Tag: Liberty Bowl

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Drive-Out Tags, A.R. The Mermaid, and the Liberty Bowl

Memphis on the internet.

Drive Out Infiniti

Posted to Facebook by Memphis Memes 901

Facebook user Tasha Jeffries bravely stepped up to explain this meme last week.

“Within the last two years in Memphis, there has been an influx of people buying older model Infinitis (AKA Fin Fins). They are usually bought with body damage, two-toned, and most people never get actual license plates.

“Typically, the drivers of these vehicles drive as if there are no laws to abide by. They go in between cars, cut people off, and tend to run red lights. If you see one — even if you have the right of way — treat them as if they are the police or an ambulance. You do not want to be hit by one of these vehicles because they are less likely to be insured.”

A.R. The Mermaid

Posted to YouTube by Dirty Glove Bastard

Memphis rapper A.R. The Mermaid was featured on Dirty Glove Bastard’s YouTube channel last week for a signature “Off The Porch” interview.

When asked what’s life really like in Memphis these days, the East Memphian responded, “Shit, I ain’t gonna lie to you. You smooth. You straight. You gotta know where you at, who you fuck with, or be at. You can’t get fucked up being at the wrong place at the wrong time, you know what I’m saying. But, shit, they fuck with me out there. It’s love. So, I fuck with the city.”

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Sports Tiger Blue

Memphis Topples Houston, 30-27

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

It wasn’t as easy as it appeared it was going to be, but the Memphis Tigers eked out a last-second 30-27 win over the Houston Cougars at the Liberty Bowl on Saturday.

After building a 27-6 lead, Memphis appeared to have the game well in hand at the end of the third quarter. Then the Tiger defense surrendered three consecutive touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with Houston tying the game at 27 on an 18-yard pass from Clayton Tune to Bryson Smith with 28 seconds left.  Larry Kuzniewski

Brady White

Undaunted, Memphis quarterback Brady White quickly drove the Tigers 46 yards and got them into field-goal range. Kicker Riley Patterson nailed a 47-yarder as time expired, giving Memphis a second-straight undefeated home season at the Liberty Bowl.

White became the Tigers’ all-time leading passer in his final home game, and receiver Calvin Austin passed the 1,000-yard mark for the season, with seven catches totaling 74 yards, becoming just the fourth Memphis receiver ever to reach that mark.

With the win, the Tigers defeated Houston (3-4) for the fifth straight season, and finished the year with a 7-3 record, pending a likely bowl game invite. 

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News News Blog

Fairgrounds Project Branded As ‘Liberty Park’

[slideshow-1]
The $200 million project to transform the Mid-South fairgrounds into a youth sports destination has been branded as Liberty Park. Officials said they plan to begin opening the park in 2022.

City officials announced the branding and timeline Thursday morning, calling Liberty Park a collection of cultural, education, entertainment, and recreation institutions in an expanded and unified campus vision.

Liberty Park will include existing assets such as the Liberty Bowl, Tiger Lane, the Children’s Museum of Memphis, and the Kroc Center. No mention was made of the now-vacant Mid-South Coliseum.

The park will also include a host of yet-built assets, including the Memphis Sports and Events Center, a 227,000-square-foot facility for youth sports and events. It will include indoor basketball and volleyball hard courts and will be adaptable for other sports such as wrestling, gymnastics, cheerleading, as events like convocations and commencements. The complex will also include a cafe and concessions area, multiple outdoor turf, and dedicated soccer fields, and a playground.

An 18-acre private development inside Liberty Park will include a public plaza, 90,000 square feet of family entertainment venues, 90,000 square feet of commercial office space, 100,000 square feet of retail and dining, two hotels, comprising 200 total rooms, and 100-150 apartments.

The private development will be built along Central Avenue in a space that currently houses a track and football field. The city will spend $3 million to move those assets to Tobey Park along Flicker Street. The money will be spread over three years in the city budget.

“Despite the issues we’re dealing with head-on, stemming from COVID-19, we have to simultaneously plan for the future,” said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. “Building on the spirit of an iconic past, known for years as the Fairgrounds, Liberty Park is a destination that moves a historic site into its next century to one day bring Memphians and visitors together.

