Memphis, TN – The Memphis Tigers’ speed burned Navy to overwhelm them on both sides of the football to subdue the Mids, 35-17.  Memphis QB Seth Henigan needed to complete only eight of 12 passes for 215 yards.   Three came on different drives went for 49 yards to Jason Ivory, 74 for a TD to Eddie Lewis, and 51 to Koby Drake in the third to set up scores.  Once in the red zone, the Tigers capitalized with short scores. Henigan sat out the fourth quarter.

Two lightning strikes with rolling thunder in between

    Henigan tossed a three-yard TD to Sean Dykes to finish the opening drive of the game set up by Ivory’s catch.  After that, Navy’s “best defense” dominated to keep the Tiger offense. They kept them off the field with a 21-play, 11:50 minute scoring drive.  The Mids converted first downs three times on third and once on fourth to sustain the drive.  Navy controlled the line of scrimmage until FB James Harris II plunged into the end zone from the two with 20 seconds left tin the first.  His Mom sitting nearby cheered wildly, “His first touchdown!” However, Tiger WR Calvin Austin III took a reverse toss on the next Memphis play from scrimmage. He raced unscathed around the right side 69 yards for a 14-7 home team lead as the period ended.

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    In the second, Navy LB Diego Fagot intercepted and returned for an apparent pick-six.  However, a gold helmet lain in the middle of the field, and the refs assessed Navy with a personal foul due to participation without a helmet.  The Mids settled for Bijan Nichols’ 35-yard FG as a result of the game’s only turnover. Memphis countered again quickly with Henigan’s 74-yard scoring strike to Lewis.  The Tiger receiving corps could not be covered by Navy’s secondary.  With 40 seconds left, Memphis capped the scoring in the half with a 12-play, 63-yard drive with Brandon Thomas taking it over from the three.  Tigers 28, Mids 10 at intermission.

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Down but not out, yet

   Navy (1-5, 1-3) opened the second half with a 75-yard scoring drive finishing unusually with 21-yard TD pass from QB Tai Lavatai to WR Mychal Cooper.  Maybe the Mids could make this a game with a key turnover or two, but as noted, the Memphis Tiger offense possessed superior speed to allow the Mids to get within scoring distance.  Henigan’s 51-yard pass to Drake put them at Navy’s 17 on the next drive. Marquavious Weaver ran in from the four to go up, 35-17, with 6:07 left in Q3.

Playing through

   The teams played to a scoreless standstill the rest of the game. Memphis HC Ryan Silverfield inserted second teamers into his offense in the fourth.  Down by 18, Navy converted a fake punt into a first down and picked up 15 more on a roughing the passer infraction.  However, starting QB Lavatai got injured on a sack of 10 yards by Rodney Owens on the next play. Xavier Arline replaced him for the balance of the game.  The Mids attempted a 55-yard FG by Nichols, but came up empty. After that, Memphis gave its reserves some game experience on offense to run out the clock.

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Next up

With the score settled, 35-17, Memphis stands at 4-3, 1-2 ending a three-game losing streak. They travel to Central Florida a week from Saturday.  Cincinnati does not appear on their slate this season.  However, Navy hosts the No. 3 Bearcats that same day. Collegefootballfan.com has its second game of Week 7 tomorrow.  We’ll see FCS No. 10 East Tennessee State (6-0, 3-0) visit UT Chattanooga (2-4, 1-2) in a key Southern Conference match.  We’ll also be sure to visit the Chattanooga Brewing Company right next to Finley Stadium as we did in our season opener there.

Extra Points:

    Speaking of side trips, we visited Elvis Presley’s Graceland before heading to the Liberty Bowl.  St. Laurie and I visited the Elvis Exhibitions and The King’s airplanes.  Enjoyed the videos of his concerts gone by, his car collection, and the tribute to his service in the Army.  Can’t imagine many celebrities nowadays that would make that commitment as Elvis did.  We laughed having our pictures inserted with Elvis and co-stars on some of his classic movie posters.  It’s great to have the time now, since retired, to go to games and plan some interesting side trips as well. 

    We also met up with a long-time friend and Auburn fan/alum Rick Selleck who’s had some health issues. He’s recovering nicely though.  We had hoped to have him join us at the game, but instead we had lunch together at the Germantown Commissary for some great BBQ. We’ll catch up again in the future now that we are fellow Tennesseans!

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Out with the new, in with the old

   Still trying to get used to new technologies replacing old traditions like game programs and paper tickets at college games. Regarding programs, why can’t the publish laminated tri-fold as least with team rosters and some update stats?  It’s better than whipping out a cell phone to look stuff up.  We don’t miss all the ads and overdone historical analysis of seasons past and traditional game histories from cover to cover in every edition.  It would be nice, however, to allow fans to have basic game information in their hands for quick references.

  Regarding electronic tickets, here’s an issue run into at this game.  Purchased from the Naval Academy, the cell phone ticket gave “7:30” as the start time.  They need to at least indicate the time zone.  The game kicked off at 6:30 pm CST. That is where the ticket holder is going to attend the game.  Had another phone app not been checked, we would have been late.  We had to cancel a tailgate plan to get to the game on time, find parking, and walk half a mile to the game.  Luckily, we got there on time, but I will definitely talk with the Navy ticket department about this.

This even surprised us, this was only the third time we attended a Memphis game. They have won two and lost one. We first saw them play Army at West Point when both played in Conference USA. Though we’ve been to the Liberty Bowl before, we saw the actual bowl game in 2009 when Kentucky defeated East Carolina.

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