SAN ANTONIO – For the first time this season, Memphis football played a game and one side of the ball didn’t stand out.
The story of this season has been one of what players and coaches have called complementary football. The Tigers’ defense carried them to wins over North Alabama, Troy, Florida State, Middle Tennessee and South Florida. The offense struggled in some of those games.
But the defense struggled mightily in the Sept. 21 loss to Navy, giving up 49 points before a late interception returned for touchdown sealed the win for the Midshipmen. The offense won the game against North Texas, putting up 52 points, and the Tigers needed more late-game offensive heroics to skate past Charlotte.
Saturday’s demoralizing 44-36 loss at UTSA, though? It wasn’t about one side of the ball. All three phases let the Tigers down in a game that ended their College Football Playoff hopes and started the inquest into what exactly happened this season.
“Obviously, not good enough in any form or fashion, in any phase of football, for the Memphis Tigers today,” coach Ryan Silverfield said postgame. “It started off bad, and we didn’t get the answers and find the problems to get fixed. In all three phases.”
It was a crushing loss because of totality and finality of the game. There was no missed call or controversial replay decision to cling on to. There was no last-second play (save for an onside kick attempts) that could’ve gone differently, like Seth Henigan’s late interception against Navy. Memphis (7-2, 3-2 AAC) simply lost to a UTSA team that was coming off a 46-45 loss to Tulsa.
Defense struggles early, then starts getting stops
Memphis’ offense played well in the first half, putting up 24 points thanks to two long touchdowns by receiver Demeer Blankumsee. The defense had problems containing Roadrunners quarterback Owen McCown, though, allowing three touchdowns to three different UTSA tight ends in the first 30 minutes while McCown threw for 192 yards.
Jordon Hankins’ defense has confused and frustrated opposing offenses on plenty of occasions this season, but the gaps in the secondary were hard to miss. The Tigers missed starting cornerback Kobee Minor, who missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury, and allowed 108 receiving yards to speedy UTSA receiver Chris Carpenter.
Still, Memphis made the requisite adjustments at halftime. The Tigers allowed another touchdown to a tight end early in the third quarter, but they started to get stops or force field goal attempts after that.
The problem, at that point, was on the other side of the ball.
Memphis football offense dries up in the third quarter
It’s almost cruel that Henigan had his best statistical game of the season on Saturday: 35-of-52 for 454 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception. It was a season-high in yardage and only the second time in his Memphis career he’s thrown for more than 450 yards.
The other was during his true freshman season against Tulsa. The Tigers also lost that game, 35-29.
There will be plenty of issues to diagnose when Memphis players and coaches go back and watch the film of Saturday’s fateful third quarter. The five penalties for 30 yards in the quarter (eight for 81 in the game) will stand out.
Memphis’ first three offensive drives resulted in nine plays, minus-10 yards, zero first downs and three punts. By the time the offense kicked into gear in the final minutes, UTSA (4-5, 2-3) had already used short fields to go up by three scores, a deficit even Henigan’s late-game heroics couldn’t overcome.
Running back Mario Anderson had 11 carries for 54 yards in the first half. He finished with 12 carries for 53 yards.
“Just got to learn and execute better,” Henigan said. “Especially on the offensive side in the third quarter. Just too many mental errors from everyone. It wasn’t just one person. It was a variety of people. Myself included, for sure.”
Special teams uneven once again
It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the Tigers’ special teams this season, either. Silverfield has gone back and forth between kickers Caden Costa and Tristian Vandenberg during the last few weeks as both have struggled with missed kicks.
Costa was back as the starter on Saturday and made a 22-yarder in the first quarter, but he missed an extra point late.
Then there was the punt return coverage, which allowed returns of 21 and 23 yards to Carpenter.
“It was just a poor showing all around,” Silverfield said.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at [email protected] or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis football hopes for Playoff end in crushing loss to UTSA
