STREAK EXTENDS TO 12 WITH WIN OVER USF
Tigers go more than a year since last loss
Memphis nabs 24-17 victory, looks ahead to Ole Miss.
TAMPA, Fla. — University of Memphis football players click-clacked through a concrete tunnel at Raymond James Stadium on Friday night, chrome helmets and a yearlong winning streak in hand. Their were laughs and smiles, then a voice in the crowd.
“One-and-oh!” someone said, to nobody in particular. “One-and-oh!”
The Tigers have embraced that mantra over the past year-and-a-half, but some nights, it is easier said than done. Some nights, it requires a prolific offensive assault, others, a late defensive stand.
On this night against South Florida, it took an onside kick to begin the second half. It took Paxton Lynch dipping his shoulder and sprinting into the end zone. It took Doroland Dorceus zigzagging more than half the field for a score. After all that, the result was familiar. Memphis pulled ahead in the second half and stayed there Friday night, rallying to beat the Bulls, 24-17, in its second nationally-televised game in as many weeks. The victory ensured that the Tigers will go at least 371 days between losses. They have won 12 consecutive games dating to Oct. 11, matching TCU for the second-longest active winning
streak in the country.
“I guess it’s hard to believe to everybody else,” Dorceus said. “But for us? As long as we go 1-0 every week, I guess more wins are going to keep coming.”
Senior safety Reggis Ball sealed the win with an interception in the waning moments, but Dorceus delivered the decisive blow. With a little more than 10 minutes remaining, he caught the third pass of his collegiate career on a screen and bolted downfield, shrugging off possible tacklers and following a few key blocks by Gabe Kuhn and Trevon Tate to the end zone. It was a 55-yard score to put Memphis ahead by two touchdowns. And that proved to be too much for South Florida’s run-first offense to overcome.
Lynch completed 20 of 33 passes for 305 yards and played a role in all three of Memphis’ touchdowns, throwing for two and running for one. But he was unusually inefficient, especially early in the game. The result: A slow offensive start for the fourth consecutive game.
“When you play a team that’s had two weeks to prepare for you, you’ve got to be ready for some things that are just different,” Memphis coach Justin Fuente said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to reinvent yourself offensively and defensively, but they were obviously a little ahead of us early in the game. That two weeks (of preparation) showed. And plus, they’ve got talented players.”
On paper, this was a trap game, a moment of vulnerability for a Memphis team that hadn’t lost in nearly a full calendar year. The adrenaline of a prime-time win over Cincinnati had long since worn off. Excitement about its meeting with Ole Miss was still two weeks premature. A bye week, a welcome opportunity to rejuvenate, was just around the corner. And for the first half-hour, it looked like the Tigers would succumb.
An offense that had averaged 26.9 points and 285.1 yards per game entering the game mustered only seven points and 198 yards in the first half against a stout USF defense. Meanwhile, the Bulls and running back Marlon Mack ate up yards on the ground, rushing 29 times for 147 yards in the first half. Twice, Mack was a shoestring tackle away from a long touchdown run.
“It’s frustrating as a defense,” said senior linebacker Wynton McManis, who finished with a career-high nine tackles. “As a team comes out and runs the ball on you, that’s like a slap in the face. So you never want that. We just had to bear down and tighten up as a defense and bring it.”
Penalties only made matters worse for the Tigers. Two of their senior starters -- safety Dion Witty and wide receiver Mose Frazier -were ejected for targeting penalties in the first half.
Trailing at halftime for the third consecutive game, Memphis needed a jolt. They got it when Jake Elliott, who missed a 36-yarder in the first half, hit a dribbler 10 yards straight ahead, slid and fell on it for the recovery. But Memphis squandered the opportunity and was forced to punt.
The go-ahead score didn’t come until later, when the Tigers marched 92 yards on 13 plays, culminating in a 3-yard keeper by Lynch. The screen pass to Dorceus followed. Memphis’ lead quickly ballooned, even though its overall offensive performance was lackluster by its standards.
“I felt like there was a little bit of a feeling offensively that we should be scoring more than this, even though we were winning the game,” Fuente said. “Credit to South Florida. Their defense is pretty darn good. I told you guys that we’d have a hard time with their front seven, and we did.”
Now, the Tigers will turn their attention to Ole Miss, one of the most ballyhooed games in program history. They will have an extra week off, to rest and prepare. But their mantra, the words they muttered as they left the field Friday night, will not waver.
“We want to keep our focus on going 1-0,” McManis said. “We just want to keep going one at a time, and the record will take care of itself.”