored after that and Memphis went to the locker room with a four-point lead.

The first half was the sort of defensive struggle that Memphis has become accustomed to this season. The Tigers managed only five first downs in the first two quarters, gaining just 47 yards on the ground. Scherer was 6 of 11 for 104 yards passing. Memphis did not have any turnovers in the opening half. Meanwhile, UAB could only manage 116 total yards in the half. Aaron completed 9 of 18 passes for 87 yards.

Memphis returns home to play Houston Saturday in the Liberty Bowl.

GAME NOTES:

** It was a bad day for offensive football. Memphis had -7 yards in the fourth quarter. UAB had minus yardage in the third quarter.

** Ben Graves had a career best 64-yard punt in the first quarter. He averaged 43.1 on nine kicks.

** After seeing his streak of having caught a ball in 21 consecutive games end last week against East Carolina, senior tight end Billy Kendall caught a 10-yard pass in the first quarter.

** Dernice Wherry saw his first extended action since being injured in the Southern Miss game. Wherry has been unable to in three games this year.

** Scott Scherer left the game with an ankle injury midway through the third quarter. He was replaced by Travis Anglin for the remainder of the drive. Scherer returned on the next possession.

** Memphis scored on a safety in the third quarter when a punt snap sailed over UAB punter Ross Stewart’s head. Memphis scored in the same fashion last year in Birmingham against the Blazers.

** UAB has a new athletic director for the first time in 23 years. Herman Frazier was hired in August after Gene Bartow retired. Frazier spent 23 years at Arizona State, his alma mater, moving up to senior associate athletic director for the school. Frazier is the only African-American A.D. in Conference USA.

** UAB lost the coin toss for the sixth time in six games this year. Memphis chose to defer.

(You can write Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com)

Walking into the Memphis Maniax main office is like walking into an abandoned building. However, the squatters here wear suits and work for juggernaut media companies. The only sign that suggests that they work for the XFL are two helmets placed together near the wall. The sleek blue-green seems out of place with a facility that doesn’t even have phone lines completely installed.

It is not enough to say that Memphis’ newest sporting franchise has yet to put on the finishing touches. It would hardly be adequate to say that they have even moved in. Fold-out chairs replace desk chairs, fold-out tables replace desks. The old Armory building, snugged between the Children’s museum and Liberty Bowl Stadium on Southern (and formerly home to both the USFL Showboats and Mad Dogs of the CFL) doesn’t seem a likely focal point for Maniax operations.

But this is just the beginning of a long burrowing-in process, and all the key components are there to make the Maniax big in Memphis. One reason is the explicit support of both NBC and the WWF and the promise of ample national television coverage rife with fireworks, Vaughneresque spectacles, and other forms of sports-entertainment. Another reason is the personnel already on board with the team, such as director of player personnel Steve Ortmayer. He is directly responsible for all transactions concerning players and their contracts.

This is nothing new to the 25-year NFL veteran who has two world championship rings (from his days with the Oakland/L.A. Raiders). Ortmayer has also worked in key positions for the San Diego Chargers and the L.A. Rams and oversaw the transition of the Rams to St. Louis. He is credited with a big role in that organization’s recent Super Bowl success.

His goal is to put together an XFL championship team. Ortmayer says that two factors brought him over from the NFL. “I was contacted by NBC,” he says. “They told me that I should look [at the new league]” The partnership with the media giant added a great deal of credibility to the XFL, according to Ortmayer.

But he wasn’t convinced until Steve Ehrhart, GM of the Maniax and a good friend of Ortmayer’s, gave him a call. Ortmayer recalls, “Steve pushed me over. He added a lot of credibility. There were questions that people had about [the XFL’s] connection with the WWF . . . but Vince McMahon wants a credible football league.”

Ortmayer goes on to say that the XFL’s connections with the WWF are a positive for him. “The WWF is the most successful and brightest promotional machine in sports today.”

Ortmayer believes that the XFL will bring back a more traditional form of football — one that will also benefit families. He says, “The NFL, in its growth and direction over the past 10 years, has become very corporate. There’s a lot of emphasis on things that have taken blue-collar family of four out of the game.” According to Ortmayer, the XFL will concentrate on bringing that family back. He says, “We want to create some civic pride in this team so that we won’t have to take a back-seat to [the Tennessee Titans] in Nashville. We have to make it happen.”

In a city noted for its poverty, Ortmayer believes that ticket price is a key factor in a community’s involvement with a team. “We’re making it very affordable to families.” According to recent ticket information, XFL tickets will be priced from $20 to $40 a game, a far cry from NFL ticket prices.

In addition, Ortmayer would like for the Maniax to become a contributing member of the Memphis community.

“We want to create a fan-base from the local city,” instead of generating support through corporate interests. In addition, the team is looking into a number of community-related activities such as supporting schools and local groups. Ortmayer says, “In conjunction to making this a family friendly event, we want to make this a community friendly organization … help community schools and organizations.”

It will be a better product on the field, at least in terms of rules. “What the XFL has done is borrow rules from college, professional, arena, and Canadian football. We’re going to make the game more exciting,” he says. Though Ortmayer doesn’t think the XFL will feature anything “exotic like the Canadian and arena leagues,” there will be some key differences from the type of football that most Mid-Southerners see in Nashville or in the SEC.

The XFL will feature “live” kicks. In the new league, once a ball is kicked, either team is able to chase it down, pick it up, and run. Fair catches will not be allowed either. This should elevate special-teams to a more important place.

Three changes on offense should spice things up. First, receivers only need one foot in bounds for the catch to be legal. This will increase the number of receptions and put more pressure on the defensive backs.

Second, quarterbacks will be treated more like regular players on the field. In the NFL, QB’s are allowed to slide untouched after they cross the line of scrimmage. In the XFL, defenses will be able to tackle the QB no matter where he is.

