The Memphis Tigers played East Carolina last Saturday with a one-dimensional offense and no kicking game. Their loss to the Pirates isn’t a surprise. How close they came to winning — under two scenarios — is the game’s remarkable footnote. Had David Kemp not missed a second-quarter extra point, the score at the end of regulation may have been 24-23, Memphis. (Yes, ECU’s strategy would have changed, but this is hypothetical, so play along.) Had the Tigers converted the two-point attempt after their touchdown in overtime, the final score would have been 31-30, Memphis. (No hypothetical stretch here.) Alas, a kick was missed, Seth Henigan’s final pass fell incomplete, and the Tigers will travel to 17th-ranked Houston with a 5-5 record, a win shy of bowl eligibility with two games to play.
Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield acknowledged “flashbacks to the missed extra point” in deciding to go for two points — win or lose — in overtime. He also conceded the Tigers’ ineptitude on the ground made limiting possessions in OT a priority. Silverfield, without saying as much, didn’t think his team could win by alternating short-field attacks with the Pirates. It’s a dreadful place to find a program that so recently counted its offense among the top 10 or 12 in the country.
Why can’t the Tigers run the football? Brandon Thomas returned to action Saturday but was not a factor (eight yards on four carries). Dreke Clark had one 20-yard dash, but otherwise gained 10 yards on three carries. Quarterback Seth Henigan led the Tigers in rushing (61 yards), most of his gains coming on the impressive (and desperate) drive to tie the game in the last two minutes of regulation. Memphis has a veteran offensive line, guard Dylan Parham leading the way with 49 career starts. But over the course of ten games now, this personnel simply isn’t good enough to impact the Tigers’ attack. And it makes an opposing defensive coordinator’s job much too simple: pressure Henigan and drape the Tiger receivers with coverage. Until Silverfield — a former offensive line coach, remember — finds or builds a running game, mediocrity is the bar for Memphis football.
• For the second straight week, the Tiger defense made enough big plays to win most games. Memphis sacked ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers six times and accumulated ten tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Jacobi Francis had a pair of interceptions, one in the Tigers’ end zone. Quindell Johnson made a touchdown-saving tackle right before Francis’s second pick. All of which made the Pirates’ seven-minute drive (16 plays!) in the fourth quarter to take the lead excruciating to watch. For the third time this season, Memphis lost a game it led in the second half, the most painful variety of defeat. The Pirate offense maintained possession a remarkable 42 minutes (out of 60 in regulation). That Tiger defense we saw in the fourth quarter was tired. And this brings us back to the Memphis running game, the most effective clock-eating tool in football. Its absence hurts, even when the Tigers don’t have the ball.
• The Liberty Bowl — or whatever we now call the stadium at the Mid-South Fairgrounds — remains too large for University of Memphis football. Last Saturday was a glorious one for a ball game. On the chilly side (upper 40s), but the crowd was bathed in sunshine for three hours. That crowd numbered 28,431, meaning there were nearly 30,000 empty seats for a significant game against East Carolina. It’s disheartening, largely because the fans who do show up make a difference. There’s passion in the crowd, football smarts, generations of loyalty. But surrounded by entire sections of emptiness. (2021 disclaimer: Yes, a pandemic lingers, and this certainly has something to do with reduced attendance. But not enough for 30,000 empty seats. There was virtually no student tailgating before Saturday’s game.)
The stadium can be filled, but planets must align as they did on November 2, 2019, when 58,325 packed the Liberty Bowl to culminate the day ESPN’s GameDay crew came to town to see the Tigers play SMU in a battle of ranked teams. When Mississippi State came to play two months ago (the Bulldogs’ first visit in ten years) 43,461 fans saw a thrilling game. It was great atmosphere for such an early-season contest . . . with more than 10,000 empty seats. I can be persuaded either way in the debate over an on-campus stadium for the Tigers. But whether on-campus or elsewhere, the Tigers need to play in a new, smaller facility. “Less is more” would do wonders toward the Memphis football program becoming fully what it might and should be.
