The Drive that Won Memphis the AAC Title

College football teams play 780 minutes in a 12-game regular season, plus a bowl game. For Memphis, the final 2:40 in a 16-13 edging of the Temple Owls was far more important than the other 777 minutes and six seconds the team played during the 2014 season. 

Why? Because Memphis kicker Jake Elliot’s game-winning 31-yard field goal against the Owls saved the Tigers’ season, and when using hindsight, is the drive that really won Memphis a share of its first AAC Championship.

Before delving into the final two minutes and change that gave Memphis its closest win of the season, and ultimately kept the Tigers tied for first in the conference, let’s look back at the Tigers’ season up to the game-winning drive in Philly.

Memphis marched into Philadelphia and Lincoln Financial Field at 5-3 — one win away from securing bowl eligibility for the first time since 2008. The Tigers emphatically knocked off the AAC’s preseason favorite Cincinnati 41-14 three weeks earlier to start conference play 1-0. The very next Staurday, however, all momentum Memphis gained from drubbing the Bearcats dissolved into a 28-24 home loss to Houston. After a bye, the Tigers earned their fourth and fifth victories of 2014 with blowout wins over the AAC’s worst teams, SMU and Tulsa — each combined for one win (Tulsa) prior to playing Memphis.

With a impressive win over Cincinnati and two blowout wins over terrible teams, Memphis’ 5-3 record, you could say, was semi-impressive, but certainly nothing special.

Temple, also 5-3, felt rejuvenated after more than doubling the two wins it earned in 2013, and was motivated to make a surprising (in a good way) 2014 season even more joyous after defeating then-No.18 East Carolina 20-10 the week before. In a battle for bowl eligibility, Temple appeared to be writing the script for another impressive win when it finished the first-quarter with a 10-0 lead over the Tigers, who were struggling to pick up a first-down, going 2-for-8 on third-down.

But as the second-quarter clock started ticking, Memphis began slowly plucking the Owls’ feathers by pressuring elusive Temple quarterback P.J. Walker into ill-advised throws, and Tevin Jones’ punt block that set up Elliot’s first of three field goals — each one critical to the game’s final outcome. Two drives before the Owls’ blocked punt, Walker threw a devastating interception only 11 yards from pay dirt.

A fumbled punt return that set up a Memphis go-ahead field goal, a missed field goal, and a handful of dropped passes changed Temple’s first-quarter magic into dust. Still, with each Owl gaffe, Memphis found itself struggling for points; a single touchdown and two Elliot field goals were all an offense that averaged 36 points in the first eight games could muster.

Despite the Owls’ collapse, they were granted a final prayer when Austin Jones kicked a 46-yard field goal to tie the game at 13. Jones reawakened the energy Temple had gained from its 10-0 early lead. The Owls were already holding the typically explosive Tigers to less than 300 yards. Maybe they can hold Memphis and push this one to overtime — the odds looked favorable.

Then, the final 2:40, season-saving drive by the Tigers pursued.

With the ball at his own 20-yard line, sophomore QB Paxton Lynch stepped up in the pocket to launch a 16-yard completion that set the Tigers on their own 36-yard line; closer to Owl territory, but still on the opposite side of a potential game-winning kick.

Next, after three straight rushes that netted 10 yards, Lynch completed a 4-yard pass to the 50-yard line. Then he completed another pass, then another one, and another after that. Lynch’s four consecutive completions set the Tigers at the Temple 31; perfectly in Elliot’s field goal range.

The Tigers used the ground game to inch the ball closer to the 14-yard line. With one second remaining, Elliot lined up for the most important kick of the 2014 season. If he misses, the Tigers don’t lose, but they then have to try winning an overtime game on the road, right after having all the momentum gained from Lynch’s perfectly orchestrated drive sucked out.

Seeing how the 2014 American Athletic Conference season concluded, a loss to Temple would have meant a two-way tie for the AAC title, with Memphis not included on the trophy.

But as his teammates likely expected, Elliot delivered and saved Memphis’ championship season with his 31-yard game-winning kick.

The Tigers won their next three conference games following Temple by at least 20 points, proving further the importance of Elliot’s kick and the Tigers’ final drive. Elliot was eventually named to the All-AAC first team, and made another “trophy-saving” kick in the Miami Beach Bowl: a 54 yarder in overtime to tie the Tigers at 48 with BYU. Memphis went on to beat BYU 55-48 in double OT to win the Miami Beach Bowl.

Crazy to think that the final 2:40 of a football game, and the leg of a kicker, probably won Memphis its first conference title since 1971.