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Memphis Tigers: Wreck and Recover

Jalen Duren, Penny Hardaway, and Emoni Bates (Photo by Larry Kuzniewski)

Penny Hardaway was in a dark place, and visibly, during his postgame press conference on December 10th. The basketball coach had just witnessed his Memphis Tigers’ fourth consecutive loss, to Murray State, in what should be a place of comfort, FedExForum. I asked Hardaway if he’d ever felt so low in his basketball life.

“There’s so much going on in our country,” he replied, after shaking his head. “Four losses in a row is devastating, but it’s not life and death. My faith in God; I understand what’s going on. We have to weather a storm. I’ve never been here, but I know I’m a fighter, and I’ll figure it out.” When “life and death” are mentioned — with allusion to the ongoing pandemic — during a discussion about a basketball game . . . it’s a dark place.

Just four days later, the Tigers played 40 minutes of furious basketball and upset the 6th-ranked team in the country, the Alabama Crimson Tide. It was the program’s first win over top-10 competition since March 2014 and the biggest victory in Hardaway’s four seasons as a college coach. 

Four days after the big win, though, with fans already in the stands at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, the Tigers’ much-anticipated clash with Tennessee was cancelled when Landers Nolley and Tyler Harris tested positive for Covid-19. Making matters worse, we learned the majority of Hardaway’s roster had not been vaccinated. By the time the Tigers returned to play on December 29th at Tulane, two starters (Jalen Duren and DeAndre Williams) were sidelined for Covid protocols along with a third (Emoni Bates) with a hand injury. Memphis lost (by a single point) to the Green Wave, a team that will not finish in the top half of the American Athletic Conference standings.

It’s been that kind of season so far for a Tiger team now 1-1 in AAC play after an impressive win at Wichita State on New Year’s Day. A league championship (regular season or tournament) is all but required for a berth in the NCAA tournament. Can a seven-year Big Dance drought be boxed up and left for the history books? Or will the 2021-22 Tigers become chapter eight in an “era” no Memphis fan will celebrate years from now?

Three observations for the Tigers’ two-month push for national relevance:

• Memphis is best when Hardaway squeezes the rotation. Seven players absorbed 91 percent of the minutes in the upset of Alabama. Those seven players: Alex Lomax, Lester Quinones, Landers Nolley, Tyler Harris, Bates, Duren, and Williams. Much was made about the depth of the Memphis roster entering the season. Hardaway has a pair of players — Johnathan Lawson and Sam Onu — redshirting this season that could start for other AAC programs. But a basketball team must play as a unit to perform at optimum capacity. We saw a strong, seven-man unit beat the Crimson Tide by 14 points. To try and force nine or ten players into that “unit” . . . it’s impossible.

• Minutes for Minott. Freshman forward Josh Minott made virtually no impact in the win over Alabama (two points in four minutes of playing time). But in hockey terms, Minott was one of the Tigers’ three stars (along with Duren and Williams) in the victory over Wichita State: 15 points, six rebounds, and a pair of steals in just 19 minutes. Minott gained playing time against the Shockers by virtue of Lomax sitting out with an ankle injury. When Lomax returns, Minott must remain a sixth (or seventh) man. He brings too much for peripheral status.

• No more second-tier surprises. The loss at Tulane and the win at Wichita State might each be considered surprise results, so they’re a wash. But the Tigers cannot afford to lose any more games against lesser competition, and there’s a lot of lesser competition on the AAC schedule. The league favorite, Houston, is down a pair of rotation players. Cincinnati comes to FedExForum this Sunday for a nationally televised showdown. A conference championship is there for the taking. The kind of accomplishment that turns darkness into light.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tiger Hoops: 2020-21 Season Review

CREDIT: U of M Athletics / Joe Murphy

Having missed out on a berth in the NCAA tournament, the Memphis Tigers will join 15 other teams for a version of the National Invitation Tournament. All games will be played at a pair of arenas in metro Dallas.

It wasn’t supposed to go like this. When Penny Hardaway met a throng of boosters and media at the brand-new Laurie-Walton Center on March 20, 2018, he did not mention a four-year plan. There was no three-year runway toward contention for championships, be they conference or, ahem, national. “People are telling me to be patient,” said Hardaway three years ago. “But I’m not built that way. I’m not wired that way. I’ll go for it all or none at all.”

These are wacky times, and that goes well beyond the world of college basketball. But the history books will note that Hardaway — a certifiable hardwood legend in these parts — is the first Tiger coach to end three consecutive seasons without an NCAA tournament appearance since Wayne Yates, way back in the late 1970s (1977-79 to be exact). Sure, a pandemic is in the mix. There was no NCAA tournament in 2020. (Hardaway’s second team would not have made the Big Dance, not without winning the American Athletic Conference tournament, which was also cancelled.) But three years without March Madness in Memphis, Tennessee? On top of the four Madness-free years that preceded Hardaway’s arrival? It’s the longest drought for this proud program since a ten-year dry spell that ended with the Final Four run of 1973. Ouch.
U of M Athletics / Joe Murphy

All-conference swingman Landers Nolley II.

The Tigers played the Houston Cougars — the number-two seed in the NCAA tournament’s Midwest quadrant — to the buzzer twice in the span of six days this month. The notion that a tournament bracket can be filled with 68 better teams is ludicrous. But it’s never about what your team did when your “bubble” status bursts. It’s what your team didn’t do.

The Tigers didn’t beat a “Quad 1” team this season, a team from the upper tier of overall rankings as determined by strength of schedule and location of games. This is problematic for a team that doesn’t play in a “Power 5” league in a season the AAC didn’t exactly stuff the Top-25 rankings. Memphis only had two Power-5 opponents on its schedule. The Ole Miss game was cancelled due to positive COVID results in the Rebel program, and the Tigers lost to Auburn.

The Tigers didn’t get to play eight games — eight games — because of the pandemic. Four were cancelled because of positive tests in their opponent’s camp and four were cancelled because of positive tests in the Memphis program (including games against both AAC tournament finalists, home games with Cincinnati and Houston). Five or six more wins would have added some shine to the Tigers’ 16-8 record. Based on what we saw in Texas (twice), a win over the Cougars at FedExForum would not be a stretch. A second win over Wichita State (Memphis beat the AAC regular-season champs by 20 points in January) would have captured the right kind of attention.

Consider Boogie Ellis the personification of the Tigers’ near-miss this season. The sophomore guard tied the first Houston game with a three-pointer inside the game’s final 10 seconds, only to watch the Cougars’ Tramon Mark heave in a bank shot from 30 feet as time expired. Last Saturday, Ellis scored 27 points, his long-distance marksmanship fueling the Tigers’ second-half comeback from 12 points down. But Ellis missed six of ten free throws, vanishing points that could have made the difference in another game decided in the final minute of play.

