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Memphis football was right there.
The Tigers (8-3, 5-2 American Athletic Conference) saw their AAC title hopes come to an end with Saturday’s loss at home against SMU (9-2, 7-0 AAC). Memphis overcame a rocky start and was competitive throughout the afternoon, but in the end the Tigers made too many mistakes and couldn’t find a way past the Mustangs, who quieted the crowd of 30,313 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium and took another step toward reaching the conference title game with a 38-34 win.
It looked like it might be a long day for Memphis fans after SMU forced a turnover and then scored early in the first quarter to take a quick lead. But Memphis fought back thanks to another impressive performance from Seth Henigan, keeping it close before SMU pulled away late in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers had a few chances to tie the game late, but a series of penalties doomed a fourth-quarter drive and the Mustangs took control down the stretch.
Here are our takeaways from the game.
Memphis’ AAC title hopes came to an end
The Tigers had come into Saturday’s game on a four-game win streak, but they needed to beat the Mustangs to keep their conference title hopes alive. Memphis won most of its conference games, but the Tigers are now 0-2 against the top teams in the conference after Saturday’s loss and the Oct. 13 loss at home against Tulane. Memphis ultimately couldn’t overcome those two losses, even as the Tigers still have a shot at a 10-win season with a win next week and then a win in the bowl game.
Seth Henigan continued his career-best stretch
Memphis’ third-year quarterback has been banged up with an apparent left shoulder injury over the past two games, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting together maybe his best stretch as Memphis’ signal-caller. He was 18-of-24 for 172 yards and a touchdown in the first half and —…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/memphis-footballs-aac-title-hopes-202724090.html
Author : The Commercial Appeal
Publish date : 2023-11-18 20:27:24
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