Jumping for joy
Memphis is now eligible for trip to a bowl game Season not the best, but it’s still significant
John "Pop" Williams didn't stop running once he crossed into the end zone. Neither did his teammates.
After Williams' scored on a 72-yard punt return in the fourth quarter, he was mobbed by his entire team, which swarmed over from the sideline during Memphis' 47-21 win over Tulsa at the Liberty Bowl.
Even Tigers coach Mike Norvell wildly jumped for joy as he tried to restore order. The scene drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, but Norvell didn't mind one bit.
On a day where the Tigers (6-4, 3-3 AAC) became bowl eligible for the fifth straight year, Williams' score proved one of the season's most emotional highs.
Here are five things learned from Saturday's win over Tulsa (2-8, 1-5):
Memphis is bowl eligible
There will hopefully come a point in time when simply earning bowl eligibility won’t be a big deal for the Memphis football team anymore. But we’re not there ... yet. Not when, less than a decade ago, the final three years of the Larry Porter era ended with fewer combined wins than this season.
Not when the school has never been to five bowl games in a row before.
Not when this program only went to five bowl games during the 42 seasons that preceded this current run.
Not when there’s only one other team in the American Athletic Conference with a longer bowl streak than Memphis.
This season may not have gone as Tiger fans planned, but it's still significant.
It might not feature another ap-
pearance in the AAC championship game, although those faint dreams were kept alive when Memphis obliterated Tulsa, 47-21, Saturday afternoon at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
There are those around town who consider it a disappointment because the Tigers’ six wins have come against teams with a combined record of 13-40 entering this weekend.
They haven't beaten anyone good yet, and they’ve lost to every decent opponent they’ve faced.
But the fact that another season with a bowl game inspires such angst is an achievement in its own right. If this is bad (and it’s not), it’s yet another sign of how far the program has come.
Two senior classes in a row have now experienced nothing but bowl games. The momentum from that is real.
"Now," senior Jackson Dillon said, "that’s just the expectation."
This is a moment to embrace perspective, just like so many around the city embraced football again when Justin Fuente got this team rolling in the right direction and Mike Norvell kept the progress going.
My guess is many of the diehards who sat in the cold to watch the Tigers’ latest victory realize all this.
Because if you were brave enough to be at the Liberty Bowl for kickoff, when the thermometer indicated it was 37 degrees and the opponent’s record indicated this would be a blowout, there’s a good chance you sat through some of those terrible seasons of the not-so-distant past.
On Saturday, there was a player and a punt return this fan base rarely saw in the past.
Start with Darrell Henderson, who rushed for another 166 yards and two touchdowns, adding to the greatest season by a Memphis running back not named DeAngelo Williams.
He became just the second player in school history to eclipse 3,000 career rushing yards (joining Williams) and could finish the year with more rushing yards than anyone in the country.
He also limped off the field gingerly late in the third quarter, another reminder of why you might want to come to the regular-season finale against Houston.
It could be his final home game at Memphis because he’s eventually going to play on Sundays, and it’s hard to imagine him risking injury for another year at the college level or surpassing what he’s done this season.
Then came the 72-yard punt return touchdown by wide receiver John "Pop" Williams, which featured an absurd spin move and an even more absurd celebration. Nearly the entire roster came pouring from the sideline and mobbed Williams.
Norvell dubbed it one of the greatest returns he's ever seen. Henderson said he thought Williams was "playing Madden." The referee couldn't figure out what player to flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, so he just called it on the whole team.
"It was kind of like a tidal wave," Norvell said.
"Once he got to that end zone, you try to keep them back. But boy, the problem is I looked down and I was at the 15-yard-line, too."
Many of them will be coming back next year, too.
There were likely at least 16 players who started Saturday’s game set to return. There are just eight seniors in the entire program. All of them are now guaranteed an extra month of practices.
Ultimately, the narrative for this season isn’t written yet.
If Memphis can win its final two games against SMU and Houston, the unlikely could happen and it ends up back in the AAC title game like everyone hoped before the year began.
Or perhaps this season just ends with another bowl game.
Maybe in the future, that won’t mean much. But it still does now.
"We want that to be the minimum standard," Norvell said.
"When you come to be part of the Memphis Tiger football team ... you’re going to be part of a program that’s progressing."