“It’s hard to accept,” said a disconsolate Hardaway after the AAC semifinal loss. “Having the game won, knowing what’s at stake, and not being able to pull it through. We had a chance to knock them out a few times, and just couldn’t.” Hardaway acknowledged an uneven start to his team’s season, one that didn’t include transfer DeAndre Williams for the first seven games (the Tigers went 4-3 without him). “We started off very slow,” he said. “Just couldn’t get our footing. And it took us a long time to come together as a team. When we got our rhythm, we had the COVID pause, but we came out of that playing really well. We were locked and loaded for this tournament. It’s heartbreaking.”

Heartbreak inevitably turns to hope over the course of a long offseason. And there’s reason for optimism in the Tiger program. The team’s entire nine-man rotation could return for the 2021-22 campaign. As you’re sketching lineups, though, keep in mind that the transfer portal has brought an element of free agency to college basketball. Remember Tyler Harris? Lance Thomas? Where would this year’s team have been without Williams (the team’s most impactful player, from Evansville) or Landers Nolley (an all-conference honoree, from Virginia Tech)? Subtraction and addition are larger equations now, particularly in a sport where merely one or two solutions (at the right positions) can transform a team.

From Hardaway’s heralded 2019 recruiting class, Boogie Ellis and Lester Quinones have established themselves as 30-minute guards on game nights. D.J. Jeffries didn’t take the same strides forward as a sophomore, but could be a game-changer if he can score consistently. Malcolm Dandridge improved both his body and game in his second year at the college level, and Damion Baugh is a capable ball-handler off the bench if Hardaway chooses to attack with a smaller unit. With Moussa Cisse manning the middle — the AAC’s Freshman of the Year — the Tigers have a defensive eraser and, at times, an offensive threat to feed the ball. Assuming Alex Lomax fully recovers from the ankle injury that sidelined him this month, next year’s Tigers will have senior leadership in the form of a player Hardaway has groomed since middle school.
U of M Athletics / Joe Murphy

Moussa Cisse, the AAC’s Freshman of the Year.

To all the veterans, you can add the country’s 6th-ranked recruiting class (according to 247 Sports), led by a pair of four-star prospects: Jordan Nesbitt (a scoring wing from St. Louis, already with the program) and Josh Minott (a small forward from Boca Raton, Florida, who will push Jeffries for playing time). Among Hardaway’s concerns as he enters his fourth year at the helm, depth of talent isn’t one. Can as many as 11 strong players mesh as a unit, though, and sacrifice (minutes played) enough to get this program back where so many feel it belongs?

Should you have concerns about the Tiger program — seven years — don’t let the coach’s motivation be one. Shortly after he was hired in 2018, Hardaway shared some perspective on how very much he, personally, wants to win a championship — the national kind — with his alma mater. This is a man, remember, who did not win a title as a player at the high school, college, or pro level. He does, though, own an Olympic gold medal (won in 1996). “That gold medal was something we were supposed to do,” said Hardaway in 2018. “We had the best players in the world playing for one team. We’ve [now] got to do what’s not expected. They’re not expecting us to win a national championship here.”

The best advice from parents far and wide: No one should challenge you more than you challenge yourself. Every member of the Memphis Tigers’ roster and coaching staff is coming to grips with that philosophy by one measure or another. Go ahead and win the NIT. It wouldn’t hurt. Then count the days ’til November and another chance for a proud program to fully regain its footing on the national stage.

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Cover Feature News

His Team, His Time: Brady White Leads Memphis Into 2020

CREDIT: Photographs by Larry Kuzniewski

Long ago, in the year 2019, the Memphis Tigers enjoyed an epic football season. You may remember it. The U of M won 11 of 12 regular-season games, including an upset of 15th-ranked SMU a few hours after ESPN’s GameDay crew made its debut on Beale Street. The Tigers beat Cincinnati for the program’s first outright American Athletic Conference championship, right here in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl. Even with a season-ending loss to Penn State in the Cotton Bowl — the Cotton Bowl — Memphis finished the campaign ranked 17th in the final AP poll (the third time in six seasons a once-mocked program has finished in the Top 25).

Brady White saw it all. In his fifth season of college football — a foot injury and White’s transfer from Arizona State have extended his career — White became only the second Memphis quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season, throwing three times as many touchdown passes (33) as interceptions (11). Once tagged with the tired euphemism, “game manager,” White became a star quarterback in 2019. In its 2020 football preview, Sports Illustrated included the California native — and Ph.D. candidate, in case you hadn’t heard — among five long shots for the Heisman Trophy. (Yes, that trophy.)

Photographs by Larry Kuzniewski

Memphis Tigers quarterback and Ph.D. candidate Brady White

With coronavirus and quarantine still operative words across the United States, White and the Memphis Tigers have September 5th circled on their calendars. The opening game of the 2020 season (when Arkansas State visits the Liberty Bowl) will be among a precious few across the country, four FBS conferences — including the mighty Big Ten and Pac 12 — having at least postponed their fall season. Two Memphis opponents — Purdue on September 12th and UT-Martin on November 21st — have already canceled their scheduled clash, leaving the Tigers with a 10-game regular season. Should Memphis manage to defend its AAC championship, rest assured it will happen in front of much smaller crowds.

Football in a season unlike any other.

Black athletes make up the majority of college football rosters, particularly at the FBS level. If you’re remotely close to such a program today, ignoring the Black Lives Matter movement would be like ignoring the oxygen entering your lungs. Shortly after the murder of George Floyd in May — with the country under quarantine to fight the coronavirus — the Tiger football team gathered to walk as a group in protest of racial injustice. However the upcoming season plays out — if it plays out — count on similar unified, visible acts to keep awareness and activism alive. White recognizes this as a responsibility of his generation, whether or not you happen to wear shoulder pads on fall Saturdays.

Star tailback Kenneth Gainwell has opted out of the 2020 season.

“We’ll always be united,” says White. “And we’ll stand for what we believe in, what’s right. It’s a true brotherhood. We’re bonded together, and we have each other’s backs. We’re not just football players. We’re human beings and we’re going to use our voices and our platforms for things like this. For me, it’s about loving one another and treating everyone the way we would want to be treated. It’s a principle we’re taught at a young age. I was created in God’s image, a person who’s imperfect. I know He created everyone else the same. That’s common sense and natural to me.”

If anything, the summer of protest accentuated bonds between White and his teammates that each knew already existed. The bonds just added a few layers of meaning. “Some people speak out a little more than others,” he explains, “but just because someone doesn’t post on Twitter, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an opinion. To be able to talk with one another, to connect … we’re united. Everyone has their own mind and thoughts. We use our own experiences and knowledge to stand with one another and support one another. How can we be better as individuals, as a country, and be leaders for change?”

