Tag: Navy

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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.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Tiger Football

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

There was a time, not that long ago, when attendance at a Memphis Tiger football game could have been counted with a pair of binoculars and a tally sheet. Thankfully, tabulating a Liberty Bowl crowd is a bigger challenge today, third-year coach Mike Norvell’s team having grown into one of the most prolific scoring clubs in the country.
Larry Kuzniewski

But something was amiss at last Saturday’s season opener. Announced attendance was 33,697 which would mean a stadium with a capacity of 58,318 was 57 percent full. The crowd was larger than that, and by more than a tally sheet or two. At least 40,000 human beings were in the stands when Tony Pollard set up to receive the season’s opening kickoff. (Here’s a tip: Look at the back corners of each end zone. Let your eyes draw a line from those points to the edge of the stadium. If fans fill those seats, the crowd is larger than 40,000.) The counting glitch is pleasantly ironic, as the University of Memphis has had its problems of late — particularly on basketball nights at FedExForum — with inflated attendance numbers. Last weekend, you had a sizable crowd on hand to see an FCS visitor get turned inside out by halftime. It felt like the welcome-back party a Top 25 team deserves. So don’t believe that announced number. And expect attendance to grow as the temperature drops, conference foes come to town, and a star-studded Tiger team tries to, once again, attract Top 25 votes.

• An FCS blowout is an analyst’s worst nightmare. What are we to take from the Tigers’ evisceration of Mercer? What a fearsome Tiger defense (174 yards allowed)!
What a diverse Tiger offense (eight offensive touchdowns scored by six different players)! Tom Brady plus Danny White equals Brady White (358 yards and five touchdowns in a single half)!

Throw all the highlights out as this Saturday’s Navy game approaches. Mercer looked like a team that will be gazing up at the rest of the Southern Conference come November. The Tigers played three quarterbacks, and not one of them hit the turf via sack. Conversely, the Tiger defense manhandled the Mercer offensive line, sacking the two Bear quarterbacks a combined four times and allowing merely 2.5 yards per carry when Mercer ran the ball. College football isn’t this easy, not at the American Athletic Conference level. I wonder how Norvell and his staff even utilize the game film to teach Tiger players for games to come. (“See how Calvin Austin ran around and past every last Bear defender on that 83-yard run? Do that, fellas. As often as you can.”) It’s great that Memphis is no longer on the wrong end of 66-14 blowouts. But if game film is nourishment for a football team, last Saturday’s opener is the equivalent of cotton candy. The pink kind.

• Navy’s triple-option attack is vexing. (Stick to your man, boys. Stray toward the ball and you’re doomed.) But the Midshipmen are giving as much as they’re taking if you count the 59 points Hawaii put up in their season-opening loss on the islands last weekend. Navy gained 326 yards on the ground . . . but allowed 436 through the air. (Cole McDonald completed 30 of 41 passes and tossed six touchdowns for the Rainbow Warriors.) The Tigers squeaked by Navy last season (30-27), a critical win on their way to the AAC West Division title. Can Memphis capture a win on just its second visit to Annapolis?

It may have been just one half, and he may have been carving up FCS fodder, but I’m a believer in Brady White. By some measures, he’s a rookie quarterback. By others, he’s starting his fourth season in and around FBS football. He looked poised both in the pocket and at the podium after Saturday’s win. California cool, you might say. (White hails from Newhall in the Golden State.) I don’t see him getting rattled at Navy, particularly if he watches and absorbs McDonald’s performance against the Midshipmen. Twice during last weekend’s press conference, White emphasized his duty to get the ball in the hands of the “studs” who make plays in blue and gray. With proper decision-making from White, the Tigers should still be undefeated this time next week.