For The University of Memphis football team, things can't get much worse.
Despite a career-high 176 yards and one touchdown from senior running back Gregory Ray, the Tigers couldn't overcome a number of mental errors and a potent Houston offense, falling 56-17 to their Conference USA rivals in front of an announced crowd of 19,731 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
The U of M (1-7, 0-5 C-USA) opened the game with a 3-0 lead following a 39-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Paulo Henriques with 9:57 left in the first quarter, but the advantage was short-lived.
On the very next possession, the Cougars (5-3, 4-1) used an eight-play, 66-yard drive to march downfield before capping off the series with a 15-yard touchdown strike from freshman quarterback David Piland to Patrick Edwards for a 7-3 lead.
From there, Houston's lead was never in doubt.
The Cougars scored a touchdown on each of their five first-half possessions, including a 1-yard score and later a 22-yard touchdown reception from running back Michael Hayes, as well as a 74-yard punt return and a 54-yard scoring catch from Edwards.
"They had a great second quarter that put a lot of points on the board," U of M coach Larry Porter said after the game. "We didn't answer at all."
During Houston's 35-point scoring stretch, The U of M missed defensive assignments, lacked efficiency on special teams and failed to move the ball.
"It is becoming obvious to me that our biggest battle is amongst ourselves and learning how to overcome that," Porter said. "We didn't stop them in a way that would give us an opportunity to have a chance to get something going."
Meanwhile, the Cougars took advantage of each mistake. But the Tigers couldn't stop the bleeding in the second half, either.
Two more passing scores from Piland in the third quarter put the Cougars up 49-3, which led to a mass exodus of Tigers fans from the stadium. The freshman, inserted into the starting lineup in place of injured Heisman-hopeful Case Keenum since September, completed 20-of-23 passes for 292 yards and five touchdowns.
"I think he's continued to improve," Houston coach Kevin Summerlin said. "I think the people around him are continuing to improve."
Following Piland's near-perfect performance, Summerlin opted to put in backup quarterback Terrance Broadway, who completed all four of his passes for 111 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The U of M had a quarterback change of its own, as Porter benched freshman Ryan Williams in favor of sophomore Cannon Smith, who led the Tigers to their only two touchdowns of the contest.
Ray's 5-yard scoring scamper with 14:21 left in the game cut the lead to 49-10, and Smith later ran in a touchdown of his own.
"We shifted gears a little bit and started doing some things that they probably didn't practice to try and create some momentum," Porter said. "It wasn't anything from a spirit standpoint that woke us up. We just shifted gears a bit offensively."
Between the Tigers' two signal-callers, Williams and Smith combined to complete 4-of-12 passes for 92 yards and one interception. Smith had the day's longest completion, a 47-yard throw to wideout Marcus Rucker.
"Going into that game, we felt very strongly that we could run the ball, and we wanted to do that and establish the run game with a very physical attitude up front," Porter said.
As a whole, The U of M's run game produced 229 yards on the ground, as opposed to the Cougars' 248 total rushing yards. Hayes paced Houston with 123 yards.
Houston led the Tigers in nearly every offensive category, holding a 37-15 edge in first downs and outgaining The U of M, 651-321, in total offense.
"Their speed was a big issue," Porter said. "We also didn't tackle as well as I would have liked, even in the first half, to get them off the field. We didn't respond to that, and as a result, they put points on the board."
