No. 23 Tigers Drop AAC Opener at Navy
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The 23 rd -ranked University of Memphis football team fell on the road in a high-scoring affair to open American Athletic Conference play with a 56-44 loss to Navy Saturday afternoon in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Tigers (3-1, 0-1 AAC) racked up 659 yards of total offense, including 385 through the air and 274 on the ground. Memphis had a pair of 100-yard rushers ( Brandon Thomas, Mario Anderson Jr. ) and a pair of 100-yard receivers ( Roc Taylor, Koby Drake ) for the first time since 2017 against UCF. The 659 total yards were the most for Memphis since totaling 600 in last season’s win over North Texas.
The two teams exchanged blows in the first half with Memphis jumping out to a 7-0 lead when Anderson Jr. rushed in his first of three rushing touchdowns in the game. Navy (3-0, 2-0 AAC) answered with a rushing touchdown of its own from quarterback Blake Horvath before Thomas busted off a 57-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up 14-7.
Navy took a 21-14 lead to mark the first time since last season’s loss to Tulane that the Tigers trailed in a game. Caden Costa connected on a 29-yard field goal with 2:14 to play in the first half to cut their deficit to four, but the Midshipmen quarterback Horvath rushed in his second touchdown of the day to put Navy up 28-17 with just 11 seconds to play in the half.
The Tigers trailed by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter, but stormed back behind a 38-yard touchdown reception by Marcello Bussey – his first as a Tiger – followed by a successful two-point attempt hauled in by Drake to make it an 11-point game.
The Memphis defense got a stop and marched right back down the field and found paydirt once again when Anderson Jr. rushed in his third score of the day from a yard out to trim the Navy lead to five points. An initially successful two-point try caught by Drake that would have made it a three-point game was reviewed and overturned to keep the deficit at five.
With 1:20 remaining, Memphis kicker Tristan Vandenberg recovered his own onside kick to give the Tigers one more chance. Henigan led the Tiger offense down to Navy’s 26-yard line before Rayuan Lane came up with the play of the game – an 86-yard pick-six to seal the win for the Midshipmen.
Senior quarterback Seth Henigan completed 32-of-56 passes for 371 yards with two touchdowns and an interception while extending his streak of throwing a touchdown pass in every game of his career to 41 games. Henigan’s 41-game streak (every game of his career) is now tied with 2014 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota for the second-longest streak in FBS history.
The Tigers have now scored 20 or more points in 31-consecutive games – the longest active streak in the nation – dating back to a 33-28 win over Tulane on Nov. 27, 2021.
UP NEXT
The Tigers are back at home on Saturday, Sept. 28 against Middle Tennessee (1-2) with kick scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.
Full coverage of the Memphis Tigers this week on 92.9 FM ESPN, Memphis' Sports Station
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