Memphis defeated Rice 27-20 in front of 23,692 fans who blacked out the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium Friday night. The Tigers improve to 8-2 on the season and 4-2 in conference play.
Slow Start
After losing to UTSA in San Antonio last week, the Tigers offense got off to a sluggish start, gaining only 24 yards of offense in their first 3 drives.
“We were pretty mundane to say the least on offense early,” said head coach Ryan Silverfield after the game.
This included a Seth Henigan interception at Memphis’ own 20 yard line on the first drive for the offense, leading to 3 easy points for Rice.
The offense then started the second half slowly as well by not scoring at all in the third quarter.
Henigan had one of his poorest performances of the season, throwing for only 159 yards on 14/31 passing. Apart from the rapid drive with 41 seconds left in the first half to get a field goal, the passing game struggled all game. However, it was enough tonight thanks to the strong effort from the ground game.
After the game, Silverfield attributed the slow offensive start to “lack of execution, from everyone involved.” He hopes to get it cleaned up in time for their game next Saturday against UAB.
Mario Anderson Jr. provides a spark
After going down 6-0 and having 3 drives that went nowhere, Mario Anderson Jr. provided a spark for the Memphis offense. He rattled off a 9 yard and 13 yard rush to begin a 12 play, 77 yard drive that ended in a Brendan Doyle touchdown reception from Seth Henigan to put Memphis up 7-6.
After a defensive stop, Anderson Jr. produced 31 yards off a screen pass and gained 30 yards in 3 rushes in a quick 5 play, 73 yard drive that ended on a 7 yard rush by Anderson Jr. to put Memphis up 14-6 late in the second half.
“We leaned on the run for sure, and that kind of jump-started our offense too, you know, put some drives together,” said quarterback Seth Henigan.
Anderson Jr. finished the game with 144 rushing yards on 25 attempts, making it his 6th 100 yard rushing game of the season.
Bend don’t break defense
Memphis’ defense wiggled their way out of many tough spots tonight. On three separate drives Rice got within the 10 yard line, and they were held to only 6 points on those three drives by the defense.
Besides a quick touchdown drive by Rice at the tail-end of the second quarter to pull the game to 14-13, the Memphis defense made the big plays when they needed to, exemplified the most by who else than linebacker Chandler Martin.
With Rice on Memphis’ 5 yard line late in the third quarter, threatening to overtake Memphis’ 17-13 lead, Chandler Martin recovered a botched handoff to steal the momentum away from Rice, in what was the defining play of the game.
“Finding that ball, he just has a knack for it… I think he’s an All-American, I truly do.” said Silverfield about Martin in the postgame press conference.
The fumble recovery was Martin’s fourth of the season, which ties him for first place in the country.
Finishing touches
After the fumble recovery, Memphis went on a methodical 10 play, 92 yard drive, capped off with a 14 yard touchdown run by Brandon Thomas that belongs on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” Angry Run segment. Thomas broke multiple tackles, before churning his legs through 3 Rice defenders as he received a nice push from much of his offensive personnel to put Memphis up 24-13.
The Tiger’s defense held Rice to 7 points in the second half, which were scored with 1:55 left in the game as Rice made the score 27-20 as they tried a frantic comeback.
On 3rd and 6, with Rice one play away from getting the ball back, Henigan made an excellent read on a read option with Anderson Jr., deciding to fake the handoff and take it himself for a first down that sealed the game.
Karmelo Overton
There was a scary scene in the second quarter, as reserve linebacker Karmelo Overton collapsed after a kickoff on his walk off the field. He was worked on for a long time on the field before being carted off on a stretcher. Per Silverfield, Overton is at a local hospital and is having tests run on him.
Silverfield said that Overton was able to talk and communicate while being carted off the field, and urged Tigers fans to keep him in their thoughts and prayers.
