No. 22 Memphis dropped to 8-2 (4-2) after a 38-32 loss to 7-2 (4-1) Tulane 38-32 Friday night at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, despite a furious fourth quarter comeback attempt.
Memphis had an opportunity to put together a game-winning drive but fell short after a turnover on downs with less than two minutes to play.
“We didn’t execute,” Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield said. “There are no more victories by any stretch of the imagination.
Tulane scored a season-high 35 points in the first half, beating a previous best of 34 points in a win over Duke. It was also more than Memphis had allowed in a game all season.
Tulane struck on their first offensive play with a 65-yard pass from Jake Retzlaff to open the scoring. Brendon Lewis had a quick retort one drive later with a 55-yard pass of his own to tie the game up.
Lewis was very accurate throughout the game, with the biggest issue apart from a lone INT, being the pass protection or lack thereof, with Memphis allowing Lewis to be sacked 6 times. The hits on the QB seemed to add up with him being taken out of the game repeatedly
Throughout the first half, the passing attack of Tulane was surgical, and the Memphis secondary didn’t have any answers. Jake Retzlaff went 14-15 for 284 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first half with 10 of those completions coming in the second quarter.
The second quarter would be the biggest of the game for the Green Wave with 224 yards and 21 points.
After a 35-17 deficit made it seem like a likely defeat for the Tigers, they rallied hard in the second half outplaying Tulane on both sides of the ball. They outgained Tulane 197 to 93 and outscored them 15-3 in the second half.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” Memphis linebacker Sam Brumfield said of the team’s halftime mindset. “We knew what we had to do.”
Brady Kluse and Cortez Braham Jr. both had a productive day, with Kluse posting a career-high 6 receptions and 83 yards and Braham Jr. breaking his all-time best 9 receptions with 11.
The issue of Brendon Lewis’s Health is coming into question with the QB missing parts of each game seemingly. Redshirt freshman Arrington Maiden was put in for Lewis several times, as early as the first quarter and more crucially the final and potentially game-winning drive.
Memphis HC Ryan Silverfield previously opted for AJ Hill in a backup QB scenario in the UAB game when Lewis went down with an injury.
“We evaluate them literally week by week, and they’ve both done a great job,” Silverfield said. “We’ve got great faith that both will be wonderful quarterbacks here at Memphis, but at the point you just felt like Arrington was the best situation”
The game had massive ramifications for both the American Conference, but also the No. 12 seed playoff spot that Memphis was projected to earn earlier this week. After a second loss, a playoff berth is likely impossible, and an American Conference Championship game seems unlikely with five one-loss teams ahead of them in Conference standings.
Memphis will play two of those five, and they would have the tiebreaker over USF if the Bulls were to lose another game. North Texas and Tulane are now their biggest obstacles on the route to a conference championship game.
After the game, Coach Silverfield detailed the mood in the locker room, “Pissed, frustrated and anger, those are the only things I want them to feel.” He was adamant that his “group of 118 guys” was special, and he went on to say, “I’m proud of the way they fight, I’m proud of the way they believe and that’s something they can hang their hat on.”
He said the team will have no problems rallying to finish the season 10-2 and seeing what’s needed of his squad from there.
The Tigers play the best defense in the American next week, 5-3 East Carolina who allows both the least yards and points a game in the conference and is also a top 3 in yards a game. ECU is one of the two one-loss teams Memphis will have the opportunity to play, allowing them to lower ECU’s stock and raise their own. Tulane gave the Pirates their only American loss of the season, and Memphis will look to give them a second conference loss.
The game will take place at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC Saturday, and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU at 3:00 p.m.