Brady White is only the second Tiger to pass for 4,000 yards in a season.

The doctor will see you now.

White completed his undergraduate studies (business) shortly after his 2016 foot injury at Arizona State. He’s earned a master’s degree (sports and leisure science) since arriving on the Memphis campus and now finds himself in rarefied air: a student-athlete as interested in completing his doctoral dissertation as helping his team to another prestigious bowl game.

“I’ve been working my butt off for a while in the classroom,” says White in speaking the obvious. “I’ve always prided myself on that, pushing myself in all areas. There’s always room to learn, but especially in college.”

White’s Ph.D. program is classified under “liberal studies,” which has some margin for focus. He hopes to work in sports when football is over and intends to concentrate his dissertation on this track. “I can communicate with my advisors to get classes that will help me with what I want to do in the future,” he says. “I’m not just picking random classes, but I’m able to find classes or even tweak classes due to the flexibility of the program. I don’t know if it’s coaching or more on the business side [of sports], but I know I want to be involved in that.”

Brady White prepares to throw a pass under pressure.

In elite company.

Memphis just missed a spot in the AP’s preseason Top 25, finishing tops among “others receiving votes.” But nine of the ranked teams are from the Big Ten or Pac 12 (and won’t play this fall), so consider Memphis among the country’s elite programs. Again. And based on what we saw in 2019, the Tigers earned it.

“That was probably the best season in Memphis football history,” says White. “When you’re directly involved, you look back and see areas that could have been better. The leader in me always wants to keep improving. But it was special, and it was so much fun. Everyone involved had a great mindset the entire season. It was a no-flinch mentality. Competing for championships and getting those big bowl-game berths are the standard for our program.”

White bristles at a suggestion that the 2019 Tigers enjoyed a season in which practically everything went right. (One exception, of course, being a late no-catch ruling on a White pass in the Temple game that may have cost Memphis an undefeated regular season.) He notes the considerable amount of work that went into making sure “everything went right.” Film room. Weight room. Practice field. Places even the most devoted fans don’t get to see on a regular basis.

“There are so many things that are out of your control,” notes White, “and I’ve been a part of teams that were hit by the injury bug. So we were blessed. But when you focus on your job, the 11 guys on each side of the ball, special teams … when they’re together and focusing on executing and playing hard, you get the results. The work we put in, the preparation from week to week … if we take care of our job, we perform really well. And it can be replicated in the near future.”

With a third healthy season, White could topple a pair of longstanding Memphis records. He needs 2,906 yards to break Danny Wimprine’s mark of 10,215 (set over four seasons, from 2001 to 2004). And 23 touchdown passes would break Wimprine’s record of 81. Like it or not, White has become a star quarterback.

“I know who I am,” says White. “I’m a genuine human being. With that comes belief and confidence. I’m a man of faith. I know who my creator is, and I know who he created me to be. I play for an audience of one. I love my family, my friends, and all of Tiger Nation, but I look to play for my audience of one, and that’s my lord and savior. It frees me up, because I have that peace and comfort as a player. I’m able to maximize the abilities I’ve been blessed with. I’m not perfect, but I’m my own unique and special player and quarterback. I know what value I have. At the end of the day, I’m an uber-competitor, and I just want to win ballgames. Whatever the coaches ask of me, I will get done, as long as we win the game.”

A star among stars.

College football’s annual “watch lists” are seriously overrated. There are no fewer than 90 players on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, given to the country’s finest player at season’s end. (Yes, it’s a poor man’s Heisman, and not the only one.) Nonetheless, Memphis had three players on the list and is one of only four programs that can count as many (along with Indiana of the Big Ten, Louisville, and, ahem, Alabama). White’s favorite target, senior wide receiver Damonte Coxie, made the cut, having caught 76 passes for 1,276 yards as a junior. Alas, the Tigers’ third selection, sophomore running back Kenneth Gainwell (1,459 rushing yards and 610 receiving yards in 2019) announced last Sunday that he’s opting out of the upcoming season.

With Coxie riding shotgun and even minus Gainwell, White will have the keys to one of the most powerful machines in college football. The Tigers averaged 40.8 points per game last season (eighth among 130 FBS programs) and it was no spike on the timeline. Memphis has averaged 40.7 points per game over the last six seasons, the 2017 squad putting up an astounding 45.5 per game (second in the country). Few scoreboards have been exercised like that at the Liberty Bowl, where Memphis has gone 35-5 since the start of the 2014 season. The Tigers win. And they score lots of points. Even with a second coaching change during this period — Ryan Silverfield takes over for Mike Norvell, who departed for Florida State — the Memphis program should be capable of winning shootouts, and regularly.

“Damonte and I love one another and we want what’s best [for the program],” says White. “We’re at it each day, trying to get better and make the most out of this last opportunity. It’s nice to have guys around you who share the same goals. I’m super thankful to have that guy by my side. He’s got great ability, but I love the dude’s mentality. It’s unique, extremely driven, competitive. He’s a special human being.”

Who will be taking handoffs out of the Tiger backfield in Gainwell’s absence? Junior Kylan Watkins — pride of Whitehaven High School — is the top returning ground-gainer, having rushed for 325 yards (on 5.2 yards per carry) a year ago. Also in the mix will be sophomore Rodrigues Clark. Look for a committee, of sorts, to fill the void left by Gainwell, who last season became the first player in 22 years to finish a game with 100 rushing yards and 200 receiving yards (against Tulane).

In addition to Coxie and Gainwell, junior guard Dylan Parham and senior kicker Riley Patterson (134 points in 2019) have received preseason all-conference recognition. On the defensive side of the ball, senior cornerback T.J. Carter has an NFL career in his sights. Three others seniors on defense — linemen O’Bryan Goodson and Joseph Dorceus and linebacker J.J. Russell — will make game days rough for Tiger opponents.

As for the new man in charge, Silverfield spent four years at Norvell’s side, most recently as the team’s deputy head coach. He knows what’s worked over the last four seasons and, with offense in his bloodstream, would seem the right man to keep this machine’s engine roaring. “I actually worked with Coach Silverfield briefly at Arizona State, before he left for the NFL,” notes White. “We’re really tight. I feel like we have an understanding of one another. Everyone’s confident in him as a coach. He’s the man for the job and deserves it. We love him. This team rallies behind him. There hasn’t been a lot of change. He’s his own coach, so there are little things he does differently, but it’s been an easy transition. There’s been no awkward feeling-out period.”

Reason to play.

