A little more than a year ago, the University of Memphis football team was lauded for close road losses at then no. 11 UCLA and no. 10 Ole Miss. The thought around Memphis was “Hey, we can at least hang with quality teams now.”
Fast-forward 12 months later, they’re not just hanging with quality teams, they’re beating them and, quite frankly, in dominating fashion.
Unlike the Tigers’ 1996 win against Peyton Manning’s No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers, this was no fluke, Memphis outscored No. 13 Ole Miss 37-10 in the final 54-plus minutes on their way to a 37-24 win Saturday. The Tigers, who are now 6-0 for the first time since 1961, can truly start to dream of a season people may never stop talking about. Given what we saw last season, that is quite a statement.
Paxton Lynch, once again, proved he is the real deal by delivering another big win for both the for program and his draft stock by completing 39-of-53 passes for 384 yards and three touchdowns. This time around, the only “fluke” of the Tigers’ performance was a Lynch interception that came off a deflected pass – not that Lynch will care one bit.
Like Lynch, Justin Fuente, once again, proved why he will be in the mix for several Power Five jobs at the end of this season. Yes, the Tigers have started way too slow out of the gates, especially in the past four weeks, but when it counts most, Fuente has pushed all of the right buttons with this team and there is a lot to say for that.
The Tiger defense, which has been maligned for most of this season (and rightfully so) made the crucial plays when they needed to most, and not just down the stretch. Memphis’ two key 4th-and-1 stops in the second quarter allowed the Tigers to go on a 31-0 run which spanned three quarters. Even three days later, that is still quite remarkable.
And of course there were the fans.
More than 60,000 came out to watch Saturday’s game. While some people may have been disappointed by the “only 45,000” that attended the Cincinnati game three weeks ago, yesterday definitely showed Tiger Nation is well and alive. Everywhere I looked after the game whether it was Facebook, Twitter or Instagram the Memphis/Ole Miss game was there.
Even people who could have cared less about the Tigers a few years ago were congratulating, enjoying the team’s success. Given where this program was not too long ago, it’s a near miracle. I mean Justin Timberlake’s presence in Memphis last night was an afterthought, because of Tiger football. Imagine saying that just even a year ago.
However, this moment truly started last season, when the Tigers showed they learned and improved from those close losses as they finished the season 10-3 with seven straight victories - two of which were clinching a tri-share of the American Athletic Conference Championship and the Miami Beach Bowl.
Five games into this season, Memphis continued to build off that momentum by remaining undefeated despite close calls at Bowling Green, an ESPN Thursday night home game against Cincinnati and even AAC strugglers South Florida. Showing the resiliency the team and program has gained throughout Fuente’s tenure.
Even though Memphis’ 12-game winning streak was a program record and the third longest streak in the country, heading into Saturday’s game against then no. 13 Ole Miss, they hadn’t beaten a ranked team or earned a “signature” win for the nation to truly take notice of yet.
After building a 14-0 lead in the first five minutes of Saturday’s game, it looked like Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly and company were going to deny the Tigers another chance at a signature win.
Although, as has been the case so many times this season, the Tigers eventually woke up and took control of the game.
Now Sports Illustrated has articles on Memphis being a dark-horse candidate for the College Football Playoff. Though the Tigers still have a long way to go before crossing that bridge.
For now, Memphis will have to settle for being a top 20 team in both polls. Given where this program was a few years ago – much less 12 months ago – Tiger fans will happily take it.
What a difference a year makes.
Tiger football has given Memphis much more to cheer about than just Saturday’s win against Ole Miss. The Tigers have won 13 consecutive games and have not lost for more than a year.
