Memphis wins the AAC West
The Memphis Tigers claimed their first American Athletic Conference Western Division Championship with a 66-45 victory over SMU.
The game was threatened by win, rain, and a lightning delay but all the elements mother nature could muster up Saturday, the Tigers were not going to be denied.
Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson talked about the lightning delay.
"Since I’ve been in Memphis, I think there’s been three or four times that it’s ever rained at practice and we’ve had lightning and had to go inside and we talk about it all the time, ‘we’re going to have to use this at some point. It’s going to happen.
’ You never know when it’s going to happen. We came in, we knew exactly what was going to happen and waited for the time to go out. We had a plan. I stayed warm and kept throwing. Guys were stretching, guys were on the bikes. We knew what we needed to do, and we just came back out and played our game."
The game didn't start off in the Tigers favor, SMU quickly built a 10-0 lead early in the first quarter.
"When we face adversity its nothing to us. We always work on situations and if something happens how we’re going to respond," Memphis wide receiver Anthony Miller said.
The Tiger defense buckled up and responded and forced SMU to go 3-and-out in three of SMU's next four possessions.
By the time SMU could manage their next meaningful drive, they were down 24-10.
Anthony Miller became the schools all-time leader in receptions passing former receiver Duke Calhoun.
Miller had 8 catches for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns.
At the half, the Tigers led 31-24.
The Tigers had the ball first in the 2nd half and scored on a 8-yard rush by Riley Ferguson to make it 38-24.
Ferguson had a career high 3 rushing touchdowns and that surprised him.
"I surprised myself so I’m going to have to try and elevate that part of my game some more."
SMU tried to keep it close. They were only down by 7 going into the 4th quarter. The Tigers took control in the 4th and never looked back and when the final seconds clicked off the clock it said Memphis 66, SMU 45.
The Tigers punched their ticket to the AAC Title game on December 2nd at 12pm EST. The site is to be determined.
The Tigers could travel to UCF if the Knights beat USF this Friday. If by chance USF can knock off UCF in the War on I-4 then Memphis would host the AAC Championship game.
Memphis has 1 more game before that takes place though. They host ECU Saturday in their regular season finale.