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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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News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1407

Cover Boy

University of Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch has announced he wouldn’t be returning for his final year of eligibility with the Memphis Tigers. Sports analysts have tapped Paxton as a likely first-round pick in this April’s NFL draft. His position near the top of mock drafts has resulted in a flurry of national media attention and this picture in The Commercial Appeal.

Verbatim

Jonathan Lee Riches, a.k.a. Jihadi Schitz, filed a handwritten lawsuit this week claiming rights to half of the Powerball jackpot won by the Robinson family of Munford.

“I am the actual true winner of the Powerball jackpot,” Riches wrote. “For the last 2 1/2 years, while I was incarcerated, I was pen pals with Tiffany Robertson. She was a fan of mine and a Facebook follower, and she wrote me dirty letters, which I have as evidence, and she said she wanted to marry me when I get out of prison. Tiffany told me that no one on this Earth treats her better than me, and then I sent her $20 from my prison trust fund account and told her to use the money for Powerball tickets, because if we win, we will leave America and live on a remote island full of milk and honey. And I told Tiffany to give my money to her parents Lisa and John Robinson to buy Powerball tickets because they couldn’t afford to buy. And they promised me if they won any Powerball, I am entitled to half the winnings.”

Riches is a recidivist criminal whose hobbies include getting arrested and filing frivolous lawsuits against famous people like Kim Kardashian, who allegedly took his virginity.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Birmingham Bowl: Auburn 31, Memphis 10

A Memphis season that began with a record-setting eight-game winning streak and rise to a ranking of 15th in the country came to a close with a thud this afternoon at Legion Field in Birmingham. Jeremy Johnson relieved an ineffective Sean White at quarterback for Auburn and tossed the go-ahead touchdown pass to Jason Smith with 3:12 to play in the third quarter. Johnson carried the ball himself for a five-yard score on Auburn’s next possession to put the game out of reach on a day the Memphis offense had no fuel.

Auburn essentially doubled the U of M’s output, gaining 403 yards to the blue-clad Tigers’ 203. Jovon Robinson rushed for 122 yards to lead the winners’ attack.

Auburn completes the season with a record of 7-6, while Memphis ends with a mark of 9-4. The U of M has not beaten an SEC team besides Ole Miss since upsetting Tennessee in 1996. The Memphis loss drops the American Athletic Conference to 1-6 in bowl play this month. (Houston will play Florida State Friday in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.)

Offensive coordinator Darrell Dickey fulfilled his one-game duty as interim coach while the U of M’s newly hired Mike Norvell watched from the coaches box. (Norvell was hired on December 4th to succeed Justin Fuente, who departed for Virginia Tech.) There was some question about how Memphis would perform without Fuente on the sideline, but no question about the team’s chances should junior quarterback Paxton Lynch not play to the standards that have him projected by many as a first-round pick in next April’s NFL draft. Lynch was unable to solve the Auburn defense, completing only 16 of 37 passes (106 yards) and tossing an interception in the end zone on the U of M’s opening drive of the second half, when the score was knotted at 10.

The highlight of the game for Memphis was an interception returned 52 yards for a touchdown by free safety Reggis Ball to tie the score in the second quarter. The play — Ball’s second interception of the game — occurred shortly after second-team All-America kicker Jake Elliott had a field-goal attempt blocked. Elliott connected on a 53-yarder earlier in the game, tying the Memphis record for field goals in a season with 23.

The loss puts a bow on the four-year Fuente era, with 19 wins over the last two seasons the highest two-year total in the history of the program. Lynch has likely played his last college game, as have the likes of Ball, tight end Alan Cross, receiver Mose Frazier, and linebacker Leonard Pegues. Norvell will be tasked with a new challenge for the Memphis football program: living up to the standard of his predecessor.