“A visiting family can check into their hotel, tour the Children’s Museum, and grab a bite to eat, all within walking distance, before their sports tournament even begins. Every user and element of Liberty Park can benefit from and contribute to all of the experiences that have traditionally happened on the property.”

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From My Seat Sports

The Ghosting of Memphis Sports (Part 3)

CREDIT: Sean Locke Photography/Dreamstime.com

“Just as every restaurant, company, and organization across the country has had to change the way they operate to keep their customers safe, we’re having to do the same thing. . . . You can be assured, we’ll manage it appropriately.”
— University of Memphis Athletic Director Laird Veatch (June 11th)

Picture the Liberty Bowl packed with 59,000 fans for the home team’s epic win over SMU last November, ESPN’s cameras broadcasting that sold-out football frenzy for the entire country to enjoy. Picture it now, because you won’t see it again — a football stadium packed to capacity — anytime soon. The University of Memphis has already disclosed the likelihood of limited seating — perhaps only season-ticket holders — if football games are played this fall. The aim, of course, is to practice a form of social distancing in an environment built for the precise opposite.
Sean Locke Photography/Dreamstime.com

No human being on the planet had knowledgeable experience with a pandemic before the current crisis hit. The global shutdown has stretched the thinking capacity of the world’s smartest scientists, to say nothing of what it’s done mentally to the rest of us. So what can be expected of leaders like Veatch in the realm of sports, where just about every instinct — starting with the gathering of people to, you know, watch — feels counterintuitive?

For longtime followers of the Tiger football program, the jokes write themselves:

“Social distance? Did you attend a game during the Larry Porter years?”

“Masks at a football game? Have you eaten French fries at the Liberty Bowl?”

The Tigers have played more than 50 years in a stadium about 20,000 seats too large. Until they started winning conference championships, that is. That oversized bowl may turn into a blessing if pandemic conditions persist. Arkansas State and UT-Martin — to name two opponents Memphis is scheduled to host this year — are unlikely to draw a crowd much larger than 30,000. Smallish groups (10 people? 20?) may be asked to sit together, and visits to the restroom, as uncomfortable as it sounds, will likely be regimented and monitored. (Even a crowd as small as 10,000 would make, say, “two visitors at a time” all but impossible in a public restroom.)

Here’s the thing: We have to try. Carefully and intelligently, but we have to try to play games again. Major League Baseball is scheduled to return later this month, a 60-game season of regional play that will, hopefully, be followed by a postseason and World Series in October. (It will be a cruel tease for fans of the Memphis Redbirds, as minor-league teams will not be stocked with players this year.) The World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational has been rescheduled for July 30-August 2 at TPC Southwind. Golf is among the few sports made for a pandemic, where the view on television can be a better experience than hiking a course with a gallery of fellow fans. If the players and tournament officials can be properly monitored and cared for, the WGC could be an unforgettable — and singular — highlight of the Memphis sports summer.

There’s a reason beyond cheering and championships to find our way back to spectator sports. Games we play move dollars we spend. “If things play out as we’re currently projecting, it will be a seven-figure impact — to the negative — for the [athletic] department,” says Veatch in describing the financial hit the U of M will take in a reduced-seating world for football and men’s basketball. “We’re trying to get our heads around how to manage that appropriately.”

The absence of sports — locally and worldwide — has been traumatic, but hardly tragic. Not when the COVID-19 death toll worldwide has climbed above half a million. Not when the United States has become the global test case for how not to manage a killer contagion. No, the absence of sports has been merely a painful casualty of a global crisis.
More patience required. More determination. We’ll remember 2020 as the year we learned it’s not so much our right to cheer our favorite teams, but a privilege.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Memphis Tiger Football

