On a beautiful day for football, the University of Memphis hosted the Troy Trojans. Memphis honored the 1993 football team, which featured Danton Barto and NFL Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce. The Tigers continued to improve and defeated the Trojans 38-17 in front of 23,246 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.
Tigers head coach Ryan Silverfield was happy with the improvements made from game 1 to game 2 but said, “There is much more improvement that needs to be made. We are excited to be on the right side of the win column today. We are excited for what the future brings.”
On the biggest improvement, besides the running game, Silverfield said, “I was pleased with the kicking game. That is something we are going to need some consistent effort with. What I love about this team is that they are hungry.”
In the season opener last week, the running and kicking game needed improvement. Both areas showed progress. Mario Anderson Jr. rushed for 125 yards and scored two touchdowns. Brandon Thomas added two rushing touchdowns near the end zone. Caden Costa was perfect on the day, making his only field goal attempt and going 5 for 5 on extra points.
Anderson, on his improvement from last week, said, “It is part of the preparation with the game plan. Sometimes I have to be the hammer in the backfield. Other times I have to make plays in space. I have to be prepared to do what my number is called to do.”
All-conference quarterback Seth Henigan was steady in his performance, going 20 of 30 for 181 yards and one passing touchdown to tight end Brendan Doyle. He completed passes to nine different players, with Demeer Blankumsee catching four for 50 yards.
Henigan now has 82 passing touchdowns, moving into second place in all-time passing touchdowns at Memphis. He is only 8 touchdowns away from the all-time lead held by Danny Wimprine with 90 total touchdowns. Henigan extended his streak of throwing a touchdown to 39 consecutive games.
On relying on the running game more today, Henigan said, “It starts with coach Cramsey and the calls he is making. We were having success in the run game, so we decided to stick with that. There haven’t been many times we’ve rushed for over 200 yards. It feels really good to set the tone early for our offense.”
Regarding how close the offense is to hitting its stride, Henigan said, “I don’t think we are close to our peak performance. There are a lot of points we left on the table. Our guys did a great job of being locked in. I thought our offensive line was locked in.”
The Tigers’ defense continued to show improvement, forcing another turnover and allowing only 251 total yards. Elijah Herring led the way with 8 total tackles, including 2 tackles for loss. Herring also forced a fumble. Chandler Martin had 7 tackles and a pass breakup.
Herring, on the defense, said, “We are a bunch of guys that came in knowing the defense wasn’t as good last year. We wanted to come in and make a name for ourselves. Memphis is known for having an explosive offense. We just want to put some respect on the defense’s name.”
Troy fell to 0-2 on the season. The Trojans were led by Matthew Caldwell, who had 113 passing yards on 11 completions. Damien Taylor was the leading rusher with 33 yards. Quarterback Goose Crowder scored on a rushing touchdown but was injured on the play and did not return. Caldwell scored the other rushing touchdown.
Monday could bring some good news for the football team. Memphis was receiving votes in both the coaches and Associated Press polls, ranked 28th and 29th, respectively. A few teams ahead of the Tigers lost on Saturday, setting up the possibility of Memphis returning to the polls.
Coach Silverfield delivered news that no one wanted to hear: starting running back Sutton Smith will be out for the season and will require surgery on a knee injury suffered in the opening game against Northern Alabama.
Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies was at the game, and it did not go unnoticed by the players. Some celebrated with him after a touchdown was scored.
Next up for Memphis (2-0) will be a nationally televised game against Florida State. It will be a reunion for the Tigers with former head coach Mike Norvell. There are still a lot of connections between the coaching staffs of both schools. The game will kick off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 14, and can be seen on ESPN.
