First, Ole Miss, then Houston and now UCLA, the University of Memphis upset a top-25 team inside Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium for the third consecutive season. UCLA is a Power 5 school with recruiting classes constantly ranked in the top-20, but that was not enough to beat the Tigers.
The Bruins came into Memphis with a high-powered offense led by a Heisman candidate and likely top-10 NFL Draft pick Josh “Chosen” Rosen. Before the nationally televised game, football fans across the country were talking about Chosen Rosen and how good the UCLA team can be. Well, Memphis won.
In the 48-45 win, the defense was mostly optional. The two teams combined for 1,193 yards and 93 points. With Rosen having his way against the Memphis secondary, Riley Ferguson had to match him with a big game.
Ferguson was 23-38 with 398 yards and tied a career-high six touchdown passes. Rosen had 65 more passing yards, but Ferguson was much more efficient. The Memphis quarterback threw 18 less passes but had two more touchdowns and averaged about two more yards per attempt.
Although Rosen did make a few “he’s a future NFL quarterback” throws, he did make a few terrible decisions that put his teammates in bad situations or resulted in UCLA turnovers. He threw two interceptions to Ferguson’s one. The last interception thrown by Rosen was in the red zone with a chance to tie or take the lead and was arguably the play that lost the Bruins the game.
Ferguson’s efficiency and lack of mistakes won him the matchup with one of the best quarterbacks in college football.
Another huge factor in the game was Anthony Miller being, hands down, the best receiver in the game. He sparked the Tigers’ offense with back-to-back deep catches that resulted in a touchdown and gave Memphis a 27-24 lead.
He made a ridiculous diving grab for 41-yards down the middle of the field. Then he beat his five-star defender again for a 33-yard touchdown on the next play. Those two plays brought the fans to their feet.
The next Tiger drive, Ferguson found Miller for another touchdown and a 34-24 lead. Miller finished 185 yards on nine receptions and two scores. After the game, head coach Mike Norvell praised the receiver and called him the “heart of the football team.”
Early last week, Miller tweeted this game is “Walk-ons vs the 5-stars.” Miller is a former walk-on for the Tigers and has a history of posting big stats against highly ranked teams.
“You saw it on the field,” Miller said. “I went up against a five-star guy; I was nowhere near that out of high school. That’s big to me. I work for everything I got.”
Although the defense for either team was lacking, young Tiger defenders made crucial plays that made a key difference. Redshirt freshman Tim Hart read the eyes of Rosen on a broken play and intercepted a cross-field pass and returned it for a touchdown.
Junior college transfer Tito Windham had two pass breakups and a tackle for a loss. True freshman T.J. Carter intercepted Rosen in the red zone during the fourth quarter. Carter also collected seven tackles and broke up a pass.
Redshirt freshman Jacobi Francis sealed the win by breaking up the fourth down pass attempt by the Bruins to give Memphis the ball with under a minute remaining.
The Tigers received 21 votes in the AP top-25 poll this week and will look to make their way into rankings in the coming weeks. If they can keep up this level of play, it can happen.
Riley Ferguson steps up and fires left to a receiver. He threw for nearly 400 yards and six touchdowns in the win.
