Memphis Tigers Football, NCAA Football NEWS
Memphis Mistakes Gives Louisville Win
Published by MFSKEN on October 11, 2008
The Memphis Tigers turned the ball over, had special teams breakdowns, dropped five passes and couldn’t manage the clock, literally giving away a 35-28 win to the Louisville Cardinals Friday night at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Louisville RB Victor Anderson is Gang Tackled by the Memphis Defense
Memphis lost two fumbles, had a pass intercepted, allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown, had a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown and a defensive breakdown allowing a wide open Pete Nochta to score on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Hunter Cantwell.
Post game comments from the Tigers head coach would have you believing Memphis played their best game of the season. If this is Memphis’ best, the Tigers are in trouble the rest of the year.
‘‘I’ve got to find a way to get our special teams better,’’ Tigers head coach Tommy West said. ‘‘Offensively and defensively, I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a football team.
I don’t know if I’ve had one in the eight years I’ve been here play as hard as they did.”
‘‘Outside of our special teams, we pretty much dominated the game offensively and defensively. We played our tails off.’’
Memphis dominated statistically, finishing with 481 total yards to Louisville’s 299. Arkelon Hall was 33-of-55 for 350 yards and two touchdowns, running back Curtis Steele gained 80 yards on 16 carries and Carlos Singleton caught five passes for 83 yards to lead the Tigers.
Louisville quarterback Hunter Cantwell wasn’t spectacular but effective, completing 13-of-25 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Victor Anderson gained 81 yards on 15 carries to lead the Cardinals rushing attack.
Memphis took an early 7-0 lead after both teams committed turnovers on consecutive plays. After a Steele fumble was recovered by Louisville, the Tigers got the ball right back when Deante Lamar intercepted Cantwell at the Louisville 23.
Six plays later the Tigers scored on a 1-yard run by Hall.
Louisville tied the game early in the second quarter on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Cantwell to Trent Guy, who was wide open at the Memphis 10 when he caught the ball and glided in for the score.
The Tigers went ahead 14-7 in the second quarter, three plays after Hall hit Singleton for a 48-yard gain to the Louisville 7. On third-and-goal from the 1, receiver Maurice Jones took a handoff and threw back across the field to Hall for the score.
The Tigers lead lasted 14 seconds. On the ensuing kickoff, Guy raced 95 yards untouched to tie the game at 14.
Louisville's Johnny Patrick Blocks Memphis' Vinny Zaccario's FG Attempt
The Cards’ held Memphis on downs on the ensuing possession. Louisville’s Doug Beaumont returned the Tigers punt 25 yards to the Memphis 38, setting up the Cantwell pass to Nochta for an easy score and a 21-14 advantage with 2:05 left in the first half.
On their next possession, Memphis took over at its 14, driving into position for a Vinny Zaccario 47-yard field goal attempt with 13 seconds remaining.
After Louisville used its final two timeouts to ice Zaccario, the field goal attempt was blocked by Johnny Patrick and returned 60 yards for a touchdown by Brandon Heath as time expired in the first half, giving Louisville a 28-14 lead.
Memphis opened the second half by driving 69 yards in seven plays for a score, needing only 2:01 to cut Louisville’s lead to 28-21. Hall connected with wide receiver Earnest Williams on a 7-yard pass to cap the drive.
Memphis tied the game at 28 with 1:51 to go in the third quarter on a 12-play drive with Hall completing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Singleton.
Louisville took the lead for good at the 12:00 mark of the fourth quarter when the Cards’ Rodney Gnat sacked Hall, who then fumbled. Patrick swooped up the loose ball at the Memphis 21 and raced to the end zone to put Louisville ahead 35-28.
On the Tigers next possession, Memphis drove to the Louisville 9, where it faced fourth-and-4 with 6;30 remaining. West sent Zaccario out for a 26-yard field goal attempt, but called a timeout and re-inserted Hall, whose fourth-down pass to Singleton was out of the end zone.
Trailing by seven, the Tigers forced Louisville to give them one last chance. They forced the Cardinals to punt the ball back to them with 4:14 to go and one timeout. But Arkelon Hall’s three straight incompletions ended a chance for a rally.
Memphis (3-4) will regroup and return to C-USA play next weekend at East Carolina. Louisville, playing its first road game of the season, improved to 3-2 and will face Middle Tennessee State next week.
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