University of
Memphis football coach Tommy West was barely in his seat for his postgame
comments last Saturday when he burst forth with a summary of how his Tigers beat
Arkansas State, 29-17, at the Liberty Bowl. Said West, “[Our defense] came out
for the second half, and listen to this: punt, punt, punt, punt, turnover,
turnover, punt, out on downs. And that against an offense that’s been playing
pretty dang good.” Led by four sacks from senior defensive tackle Clinton
McDonald — and not incidentally, 203 rushing yards from junior tailback Curtis
Steele — Memphis ended a two-game losing streak to the newly christened Red
Wolves with their second straight win. And it could be a corner turned for the
2008 season, as the Tigers pulled away in the fourth quarter of a game that had
four lead changes. Three factors — yet to be played out — will determine if this
was, in fact, a big win, or merely a distracting sign of life for a struggling
program.
• The Tigers beat
a (seemingly) good team. The days of considering ASU a gimme on the schedule are
over. The Red Wolves opened their season by winning at Texas A & M, then scored
83 points (no typo) in their home opener against Texas Southern (and not their
basketball team). They lost by a field goal to perennial C-USA contender
Southern Miss, then whipped MTSU, 31-14. West described ASU quarterback Corey
Leonard as being as “good as we’ve seen this year.” The Red Wolves entered
Saturday’s game with two running backs already over 350 yards for the season. If
Arkansas State proves to be the class of the Sun Belt Conference, the Tigers may
look back on September 27th as being a highlight of this campaign.
• Three weeks,
three rivals. The Tigers next travel to Birmingham for a Thursday-night tilt
with a very beatable UAB team. Then they host ancient rival Louisville on
Friday, October 10th, in what would be the biggest home game of the season
regardless of what’s at stake for either squad. (The Cardinals will enter the
game 2-2, having lost last weekend to Connecticut.) Like it or not — and
SEC-centric Mid-South fans may not — Tiger football can claim four chief
rivalries, and three of them are across the field over this single three-week
stretch. (Memphis won’t face Southern Miss until October 25th.) If the Tigers
can run the table against the Red Wolves, Blazers, and Cardinals, they’ll not
only find themselves with a record of 4-3, but with a renewed sense of the
competitive spirit that fuels the college football industry. A loss to Marshall
fades in the memory bank when that bronzed rack of ribs is lifted after a
victory over UAB. And you think knocking off a Louisville team now living the
sheltered BCS life of a Big East program won’t ease the sting of that Rice
debacle?
• Defending their
Liberty. There’s a word (actually, a few) for college football teams that can’t
win at home: pushover. In winning their second straight home game, the Tigers
have established some backbone in front of their loyal fans. Attendance last
weekend was 26,376, so you can count on at least 10,000 more seats being filled
for the prime-time affair with Louisville. Three of the Tigers’ last four games
this season will be at the Liberty Bowl, so another late-season drive for bowl
eligibility isn’t out of the question.
Of course, these
factors become moot — and fast – if Memphis can’t build on its first decent win
of 2008. And West recognizes the twin rails along which his train is riding. “We
won this game defensively,” he emphasized late Saturday afternoon. “We won with
our running game. Because we weren’t very good throwing it. We also made it hard
on their quarterback today, and he’s an outstanding player. When we needed to
make plays today, we made plays. I’m excited about the improvement we’ve made.”
Not to be ignored
from last Saturday’s coming-out party were the three field goals converted by
reserve walk-on kicker Vinny Zaccario. With Matt Reagan nursing a hip-flexor
injury, West turned to a kid his players know about as well as Tiger fans. “I
introduced him to our team [after the game],” chuckled West. “I said, ‘There’s
the guy who kicked the field goals.’ ” It wouldn’t be the first time a hidden
jewel has turned a season around.