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Sports Tiger Blue

ThreeThoughts on Tiger Football

• Navy ruined our chance to see a battle of unbeaten Top-20 teams this Saturday in Houston. Even so, the Memphis-Houston game is the biggest clash in the three-year history of the American Athletic Conference. It will be the first time a pair of AAC teams ranked in the Top 25 face each other on the gridiron. It will also be a showdown between the top two offensive players in the league (at least as measured by total offense). The 25th-ranked Tigers are led by quarterback Paxton Lynch (356.2 total yards per game) while the 16th-ranked Cougars have Greg Ward Jr. under center (327.2). Ward has a decent chance to finish the season with 3,000 yards passing (he currently has 2,116) and 1,000 yards rushing (829), meaning Saturday’s game could weigh heavily in the AAC Offensive Player of the Year race. Two ranked teams — combined record of 17-1 — playing in cities that each have NBA teams in the Southwest Division, led by star quarterbacks and two of college football’s hottest coaching commodities (the Tigers’ Justin Fuente and the Cougars’ Tom Herman). This is about as good as November football gets.

• The late, great Dennis Freehand had an opinion about the start of college basketball season, as it relates to college football. The former Flyer editor felt the two enterprises damage one another by overlapping in November. Why not start the college hoops season after college football’s regular season is complete? Come Saturday night, there will be a lot of Tiger fans — those devoted to football and men’s basketball, at least — who will agree with my longtime colleague’s sentiment. With the nationally televised Memphis-Houston game kicking off at 6 p.m. and the Tigers and Southern Miss tipping off the 2015-16 basketball season at 7 p.m., there will be empty seats at FedExForum that would otherwise have been occupied. (My duties as a reporter will have me at FEF for the basketball game, though I will miss some action with glances for updates from Houston.) This will be the first time since 2003 that the Tiger basketball team’s home opener coincides with a Tiger football game. Twelve years ago, the football team beat Cincinnati at the Liberty Bowl to improve to 8-3 while the basketball bunch beat Fordham by 30 points.

• The Tigers are making significant renovations to the football record book. Last week against Navy, the Tigers became the third team in program history to score 400 points in a season (last year’s team was the second). With his first-quarter touchdown strike to Anthony Miller, Paxton Lynch became the second Memphis quarterback to throw 50 career touchdown passes (Danny Wimprine threw for 81 over his four seasons with the U of M). This Saturday in Houston, another pair of significant marks could be met. Lynch will break the single-season passing yardage record (3,220 by Martin Hankins in 2007) with 207 yards against Houston. And if he scores 11 points, kicker Jake Elliott will become the third Tiger to score 300 career points (after Stephen Gostkowski and DeAngelo Williams).

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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.

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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

Tigers 44, Bowling Green 41

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

In a game that saw two teams combine for 85 points and 1,124 yards of offense, the Memphis Tigers scored last — on a 29-yard field goal by Jake Elliott — to secure the program’s first 3-0 start in 11 years and the first 10-game winning streak (dating back to the 2014 season) in more than 50. Junior quarterback Paxton Lynch completed 29 of 40 passes for 386 yards and three touchdowns (and no interceptions). Lynch’s heroics were just enough to offset those of his Bowling Green counterpart, Matt Johnson, who completed 28 of 44 attempts for 447 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to Roger Lewis who hauled in a total of seven passes for 261 yards.

The Tigers have now scored at least 40 points in five straight games, a first for the program.

Larry Kuzniewski

Paxton Lynch

Lewis caught the first of his three lengthy touchdown passes with just 1:16 expired in the first quarter, setting the tone for an afternoon in Ohio that left two defenses winded and weary. A Lynch pass to reserve tight end Daniel Montiel gave the Tigers a 17-14 lead with 9:40 to play in the second quarter, but Johnson scored seven minutes later to regain the lead for Bowling Green. The Falcons would not trail again until Elliott’s game-winning kick.

Memphis tied the game three times after halftime, trading touchdown drives with the Falcons. Sam Craft ran for a three-yard score with 5:15 left in the third (after a 32-yard completion from Lynch to Tevin Jones on fourth down) to even things at 27. After Lewis countered with a 94-yard touchdown reception, Craft took a midrange pass from Lynch and ran 60 yards to again tie the game (34-34). Early in the fourth quarter, Lewis caught a 62-yard strike from Johnson to give Bowling Green a 41-34 lead, which merely set up the play of the game.