Finally, the XFL will offer a variation of an NFL rule that does not allow forward movement by players in the backfield, prior to the snap. In the XFL, one player will be allowed forward motion, creating more offensive opportunities for teams and again putting more pressure on defenses who will now have to cope with a receiver who has an extra step on them.

Ortmayer believes that all these factors will make the XFL “The Game” in Memphis, to borrow from one of the WWF’s super-stars. But he also believes that the XFL will add a significant facet to professional football on the whole. Ortmayer expects the new league will give unprecedented choices for rookies and veteran alike. The XFL will pay the second most lucrative salaries in football, with salaries averaging $60,000 to $70,000.

Giving this edge, Ortmayer is confident of the league will be able to build a good base of talent. Ortmayer will focus on local talent in the first year. Each XFL team has territorial rights for the recruitment of players and the Maniax can draw from alumni of such programs as the University of Memphis, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Tennessee.

Starting next year, Ortmayer hopes to draw players from the NFL draft as well. He reasons that the XFL will be an equivalent for the players who would spend most of their time after the end of the college season in draft camps displaying their wares for free. The XFL will give these same players a football team ready to take them a month after the end of the college season, pay them to play, and give them nationally-televised coverage.

The Maniax exec also believes that the XFL will allow those players who have been buried in depth charts or have been released because of NFL salary cap restrictions, to come to their full potential with the new league.

“NFL football people, the coaches, the players, the GM’s, seem to be very supportive of this league,” he says. The corporate offices have been less receptive. “They want to protect their franchise,” he says, though he says that the only competition will be in “contractual restraints” coming from the NFL side. “The XFL is not going to prevent any player from playing in the NFL. We’re going to allow players to play football.”

The Maniax begin the season at Birmingham on February 4th. On Monday, October 16th, the Maniax will unveil the team’s uniforms at the Fox and Hound on Sanderlin. The party starts at 5:30 p.m.

(You can write Chris Przybyszewski at chris@memphisflyer.com)

Memphis 17-10 victory over East Carolina was the most important win in recent memory. It ranks right up there with the win over Auburn in 1975, Alabama in 1987, Southern Cal in 1991. Certainly it is the most important of the Rip Scherer era. Yes, even bigger than the 1996 win over the University of Tennessee.

Forget for just a moment the aspects of this story that make it the feel-good sports story of the year. It was the most important win for Scherer because of three other factors.

1. Timing

Scherer needed a victory in the worst sort of way. Many people were about to give up on the team. Others already had. The theme on talk-radio (and isn’t that the forum where we go to take the vital signs of the local sports market?) was: Rip Scherer is not going to get it done at the University of Memphis. Yes, he is a nice guy (always that caveat), but he just isn’t a good football coach.

The win over East Carolina cannot be tossed aside. Memphis won the game without receiving the benefit of questionable calls and lucky bounces. The UT victory was big but it was mostly a fluke. The Tigers played a much more complete game in a 17-16 loss at Knoxville last year.

Rip Scherer never needed a win more than the one he got Saturday.

2. The Competition

East Carolina is one of two dominant teams in Conference USA. To get over the last hurdle at Memphis, Scherer needed a win against ECU or Southern Miss. He got it Saturday. Besides the conference affiliation, East Carolina is a nationally respected team. Beating the Pirates is a big deal. Syracuse couldn’t do it a couple of weeks ago. Miami, North Carolina State, and West Virginia couldn’t do it last year. This is a win about which the Tigers can justifiably feel proud.

Of the 22 wins Scherer has accumulated at the University of Memphis, 14 have come against Arkansas State (4), Tulane (3), Cincinnati (3), Army (2), and UAB (2). Most of the others have been equally mediocre teams like Louisiana-Monroe and Tulsa. The only wins against quality opponents in the past five-and-a-half years came in 1996: Tennessee and Missouri.

3. One Step Closer to a Winning Season

Scherer has to have a winning season in 2000. Even the University of Memphis couldn’t afford to keep a coach who hadn’t won in six seasons. With a 4-2 record, the Tigers now look like a lock for a six-win season. 7-4 is likely. 8-3 is not out of the question. A bowl game will probably be extended if Memphis can finish 6-5. With a winning season, recruiting becomes easier. Other schools cannot tell recruits that Scherer is soon going to be fired. With another solid recruiting season — the 1999 class is looking better all the time with Jeremiah Bonds, Derrick Ballard, and Darren Garcia contributing as true freshmen — the Tigers could finally be close to establishing themselves in C-USA.

Of course the win Saturday was big for Scherer in ways only a father can appreciate. Not only did his son play with poise and confidence, not only did he lead the team efficiently on three first-quarter scoring drives, but his team rallied around him. And that is what a real quarterback does — rally the troops. As a former quarterback himself, Scott Scherer’s old man knows that.

Scott may only be 5-8, and that presented some problems for him Saturday, but he is a natural leader who has earned the respect of the Memphis team. In some ways it couldn’t have been easy. He is the coach’s son. He carries a 4.0 grade point average. There is every reason in the world for his teammates to dislike and resent him. But Scott has overcome all of that.

The kid is smart. He learned a lot carrying his father’s headset all those years in high school. He must have listened in the offensive meetings, too, because you could tell this guy understands the offense. He knows how it is supposed to be run. He threw passes where his receivers could catch the ball and make something happen. He played with the poise of a fifth-year senior and the entire team rallied behind him.

After the offense came off the field following the opening 84-yard drive, his teammates came up to him one-by-one to congratulate the quarterback. The offensive linemen and the defense and the special teams players, even the guys who never get on the field. Scott Scherer led the Tigers to victory Saturday and don’t let anyone tell you it wasn’t a big win.

It was the biggest.

(You can write Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com)