University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Houston
Tigers Edged By Cougars In Overtime, 23-20
Nov 18, 2006 | Football
Nov. 18, 2006
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- It appeared that the Tiger seniors were going to get their wish - to leave Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium with a win.
Despite Houston entering the contest with the C-USA championship in grasp, the Memphis football team gave its fans some serious fireworks to close out its final home game of the 2006 campaign, taking Conference USA's best team to overtime before falling 23-20 to the Cougars.
The Tigers have had good success against the Cougars in recent years, winning the last three previous meetings between the two programs. Although Memphis didn't come out with the win this season, they took the Cougars to the limit, and Houston was thanking its lucky stars to be leaving the Liberty Bowl with a three-point overtime victory.
For the first time in three weeks, Memphis was the first team on the scoreboard. After the Tigers' first drive ended with an interception by Patrick Byrne who started ahead of Martin Hankins for Senior Day, Memphis forced Houston to punt the ball right back. True freshman kicker Matt Reagan then capped a 13-play, 69-yard drive with a 22-yard field goal to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Memphis quarterback Martin Hankins was perfect on the drive, connecting on all five of his pass attempts and finding four different receivers.
After another Cougar punt, the Tigers went up 6-0 early in the second quarter when Reagan booted a career long 41-yard field goal.
However, Houston rallied on two touchdown strikes from quarterback Kevin Kolb and a Ben Bell field goal to go ahead 17-6 as the teams headed to the locker room at the half.
In the second half, the Tiger defense fought back coming up with big stops and not giving up any points in the third period. Houston tacked on a field goal with 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to go up 20-6.
The Memphis offense immediately marched back down the field, going 75 yards in 13 plays to pull the Tigers back within one score on a one-yard touchdown run by Joe Doss.
Doss had a fantastic performance in the final home game of the season, rushing for a career-high 133 yards on 28 carries. The junior also led the team with four pass receptions to extend his streak of consecutive games with at least one catch to 11.
On the ensuing kick return Memphis picked up a personal foul that set up Houston in good field position. The Cougars whittled their way down to the Memphis 7-yard line and appeared to have the Tigers' number when Bell lined up to try a 24-yard field goal that would have given his team a comfortable 10-point lead with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers refused to go down, and Memphis senior Brandon McDonald broke into the backfield and blocked the kick. Greg Jackson picked up the loose ball and took it back 80 yards to tie the game at 20-20.
On the ensuing possession Memphis safety Michael Grandberry stripped Houston's Anthony Alridge and Tiger linebacker Jake Kasser recovered to put Memphis in position to win the game.
With only 43 seconds remaining and Memphis on the Houston 32, the Tigers picked up two costly penalties. They were unable to move into field goal range and found themselves in their first overtime game of the year.
Memphis opened the overtime period with the ball, but after failing to pick up a first down had to rely on a field goal by Reagan. The freshman pushed the ball wide left, giving the Tigers no points and Turning possession over to the Cougars.
Behind the hardnosed running of tailback Jackie Battle, Houston moved the ball to the Memphis eight, where it had a first and goal. The Cougars tried to power the ball on three straight plays, but the Memphis defense stood tall stuffing Battle on a third and goal from the one.
Bell knocked through a chip shot 17-yard field goal, and Houston hung on to win and earn its first victory against Memphis since 2003.
Despite the loss the Tigers showed the kind of tenacity needed to become a top notch program, and Head Coach Tommy West's promises of defensive improvement showed that they were coming to fruition.
The Tigers' stymied the league's top offense all day, holding quarterback Kevin Kolb to just 166 yards passing in the contest. Led by defensive end Greg Terrell, the Memphis defense battered Kolb and sacked the Heisman candidate seven times.
Houston, which was averaging a total of 476 yards of total offense per game, was able to gain only 371 against the Tigers and was held 13 points below its season scoring average.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
