•When Stars Are Born. Their performances in the Tigers’ season-opening win against Nicholls were impressive, but quarterback Seth Henigan and running back Brandon Thomas needed to shine against an FBS opponent before we could anoint the duo with the kind of star quality Memphis fans have grown accustomed to seeing. Well, after last Saturday’s win at Arkansas State, let’s check that box. Henigan — a true freshman, remember, a year removed from high school football — completed 22 of 33 passes against the Red Wolves for 417 yards and five touchdowns. More impressive: He didn’t throw an interception. (Considering the Tigers won by merely five points, that last figure might be considered the game-saver.) And Thomas — a seasoned redshirt freshman — rushed for 191 yards on merely 18 carries (a 10.6-yard average) and scored a pair of touchdowns. They were dominant, one through the air, one on the ground. Nice formula for winning football games.
And it’s not like the rookies don’t have star company. Sean Dykes piled up nine more catches and 143 yards on his career records for a Tiger tight end. And Calvin Austin III hauled in six of those Henigan passes for 239 yards (the second-highest total in program history) and three touchdowns. Austin’s touchdowns covered 55, 50, and 75 yards. If the Tiger offense was guilty of anything last Saturday night, it was scoring too quickly. (Six of their eight scoring “drives” took less than two minutes.) As for weaponry, Memphis can be said to have a full arsenal.
• Legends lauded. Isaac Bruce (inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last month) and the late Danton Barto will be honored before this Saturday’s game at the Liberty Bowl. There’s a growing movement to retire the jersey of Barto, who died last month at age 50 from complications of Covid-19. As the Memphis program’s record-holder for most tackles — a standard that’s held for 28 years now — the case for honoring Barto’s number 59 is a good one. Trouble is, there’s a crowd of former Tigers now in line for this ultimate (and permanent) salute. There are two first-team All-Americans (Anthony Miller and Darrell Henderson) and a pair of quarterbacks who each topped 10,000 yards in passing as Tigers (Danny Wimprine and Brady White). To date, Memphis has retired the jersey of only six players. One man, one vote: Let’s make Danton Barto’s the seventh.
• Bully for Mississippi State. There was a time when a Tigers-Bulldogs clash on the gridiron was an annual, if one-sided, affair. The two teams played one another every season from 1974 to 2003 (Mississippi State winning 23 of those 30 meetings). But this Saturday’s game at the Liberty Bowl will be their first contest since 2011. The Bulldogs opened that season — perhaps the low point of the Memphis program, the second year under coach Larry Porter — with a 59-14 thrashing of the Tigers at the Liberty Bowl. Memphis hasn’t beaten the Bullies since 1993 (in Starkville) and hasn’t won a home game in the series since 1988. MSU will take the field with the same 2-0 record as the Tigers, having beaten Louisiana Tech (35-34) and North Carolina State (24-10). Each team will be facing its toughest test of the young season. The crowd will be large (more blue than maroon this time?), and it will have some old-school vibe. If the Tigers want to extend their 16-game winning streak at the Liberty Bowl, they’ll have to end a 12-game losing streak to their rivals from Starkville.