Back to that AP poll. The defending AAC champions are not ranked to start the season, but two of their conference brethren are: Cincinnati (20) and UCF (21). If pandemic football proves manageable, the Tigers will face both the Bearcats and Knights in October, and they won’t need 40,000 fans in the stands for motivation.

“I’m my teammates’ biggest fan,” says White. “I want to see them do well so that they can achieve all their dreams and aspirations, take care of their families, and do everything they want in life. It’s a lot bigger than scoring touchdowns.”

The new normal.

Masks and 12 feet of space between fan groups will be part of college football in 2020. Tailgating, for now, is a thing of what seems like a distant past. But few sports are as structured as big-time college football, practice sessions broken down to the precise minute, position groups meeting for strategy and tactics within the larger context of a weekly team venture. Perhaps health protocols can be adopted into such structure, and perhaps college programs — particularly those in the southeastern United States — will prove to be the morale- and budget-boosters they’ve been for generations.

“Everything’s gonna be a lot different this year,” acknowledges White. “But I’ve been working out pretty intensely, studying film. You need to have a different approach, be safe and make sure you stay healthy. But [the pandemic] hasn’t changed my routine a whole lot. I’m still attacking it as if it’s a normal season.

“We recognize [the uncertain conditions], and we accept it. You’d rather over-prepare and be ready to go than sit on your hands and find yourself behind the eight ball. I love the way we’re doing it. The biggest thing is getting your mindset to go-mode, getting it cranked up. It’s been different, a ton of time off. That mindset has to change. Physically, guys should be feeling better than ever. We should be locked and loaded, ready to roll.”

Attending a Tiger game at the Liberty Bowl this fall will be significantly different than in previous seasons, allowing for social distancing and other protective measures against the spread of the coronavirus. For details, visit GoTigersGo.com/feature/2020football.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Tiger Football

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

• The Liberty Bowl has become a Tiger cage for visiting teams. Since the start of the 2014 season, Memphis has accumulated a 30-5 record at home. You have to go back 11 previous seasons (2003-13) to count 30 Tiger wins at the Liberty Bowl. Only once over the last five years has Memphis lost as many as two home games in a season (Tulsa and USF beat the Tigers in 2016). It’s a remarkable run of home-field dominance that shouldn’t be taken for granted as the Memphis program aims for national recognition, both from those who vote in polls and from long-distance recruits interested in making large-scale impact.
Larry Kuzniewski

Thursday night’s tilt with Navy will be a test, the Midshipmen leaning on that vexing triple-option attack that causes fits wherever they play. Quarterback Malcolm Perry passed for two touchdowns and ran for four more in Navy’s evisceration of East Carolina in the teams’ American Athletic Conference opener. The Tigers lost a crusher (22-21) in Annapolis last season and have won only one of four meetings since Navy joined the AAC for the 2015 season. And yes, the Midshipmen are one of the five teams to beat the Tigers in Memphis since 2014. To make this week’s game all the more meaningful, Navy and Memphis occupy the same division in the AAC. It’s as close to a must-win for the Tigers as you’ll see in September.


• The Tiger offense is averaging 37.3 points per game. What’s wrong? I kid. The 15 points scored in the season-opening win over Ole Miss will hurt this average for a few weeks, but the  Memphis attack doesn’t appear to be suffering for the losses of Patrick Taylor or Pop Williams (the latter will miss the rest of the season). Freshman tailback (and Taylor fill-in) Kenneth Gainwell leads the AAC with 102.3 rushing yards per game. Quarterback Brady White has completed more than 70 percent of his passes.

New offensive coordinator Kevin Johns isn’t surprised. When I met Johns during the preseason, he was effusive in his praise of Tiger head coach Mike Norvell. “Any offensive coach in this country would love to work at the University of Memphis,” he said. “For me, it’s a chance to learn from a great offensive mind. This is his show. I’m trying to learn it, and teach it to the quarterbacks. As he and I spend more time together, there’s a chance for me to bring concepts from other places [I’ve been]. My philosophy is very similar to Coach Norvell’s: you keep a tight end on the field at all times and you find a way to run the football. That takes care of everything else.”


• The Tigers need to retire three more jerseys, and soon. It took some time, but the names (and numbers) of six honored Tiger football players are now proudly displayed at the Liberty Bowl: John Bramlett, Isaac Bruce, Dave Casinelli, Charles Greenhill, Harry Schuh, and DeAngelo Williams. It’s been six years since a Tiger has received this ultimate salute (both Bramlett and Schuh were honored in 2013). Thanks in large part to the amount of success the Memphis program has enjoyed since the turn of the century, three names need to be added to this pantheon.

First and foremost, Anthony Miller: the greatest receiver in Tiger history and a first-team AP All-America in 2017. Darrell Henderson belongs in the group, having rushed for more than 3,500 yards (in three seasons) and also earning first-team AP All-America recognition (in 2018). The third name isn’t mentioned as often: Danny Wimprine. Memphis has suited up some talented quarterbacks over the last decade, but none has approached the career passing records (10,215 yards, 81 touchdowns) Wimprine has held now for 15 years. Imagine what his numbers would be had he not spent much of three seasons (2002-04) handing the ball to Williams. Danny Wimprine is an all-time Tiger great. Period.

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Sports Sports Feature

The Tigers’ Home Advantage

The Liberty Bowl has become a Tiger cage for visiting teams. Since the start of the 2014 season, Memphis has accumulated a 30-5 record at home. You have to go back 11 previous seasons (2003-13) to count 30 Tiger wins at the Liberty Bowl. Only once over the last five years has Memphis lost as many as two home games in a season (Tulsa and USF beat the Tigers in 2016). 

It’s a remarkable run of home-field dominance that shouldn’t be taken for granted as the Memphis program aims for national recognition (both from those who vote in polls and from long-distance recruits interested in making large-scale impact). Thursday night’s tilt with Navy will be a test, the Midshipmen leaning on that vexing triple-option attack that causes fits wherever they play. Quarterback Malcolm Perry passed for two touchdowns and ran for four more in Navy’s evisceration of East Carolina in the teams’ American Athletic Conference opener. The Tigers lost a crusher (22-21) in Annapolis last season and has won only one of four meetings since Navy joined the AAC for the 2015 season. And yes, the Midshipmen are one of the five teams to beat the Tigers in Memphis since 2014.
To make this week’s game all the more meaningful, Navy and Memphis occupy the same division in the AAC. It’s as close to a must-win for the Tigers as you’ll see in September.