• There’s no feel to this season. Not yet. No rhythm (if such can be felt in a sport with weekly games). The star of the Tigers’ opener — two weeks ago — was Hurricane Harvey, or at least the last vicious breaths of that ravaging storm that so thoroughly drowned parts of Texas. Memphis escaped with a win over Louisiana-Monroe, but in front of no more than 10,000 drenched fans. Then last week’s game at UCF was mercifully cancelled, this time a hurricane proving too much, even for a football game. So we’re left with what many consider the Tigers’ biggest game of the year — UCLA and a forecast of sunshine! — and very little sense of how strong this year’s Memphis team might be. Quarterback Riley Ferguson and his band of talented receivers were declawed by the weather system on August 31st. Will they be ready to counterpunch a Bruin attack led by NFL-bound Josh Rosen under center, an offense that erased a 34-point lead in less than 20 minutes against Texas A & M? Sixty minutes of football at UCF — in reasonable conditions — would have suggested an answer. Until 11 a.m. Saturday morning, no one really knows, including the Memphis coaching staff. We’ll have a feel for the 2017 Memphis Tigers by mid-afternoon Saturday.

“Our guys, I have to give them a compliment for the maturity they’ve shown,” said Memphis coach Mike Norvell during his weekly press conference Monday. “They’ve handled a lot of different things and quite a good deal of adversity here early when it comes to the schedule and their routine. They’re definitely looking forward to this Saturday.”

• When I think of Memphis-UCLA I think of basketball. The Tigers have played in three Final Fours and faced the Bruins in two of them. Most famously, Bill Walton became a household name in the 1973 championship game, beating what remains the most famous team in Memphis sports history, one led by Larry Finch, Ronnie Robinson, and Larry Kenon. Thirty-five years later, the U of M (with Derrick Rose) whipped UCLA (with Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook) in San Antonio.

The Tigers and Bruins have only played once before on the gridiron, a 42-35 UCLA win in Los Angeles in 2014. That was the Tigers’ second game of the season, Paxton Lynch’s second start at quarterback, and the first real indication that a corner might be turned for the Tiger program. Memphis had a chance in the fourth quarter to knock off the country’s 11th-ranked team. There seemed to be a renewal of hope two weeks later when Memphis handled Middle Tennessee at the Liberty Bowl. They went on to win eight of their last ten games and earn a ranking of 25 in the final AP poll. Here’s hoping this week’s game deepens the association of these two schools on the football field.

• AAC commissioner Mike Aresco likes describing his league — and the programs that comprise it — as “Power Six.” The implication is that the AAC deserves equal standing with the likes of the SEC, Big 10, and Pac-12 . . . the fabled “Power Five” that centers college football. Since the Tiger program’s revival in 2014, Memphis has played seven games against Power Five teams and won three of them. Two of those victories came against Kansas, though, one of the weakest programs in the classification.The 2015 upset of Ole Miss was historic (it extended a Tiger winning streak to an astounding 13 games). The four Power Five losses during this period: UCLA, Auburn (in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl), and Ole Miss twice. A win over UCLA — as televised live by the ABC cameras — would be a significant step in the right direction for Mike Norvell and this program. And it would give a little more credence to the notion of a “Power Six” league.

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From My Seat Sports

Q & A: Fred Jones on the Southern Heritage Classic

The Southern Heritage Classic has grown into a Mid-South institution, far more than a football series between Tennessee State and Jackson State. This Saturday’s tilt will be the centerpiece in the 27th-annual celebration of these historically black colleges, their alumni, and, not incidentally, a pair of extraordinary marching bands. Founder Fred Jones — president of Summitt Management Corporation — has seen them all.

Fred Jones

Can you share the original inspiration for the Southern Heritage Classic, how exactly the event was created?
It started off with a conversation [I had] with Bill Thomas, the athletic director at Tennessee State [in 1989]. The schools had always wanted to play here. But they knew they could not do it. I told him that if I [organized] it, I needed to change everything about it, going from just a football game and a halftime show to a bigger component, somewhat like the Super Bowl.

In 1989, Tennessee State played Murray State here in Memphis and they had less than 6,000 people at the Liberty Bowl. That same night, the Atlanta Hawks played an exhibition game at the Mid-South Coliseum and they had more people. We had to do something different, change everything about it. We had to give the game some consistency, let people know it was coming every year. Both schools wanted it here in Memphis. They just didn’t have the wherewithal to put the systems in place, create a destination. You had to put all these together. It had to become an entertainment event.

