In a second consecutive high-scoring shootout, the Memphis Tigers saw their undefeated season continue at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Thursday night as they took down the Cincinnati Bearcats (2-2, 0-2 AAC) 53-46 in front of a crowd of 45,172 and a national audience on ESPN.
For the third week in a row, Memphis redshirt junior quarterback Paxton Lynch set a new career-best in passing yards, tossing for 412 yards and two touchdowns while completing 24-of-36 passes.
The high-scoring affair resulted in more than 1,300 yards of total offense between the two teams, including 752 by the Bearcats.
Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel left the game in the first quarter after suffering a scary hit near the head. Memphis’ Chauncey Lanier delivered the hit, and was initially ejected from the game for a targeting penalty, although after a replay review the ejection was overturned.
Following the hit, Kiel was motionless on the field for about 10 minutes until he was eventually carted off. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Tom Groeschen, Kiel was later able to move all four limbs and was taken to a nearby hospital.
There was a stark contrast between the game’s first and second halves, with the two teams combining for 58 points over the opening 30 minutes and then only six points in the third quarter. The first half mainly consisted of the two teams exchanging big play after big play. At one point Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch completed a career-long 82-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller, only for the Bearcats to follow it with a 68-yard score from Hayden Moore to Chris Moore five minutes later.
Following the more defensive third period, the scoring ramped up once again in the game’s final quarter. With five minutes remaining in the contest the Tigers and Bearcats were tied at 46-all, and Memphis failed to convert a fourth down in Cincinnati territory. The Tigers were then able to come up with the critical stop before regaining possession and pounding it into the end zone with less than a minute remaining via running back Sam Craft, who delivered three key runs to close the drive, overcoming an otherwise poor game — Craft fumbled twice in the first quarter.
Cincinnati then drove deep into Memphis territory before the Tiger linemen surrounded Moore, causing him to toss up an errant pass that fell into the hands of Memphis linebacker Leonard Pegues to end the game and seal the Tiger victory.
The play was one of the few times the Memphis defense was able to put pressure on the quarterback, as Moore finished the game with 557 yards through the air and four passing touchdowns. Kiel threw for 63 yards in the first quarter before leaving due to injury.
“We didn’t do anything very well,” Memphis head coach Justin Fuente said of the team’s defense. “We didn’t rush the passer, we had issues in coverage — man coverage and zone coverage.”
Memphis football’s undefeated season will resume next Friday when the Tigers travel to Florida to take on the USF Bulls (1-2). Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
Memphis sophomore running back Jarvis Cooper ran for 49 yards and a touchdown on nine carries Thursday night.