• The Tiger offense is averaging 37.3 points per game. What’s wrong? I kid. The 15 points scored in the season-opening win over Ole Miss will hurt this average for a few weeks, but the  Memphis attack doesn’t appear to be suffering for the losses of Patrick Taylor or Pop Williams (the latter will miss the rest of the season). Freshman tailback (and Taylor fill-in) Kenneth Gainwell leads the AAC with 102.3 rushing yards per game. Quarterback Brady White has completed more than 70 percent of his passes. New offensive coordinator Kevin Johns isn’t surprised. When I met Johns during the preseason, he was effusive in his praise of Tiger head coach Mike Norvell. “Any offensive coach in this country would love to work at the University of Memphis,” he said. “For me, it’s a chance to learn from a great offensive mind. This is his show. I’m trying to learn it, and teach it to the quarterbacks. As he and I spend more time together, there’s a chance for me to bring concepts from other places [I’ve been]. My philosophy is very similar to Coach Norvell’s: you keep a tight end on the field at all times and you find a way to run the football. That takes care of everything else.”

• The Tigers need to retire three more jerseys, and soon. It took some time, but the names (and numbers) of six honored Tiger football players are now proudly displayed at the Liberty Bowl: John Bramlett, Isaac Bruce, Dave Casinelli, Charles Greenhill, Harry Schuh, and DeAngelo Williams. It’s been six years since a Tiger has received this ultimate salute (both Bramlett and Schuh were honored in 2013). Thanks in large part to the amount of success the Memphis program has enjoyed since the turn of the century, three names need to be added to this pantheon. First and foremost, Anthony Miller: the greatest receiver in Tiger history and a first-team AP All-America in 2017. Darrell Henderson belongs in the group, having rushed for more than 3,500 yards (in three seasons) and also earning first-team AP All-America recognition (in 2018). The third name isn’t mentioned as often: Danny Wimprine. Memphis has suited up some talented quarterbacks over the last decade, but none has approached the career passing records (10,215 yards, 81 touchdowns) Wimprine has held now for 15 years.

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Sports Tiger Blue

2017-18 Tiger Basketball: First Impressions

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The 2017-18 Memphis Tiger basketball season tips off this Friday in Annapolis, Maryland, where Tubby Smith’s squad will face Alabama in the Veterans Classic. There’s only so much we can glean from 40 minutes of exhibition basketball against a Division II foe, but here are a few early observations, taken largely from last Thursday’s win over LeMoyne-Owen at FedEx Forum.

• Among the several rookies on Smith’s roster, three appear bound for heavy minutes and should impact how well (or poorly) the upcoming season goes. Kyvon Davenport is a big man (by college standards) with soft hands, a prototype that thrives at this level. Furthermore, he moves well and appears to have an outside touch with his shot (he drained one of two three-point attempts in the exhibition and hit six of nine from the field overall). Like Davenport, guard Kareem Brewton was a first-team JUCO All-America in 2016-17. Brewton drained a trey to open the scoring against the Magicians and went on to score 11 points and hand out nine assists (with only two turnovers) in 25 minutes on the floor. Then there’s freshman Jamal Johnson. It only seems like a decade since the Tigers had a consistent, pure shooter from long distance. Johnson hit four of seven three-point attempts and scored 14 points in 19 minutes last Thursday. If the Tigers merely realize an approximation of that off-the-bench impact from Johnson, the team will be a lengthy stride ahead of last year’s group.

Larry Kuzniewski

Jeremiah Martin

• This is Jeremiah Martin’s team, whether or not the junior point guard wants it. Martin took on playmaking duties as a sophomore, for a new coach, on a team with basically a five-man “rotation.” And he thrived, averaging 10.3 points and 4.4 assists with an assist-to-turnover ration better than two-to-one. Can he further develop, now with other ball-handlers (including Malik Rhodes) behind him? Martin would be a legitimate weapon (and all-conference candidate) if he could find the mark from three-point range. (He shot 28 percent from long distance last season.) With Johnson, Davenport, and Brewton in the mix, Martin’s lone shortcoming may not be as evident this winter. And the Tigers will have an even better point guard.

• The Tigers are bigger, but how much? Among the ten Tigers who played at least 10 minutes in the exhibition, six are at least 6’6″ . . . but none taller than 6’8″. Will this team rebound (long a hallmark of Smith-coached clubs)? Senior Jimario Rivers is all effort in the paint, but averaged just 3.5 boards in 22 minutes as a junior. (Some of this is due to Dedric Lawson cleaning the glass so well. Won’t be an issue this season.) Mike Parks (6’8″) started the exhibition, played 23 minutes . . . and grabbed two rebounds. Freshman Victor Enoh (6’7″) came off the bench and pulled down six rebounds in 11 minutes. Davenport led the way with seven boards. Watch this area closely. The Tigers won’t stay in games with the likes of Cincinnati or Wichita State if they’re not ending an opponent’s possession after one shot.

• The Tiger fan base remains in “wait-and-see” mode. There were not 5,000 people in the stands last Thursday night. Not close. I’ve seen exhibition games at FedExForum with more than 10,000 fans cheering a meaningless contest. After three years of postseason-free basketball, the Tiger program will either turn toward a new, brighter future this season . . . or further darken what’s become a gloomy mini-era. I’m not sure the home schedule will help. Memphis opens against Little Rock on November 14th then faces New Orleans a week later. A game against Northern Kentucky will be played the same day (November 25th) the Tiger football team — a Top 20 program now — hosts East Carolina in its regular-season finale. Then there are four home games over an 11-day stretch of early December with teams only moms and the hoop-addicted can love: Mercer, Samford, Bryant, and Albany. A tilt with Louisville (in Madison Square Garden) on December 16th will really be this squad’s opening game. Visits from the Bearcats (January 27th) and Shockers (February 6th) will say much about the program’s following in what can now safely be called Grizzly Country.

I recently sat down for a visit with Tubby Smith. We discussed his first season in Memphis, a turbulent offseason, and the campaign ahead (to win Tiger hearts and minds). Check it out in this week’s print edition of the Flyer.

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Cover Feature News

Tiger Football 2016: A Norvell Approach

The University of Memphis football program is auditioning. Surely you’ve heard the whispers — loud as sirens — that the Big 12 Conference is evaluating expansion. One of the fabled “Power Five” conferences that award member schools the largest stacks of TV and sponsorship revenue, the Big 12 has had but 10 members since Missouri and Texas A & M departed for the SEC before the 2013-14 academic year. In the interest of gaining ground — particularly when it comes to revenue — on college football’s other conference titans (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Pac 12), the Big 12 is accepting hugs and kisses from schools desperate to land one of possibly four (but at least two) invitations for membership.

This, friends, is the U of M’s last, best chance to become a member of the NCAA’s ruling elite. (At least until further expansion creates “Super-Power Conferences.” Just wait. It’ll happen.) And qualifications for this form of exclusivity are wrapped in and around football. So consider the 2016 Tiger season a 12-game (hopefully 13-game) casting call. In the spirit of the league Memphis is pursuing, here are 12 storylines to follow.