My vision wasn’t shared by very many people in Memphis. The person who helped me the most was the late Dave Swearingen, the marketing director at The Commercial Appeal. I scribbled down the idea and he told me that day, “Fred, if you pull this off, you’ll have the biggest event in town.” That was counter to what other people were saying.

What memories stand out from the inaugural game in 1990? [TSU won, 23-14, in front of 39,579.]
Events around the game are a lot bigger now. That first game, it started to rain 15 or 20 minutes before kickoff. But people were not deterred; no one left their seats. Everybody was determined to be a part of whatever this was about.

There were actually two games that didn’t feature Jackson State. Mississippi Valley State beat TSU in 1991 and Grambling beat TSU in 1993. What were the circumstances?
There were some internal issues with Jackson State at the time. It took me a while to get them to really believe this was a mutually beneficial situation. The game was in Tennessee, although in some circles Memphis is north Mississippi. Administrators had different ideas. The “visiting” team gets mentioned first [with the home team alternating each year]. There were some issues with that. Both schools’ colors are blue and white, but the blues are different shades.

We finally got it right, from 1994 on. People were ready to embrace what we were trying to do. They were never going to get the resources playing a home-and-home in Nashville and Jackson. Back then, the home team would get about $100,000 and the visiting team maybe $50,000. We started with just one sponsor: Coca-Cola. Now, both teams get $325,000. Bill Thomas and [Jackson State coach/AD] W.C. Gorden understood it. The schools have earned, collectively, more than $10 million from the Classic.

The 2001 game — scheduled for the Saturday after the attacks of 9/11 — was postponed to Thanksgiving weekend. That had to be among the most emotional weekends in this series.
That was a trying time for the world. I was going to do an interview at WDIA and I got a call and was asked if I heard about a plane going into the building. While I was talking to that person on the phone, the second plane hit a building. I was on the air when the plane hit the Pentagon. We cut the interview short.

Once the NFL decided they weren’t going to play, the SEC decided they wouldn’t play either. Thursday afternoon, we decided to postpone. The one thing I wanted to really do is find a way to play the game, to keep the continuity. On Friday, we had a conference call with the sponsors. Without the sponsors understanding, it would have been really bad. The Classic parade through Orange Mound was actually held [for the first time] that Thursday. I missed that parade.

We bought 50,000 miniature flags that we planned on having at the game. When we cancelled the game, we went out in the community, stood on corners, and handed out those flags. We just had to figure out what to do, what we were dealing with.

Is there a particular game (or player) that stands out in your memory?
I rarely actually watch the game. There’s always something, always a challenge [on game day]. One of the high points was in 1993, when Grambling came. The stars affiliated with these schools have always embraced the classic. Wilma Rudolph [Tennessee State] was in the fashion show. Doug Williams [a Grambling alum and the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl] was coaching high school the week of the Classic. He was in the hospital with [an injured] player on Friday, but he drove all night to be at the Classic. From that day on, he has said this is the best place for this game, the best event for black colleges. Doug and Too Tall Jones [a TSU alum] have been big advocates. They were stars and they told people this was something to be involved with.

TSU has won the last four games and 11 of the last 13. Has the series become too one-sided?
Look at the years before that. [Jackson State won six of nine from 1994 through 2002.] People on the Tennessee State side were saying they’d never win. Then Jackson State had a lot of coaching changes. I don’t get into who wins or loses. We just try and make sure everyone has what’s needed for a first-class presentation. At the end of the day, both schools benefit, the city benefits, the alumni benefit.

The event has turned into a full weekend, so much more than a football game. What are your favorite non-football components to the annual celebration?
By far, it’s the parade [now on Saturday]. I was a part of the band at Booker T. Washington High School. We’d march at the Cotton Makers’ Jubilee, down Beale Street. And that was a proud moment. We’d have to weave our way through the crowd. The Classic parade brings back fond memories.

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News The Fly-By

A Look at the News of the Week

Here’s a rundown of the stories that will likely prove to be the most talked-about this week. Some of the events mentioned below happened after Flyer press time.

City Council Says Goodbye, Hello

Tuesday’s meeting this week was the last for council members Jim Strickland, Wanda Halbert, Bill Boyd, Harold Collins, and Alan Crone.

