Houston football falls to Memphis in AAC West battle for division crown

Memphis punished Houston football on the ground to steal away the AAC West title on Black Friday. The Tigers now get a rematch against UCF.

The AAC West title was on the line when Houston headed north to face off against Memphis at the Liberty Bowl Stadium in early Black Friday action. It was a back-and-forth battle for the two division rivals, with multiple lead changes before Memphis finally pulled away for the 52-31 victory at home. Both teams finished 5-3 in

The Cougars drew first blood, scoring on their first series of the game as true freshman quarterback Clayton Tune found Terry Mark for a 33-yard touchdown reception on a free play gifted by a Memphis offside.

Tune had a solid day in defeat, throwing for 256 yards and three touchdowns. But his consistency left something to be desired on an 18-of-43 day, and Tune would eventually throw a late interception in the end zone with 2:13 remaining to kill any chance of a comeback.

After allowing the visitors to take the lead in the first quarter, the Tigers clamped down and scored 17 unanswered points. Darrell Henderson and Patrick Taylor Jr. punished the Cougars front seven for consistent gains on the ground, while Brady White was doing his part to guide Memphis downfield. It looked like the hosts would go into the locker room up by double digits as the second quarter wound down and they drove inside Cougars territory.

Gleson Sprewell had other plans. Inside Houston territory with four minutes remaining, White telegraphed a pass that the Houston safety read the whole way. Sprewell jumped the route and returned the interception 63 yards to put the Cougars ahead 21-17.

Shaking off the turnover, Memphis drove downfield once again on the ensuing drive. Setting up inside the red zone, the Tigers got themselves into a goal-to-go situation at the Houston 5 when Sprewell struck again. White tried to throw toward the pylon, but Sprewell snatched his second pick of the game to thwart the hosts with only 17 seconds remaining before the intermission.

Coming out of the break, Memphis forced a punt before embarking on a 13-play, 84-yard drive that swallowed up more than four minutes of clock. The drive ended with a 28-yard Taylor rushing touchdown to put the Tigers back up 24-21.

With Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver on the sidelines in the second half, Memphis kept punching with their ground game. Oliver’s early departure from the contest, in what might end up being his final game in a Cougars uniform, changed the entire tenor of the battle as the Tigers dominated their visitors at the line of scrimmage and got quickly to the second level.

Henderson tallied 178 rushing yards and two scores in his 24 handoffs, as he set the new AAC single-season rushing record with two games left to play. Taylor finished the game with 128 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Tony Pollard ran for 83 yards and a score and added 116 receiving yards on 19 total touches. And Sam Craft added a 28-yard touchdown run on his only carry of the day.

After three quarters, though, the two teams were still deadlocked at 31-31. Taylor’s third touchdown of the game with just over 12 minutes remaining gave Memphis a lead they would finally hold to the final whistle. The defense forced a three-and-out on the next Houston drive, getting the ball back for Darrell Henderson to bust off a 60-yard touchdown run to take a two-touchdown lead that wouldn’t be overcome in the final 10 minutes of the game.

With the win, 8-4 Memphis claims the AAC West for the second straight year. Over the past two seasons, no school has given UCF more fits than the Tigers. Last year, Mike Norvell’s team forced two overtimes in Orlando before falling 62-55 in the AAC championship game. Earlier this season, Memphis was the only team to play the Knights within single digits as UCF barely survived 31-30 at home against the Tigers. Now Memphis gets a third chance to end the Knights’ winning streak at Spectrum Stadium.

Houston, meanwhile, concludes another disappointing regular season that began with so much promise. After a 7-1 start to the season, the Cougars dropped three of their last four to fall out of the lead in the AAC West. Now they are left to wait and see where they land in the final conference postseason pecking order, as injuries finally caught up with a team that spent much of the year on borrowed time.