With just under 12 minutes left on the clock and the ball at the Falcon 48-yard line, Tiger coach Justin Fuente called a double-reverse flea-flicker — a play in which four players touch the ball, one of them twice — and Lynch found Jones across the middle for the Tigers’ fifth touchdown of the day.

Amid all the offensive fireworks, the game was actually decided by the Memphis defense, which held the Falcons scoreless on their final three possessions of the game. Junior cornerback Arthur Maulet deflected one final heave from Johnson toward Lewis to clinch the victory with just over a minute left to play.

Doroland Dorceus led the Memphis ground attack with 75 yards on 16 carries (and a touchdown). Jones compiled 98 yards on his three receptions while Mose Frazier caught seven passes for 66 yards.

The last 10-game winning streak for the Memphis program began with Dwight D. Eisenhower in the White House (in 1960) and ended with John F. Kennedy in the oval office a year later. The Tigers will have a chance to extend the country’s third-longest winning streak next Thursday when Cincinnati comes to town for the U of M’s first American Athletic Conference clash of the season. The Bearcats improved to 2-1 Saturday with a 37-33 win at Miami-Ohio.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 55, Kansas 23

Say what you will about the quality of their first two opponents, but the Memphis Tigers are off to a drought-ending, history-making start to the 2015 football season. By thoroughly beating Kansas tonight in Lawrence, the Tigers earned their first win over a team from one of college football’s “Power Five” conferences since beating Ole Miss in 2004. Their combined point total — after scoring 63 last week against Missouri State — marks the first time since the program was founded (1912) that Memphis has exceeded 100 points in its first two games of a season. (The 2010 Tigers scored 173 points in 12 games.) Perhaps best of all, the Tigers find themselves 2-0 for the first time since winning their first three games of the 2004 campaign.

Memphis fell behind early, 10-0, Kansas taking advantage of a Sam Craft fumble at the Tiger 10-yard-line (converting a field goal), then driving 73 yards in just 1:25 before tailback Ke’aun Kinner reached paydirt. But Craft scored on a one-yard run of his own with 6:26 to play in the first quarter and Jake Elliott connected on a 27-yard field goal to tie things with 2:28 left in the period. The Tigers took control with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns scored by Doroland Dorceus (his third of the season) and Tevin Jones.

Junior quarterback Paxton Lynch was close to flawless, completing 22 of 25 passes for a career-high 354 yards and two touchdowns. Senior wideout Mose Frazier caught four passes for 77 yards while also rushing for 64 yards, 50 of them coming on an end-around he took to the end zone early in the third quarter. Jamarius Henderson led the Tigers on the ground with 77 yards on 11 carries. Overall, the Tigers piled up 651 yards to 359 for the Jayhawks.

The Tigers travel to Bowling Green next week. The Falcons enjoyed their own road blowout today, winning 48-27 at Maryland after losing their season-opener at Tennessee.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 63, Missouri State 7

College football is all about culture. And part of that culture is the haves beating the snot out of the have-nots to start their season. For a second straight season, the Memphis Tigers put 63 points on the board at the Liberty Bowl against a hapless FCS team. Missouri State, alas, managed to score a touchdown, whereas Austin Peay was shut out a year ago. By one measure, then, the University of Memphis football program — culturally speaking — has arrived.

The victory extends the program’s winning streak (dating back to last October) to eight games. The significance of such a streak for Memphis? It’s safe to say a good portion of tonight’s crowd at the Liberty Bowl (41,730) was not alive the last time the Tigers won so many games in a row. The last eight-game roll the Tigers enjoyed began with John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the White House and ended with Lyndon Baines Johnson in the oval office. Home games were then played at Crump Stadium, the Liberty Bowl having not yet been constructed. This is new territory for the U of M, though you’d hardly know it listening to coach Justin Fuente’s initial postgame remarks.

