The Memphis Tigers lost to the UTSA Roadrunners 44-36 in the Alamo Dome, allowing 30 straight points for UTSA.
The loss drops Memphis to 7-2 on the season and effectively eliminates them from the American Athletic Conference (AAC) championship game and the College Football Playoff.
For Tigers fans, the Alamo Dome has not brought fond memories. The last time a University of Memphis team played here was the 2008 NCAA tournament championship game where the Tigers fell short to Kansas.
After narrowly defeating Charlotte last week thanks to a heroic effort by Mario Anderson Jr, the Tigers jumped out to a quick lead.
Anderson capped the opening drive with a 16-yard touchdown run.
However, on UTSA’s first possession, they marched down the field and scored a touchdown when Owen McCown tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Houston Thomas.
Memphis’ offense stalled in the red zone on their ensuing drive, but kicker Caden Costa sank a 22-yarder to give the Tigers a 10-7 lead.
The Roadrunners scored a second McCown passing touchdown, this time to Dan Dishman, to give UTSA their first lead of the contest.
At the end of the first quarter, UTSA led 14-10.
The Tigers responded early in the second quarter with a DeMeer Blankumsee 21-yard touchdown from Seth Henigan.
After the first defensive stop of the game, Henigan found Blankumsee again, this time for 70 yards, and the Tigers pushed their lead out to ten points. Blankumsee injured himself celebrating his score.
The Memphis defense forced a long field goal attempt on UTSA’s next drive, but kicker Tate Sandell sank a 54-yard kick to bring the score to 24-17.
The Tigers failed to convert a fourth-and-one attempt, giving the Roadrunners great field position. McCown tossed his third touchdown of the half, and the score was knotted at 24.
In the waning moments of the half, the Tigers failed to convert another fourth-and-one, and the two teams headed into halftime tied at 24.
Each team punted on their opening drive of the second half, but UTSA took the lead for good on their second, when Houston Thomas caught his second touchdown pass of the game.
After another Memphis punt, the Roadrunners tagged on a field goal.
In the fourth quarter, UTSA pushed the score to 41-24 with a Brandon High rushing touchdown.
Then, with less than three minutes to go, the Roadrunners added another field goal, finishing a 30-0 stretch from down 24-14 to up 44-24.
Memphis wouldn’t go quietly, scoring on a deep ball to Koby Drake with 1:47 on the clock, before successfully executing an onside kick.
A deflected ball found its way into Mario Anderson’s arms in the endzone, and the Tigers made it a one score game with 48 seconds left.
Their luck would run out on their second onside attempt. McCown kneeled the time away, finishing off a 44-36 UTSA victory.
The Tigers went 0-4 on fourth down attempts and added a lost fumble and an interception. Despite outgaining UTSA 516-408, Memphis dug themselves too large of a hole to come back from.
The Memphis path to the AAC title game gets exponentially more unlikely with this loss. The Tigers will look to get back on track next Friday against Rice.