Mike Norvell promises fast-playing Tigers this season.

Missing Pieces: Let’s get this out of the way. Several familiar (and historically significant) names from the 2015 season are no longer on the Tiger roster. Quarterback Paxton Lynch — a first-round NFL draft pick — has essentially taken Peyton Manning’s spot on the roster of the Super Bowl champions. Also gone are an all-conference tight end (Alan Cross), all-conference tackle (Taylor Fallin), a pair of Lynch’s favorite targets (Mose Frazier and Tevin Jones), and a running back who finished second on the team last season with 389 rushing yards (Jarvis Cooper). And, oh yeah, coach Justin Fuente — architect of the most significant turnaround in the program’s history — is now the boss at Virginia Tech. To act as though the 2016 Tiger season will be merely a continuation of last year’s success would be to insult the legacy of these departed difference-makers. The hope must be that the bar has been raised and secured high enough for new difference-makers to emerge.

A Golden Era Is Upon Us (Maybe): The Tigers won more games over the last two seasons (19) than in any other two-year period since football was first played by the U of M in 1912. With seven wins this season, a new standard would be established for a three-year period. (The Tigers won 25 games from 1961 through 1963.) College football absolutely drips with the words “tradition rich.” There are programs, sadly, that are tradition poor. Success has been infrequent and scattered over the 104 years Memphis has suited up a football team. What we’re seeing these days — remember that 15-game winning streak and beat-down of Ole Miss? — is the closest the Tiger program has come to the dawn of a significant era. Can it be golden?

The Tigers gear up for a (with hard work and a little luck) successful season.

The Norvell Way: Filling a departed coach’s shoes has not been difficult, historically, at Memphis. Typically it’s more like flip-flops, with a broken strap. But following Fuente will be different. Mike Norvell is the youngest of 128 coaches in FBS. At age 34 (he turns 35 in October), he’s less than two years older than DeAngelo Williams. The list of former wide receivers (like Norvell) who have found success as head coaches is a short one. But you’ve heard of Bear Bryant. (Hall of Famer Raymond Berry took the New England Patriots to Super Bowl XX; we’ll ignore the result.) Norvell insists his Tigers will play fast, particularly on offense where he built his credentials as a coordinator under Todd Graham, most recently at Arizona State.

“We’re gonna push the pedal to the metal, play as fast as we can,” Norvell says. “The way we practice and train, everything we do is focused on tempo. It’s an offense built for playmakers, and we have some guys here who can be very impactful.”

Among the playmakers Norvell considers integral this fall are tailbacks Doroland Dorceus (698 yards as a sophomore last year) and Darrell Henderson (a freshman), multipurpose threat Sam Craft (back from the basketball court), and receivers Anthony Miller and Phil Mayhue. With a pair of veterans — Trevon Tate and Gabe Kuhn — manning the tackle positions up front, the Tiger offense has the potential for star power. But if it’s going to approach 40 points a game (like the 2015 edition), a rookie will lead the way.

Paxton Who? “When I got here,” says Norvell, “I told the guys, if there’s one position I’ll guarantee competition, it’s quarterback.” Junior-college transfer Riley Ferguson — a member of the Tennessee program in 2013 — took the lead last spring in the Tigers’ quarterback derby, and last week Norvell named him the starter for Saturday’s opener.

Ferguson has size (6’4″, 190 lbs.) and put up solid numbers last fall at Coffeyville (KS) Community College: 67.8 completion percentage, 326.9 yards per game, and 35 touchdowns. As Norvell puts it, the Memphis quarterback will be “the guy who can truly manage the offense . . . play within the system.”

Ferguson is blessed with arm strength — a must at this level — but it’s a more intangible quality that has impressed his coach. “He came in and had a really nice mentality in how he positioned himself with the team,” Norvell says. “Guys like him as a person, but when he’s on the field, it’s all business.”

And why exactly is Ferguson a Memphis Tiger? “[Norvell] is a young coach, and I feel like I connected with him,” says Ferguson, who had been disappointed with his options after Coffeyville until Memphis swept in. “I felt I could be open with him and tell him my story, what I’ve been through. When he showed me the offense, that made me love [Memphis] even more. There’s nothing a defense can do to stop it. The only time the defense can be right is if I make a wrong read or they bring a pressure we can’t pick up. Based on the read-aspect of the offense, it’s unstoppable. And very fast.”

Fill Those Seats! While the Tigers were winning those 19 games the last two seasons, the U of M sold just under half a million tickets for 12 games at the Liberty Bowl. (465,917 to be exact, or an average of 38,826 per game.) Last year’s attendance total of 262,811 established a new record for a six-game home season, and the average attendance of 43,801 was the highest since the stadium opened in 1965.

These are great numbers by the standards of Memphis football, but they must continue to grow. With new seatback sections added, the Liberty Bowl’s capacity is now 56,862. If the program is to convince the Big 12 it’s worthy of membership, 50,000 fans on game day should not be exceptional. Consider: Last November, 55,212 fans showed up to see Memphis play Navy. (Navy! No SEC team on the other sideline.) It was the largest crowd to see a Tiger football game without an SEC foe since 1989. It’s not just the team auditioning folks.

Fall is for football, and, as the season approaches, Coach Norvell and the Tigers are pushing themselves to bring us a heaping helping of wins.

Miller Time: A year ago at this time, Fuente described wide receiver Anthony Miller as “different from anyone else we have.” And Miller had yet to catch a pass in college. As a sophomore, the pride of Christian Brothers High School hauled in 47 passes and averaged 14.7 yards per catch. He caught five touchdown passes but was one of 12 players to reach the end zone on the receiving end of a Lynch toss.

Look for Miller to be a more frequent target this season and for numbers that will capture more national attention. Ferguson has already described Miller as “the best receiver I’ve ever thrown to.” (The Memphis program has seen only one 1,000-yard receiver: Isaac Bruce in 1993.) Ferguson points to junior Phil Mayhue as another valuable target, a possession receiver who will extend drives with his route running and sure hands. When asked about Daniel Montiel, Ferguson says, “We’re gonna use the tight end a tremendous amount.”

Kickers Can Be Stars: Close football contests are often won (and lost) with the kicking game. Memphis has featured the American Athletic Conference’s Special Teams Player of the Year all three years of the league’s existence. Punter Tom Hornsey took the prize in 2013, and kicker Jake Elliott has earned the honor each of the last two seasons. Elliott and punter Spencer Smith were two of the four Tigers named first-team All-AAC after the 2015 campaign. Elliott converted 23 of 28 field-goal attempts last year (including nine of at least 40 yards), and Smith averaged 47.2 yards per punt, with 18 traveling more than 50 yards and 10 punts that pinned the Tiger opponent inside its own 10-yard line. Elliott has his sights set on the Lou Groza Award, given annually to the nation’s top kicker and first won by the U of M’s Joe Allison in 1992.