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  • Amanda Swain

“I’m glad we were able to send everybody home happy,” said Fuente. “From a first-game perspective, some good and some bad. We’ve got to get a lot better in order to be the type of team we’d like to be. There’s a bunch of things that happened out there that I’m happy about, and a bunch of things that I’m not pleased about. I don’t feel we played as well with our twos as we should have. We weren’t as efficient and crisp on both sides of the ball with our twos.”

When the worst complaint a Memphis football coach offers is the lagging play of his reserves, yes, new territory has been reached.

The Tigers scored four touchdowns in the game’s first 11 minutes, capitalizing twice on short fields after recovering Bear fumbles. Junior quarterback Paxton Lynch connected with Mose Frazier in the back of the end zone for a five-yard score just 1:53 into the game. Not quite three minutes later, Frazier caught a 44-yard touchdown pass, this time from fellow wideout Phil Mayhue on a reverse option. The game’s most heart-warming touchdown came with 8:26 to play in the first quarter when sophomore Doroland Dorceus — having missed most of the 2014 season with a knee injury — rumbled in from two yards, the first of two scores he had in the game.

“I felt stronger and faster,” said Dorceus. “I had confidence in my knee; I was ready for [the game].” When asked about maintaining focus when the score is lopsided early, Dorceus insisted his team stuck to business. “We came out after halftime [when the score was 42-0] acting like the score was 0-0. We just keep going. I’m excited about all the running backs, as long as we keep going 1 and 0.” Jarvis Cooper led the Tiger ground game with 102 yards rushing and was one of three Memphis players (along with Frazier and Dorceus) to score two touchdowns.

Lynch was relieved of duty late in the first half, and finished with 78 yards passing, completing eight of 12 attempts. Redshirt-freshman Clay Holgorsen took over and completed seven of eight passes for 80 yards and a touchdown (to Jae’Lon Oglesby).

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  • Amanda Swain

Twenty-six Tiger players were credited with at least an assisted tackle on defense, with no one picking up more than three. Fuente’s ire was drawn early in the third quarter when Tiger lineman Ricky Hunter was flagged — and ejected from the game — for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Bears quarterback Breck Ruddick, a violation that helped Missouri State to its only touchdown of the game.

The Tigers’ longest score came on a 63-yard punt return by sophomore Roderick Proctor, the program’s first such touchdown since the 2004 season. “We’ve put in too much work,” said Proctor, “not to have another great season.”

The Tigers travel to Lawrence, Kansas, next week and will try and improve to 2-0 for the first time since, yes, the 2004 season. (The Jayhawks of the Big 12 lost to South Dakota State — an FCS program — earlier on Saturday.) “Leading up to the first game, you have a lot of time to prepare, scheme-wise,” said Fuente. “Then all of a sudden you’ve got just a week [to prepare for Kansas]. How we handle that, across the board, will be interesting. There are some young guys out there, or at least some new guys. We have to find accountability and consistency. I know they were anxious to play. I just don’t know how smart they played.”

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Cover Feature News

Tiger Football Preview: Encore?

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Taking into account the program’s rocky history, a summary of the Memphis Tigers’ 2014 football season reads like the overexcited birthday wishes of a 6-year-old fan who doesn’t know better.

• Ten wins. (Happened once before in Tiger history.)

• A conference championship. (Last happened in 1971, a year the Tigers finished 5-6.)

• A bowl victory. (Four of these prior to 2014, the last one in 2005.)

• And the capper: a Top-25 ranking — the kind of wish that, in these parts, elicits a pat on the head and a patronizing, “I wish that, too.”

It all happened. In just the third season under coach Justin Fuente, the U of M went 10-3, shared the American Athletic Conference (AAC) title with Cincinnati and UCF, beat BYU (in overtime!) to win the Miami Beach Bowl, and secured the final slot in the year-end Associated Press Top 25 poll. Our proverbial birthday boy didn’t merely blow his candles out. He blew the cake to smithereens.

