Memphis gets a scare from South Alabama
Defensive lineman Joseph Dorceus stood up and did a celebration he called the "Gorilla" because, frankly, it was one of the few times Saturday night the Memphis defense deserved one.
Few expected South Alabama, a 31point underdog, would give Memphis all it could handle Saturday night at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. But here the Tigers were, in a one-score game, facing fourth-and-2 from the 8, late in the third quarter.
Rather than kick a field goal, South Alabama went for it. And Dorceus stuffed it, beating an offensive lineman off the edge to tackle running back Tra Minter for no gain.
Memphis had the ball again and, eventually, a 52-35 win that exposed more of the Tigers' warts than their loss at Navy. If you left this game feeling worse than two weeks ago, I don't blame you.
But before Memphis football fans spend the next week worrying about what happened Saturday night — and there was plenty to be concerned about — let’s also remember it might be a good thing the Tigers went through a frustrating performance like this.
"That was a game I think we needed," coach Mike Norvell said to start his postgame press conference.
They needed to see their defensive backs diced before UCF comes to town with its Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback next month. They needed to see how the offense stalls when it goes away from tailback Darrell Henderson for too long. They needed a home game in which they were challenged, not playing backups after halftime.
At least, on a day when former Memphis coach Justin Fuente and Virginia Tech lost to Old Dominion, the Tigers figured out how to pull out a win. At least they avoided disaster in front of an underwhelming crowd of 27,765 fans. At least they re-enter American Athletic Conference action at Tulane next week with every goal they hoped to achieve before the season still in play.
But there were enough obvious flaws to be nervous with the teeth of this schedule looming.
The defense, after several encouraging outings, got gashed and the secondary looked particularly vulnerable.
If not for a fumble recovery by Memphis on the 1 in the first quarter — once cornerback Tito Windham hustled to track down South Alabama wide receiver Jamarius Way after getting beat for a 63-yard reception — the Tigers would have been trailing at halftime.
Memphis gave up 301 yards in the first half, and 360 through the air for the game. Keep in mind South Alabama entered this game averaging 301 yards per game.
The chants of "U-S-A" that rang out through the Liberty Bowl were warranted.
To make matters worse, sixth-year senior linebacker Jackson Dillon — one of this season's feel-good stories — had to be helped off the field with an apparent leg injury before halftime and didn't return.
Norvell, meanwhile, continued to fall in and out of love with depending on the player who entered this weekend as the nation's leading rusher.
Henderson nonetheless ended up setting career highs for carries (22) and ran for 188 yards. He and backfield mates Patrick Taylor Jr. and Tony Pollard ultimately put the game out of reach with touchdown runs in the fourth quarter.
If there was any doubt this offense should revolve around Henderson moving forward, every long run he breaks off just reinforces he should be getting the ball as much as possible.
Despite all that, Memphis managed to break the half-century mark again. It gained 563 total yards and White went 22-of-29 for 292 yards and two touchdowns.
Still, even the Tigers' normally sturdy special teams had hiccups. There was a missed field goal, a blocked punt and an unnecessary attempted fake punt call by Norvell that didn't work.
It was Dorceus who made sure Memphis didn't pay for that last mistake.
And it was the Tigers' resiliency that Norvell said he needed to see on an imperfect evening.
"That's what made me proud tonight," he said. "To be in that game and how it was going back-and-forth, they’re stacking the box, they’re doing different things up front, and for our guys to execute at a time where it was absolutely necessary.”