Memphis made a pair of field goals and kept the Rebels off the board to hand Ole Miss its second loss on the road to a ranked opponent this season.
Advertisement
Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch, the best college quarterback most people haven’t heard about, put his name in a lot of ears Saturday. Conversely, it was the first loss against an unranked opponent for Ole Miss since 1976.
Junior quarterback Paxton Lynch led the Tigers by throwing for 384 yards and three touchdowns while completing 74 percent of his passes.
Ole Miss took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on two touchdown passes, one from junior wide receiver Laquon Treadwell.
“We’ve just got this natural connection”, Miller said of his chemistry with Lynch. Credit to the Rebels for beating Alabama in September, but the fact that they won that game by only six points despite winning the turnover battle 5-0 was a red flag. The Tigers are now 6-0 and would appear to be the clear favorite for the New Year’s Six bowl spot automatically given to the top mid-major champ. The Buffalo, New York native threw for over 300 yards for the fifth time this season, passing Eli Manning and Bo Wallace for the most 300+ yard games in a single season in school history.
Lynch (6-foot-7, 245 pounds) was superb, doing whatever he wanted against the Rebels’ secondary. Lynch completed 39 of 53 passes, with one interception, outdueling the Rebels’ Chad Kelly.
Lamar Jackson threw for 307 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 32 yards for Louisville (2-4), which had its two-game win streak snapped. The second took eight plays.
Lynch – who else? – was the main attraction.
“I think there was a time in the first quarter when they thought, ‘Maybe coach hasn’t been lying to us forever and we can do this, ‘” Fuente said, actually laughing. Yes, Ole Miss picked up 480 yards and only got outgained by 11.
But now a bigger question: Can they play from ahead? The All-SEC defensive lineman was lost in the first half after he suffered a concussion while playing running back.
Terry Swanson ran for 97 yards and a score, Damion Jones-Moore rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown, while Cody Thompson caught two passes for 110 yards, including an 88-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze gambled on fourth down twice in the second quarter and did not win anything.
Jake Elliott kicked a crucial 42-yard field goal with 9:44 left remaining that gave Memphis a 34-24 lead and halted the Rebels’ momentum.
Advertisement
Led by Coach Justin Fuente, who is nearly certainly is going to land a Power 5 job after this season, the Tigers roared back from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit to rip through 13th-ranked Ole Miss, 37-24. “They played hard. They played to the whistle and knew what they were doing”. The two teams almost were even offensively (Memphis had 489 yards, Ole Miss 480), but Memphis converted 12-of-21 third-down plays and the Rebels hit just 5-of-14. Usually known as a basketball school, the game drew 60,241 fans, which was the most for the Liberty Bowl since 2006.
