The University of Memphis football team entered Saturday’s contest against Houston with plenty of momentum, coming off a 41-14 rout over Cincinnati. The momentum was not enough to carry the Tigers.
Memphis fell to Houston 28-24 in a very shaky performance on both sides of the football.
“I wish we could’ve played better, but credit to Houston and their coaching staff,” Memphis head coach Justin Fuente said after the game. “I thought they played better than we did and they deserved to win.”
Houston’s defense forced five total turnovers, including a fumble and an interception on the Tigers’ last two drives. Before Saturday, Memphis only had six turnovers through five games.
Houston head coach Tony Levine said after the game that keeping penalties in check and forcing turnovers were key for his team’s victory.
“I think through five games Memphis only turned the ball over five times,” Levine said. “We created five in tonight’s game. We won the turnover battle. We talked about penalties. We were averaging nine to 10 penalties a game tonight we only had three. We felt if we got good special teams and field position even if we had to punt our defense could give us a chance.”
Memphis senior quarterback Paxton Lynch struggled throughout most of the game, throwing three interceptions and fumbling once.
Fuente believed his team showed great fight, but the turnovers were too much to come back from.
“We can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win,” he said. “I was proud of the way we battled through all the ups and downs, the good and the bad, but the bottom line is against a defense like that and skill players like that you can’t put the ball on the ground.”
Defensively, the Tigers didn’t have an answer for Houston’s quarterback Greg Ward Jr. Before Saturday, Ward had started every game as punt returner and wide receiver, but against the Tigers, he took the reigns at quarterback. He completed 17 of his 28 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.
Though Ward Jr. had a very successful day through the air, he was just as deadly on the ground. The dual threat quarterback rushed for 95 yards on 17 carries, including a scramble for a 64-yard touchdown.
Levine explained that Houston’s offensive game plan revolved around Ward.
“He has a great ability to extend plays,” he said. “We gave him some designed runs. We talked about offensively all week and I said it publicly, some of our best runs were where Greg was involved in were designed passes. There’s either coverage or pressure on the play and Greg takes off.”
Memphis sits at 3-3 on the year and 1-1 in American Athletic Conference play. After a bye week, Memphis will look to rebound against SMU on Oct. 25 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas.
Fuente explained that his team will use the bye week to get back to full strength and key in on a big stretch of upcoming games.
“The bottom line is, we are 3-3 after six games,” the third-year coach said. “I don’t know how many people would’ve said we could’ve done that, so we’ve got to focus on some things in the bye week and get some guys healthy. We’ve got to get ready for a big stretch run. SMU will battle us and we’ve got Tulsa here on a Friday who will be coming off a bye week before they play us. The challenge for us now is to string together some big wins.”