The 2014 season looks nice on a wall or record book, but here we are at the dawn of the 2015 campaign, year four of what we can now — without irony — call the Justin Fuente Era in Memphis. How does a program follow up on a season unlike any other in its history? What kind of motivating tools will a coaching staff use to, somehow, improve on a season no Memphis football fan will ever forget?

“We’ve got to focus on ourselves,” Fuente emphasizes. “I like our kids. I like the way they’ve worked. But we’re not as mature a team as we were a year ago. We have a younger group. I like them, and I think they have a chance to play well. It’s a delicate balance. They can’t worry about the group that came in front of them, but they have to remember how those guys went about their business and emulate them the best they can while still being themselves. As coaches, we can’t beat them over the head with the guys who came before them but hold [the departed players] up as examples to follow in their own way. We’ll have a great challenge this year.”

The Tiger defense — eight senior starters in particular — became the backbone of the 2014 team. Cornerback Bobby McCain and defensive end Martin Ifedi (each drafted by NFL teams last spring) had distinct memories of the 2-10 season they endured as freshmen, before Fuente arrived. The year-round leadership they brought the program cannot be cut-and-pasted, nor can the impact of another departed senior, linebacker Tank Jakes, the AAC’s 2014 Defensive Player of the Year. But Fuente is convinced the players groomed to succeed such stars are capable of big things this fall under new coordinator Galen Scott. (Barry Odom took the same job at Missouri.)

“It’s possible to build on the tradition we’ve established,” Fuente says. “We’re not ready yet, from an accountability standpoint. Can we do things the right way, time after time, on that side of the ball with guys who haven’t done it yet? Can we get these younger guys to that discipline level? As far as guys who can run, play, tackle … you watch that part of it, and you get pretty optimistic.”

No Memphis defensive player earned so much as second-team all-conference recognition in the AAC’s preseason poll. Dawg linebacker Jackson Dillon (a junior) was a third-team selection, based on his 43 tackles (nine for lost yardage) in 2014, the most of any returning Tiger. Sophomore end Ernest Suttles will aim to fill some of the void left by Ifedi, and senior Leonard Pegues moves into the middle-linebacker position vacated by Jakes. With six starts last season, senior Wynton McManis will bring some experience to the linebacker position.

“[Sophomores] Shareef White and Genard Avery are two young linebackers that I think have a chance to help this team,” Fuente says. “When you play a 3-4 and you’re moving guys in and out, you need quite a bit of depth there. Dillon has a presence; he looks better than he’s ever looked. He gained weight and is running better than he’s ever run. It will be interesting to see how all those pieces fit together. It’s up to us as coaches to tweak our scheme to what fits those strengths. What can [linebacker] Noah Robinson do? What can our corners and safeties handle? Playing to those strengths may be different from what we’ve done in recent years.”

Fuente believes in playing a 50 defense, a setup similar to a 3-4, but with an emphasis on stopping the running game (five men crowding the line of scrimmage). The philosophy has meant recruiting speed first, with an emphasis on length at certain positions, particularly the boundary linebackers and defensive ends. “We haven’t been incredibly fast,” Fuente says. “When [opponents] get behind us, we haven’t been able to catch them. I hope we can continue to run better as we continue to recruit.”

The Tiger offense will have more familiar faces than the defense, with eight starters back, including record-setting junior quarterback Paxton Lynch. Senior tight end Alan Cross (from Millington High School) was named preseason first-team All-AAC, and senior tackle Taylor Fallin made the second team. Mose Frazier (47 receptions in 2014), Tevin Jones (33), and Roderick Proctor (27) are part of a deep receiving corps. And while last year’s starter at tailback, Brandon Hayes, has graduated, the Tigers appear to have depth in the backfield. Considering last year’s team set a program record by scoring 471 points (36.2 per game), these veterans offer a comfort level not felt by the local fan base since DeAngelo Williams was in uniform a decade ago.

“I still don’t see a star [on offense],” Fuente says. He means this to be the unit’s best and most important compliment. “I see a guy who drives the bus, but I still don’t see a star. They have to continue to realize that. They had a taste of success last year for the first time, and they have to maintain the hunger. They know what it’s like to not play well. Don’t worry about who’s on the billboards.”

