KNOXVILLE - Once The University of Memphis offense began their first possession of the game against SEC opponent Tennessee on Saturday afternoon, somebody was notably missing from the Tigers' backfield. "Where's DeAngelo Williams?" seemed to be the question on the minds of the 106,647 spectators in attendance.
"He felt like after the warm-ups that he'd be better coming off the bench," said head coach Tommy West. "If that's the case then I felt like he shouldn't play. I knew this was going to be a game where we'd have to play like men, so it wasn't the place for a guy that was gimped up. I really expected him to play."
After spraining his ankle against UAB last week, Williams sat out the entire game against Tennessee because he had been having trouble making cuts to his right on the tender ankle, West said.
Despite the fact that they were not equipped with their Heisman candidate, The U of M (4-5 overall, 3-3 Conference USA) stood toe to toe with the Volunteers (4-5) for 60 minutes in Knoxville but fell just short of pulling off the upset by a final 20-16.
"I really feel good about the effort of our football team," West said.
"We're kind of a makeshift bunch right now. We fought like crazy. We had it right there, but we just couldn't quite close the deal."
Senior Maurice Avery, in just his fourth collegiate start at quarterback, captained the Tigers to a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter by scrambling four yards and a touchdown, which capped off an 85-yard drive.
"Mo (Maurice Avery) is a wide receiver playing quarterback," West said.
"He managed the game pretty good from a quarterback situation. I thought Mo gave us a chance to win. He didn't do anything to cost us the game."
Although Williams did not play, Avery, who finished with 72 yards and a touchdown on the ground, said the offense did what they had practiced all week.
"We just had to stick to the game plan and execute our plays," he said.
The U of M's scheme proved to be productive against a stingy Tennessee defense. In order to offset the size mismatch on the line, the Tigers ran the option early and often.
"That was our plan, to run the option and pitch it, and run the option and pitch it underneath," West said. "That way we don't have to block their defense."
Sophomore Joseph Doss got the start at running back for Memphis and put together a solid performance in a difficult atmosphere with 77 yards on 17 carries.
Doss said he was not completely unprepared because he knew Williams had been experiencing some soreness in his ankle during the week.
"I wasn't too nervous," he said. "Ahead of time I was ready for it. I knew what I had to do, and we worked on several things all week."
Down 13-0, the Volunteers pulled quarterback Erik Ainge, who only managed to complete one pass in the first quarter to go along with an interception that led to three points for Memphis.
With senior Rick Clausen at the reigns, the Tennessee offense rattled off 14 unanswered points in the second quarter behind two Clausen touchdown passes, including a 15-yard strike to CJ Fayton with 0:04 that closed out the half.
"When they brought in Clausen it kind of settled them down," West said.
"Ainge had helped us, but Clausen didn't."
After holding the Volunteers to three and out to begin the third quarter, the Tigers took advantage of good field position, marching 34 yards down to the Tennessee 17-yard line, which set up a 35-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski that put The U of M on top 16-14.
The Memphis run defense, which held firm throughout the first three quarters, began to give way during the last 15 minutes of the game.
Arian Foster rushed for 62 of his 132 yards in the final quarter.
"I was disappointed there at the end," West said. "When it really got down and dirty there, we weren't able to get it done. Overall, I thought our defense battled pretty good."
James Wilhoit booted the go ahead 28-yard field goal with 9:06 to put Tennessee on top for good. He added another field goal with under a minute to go after the Volunteers milked 6:15 off the clock.
The Tigers were left with little time and, ultimately, came up short after Avery's Hail Mary pass fell to the ground as the clock hit zero.
Having the chance to win late in the game against Tennessee in Neyland Stadium and not closing out the deal was tough to swallow for The U of M players. But West said he was pleased because his team showed they could hang with the Volunteers even without the services of Williams.
"I challenged them to come up here and play like men," West said. "I thought we acted like we belong. We acted like a big time team up here today, and we had a chance to win the game. For all the people that say we can't play without 20 (Williams), that's a yeoman's job to get the thing into the fourth quarter and have a chance to win the game."
