TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The hype about the Memphis Tigers is for real. Memphis earned an upset win over Florida State in Tallahassee, 20-12, on Saturday.
The Tigers forced three turnovers that turned into 13 points in the road win.
Seth Henigan proved why he is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, Group of Five school or otherwise. The senior and only four year starting quarterback to still be at his original school, threw for 272 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. It's his 40th consecutive game with a passing touchdown, the longest streak in the FBS.
Defensively, the Tigers harrassed FSU and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei all game. They sacked him four times, forced an interception and had 12 total tackles for loss.
On the Seminoles' first drive of the game, An'Darius Coffey forced a fumble recovered by Chandler Martin that resulted in an early field goal.
Near the end of the first quarter, Uiagalelei threw an interception to Tahj Ra-El. Memphis turned that into a six yard score from Henigan to Greg Desrosiers. A Seminoles muffed punt right before the half turned into another Tigers field goal from Caden Costa, who was 2-3 on the day.
Tigers took a 13-3 lead into halftime.
Henigan led a 12-play, 75 yard drive that ended in a touchdown to Anthony Landphere for a 20-3 lead.
FSU showed signs of life after that. A 67-yard pass from Uiagalelei to Malik Benson resulted in a four-yard touchdown run by Roydell Williams to cut the lead to 20-9. After a Henigan interception, the Seminoles kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 20-12.
Memphis went for it on fourth and three with 5:25 remaining in the game to keep the drive alive. Memphis was able to run the clock down under three minutes, but two penalties killed the drive. Caden Costa missed a 55-yard field goal to maintain a one possession game.
Memphis defense stepped up one more time. They sacked Uiagalelei twice, two of their four on the day, to put all hopes of FSU comeback to bed.
It's the first time Ryan Silverfield coached against his old boss, Mike Norvell. The pair spent four years together when Norvell was head coach at Memphis and Silverfield was an assistant.
Memphis continues their season September 21 on the road against Navy.