Most followers of the program would make the case for Lynch, actually, as the team’s star. As a third-year sophomore in 2014, Lynch passed for 3,031 yards (third-highest single-season total in Memphis history) and accounted for a school-record 35 touchdowns (22 passing, 13 rushing). He went six straight games last season without tossing an interception before throwing three in the Miami Beach Bowl (where he threw four touchdown passes and ran for three more scores). A mobile quarterback who stands 6′ 7″ will have NFL scouts gawking, whether or not the player has a star above his locker.

“There’s nobody I’ve ever coached that’s like him,” Fuente says. “I’ve never been around a guy who was so underdeveloped, but had so much upside. It wasn’t that [Lynch] wasn’t intelligent [when he arrived in Memphis], but some of the stuff he’d never seen before. If he continues to work hard, he’ll have the opportunity to be very, very good. I’d like him to be a little bigger, a little stronger.” (Lynch was up to 246 pounds in mid-summer.)

The quarterback relishes his 2014 season, particularly the bowl win, but has charted areas to improve this fall. “I can always improve my accuracy,” Lynch says. “Getting faster, working on my stride, getting in the film room.” As for the added bulk, Lynch emphasizes the durability he feels the extra muscle will provide. “Whenever you have a bigger quarterback, you’re able to take more hits in the pocket, and it’s harder for you to go down,” he says. “And when you run the ball, it’s a lot more bruising on defensive players.” Lynch is more excited at the prospect of “bruising” tacklers than his teammates or coaches, but his 321 yards on the ground last fall suggest Lynch’s legs will be supplemental weapons to his right arm. “I’ve always looked up to dual-threat quarterbacks,” Lynch says. “When things break down [in the pocket], they can turn a negative play into a positive play. I feel I can do anything [expected of a] dual-threat quarterback.”

Lynch will have an abundance of targets for his passes this fall, a reminder that resistance to the spotlight will be especially healthy when it comes to the Memphis receiving unit. Nine Tigers caught at least 15 passes last season, but no one caught more than Frazier’s 47. “Mose and Alan are tough, hard-nosed football players who have been leaders for us,” Fuente says. “Phil Mayhue and Proctor are sophomores who had really good summers; role players last year, but with bright futures.”

A new force downfield for the Tigers could be Anthony Miller, yet another sophomore who missed last season with an injury. Fuente describes the former Christian Brothers High School receiver as “different from anyone else we have.”

Larry Kuzniewski

Paxton Lynch passed for 22 touchdowns and ran for 13 more in 2014.

“Every receiver we have is unique in the skill sets he has,” says Lynch. “This corps is the best we’ve ever had. We’ve been pushing each other. The younger guys who’ve been watching the last few years have got to grow up. But our older guys — Jones, Frazier, Cross — do a great job of leading the group. Mose is basically out there [on the practice field] like a coach.”

If the Tiger running game can reflect the passing attack — depth over star quality — that season scoring record could be threatened. The versatile Sam Craft (Olive Branch High) returns and will be complemented by sophomores Jarvis Cooper and Doroland Dorceus. The latter ran for 86 yards on 13 carries against UCLA last year before missing the season’s final nine games with a right-knee injury.

Fuente and his offensive coordinators (Darrell Dickey and Brad Cornelsen) must determine when and how best to utilize their talented trio of tailbacks beyond a simple platoon system for an even distribution of carries. “Sam can provide some things from a mismatch standpoint, and motioning out from the backfield,” Fuente says. “Jarvis is a bigger player, and stands to make the most strides playing without the ball. If he can be a dependable blocker, he adds value to the team. Doroland is the best runner with the football that we have. The key for him is staying healthy.”

“We’re all excited to see Doroland come back,” Lynch adds. “He’s been working harder than I’ve ever seen him work, and he’s also put on weight.”

