Memphis beats Cincinnati 41-14 in AAC opener

Saturday, October 4

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:00 PM

University of Memphis

3-2 , 1-0

Cincinnati

2-2 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Memphis

Cincinnati

Oct 04, 2014 | Football

Box Score

Oct. 4, 2014

CINCINNATI, Ohio - Paxton Lynch passed for a career-high 311 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores as Memphis opened American Athletic Conference play with a 41-14 win over Cincinnati at Paul Brown Stadium.

Lynch directed an offense that amassed 610 yards of total offense, third most in a single game in school history. It was the most yards of offense since the 1984 Memphis team had 630 yards against Cincinnati.

Lynch threw touchdown passes of nine and 29 yards in the first quarter and his 10-yard touchdown run later in the period put the Tigers ahead, 24-7. He added a 10-yard scoring run late in the third quarter for the final points of the game.

In addition to Lynch's passing numbers, the Tigers ran racked up 299 rushing yards.

Sam Craft made his first career start at running back and carried the ball 38 times for 170 yards and a touchdown. Craft's 38 carries was a top-five performance by a Tiger.

Defensively, Tank Jakes had 10 tackles including three for loss and a pair of quarterback sacks.

Looking at the final outcome, it is hard to believe how it started.

On the first play from scrimmage, Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel hooked up with Mekale McCay for an 80-yard touchdown pass to put the Bearcats out in front 7-0 just 17 seconds into the game.

The Tigers however would quickly respond.

Bobby McCain's 59-yard return of the ensuing kickoff gave Memphis the ball on the shortside of the field. Lynch's 9-yard touchdown pass to Tevin Jones capped a seven-play, 41-yard drive.

Cincinnati's next drive ended with a Kiel pass being intercepted by Bakari Hollier at the UC 48 and a face mask penalty on the play set up the Tigers at the 33.

Three plays into the Tigers' next series, Lynch hooked up with Adrian Henderson for a 29-yard touchdown pass and a 14-7 UM lead.

Jake Elliott would later add the first of his two, 20-yard field goals. A Cincinnati turrrnover would lead to Lynch's 10-yard touchdown run with 1:06 to play in the opening quarter.

Jakes sacked Kiel on back-to-back plays. On the second, he stripped Kiel of the ball. Cortez Crosby recovered at the Cincinnati 11 and help set up Lynch's eventual scoring run.

In the final minutes of the first half, Kiel had a six-yard touchdown pass to Shaq Washington get called back by an offensive pass interference call. Cincinnati would later miss a 38-yard field goal.
   Kiel would suffer a chest injury on the final play of the first half and would not return to play after intermission. He finished the game by completing 11-of-27 passes for 216 yards.

Munchie Legaux took over for Kiel in the second half and directed the Bearcats on a scoring drive UC's first series of the second half. Rod Moore had 24 rushing yards on four carries on the drive, including a five-yard touchdown run.

Memphis would respond with a 75-yard drive to extend its lead to 34-14.

Sam Craft converted a third-and-six play early with a nine-yard run while an 11-yard Lynch to Keiwone Malone pass got the ball to midfield. Lynch would also complete a 23-yard pass to Tevin Jones and a 16-yard pass to Roderick Proctor moved the ball into the red zone. Craft culminated the drive with a six-yard touchdown run.

Lynch would add a 10-yard scoring run with three minutes to play in the third quarter.

Memphis would close the game with a 20-play drive that consumed the final 12:55 of the game.

The loss was Cincinnati's worse since a 38-0 loss to West Virginia on Nov. 9, 2005.

"We built this game up all week," Memphis coach Justin Fuente said. "It was important to us. I'm awfully proud of this team."

Memphis ran 94 offensive plays and had the ball for 40:55. The Tigers held possession in the fourth quarter for all but 40 seconds.