New council members — Berlin Boyd, Frank Colvett Jr., Patrice Robinson, Jamita Swearengen, Martavius Jones, and Philip Spinosa Jr. — will start work in January.

Liberty Bowl Renovations

On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council was scheduled for a vote on a $4.8 million upgrade to the Liberty Bowl stadium that would add about 4,000 new, premium seats (seats with seat backs).

The city would essentially front the funds to the stadium and would be paid back within a year by the University of Memphis.

Midtown Market, Strickland, Schilling, Stewart, and the Liberty Bowl

Midtown Market Project

The council was also set to consider this week a plan to transform the corner of Union and McLean into an apartment complex, shops, and, perhaps, an “upscale grocery store.”

Belz Enterprises and Harbour Retail Partners want to build a $43.5 million project called “Midtown Market” on the now-blighted corner.

The project got $10.5 million in tax breaks from the Memphis Center City Revenue Finance Corp. earlier this year. Now, the developers want the city council to ask for $4 million in grant funds for the project from the federal government.

Darrius Stewart File

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation file on the Darrius Stewart case was released for public viewing on Tuesday.

Last week, Shelby County Chancellor James R. Newsom III ruled that the files should be open but stayed the order until December 15th to allow Memphis Police officer Connor Schilling, who shot and killed the unarmed Stewart on July 17th, time to file an appeal.

Schilling’s attorney had been fighting to keep the report closed to the public, citing a concern that he might be facing a federal indictment and opening the record would jeopardize his right to an impartial jury.

A quick glance at the file revealed multiple witness accounts stating that Schilling and Stewart were wrestling on the ground when Schilling shot Stewart a first time. Stewart was a shot a second time, in the back, as he attempted to flee, witnesses said.

Loflin Corner Key Shop Project

The Center City Development Corp. was scheduled to vote Wednesday to loan and grant $65,425 to a company looking to transform the Loflin Safe and Lock Co. building in the South End into a bar and restaurant.

The two-story building was most recently home to a horse stable. The building’s new owner cleaned up the site and hopes to make it into a neighborhood entertainment destination. The building’s first floor would have the bar and restaurant. The second floor would be residential.

Behind the building is a 10,000-square-foot lawn that would be used for horseshoes, ping-pong, cornhole, bocce ball, and croquet, according to the documents from Loflin LLC, the site’s new owner. A barn in the backyard would be used for weddings, corporate events, and private parties.

Strickland Transition Team

Mayor-elect Jim Strickland’s vision for the city was to become clearer Wednesday as his transition team was scheduled to present ideas to him in a public forum.

Strickland packed an agenda to fill the afternoon Wednesday at the University of Memphis. His team will give recommendations on city planning, crime, financial responsibility, accountability, minority business development, poverty, youth, and more.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 37, #13 Ole Miss 24

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

If it’s not the biggest win in Memphis Tiger history, it will lead the conversation for years to come. After falling behind by 14 points in the game’s first six minutes, the Tigers scored 31 unanswered points, held 13th-ranked Ole Miss scoreless in the fourth quarter, and completed the program’s 13th consecutive win. Now 6-0 on the season, the Tigers will surely enter the AP Top 25 as they stare at a second half of the season packed with American Athletic Conference foes.

“I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with this city, this community, and this program today,” said Memphis coach Justin Fuente after the game. “The 8:30 Tiger Walk this morning was unbelievable. We want to encourage them to keep coming, make this place a true home advantage.” The crowd of 60,241 was the seventh-largest to see a Tiger game at the Liberty Bowl. The upset was also witnessed by a national TV audience, courtesy of ABC’s cameras.

Larry Kuzniewski

Paxton Lynch delivers.

“[Ole Miss] is really talented,” said Fuente. “You could see that on the field. But our kids clawed, fought, and scratched, and found a way to win the game.” The win is just the Tigers’ third (in 29 games) against an SEC opponent since the monumental upset of Tennessee in 1996 (the last time Memphis beat a nationally ranked opponent). The Rebels beat second-ranked Alabama four weeks ago, but now find themselves 5-2 on the season.

