The most scratched-out and revised piece of paper in Tiger football coach Tommy West's office is his team's depth chart.
Just three games into the season and Memphis is down to its third string quarterback after an unprecedented, second season-ending broken leg to a starting quarterback.
When red-shirt freshman Will Hudgens went down with a broken fibula late in the fourth quarter of the Tigers 37-31 overtime loss at Tulsa Saturday, the Tigers found themselves down to freshman quarterback Billy Barefield.
"I'll go ahead and answer some of your questions," West said at his weekly press conference Monday. "Billy is our starter at this point. (No. 1 wide receiver Maurice Avery) is our backup."
The Tigers' hopes of a third straight bowl trip now lie largely in the hands of the 5-10, 175-pound Barefield, who has completed 8-of-12 passes on the season.
Avery, who will still start in the slot receiver position unless Barefield were to go down with an injury, hasn't been used at the quarterback position since his freshman year.
Avery, an Atlanta-native, nearly left the team when he was asked to make the move to receiver over two years ago but stuck it out and has since become the Tigers No. 1 receiver.
Now the second-string quarterback, Avery is being asked to return to his high school position for large portions of practice in case his services are needed.
"It doesn't matter to me," Avery said. "I moved to receiver to help the team, and I can move back to quarterback to help the team.
"I'll do anything to help this team win."
Never once, by the way, did West use any of the untimely injuries as an excuse to sleepwalk through the rest of the season.
In fact it was just the opposite.
West said that losing Hudgens doesn't further limit the Tigers already barebones playbook, but that, when opening day starter Patrick Byrne went down on the third play of the year, the current package was built around both Hudgens and the fleet-footed Barefield.
"The package we put in with Will, we put in with Billy in mind," West said. "This is going to be a little like it was four years ago when we had Travis Anglin, and we did some different things to take advantage of his speed."
The Tigers haven't named a third-string quarterback yet, but their options are extremely limited.
True freshmen Brian Hall from Collierville High School and Brett Toney from Briarcrest both played quarterback in high school and could be options if injuries progressed to that point.
The dire situation at quarterback was the only thing that could overshadow the controversial end to the overtime loss at Tulsa.
Facing fourth-and-eight Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams got the carry on a draw play.
As Williams absorbed an arm tackle and lunged down the sideline, it appeared he was able to reach the ball to the 15-yard line, which would've resulted in a drive-sustaining first down.
However, he was ruled short without a chain measurement or benefit of instant replay as the game was called rather abruptly, with Tulsa players running onto the field.
Two days hasn't changed West's opinion of the game's final play and how it was handled.
"On the tape it was really close," West said. "He's got the ball on the 15-yard line and no part of him had touched out of bounds. After seeing that I can't see why they didn't replay it.
"That's what it's there for, so games aren't won or lost because of (mistakes). It definitely should've been reviewed."
West also said he hasn't talked to league officials about the way things unfolded in those final minutes, but he plans to do so before the Tigers upcoming home game against UTEP.
