Takeaways from Memphis' loss to Navy

Memphis wrapped up the regular season Thursday night with an 11-point loss against Navy. The Tigers will go to a bowl game but finish the regular season 8-4 and 4-4 in conference play. 

Ryan Silverfield’s team led by three at halftime, but they only possessed the ball for less than seven minutes in the second half and couldn’t find ways to stop the Midshipmen’s option attack. 

Navy finished the game with 300 yards of offense, including 200 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Quarterback Blake Horvath led the team with 100 yards and a touchdown through the air and ran for 54 yards and a touchdown on the ground. 

The Tigers had trouble stopping Alex Tecza on the ground, and he finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. 

On the other side, Memphis recorded 288 yards of offense, but they couldn’t move the ball at all in the second half. The Tigers finished with only 17 points, which snapped their active streak of consecutive games with 21 or more points at 51 games.

While Memphis will go to its twelfth consecutive bowl game, it doesn’t feel like there’s a ton of excitement for postseason action. The Tigers became the first team in the FBS to gain bowl eligibility, but they went 2-4 following that game to end the season. 

Run game goes silent in second half:

Memphis’ run game looked good in the first half, and they went to the half with more than 100 yards on the ground. While they had over 100 yards on the ground, quarterback Brendon Lewis did most of the damage with 41 yards on three carries.

The three running backs combined for 68 yards on 15 carries.

In the second half, Memphis couldn’t get anything going on the ground, and they rushed for only 15 yards in the final two quarters. Sutton Smith didn’t get a single carry in the second half, and Greg Desrosiers ran for six yards on two attempts. 

Opposing teams have game planned for those two all season, but it was surprising to see the Tiger running backs get completely taken out of the game the way they did.

Defense struggles in the second half:

After only scoring 14 points in the first half, Navy’s offense had its way over the final two quarters of the game. The Tigers had no answers for the option attack, and the Midshipmen used that to their advantage to drain the clock.

Navy opened the second half with an 18-play, 10:03 drive that ended in a fumble in the red zone before scoring the go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter, and they used another long touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Navy is known for how it uses a lot of clock on offense, but they didn’t have a drive longer than 3:24 in the first half. It appeared the Midshipmen wore the Tigers down in the third quarter and controlled the rest of the game.

Memphis was outscored 35-10 in the second half against Navy and ECU, and the defense gave up double figures in both games. The defense has struggled over the back half of the season, and it will be interesting to see what the unit looks like in the bowl game.

Brendon Lewis battled through another game:

One of the more interesting stories over the last few games has been Lewis and his ankle injury. The senior has exited the game in four of the last six games of the season and was listed as questionable going into most games following the loss against UAB.

It’s obvious that Lewis was the best option for the Tigers offensively, even if he wasn’t 100 percent. While it was clear he still wasn’t completely healthy, Lewis finished the game with 172 passing yards and two passing touchdowns, and he led the team in rushing with 36 yards on 10 carries.

It wasn’t a perfect game for Lewis by any means. He was sacked five times and only completed 52.7 percent of his throws, but he showed a ton of toughness over the last few weeks.

Lewis met with the media earlier this week and talked about how much he enjoyed playing for the Tigers in his final collegiate season.

“I’m really grateful, feel really blessed that I was able to play here my senior year,” Lewis said. “I loved all the memories I was able to make here on and off the field. I’m going to cherish it forever, for sure.”