Giannotto

head coaching career.

“I’m not concerned about the direction of this team,” he said defiantly, after Memphis’ 65-33 loss at Missouri was complete. “I believe in this team. I believe in how we operate. I believe in what we do. There’s absolutely no concern in the direction of this football team.”

But the series of events that ultimately cemented Memphis’ third setback in four games sure looked familiar to anyone who watched last Saturday’s defeat to UCF.

There was 9:16 remaining in the second quarter, and Memphis had valiantly recovered from a disastrous start to cut a 21-0 deficit to 21-17.

Missouri faced 4th-and-1 from its own 34-yard-line and coach Barry Odom made the gutsy decision to go for it. Memphis called timeout, just like it did before the 4th-and-1 that resulted in a 71-yard touchdown run a week earlier against UCF.

This time, the devastating play occurred one snap later, once Missouri picked up the first down. Missouri tight end Albert Okwuegbunam streaked down the middle of the field wide open and went untouched on a 58-yard touchdown pass.

When Memphis got the ball back, it committed a delay of game. White dropped back and spotted wide receiver Damonte Coxie with a step on a Missouri cornerback running down the sideline. But the pass was underthrown and intercepted.

One play and eight seconds after that, Missouri quarterback Drew Lock hit wide receiver Jalen Knox for a 44yard touchdown.

Suddenly, it was 34-17 Missouri. By halftime, the lead had ballooned to 4820 and Memphis had allowed the second-most points in a half in program history.

By the end, Missouri was one point shy of tying the Memphis record for points allowed in a game in the modern era.

Thank goodness for the 92-spot put up by Ole Miss in 1935.

Memphis gave up a season-high 646 yards to Missouri, including six plays of at least 41 yards.

It was an exhibition of missed tackles, missed assignments and miscommunication that made defensive coordinator Chris Ball’s unit look helpless at times.

“Today, it wasn’t what the coaches called,” linebacker Curtis Akins insisted. “We just have to execute the calls. That’s it. Us not executing the call, it cost us the game today.”

What made it all worse is that Memphis initially showed some spunk Saturday, and threatened to ruin Missouri’s homecoming after overcoming a comedy of errors to start of the afternoon.

There was the blocked punt that went from punter Adam Williams’ foot to the butt of one of his blockers and led to the first Missouri touchdown. There was White’s first interception, on a screen pass that bounced off tight end Sean Dykes’ hands, ricocheted off a Missouri helmet and turned into a picksix by Missouri’s Christian Holmes.

The biggest blow of all was that tailback Darrell Henderson, the nation’s leading rusher, suffered an injury on the play and never returned to the field.

Before the game was 10 minutes old, Memphis was losing 21-0 and without its best player.

But the Tigers didn’t wilt right away. The defense forced two 3-and-outs in a row. Juniors Patrick Taylor Jr. and Tony Pollard filled in admirably for Henderson.

When the first quarter ended, Memphis had more yards, more first downs and nearly triple the time of possession as Missouri. Then White found Pollard on a 30-yard scoring strike, and it looked like Memphis might just have enough moxie to knock off a SEC opponent on the road.

But then all that momentum came crashing to a halt, quickly and calamitously.

The only bright side: This wasn’t another conference setback, and none of the next three games after the bye come against teams with a winning record.

Just like Norvell’s first year at Memphis, when he also lost three of four games, there’s a chance to finish the regular season on a high note.

But Saturday served as a reminder that this won’t end the way fans hoped it would before the year began. That there are serious questions to confront moving forward.

Did Norvell pick the wrong quarterback after White’s latest lackluster performance?

How much of a leash does Ball deserve after his defense cratered again?

What will this team look like if Henderson’s injury is serious?

Stay tuned. It could be a long two weeks until we find out any of the answers.