Trouble in Tiger Town

Devastating. Gut-wrenching. Heartbreaking. Inexcusable. Pathetic.

Just a few words to describe the Memphis game this last weekend. For three and a half quarters the game was great. We actually had a defense and our offense was much improved from the week before. We were ahead 35-20 with eight and a half minutes left and then it all fell apart. The Rice QB was 13/14 passing, ran for 2 TDs, and their second receiver had over 150 yards receiving-all in the 4th quarter alone. Despite all of that we could have still had a chance in OT until we decided to hand them the game by throwing a pick six with eleven seconds left. I felt like throwing up. Leave it to Memphis to invent new ways to lose football games.

Sadly, this is nothing new for the Tigers. And something must be done. Geoff Calkins wrote a scathing article on the Tiger FB program this morning, with his main point being that:

"The Memphis football program is an utterly undistinguished, barely mediocre program that lives off SEC rejects and has no hope of improving unless the university makes radical changes."

As a fan it is tough to admit that that is basically true. Many are calling for an end to the Tommy West era at the U of M, and although I have been a big fan and supporter of the coach, it is hard not to join them at this point. Losses to the likes of Arkansas State, MTSU, and Rice are becoming commonplace. Not enough has been done to build on the success of the program during Deangelo Williams' time here. Tommy's strong point is supposed to be defense, but it looks like this will be the third straight year that our defense has been a joke. The problem is that West has been successful and has taken this program to new heights. And really, who are we going to hire that is going to do any better? Steve Roberts, coach at Ark. St., is a name that has been out there, but, other than the pay increase, is this really a big step up for him? I say no considering that this will probably be their third year in a row to beat us. Perhaps Jeff Bowers, former Southern Miss coach, or Trooper Taylor, offensive coordinator at OK St., are the answer. Either of those two might at least be able to win a conference championship. Look at East Carolina, I'm sure they had these same questions two years ago, and they have just beat two ranked, BCS conference teams.

I like Tommy, he has done a great job, brings in hard workers, has class, and is a good man, but he won't survive another 2 win season. Either way, the problem is bigger than just the coach. It seems as though the administration would be perfectly happy to scrap the football program all together. There has never been the emphasis, time, or money invested into that the basketball program has received. Perhaps we should just step down to the Football Championship Series(formerly Division 1-AA).

Despite the ending, we did have fun before the game tailgating and keeping up with Drew. Here are some pictures. Drew got a little tuckered out before the end.