At the beginning of the week, Memphis coach Justin Fuente said it was important his team controlled their emotions and avoid another slow start Saturday against no. 13 Ole Miss.
Late in the first quarter, his team finally received the message. The Tigers (6-0) defeated the Rebels (5-2) 37-24 Saturday, for the first time since 2004, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in front of 60,241 fans, the seventh largest crowd for a Memphis game in Liberty Bowl history. The Tigers, who are ranked no. 22 in the Amway Coaches Poll, will surely be ranked in the AP Top 25 tomorrow for the first time this season.
“First of all, again, just a fantastic crowd today and couldn’t be prouder to be associated with this community and program today,” Fuente said. “Just the way they showed out early in the morning. This morning at 8:30 a.m., the Tiger Walk was unbelievable. I thought our crowd was great. We sincerely appreciate their support. We want to encourage them to continue to come and to build this into a true home field advantage. We will be back home in a couple weeks and we want to encourage them to keep coming out.”
After defeating a nationally ranked opponent for the first time since Peyton Manning’s Tennessee Volunteers in 1996, Memphis has now won 13 consecutive games, a program record, and only TCU and Ohio State have longer streaks nationally. The Tigers are also bowl eligible seven weeks into the 2015 season.
A Memphis victory seemed unlikely after Ole Miss’ fast start, which began on the Rebels’ first offensive possession. A trick play caught the Tigers’ defense off guard, which resulted in star receiver Laquon Treadwell finding fellow receiver Quincy Adeboyejo for a 68-yard touchdown, 20 seconds into the game.
After a Memphis punt things went from bad to worse for the Tigers, Ole Miss junior quarterback Chad Kelly found Damore'ea Stringfellow for a 23-yard score and the Rebels led 14-0 less than six minutes into the contest.
However unlike last season’s loss in Oxford, the Ole Miss defense could not keep the Tigers out of the endzone. Memphis junior quarterback Paxton Lynch, who threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns, found senior tight end Alan Cross for a one-yard touchdown to cut the Ole Miss lead in half.
While Lynch was finding redshirt sophomore wide receiver Anthony Miller, who had 10 catches for 132 yards and a touchdown, and redshirt senior wide out Mose Frazier (8 catches, 83 yards and a touchdown) on offense. The Memphis defense, which had been maligned for the majority of the season, limited Kelly and the Rebels’ offense to 10 points and 237 yards of total offense over the final three quarters.
Junior linebacker Jackson Dillion arguably made the play of the game with 11:55 left in the second quarter. On an Ole Miss fourth-and-1 from the Tiger 10-yard line, the linebacker stopped Rebels’ running back Jordan Wilkins in the backfield for a six-yard loss. That was the first of two fourth-and-one stops for the Tigers’ defense in the second quarter.
“That wasn’t a good decision,” said Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze after the game. “You’ve got about half a foot, thinking we really need to change this momentum and get some points is what you’re thinking but, obviously, it was not a good decision.”
From there, Memphis took control of the game and showed the resiliency that has helped win 16 of their last 19 games dating back to the start of last season. The Cross touchdown grab began a run of 31 unanswered points for the Tigers, which was capped off with Mose Frazier’s 31-yard touchdown catch from Lynch on Memphis’ opening drive of the second half to give the Tigers a 31-14 lead.
Ole Miss would not lie down, however, as Kelly continued to find Treadwell, who had 14 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown, and the Rebels cut the lead to 31-24 by the end of the third. Nevertheless, Tiger kicker Jake Elliott’s two field goals in the fourth quarter (42-yards and 27-yards, respectively) sealed a Memphis victory.
“We have a good, tough group of kids,” Fuente said. “We certainly aren’t perfect and we started off rough again. Part of that is because they are really talented. You can see it on the football field. Our kids fought and clawed and found a way to win the game.”
Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns in the Tigers' 37-24 victory over Ole Miss Saturday.