Tiger quarterback Paxton Lynch likely climbed some NFL draft boards by completing 39 of 53 passes for 384 yards and three touchdowns, one thrown with surgical precision over 31 yards to Mose Frazier, extending the Tiger lead to 31-14 early in the third quarter. Lynch threw his first interception of the season in the second quarter, a pass deflected by Tiger wideout Jae’lon Oglesby. He now has thrown 13 touchdown passes.

Ole Miss All-America Robert Nkemdiche – a defensive tackle – was lost for the game carrying the ball on a third-and-one play early in the second quarter. He suffered a concussion on the play. “Every time he goes in on offense, they give him the ball,” said Tiger linebacker Jackson Dillon. “So we just swarmed him.”

Ole Miss opened the scoring with a trick play just 20 seconds into the game. Rebel receiver Laquon Treadwell took a lateral pass from Chad Kelly, then tossed a lob to Quincy Adeboyejo who pranced down the right sideline for a 68-yard touchdown.

“I thought it was a great call for them,” said Fuente, “knowing how excited we were to play. We over-committed and they hit us. We didn’t make a tremendous amount of adjustments. We were able to put some pressure on the quarterback, keep the ball in front of us.” The Tiger defense came up with two fourth-down stops, one at the Rebel 34-yard line late in the second quarter that ultimately led to a six-yard scoring strike from Lynch to sophomore Anthony Miller. For the game, Miller caught 10 passes for 132 yards.

Ole Miss marched 68 yards in just over a minute of playing time and pulled within ten points (31-21) on a touchdown pass from Kelly to Treadwell midway through the third quarter. A 24-yard field goal by Gary Wunderlich with 16 seconds to play in the period brought the Rebels within a touchdown of the lead. But the Tigers chewed up much of the clock in the final period behind the running of Jarvis Cooper (76 yards on 17 carries), extending their lead with a pair of field goals by Jake Elliott, who moved into fifth place on the Memphis career-scoring chart (256 points).
Larry Kuzniewski

Drew Kyser clears a path for Jarvis Cooper.

Alan Cross caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Lynch to open the Memphis scoring in the first quarter, breaking the Tiger career record for scores by a tight end (13). Cross was effusive in his praise of Lynch after the big win. “He’s come a long way,” said Cross. “I’ve seen him go from a young man to a man in just the snap of a finger. Today he kept his composure, made some good reads, made some good slide protections. He’s a good leader.”

The Tigers outgained the Rebels, 491 yards to 480, and held Ole Miss to 40 rushing yards on 24 carries. Sophomore safety Chris Morley led Memphis with seven unassisted tackles, one of them in the Rebel backfield.

Noted Fuente, “I think there was a point in the first quarter when the guys were like, ‘Yeah, maybe Coach hasn’t been lying to us. Maybe we can do this.’ My message has been you don’t have to be better than you are. You don’t have to be somebody you’re not. Your best you is what we need. We need you to prepare, we need you to play well. They settled down and made some plays.”

When asked about the remarkable progress the Memphis program has made in less than four years on his watch, Fuente deflected the spotlight as best he can. “If you think there have been distractions before, wait till now,” he said. “I’m going to continue to try and protect them, but I know the attention will come. I appreciate [the magnitude of today’s win], and I don’t want to diminish that. I respect that. But it cannot be our focus. We are in the middle of a season. I’m going to relish it for a few hours with my family, but then we have to turn the page.”

On the next page will be a Friday-night tilt at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane lost at East Carolina today to fall to 3-3 on the season. The Tigers will return to the Liberty Bowl on Halloween when Tulane comes to town.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Tennessee: Planet Football

CREDIT: Frank Murtaugh

Frank Murtaugh

Football is alive and well in the state of Tennessee. As though this needed verification, I gave myself to America’s favorite spectator sport last week, soaking up the experience at three distinct levels — high school, college, and the NFL — in four days. Following are the lingering impressions, the sounds of whistles and colliding shoulder pads still echoing in my ears.

