Led by a dominant 31-point fourth quarter and a 200-yard performance from Greg Desrosiers Jr., Memphis defeated Florida Atlantic 55-26, to improve to 5-0 on the season in Boca Raton Saturday night.
The Tigers’ offense had a great game, going for 487 total yards. They had 196 passing yards and an astounding 291 rushing yards. Desrosiers Jr. had 204 rushing yards on 19 carries along with 3 touchdowns. He was the first Tiger to have 200 rushing yards since 2019. Brendon Lewis added 60 yards on the ground as well as 2 touchdowns. Memphis receiver, Cortez Braham Jr., had 127 receiving yards along with 2 touchdowns.
"Once we put that together, me and Sutt, it's left, right, boom, boom, or it's just a hit here, a hit here," Desrosiers said of the rushing attack. "You've seen spurts of him, spurts of me, but just wait until we put it together. It's going to be special."
The Tigers’ defense struggled at times throughout the game but held together enough to hold Florida Atlantic to 26 points despite allowing 318 passing yards. The defense forced stops on multiple Florida Atlantic fourth down attempts throughout the game.
It was a slow start for Memphis on both ends of the ball. Memphis led 10-7 after the first quarter then allowed a touchdown, trailing 10-13. After this, Memphis quarterback Brendon Lewis went down with an injury and the drive stalled. He came back on the field to attempt a pass on fourth down and it was incomplete. Florida Atlantic answered with a field goal and led 16-10. It looked grim for the Tigers, but they struck back quickly with a touchdown to lead at the half 17-16.
"I just need to protect myself," Lewis said postgame. "And I don't think sliding is the answer. But I need to figure something else out."
Florida Atlantic received the kick for the second half but had to punt. They pinned Memphis on their own one-yard line. Memphis quickly got out of this situation with a 90-yard touchdown run from Greg Desrosiers Jr. Florida Atlantic responded later with a field goal, and the Tigers led 24-19 going into the fourth quarter.
Memphis started the quarter with another touchdown then forced a turnover on downs. They led by 12 and looked to be pulling, but Brendon Lewis was sacked and fumbled the ball. Florida Atlantic recovered it then went on to score a touchdown to make the score 31-26. After this though, the Memphis offense exploded, scoring 31 unanswered points in the last 9 minutes of the game.
The Tigers are now 1-0 in the conference and have won 9 games in a row extending back to last season. Memphis plays at home against Tulsa next Saturday, October 4th, at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