Defensive Matters: The 2015 Tigers set a program record by scoring 522 points (40.1 per game). And it’s a good thing, because the Memphis defense gave up 355 (27.3 per game), an increase of 40 percent over the previous season (253 points). This is a trend Norvell and new defensive coordinator Chris Ball would like to reverse. When asked about playmakers on the defensive side of the ball, Norvell starts with linebacker Genard Avery and safety Jonathan Cook (a transfer from Alabama).

“Genard is a very versatile player,” says Norvell, “and very explosive. He maxed out the other day with a 450-pound bench and 600-pound squat. He’s one of the strongest human beings I’ve been around. He’s moving better than ever. Arthur Maulet is a guy who can be a playmaker for us. I like our defensive front. We’ve got guys up there who can create havoc. [Defense] is our most experienced group, and they have a better sense of what they can do.”

Senior linebacker Jackson Dillon has compiled 20.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage over his three seasons as a starter and aims to finish his college career with a third straight winning season, something that hasn’t happened at Memphis since 2003-05. “This is probably the best defense I’ve been a part of,” says Dillon. “Getting off the field after third down, that’s the biggest priority. Winning first and second down.”

Circle the Dates: The Tigers have an early bye week (Week 2) but seven home games. They travel to Ole Miss on October 1st (after beating the Rebels at home last year) and host Houston on November 25th (after losing to the Cougars last year in Texas). The top two teams in the AAC East will visit the Liberty Bowl (Temple on October 6th and USF on November 12th), but the Tigers must face Navy and Cincinnati on the road. The Tigers need a strong start and have three winnable home games to start the campaign (SEMO, Kansas, and Bowling Green).

Ground Control: With a former receiver calling the shots, count on the Memphis offense taking to the air with regularity. But even with the departures of Cooper and Jamarius Henderson (320 rushing yards last season), the Tigers’ ground attack is versatile and deep. Junior Doroland Dorceus led the team with 661 yards a year ago and ran for eight touchdowns. In many offenses, Dorceus would be a threat for 1,000 yards. But Sam Craft is back from the hardwood for his senior season, and freshman Darrell Henderson (from South Panola High School) is expected to get his share of carries. So the Tigers could match last season’s ground production (179.5 yards per game) but without a 1,000-yard rusher for a seventh consecutive season.

Four Words: Smart. Fast. Physical. Finish. These are the areas of emphasis Norvell has implemented, and they’re not all that different from the style of play Fuente preached for four seasons (and to profound success the last two years). A fast team, Novell believes, will hit harder and more often, making for a physical style that will be felt throughout a stadium.

“We judge the finish as strictly as anything in this program,” he adds. “We want to be better at the end than we are at the beginning.” A decent strategy, whether you’re measuring a half, a game, or an entire season.

Underdogs, Now and Forever: In its annual preseason poll, voters (among media) placed the Tigers third in the AAC’s West Division, behind Houston (the overwhelming favorite) and Navy. In handicapping Big 12 expansion, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UConn tend to get more affection (again, among media types) than does Memphis. The underdog status is a motivator for the Tiger coaching staff and players, but not a distracting one.

“I don’t care what [the polls] say,” Dillon says. “They’re just people in suits, making suggestions. They’re not out there at practice, sweating, working.”

“It’s not unexpected,” Norvell says. “We know there are challenges in front of us. If we continue to grow as a football team, we have a great opportunity to put ourselves in a position to be a contender. Last year, we were 8-0 and in prime position but didn’t finish the way we needed to. We’ve got to build ourselves and show that we’re worthy of the respect that’s out there. There’s an anxiety. You’re anxious for the season. You’re anxious to see the development of players, how everything comes together for this specific team. I think we have a chance to do some great things.”

The beauty of college football is that we spend a long offseason and six days a week talking about what could be, what might be, or what should be. Then game day arrives, and the young men in helmets and shoulder pads actually make something happen. Perhaps a year (or two) from now, the Memphis Tigers will be picked to finish fourth or fifth in a division of a new Big 12. Or perhaps they’ll be defending another AAC championship. For now, though, there’s football to be played. A welcome season in Memphis, Tennessee.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 97, UCF 86

Shaq Goodwin

Senior forward Shaq Goodwin established a new career-high in scoring — before halftime — and Memphis avoided its first three-game losing streak in 11 years. Despite being outsized by UCF’s twin titans (Tacko Fall and Justin McBride), Goodwin scored 35 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and even handed out a career-high in assists (6) to lead the way in Orlando for the Tigers’ first road victory of the season.

Two days after the most deflating loss of the season (to East Carolina at FedExForum), Tiger coach Josh Pastner replaced Markel Crawford in the starting lineup with senior swingman Trahson Burrell. After falling an assist shy of a triple-double against ECU, Burrell was limited to two points (one for seven from the field), but the Tigers had more than enough offensive firepower elsewhere. In addition to Goodwin’s career night, junior guard Avery Woodson scored a season-high 19, including five three-pointers. Ricky Tarrant Jr. added 18 points and Dedric Lawson earned the eighth double-double of his freshman season (15 points and 12 rebounds).

As a team, the Tigers shot 50 percent from the field, but allowed the Knights to shoot 53 percent. The U of M hit a season-high 12 three-pointers, combined for 24 assists, and committed only eight turnovers. It was 40 minutes of productive basketball, twice the showing last Sunday against the Pirates.

Now 13-7 (4-3 in the American Athletic Conference), the Tigers will travel to Dallas Saturday to face 13th-ranked SMU (18-1). The game will open the toughest three-game stretch of the Tigers’ season, with visits next week from Connecticut (February 4th) and Cincinnati (February 6th).

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 53, Cincinnati 46

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

It’s a measure of the Memphis football program’s growth that a crowd of 45,172 could be drawn to the Liberty Bowl for a game — on Thursday night — that they could have watched on TV at home with the rest of the country courtesy of ESPN. And with nary an SEC foe in sight.

But how do Memphis and Cincinnati — merely front-runners in the American Athletic Conference — keep such a crowd (and national audience) energized? How about combining for 1,322 yards of offense, 12 touchdowns, and 11 lead changes in 60 minutes of game action. Not until Tiger linebacker Leonard Pegues picked off a desperation toss by Bearcat quarterback Hayden Moore with six seconds left — inside the Memphis 
Larry Kuzniewski

Sam Craft

20-yard line — were the Tigers able to secure a program-record 11th straight victory and a 4-0 start to the 2015 season. In doing so, Memphis earned its first AAC win of the season and dropped league favorite Cincinnati to 0-2 in AAC play.

