BOISE, ID — Ahead of Memphis football's matchup with Boise State, Tigers coach Charles Huff invoked "Rocky III."
Specifically, he said he wanted to face the best opponents. He didn't want to be Rocky Balboa facing cherry-picked challengers just to keep his title belt. He wanted to face Clubber Lang.
That Memphis did.
The Tigers (2-1) came out like Balboa against Lang, building a 17-3 lead thanks to explosive plays down the field that looked like potential knockouts. But the Broncos weathered the storm, rolling with Memphis' shots before they landed some of their own.
Just before the half, the Broncos (1-1) faced fourth-and-6 on the Memphis 37-yard-line. Coach Spencer Danielson decided to go for it, a fascinating parallel to the previous time these
two teams played. On that day in 2023 in Memphis, then-coach Andy Avalos decided to kick a field goal on a fourth-down decision. Memphis blocked the kick, returned it for a touchdown and Avalos got fired a few weeks later. Danielson ultimately replaced him.
On this day in Boise, the Broncos went for it. Maddux Madsen found Akeem Wright in the the middle of the defense. Wright turned and raced toward the corner of the end zone, cutting the Memphis lead to one score.
“The momentum shifted," Memphis linebacker Mike Montgomery said.
Boise State took over from there. The Broncos finished the game on a 35-3 run, racing past Memphis in the second half and landing the proverbial knockout by pounding away at the heart of the defense en route to a 38-20 win. Boise State rushed for 357 yards, including 206 by Dylan Riley.
“Probably a little bit of a wear-down as the game went on from the defensive side," Huff said. "I don’t know how many plays we played on defense. We played a lot. But offensively, we’ve got to score to kind of balance that.”
What hurt Memphis against Boise State
After the game, Huff pointed to two issues that hurt Memphis throughout the game — missed tackles and bad red zone offense. The missed tackles were apparent, because both Huff and Montgomery said postgame that Boise State didn't do anything that the Tigers hadn't expected before the game.
Memphis had four red zone trips and came away with only three points.
Tigers fans will point to the officiating. After Memphis punted on its first drive of the second half, Jeremyah Lane muffed the punt. Replays appeared to show Memphis' Tylon Nash recovering the fumble, but referees gave the ball to Boise State.
Huff declined to answer a question about the play after the game.
“Suffer well," he said, when asked what he told the team afterward. "Suffer well, man. We don’t officiate.”
The Tigers also struggled to run the ball. Boise State clearly went into the game planning to sell out to stop the run, and it was largely successful. The Broncos routinely put eight defenders in the box and dared Memphis to throw the ball down the field. Jaylin Carter reeled off an 80-yard touchdown run in the first half, but outside of that, the Tigers ran the ball 25 times for only 55 yards.
Marcus Stokes had a career-high 384 passing yards, and tight end Hunter Tipton had a ridiculous nine catches for 229 yards and a touchdown. But Memphis struggled to sustain drives throughout the game.
“I thought he made some critical plays in some critical moments," Huff said about Stokes' performance. "I thought he stood in there and took some big shots. Obviously there’s some plays down in the red area where we’ve got to get him in a little better position. Without looking at the film, I thought he battled."
After a difficult start to the season that included the opener on the road at UNLV, the Tigers' schedule looks easier during the next month. Memphis plays FCS-level UT Martin and then has a bye week before opening conference play against Charlotte and UAB.
"It's tough," Tipton said. "Any loss is. But it's not just a loss. It's a lesson."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: The 4th-down play that changed Memphis vs Boise State, and where Tigers go from here
