NEW ORLEANS — Trace Johnson had just thrown into triple coverage, and Memphis had the ball at the Tulane 32-yard line with the first half running out and a 16-10 deficit it could still erase. Marcus Stokes threw to the far sideline. TJ Smith got there first.
Smith undercut the pass and ran it back 76 yards for a touchdown, and a game Memphis had led 10-3 became a 23-10 lead for the Tulane Green Wave at the break. Tulane went on to win 31-17 on Friday night at Yulman Stadium, and the return was the school’s first defensive touchdown of the season.
Almost nothing else on the stat sheet favored the winners. Memphis outgained Tulane 488 yards to 325 and had 27 first downs to 13, by Tulane’s count, and Stokes threw for 306 yards, by Memphis’s. He also threw three interceptions, and his team fumbled three times.
Six giveaways was the most the Memphis Tigers had committed since 2006, when they threw five interceptions and lost a fumble against East Carolina, the Memphis athletics department said in its recap. Tulane added seven sacks and nine tackles for loss, and the Green Wave said 14 of its 31 points came directly off the turnovers.
The quarterback behind it was a freshman making his first start. Johnson went 11-for-21 for 165 yards with a touchdown and an interception, according to Tulane’s game recap, and his 38-yard touchdown pass to Destyn Hill, set up by the first fumble of Manny Covey’s season, gave the Green Wave its first lead, 13-10.
Sports Illustrated’s Tulane site called the offense “about as vanilla as you can get with a freshman quarterback,” and the clincher fit that description. Memphis had pulled within 23-17 with 3:34 left. On fourth-and-1 from near midfield, Johnnie Daniels broke through the middle for a 48-yard touchdown, and Johnson’s two-point throw to Hill made it 31-17.
It was Tulane’s first American Conference win of the season. Memphis, now 5-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play, returns home Thursday to face East Carolina.
Neither school’s recap carried a quote from a coach or player, so why Memphis chose that throw, from the Tulane 32 with the clock nearly gone, is still not on the record.