“I want to thank our fans and the city of Memphis for putting on such a great show tonight,” said Memphis coach Justin Fuente, whose career record is now, for the first time, above .500 (21-20). “It was a special atmosphere. We have a lot of improvement to do, on both sides of the ball. I felt lucky at halftime to only be down two points. But we found a way to get it done. Our kids showed great perseverance. There were things I didn’t like: too many penalties [nine for 100 yards] and we didn’t play well defensively [752 yards on 100 plays by Cincinnati]. The kids have worked incredibly hard. We’re not in uncharted territory when it comes to being in battles. I’m happy that we won, but 752 yards is not something I’m proud of.”

Just five days after scoring 44 points in a win at Bowling Green, the Tigers extended a program-record of consecutive 40-point games to six (dating back to the end of the 2014 season). The U of M’s final points of the night were scored on a three-yard run by junior Sam Craft with 53 seconds to play. After losing a fumble on his team’s opening possession, Craft found some vindication by carrying on three successive plays for the final 20 yards in the Tigers’ game-winning drive.

Larry Kuzniewski

Justin Fuente

“Sam’s one of the first guys who came here over other places,” noted Fuente. “He’s from Memphis. I know he was excited to play tonight. This game meant a lot to him on a personal level. When he struggled early, I wanted him to know that we were going to come back to him, and he’d play a big role in the game. Maybe he was too excited. But I wanted him to know he’s important to us.

Also important to the Tiger cause is quarterback Paxton Lynch. The junior completed 24 of 36 passes for 412 yards and two touchdowns, one of them for 82 yards in the first quarter to Anthony Miller, the longest scoring strike of Lynch’s career. For the season, Lynch has now thrown eight touchdown passes without an interception. He also carried the ball 11 times for a team-high 61 yards (losing nine yards on a Bearcat sack) and converted a two-point conversion that gave Memphis a 46-39 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

“I told the defensive guys to just keep plugging away,” said Lynch. “Like last week when we were in a shootout with Bowling Green, just get a stop, give the offense a chance. We believe in each other and always have each others’ backs. We’re resilient; we never give up. We’ll fight to the last minute of a game.”

Are such games energizing for a quarterback? Or just tiring? “Definitely very tiring,” he said. “And emotional, but that’s how football is. You play long enough, you’re bound to play in one of these games. You just have to stay locked in. The mindset is to go out and score on every drive.”

Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel went down on a violent (but legal) hit from Tiger cornerback Chauncey Lanier late in the first quarter. He was taken to a local hospital where reports had him conscious and moving all extremities. Reserve Hayden Moore (a redshirt freshman) completed 31 of 53 passes for 557 yards and four touchdowns. Three Cincinnati receivers accumulated more than 100 yards for the night: Max Morrison (162), Chris Moore (153), and Shaq Washington (120).

Over its last two games, the Memphis defense has allowed a combined 1,063 yards through the air. Dion Witty led Memphis with eight solo tackles. Reserve cornerback Arthur Maulet returned an interception 59 yards for the Tigers’ first touchdown of the game in the first quarter.

Miller led the Tigers with 156 yards on five catches. Roderick Proctor had 78 on just three receptions. The Tigers have scored 215 points in their first four games. The program record is 471, scored over 13 games last season.

When asked about the magnitude of reaching 11 straight wins less than four full seasons after inheriting a team near the bottom of college football’s barrel, Fuente deferred such a big-picture view. “I have a hard time with that,” he said. “I’m happy for the program, but for me, it’s about the season. I know how many difficult challenges we have ahead, and how much better we’ve got to get to win just one more game. I’m proud of it, but I’m kind of a small-picture guy. We’re trying to focus on just one at a time. The bottom line is we’re 1-0 in the conference and now we go to South Florida next week.”

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Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Tiger Football

• There’s one (and only one) silver lining to the news that the Tigers’ sophomore tailback, Doroland Dorceus, has been lost for the season with a right-knee injury. When was the last time an injury to a second-string player in this program felt so damaging? Dorceus will be missed, and he’ll be missed because he provided the kind of depth that made him all but interchangeable with first-string tailback Brandon Hayes. Leading the Tigers with 237 rushing yards over four games, Dorceus was second-string only according to the depth chart.

Play calling was not impacted with Dorceus on the field (beyond the priority of getting him the ball). Production didn’t drop with Dorceus on the field. And Hayes was a better player late in games because of the relief Dorceus provided. That all changes with Dorceus removed from the Tiger ground attack. Freshman Jarvis Cooper has teased with his early-season performance (even at Ole Miss last weekend). And Hayes is accustomed to shouldering a workload. Losing Dorceus isn’t a death knell for the Memphis offense. But the grind of the conference schedule just got that much . . . grindier.

football_helmet.jpg

• The Tigers finished September right where they wanted to be: 2-2. A win at UCLA or Ole Miss would have been a celebrated bonus, but Memphis wanted (needed!) to enter its conference schedule with a .500 record. This Saturday the Tigers face a real measuring stick for growth of the program. The Cincinnati Bearcats were picked to win the American Athletic Conference, and even after being dusted by Ohio State last weekend, Tommy Tuberville’s squad seems to have the kind of offensive attack that can win games by halftime.

Quarterback Gunner Kiel — a Notre Dame transfer — leads the American in passing efficiency, having thrown for 1,041 yards and 14 touchdowns (two interceptions) in three games. Wideout Chris Moore caught three of Kiel’s passes against the Buckeyes, all for touchdowns that totaled 221 yards, earning Moore the American’s Offensive Player of the Week award despite his team’s lopsided loss. The idea of Memphis cornerback Bobby McCain battling Moore downfield is a scintillating angle to the Tigers’ first conference test. Cincinnati gave up a whopping 710 yards (on 101 plays) to the Buckeyes. Memphis may get the chance to win a shootout in the stadium where Justin Fuente’s old friend, Andy Dalton, now plays on Sundays.

• The Larry Porter years weren’t all bad. Ron Leary and Dontari Poe were teammates in 2010 and 2011, each suffering 21 losses in 24 games. Last weekend, Leary and Poe played important roles in the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively, winning big games in Week 4 of the NFL season. Starting at left guard for Dallas, Leary has been part of three straight wins for the Cowboys and helped tailback DeMarco Murray take over the NFL’s rushing lead with 534 yards. And coming off a Pro Bowl season, Poe has established himself as one of the two or three best nose tackles in the NFL. (The Chiefs are 2-2 after steamrolling New England Monday night.) Both Leary and Poe were recruited by Tommy West. They’re reminders that, even in the darkest of days, a college football program can yield a little light.