After losing the season opener to Ole Miss and failing to score a single touchdown, the Tigers (1-1) released their frustrations on Saturday night at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium by pouncing on Division 1-AA opponent UT-Chattanooga, 59-14.
The Tigers' offensive onslaught was led by senior running back DeAngelo Williams' 205 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns. The senior had his engine going early. With 8:58 left in the first quarter, he took an inside handoff from redshirt freshman Will Hudgens, and then bounced it outside for a 15-yard touchdown scamper that put The U of M up 7-0.
On the next U of M possession, Williams, who took the snap from the shotgun position, broke off a 33-yard run down to the Moccasins' 15-yard line. Two plays later, Williams got the ball the conventional way, cut toward the sideline and, running out of room and with a wall of defenders between him and six points, shot like a cannon through the defense to score, putting Memphis on top 14-7.
UT-Chattanooga (2-1) was unable to respond to Williams' dominance as the Tigers scored 28 unanswered points to close out the half with a 35-7 lead.
"I was a little upset last week," Williams said. "Some things didn't play out our way, and we didn't play to our full potential. Coach (West) challenged us to come out here and play our game tonight and we stepped up and met his challenge."
The U of M offense racked up 592 yards of total offense of which nearly 400 came on the ground attack led by Williams.
Will Hudgens had a solid performance in his first collegiate start at quarterback, throwing for 139 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The redshirt freshman commanded the offense to a nearly flawless first half.
"I felt a lot better," Hudgens said. "I felt real comfortable in the pocket and I had a lot of time to throw the ball. The offensive line did a great job. The running backs did a great job getting up the field. The receivers did a great job getting open."
One of Hudgens' touchdown passes was a 62-yard bomb to Maurice Avery.
The senior wide receiver leaped up and snatched the ball away from the defender and went untouched the rest of the way for the score.
"I under threw him a little bit," Hudgens said. "I was kind of upset with myself, but other than that it felt great to get Mo (Maurice Avery) in the end zone."
That touchdown meant a lot to Avery as well. With no one around him, he stretched the ball out in front of his body and dove over the goal line with 12:24 to go in the second quarter. His emotions were running high, he said, and he had to let it all hang out on the field.
"It was a lot of frustration built up from last year that I just had to get off my chest," Avery said. "I want to do it again."
Despite the Tigers' offensive explosion, their defense struggled at times stopping the run, giving up 227 yards on the ground. Eldra Buckley, a junior tailback for Chattanooga, had his first career 100-yard rushing game, finishing with 143 yards on 20 carries to go with two touchdowns.
"I was disappointed in our run defense tonight," said U of M head coach Tommy West. "We'll have to take a look at that because I'm sure Tulsa (Memphis' opponent Saturday) is going to take that and run the ball right at us also, so I'm a little bit concerned there. But we still made plays defensively. We created two turnovers in the first half that were big and got us a pretty big lead."
Because of the big lead that the defense helped create, freshman quarterback Billy Barefield saw his first action as a Tiger after replacing Hudgens late in the third quarter.
Barefield showed off his scrambling ability right away by slicing through the defense for 12 yards on his first snap under center.
With 12:36 left in the fourth quarter, Barefield rolled out to his right and threw back across the field to tight end Brett Russell who rumbled 26 yards for the touchdown.
"I think Billy brings something to the table for this offense," West said. "He's a different dimension. He can do some things Will can't do, and Will can do some things he can't do. But I think if we keep both of these guys healthy, then they can help us win.