• Last Thursday, along with more than 45,000 fans (almost all of them wearing blue), I watched from the Liberty Bowl press box as the Memphis Tigers won a game that may prove to be the most significant in the program’s history. Surely you know the details by now: Memphis 53, Cincinnati 46. Eleven lead changes, 12 touchdowns, more than 1,300 yards of combined offense from the teams picked to win their divisions of the American Athletic Conference. All in front of a national TV audience thanks to 12 ESPN cameras.

Frank Murtaugh

The most significant win in Tiger history? If the University of Memphis aspires to be a member in one of college football’s Power Five leagues, it must develop a national impression as a “football school.” Define this however you will, it’s a far cry from any impression the U of M has made on the country . . . until Thursday night. The Tigers are 4-0 and have won a school-record 11 consecutive games. Should they beat USF this Friday (and they’ll be favored), they’ll host mighty Ole Miss on October 17th in what could be a battle of undefeated Mid-South teams, each eyeing a New Year’s Six bowl game. It just keeps getting better under fourth-year coach Justin Fuente (now 21-20 on the Tiger sideline). Memphis a football school? We’re getting there.

• Friday night, I went to the Fairgrounds to take in the White Station-Bartlett game. (Disclosure: My daughter is a junior outfielder for the Spartan softball team. I had rooting interest.) There’s a corny charm about high school football under the lights, even in a city the size of Memphis. Fans (read: families) of one team sit on one side of the field, fans of the opponent occupying bleachers on the other side. Cheerleaders do their thing in front of the student section, right next to the school band, every member counting the minutes till halftime and their turn in the spotlight. The p.a. announcer takes time to inform the crowd a car in the parking lot has its lights on.

As for the football, it’s charmingly small. Many linemen barely clear 200 pounds. The kicking games are a shallow imitation of what you see in college stadiums. (Every punt is in danger of being blocked, and a 35-yard field-goal attempt is a stretch.) There are no names on the back of uniforms. (“Number 9 for the Panthers is shifty once he gets through the line of scrimmage.”) A week after scoring six touchdowns, Spartan star receiver Dillon Mitchell didn’t play, apparently nursing a minor injury suffered in practice. (Another charm: No one seemed to know exactly why the star player was sidelined.) White Station won, 17-0, to improve to 4-2 on the season. As the crowd left around 9:30 (12-minute quarters are glorious), the win seemed to mean everything. Come Saturday, life’s distractions would return.

• I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan, and did not attend a single “Tennessee Oilers” game during the one-season layover (1997) the NFL had in Memphis. My interest in the Tennessee Titans over the years has been that of a native and resident of the state, and little more. Sunday’s tilt with Indianapolis at Nissan Stadium in Nashville was my first NFL game since a trip to Dallas in 2007. (This completed a bucket-list achievement of sorts for me, as this is the first calendar year I’ve attended games in the NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL.) And the experience left me with two distinct impressions.

First of all, the women. If the crowd — more than 65,000 — wasn’t half female, at least 40 percent of the fans at Nissan stadium were missing a Y chromosome. (One of them was new Nashville mayor Megan Barry, sworn in just two days earlier.) For a sport overstuffed with testosterone and traumatic injuries, there is a tremendous segment of “the fairer sex” passionately devoted to the enterprise. Sitting right next to me was a woman at least 50 years old . . . and her mother. Not a man in the mix. I find this compelling because of all we here about dads and particularly moms unwilling to subject their sons to football’s violence. If so, these moms seem perfectly willing to cheer on someone else’s son.

Then there were the video boards. Behind each end zone at Nissan Stadium is what amounts to a television that runs the entire width of the field. The screens are so big, and the images so clear, that it felt at times like the watch party of the century . . . just with 22 men down on the field occupying themselves with something or other. Football, we know, is made for television. Even at NFL stadiums on Sunday.

The game? It was memorable. Making his home debut, Tennessee’s rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota led the Titans to 27 unanswered points after the Colts took an early 14-0 lead. But the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner tossed a fourth-quarter interception that allowed Andrew Luck and friends to retake the lead. Mariota led another comeback, but rookie fullback Jalston Fowler was stuffed on a two-point conversion attempt with 47 seconds left, giving Indianapolis a 35-33 win.

I’m told there was something called a Blood Moon Sunday night. It must have been in the shape of a football.

Categories
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.”