Running the ball will set up the pass for this team (not vice versa), so success will be rooted in an offensive line that welcomes back four starters: Fallin at tackle, Tyler Uselton and Michael Stannard at guard, and Gabe Kuhn at center. The Tigers averaged 190.5 yards per game last season and, if healthy, could top 200 yards per game on the ground for the first time since Williams’ senior season of 2005. “We’re getting more athletic and stronger [on the line],” Fuente says. “It’s such a developmental position. It takes time to develop those guys.”

Lynch describes his blockers as a “mix” of personalities who have blended nicely into a cohesive, familiar unit. “Gabe is laid back,” Lynch says, “but he gets the job done, whatever he needs to do. Fallin is messing around, but whenever it’s time to work, they lock it in and get the job done. They’re ready to protect me, and I’m ready to make them look good.”

Larry Kuzniewski

Versatile junior Sam Craft (right) will be among the primary threats for the Tiger offense.

Fuente and his staff sit down before every season and rank the team’s skill players, a method for shaping the Tiger offensive attack, while also identifying holes that may need filling. Before the 2014 season, the top three players on the list were Dorceus, Craft, and Miller. All three missed significant time to injury last year. Yet the Tigers marched along to an historic season. Fuente likes to call this “competent depth.”

One more significant returnee is junior placekicker Jake Elliott, the 2014 AAC Special Teams Player of the Year. Elliott connected on 21 of 32 field-goal attempts last season (including a 54-yarder in overtime of the Miami Beach Bowl) and set a single-season Tiger record for kickers with 120 points. Elliott and punters Spencer Smith and Nick Jacobs (34 combined punts dropped inside the opponent’s 20-yard-line last fall) give the Tigers three impact players on fourth down. “We emphasize it,” Fuente says. “We’ve got to have more offensive players on special teams. It can’t just fall to our defensive guys. Guys are going to go down. We need depth.”

As for Elliott, Fuente sees his success on the field as a direct product of his work ethic between games. “Jake has always been prepared,” Fuente says. “If he makes it or misses it, it’s never been an issue of not being ready. When you watch him work out, you understand. He’s a really good athlete. He can run with our skill group.”

The Tiger schedule will be highlighted by home games against Cincinnati (a Thursday-night affair) and Navy (the first time the programs have ever met). But the hardest ticket to land will be for the Ole Miss game October 17th at the Liberty Bowl, the first visit to Memphis by an SEC team since 2011. The U of M, it should be noted, has lost 26 of 28 games against SEC competition since beating Tennessee in 1996.

“I don’t care if they’re from the Southeastern Conference, the Big Ten, or the Big 12,” says Fuente. “I’m all for playing one of those games a year. It doesn’t concern me whether it’s an SEC team. We don’t want to make a habit of playing multiple games like that. Ole Miss is a natural fit, for their fans to come up here. I understand that. But playing UCLA as the big game is fine. To me, those games are no pressure: take a shot. Those aren’t the games I worry about.”

The 39-year-old coach has become one of college football’s golden boys, mentioned in discussions of job openings in power conferences, including the SEC. For now, though, Fuente considers himself on a learning curve, balancing a head coach’s obligations to offense and defense, representing the face (and voice) of a program unaccustomed to sustained success. And he likes the challenge.

“We’ll be judged every week,” says Funte. “It’s gonna be a work in progress. Part of the reason Houston kicked our tail [at home last year] is that we listened to how good we were after the Cincinnati game. How we handle all that [praise] will be paramount to our success. Who are we? That 10-win team is gone. Can we be hungry to get that done? Can we handle the grind? Are we really a mentally tough football team? That’s why I’m so excited, because every year is different. You don’t know.”

U of M 2015 SCHEDULE

Sept. 5 — Missouri State

Sept. 12 — @ Kansas

Sept. 19 — @Bowling Green

Sept. 24 (Th.) — Cincinnati

Oct. 2 (Fr.) — @ USF

Oct. 17 — Ole Miss

Oct. 23 (Fr.) — @ Tulsa

Oct. 31 — Tulane

Nov. 7 — Navy

Nov. 14 — @ Houston

Nov. 21 — @ Temple

Nov. 28 — SMU