I blame the offense, though. We put the defense in bad situations. They played a heck of a game, good enough to win. We didn’t do enough on our side of the ball to win. – BYU quarterback Christian Stewart
MIAMI — In terms of sheer entertainment, the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl between BYU and Memphis was even better than advertised, and featured a little bit of everything.
There were big momentum shifts, game-changing plays, clutch field goals from long distance, leads that changed hands, nine turnovers, 103 points, two overtimes, a dramatic finish, and a postgame brawl.
In the end, the Tigers outlasted the Cougars, 55-48, in double overtime, before a crowd of 20,761 at Marlins Park.
“An amazing college football game,” said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. “It seemed like one long game of the same game. One team scoring, the other answering. One team trying to separate and the other closing. Then turnovers allowing a team back in and back-and-forth. It was basically a dead-even game. That’s why it went to double overtime.”
After a furious, frenetic four quarters, BYU placekicker Trevor Samson booted a career-high 45-yard field goal in the first overtime that broke a 45-45 tie. Then BYU’s defense put the pressure on, pushing the Tiger offense backward and it appeared a Cougar victory was imminent.
But Memphis kicker Jake Elliott booted a 54-yarder to tie the game again.
“It was a great kick,” Mendenhall said, “and it could have gone another 10 yards.”
In the second OT, quarterback Paxton Lynch, the bowl MVP, connected with Rod Proctor for an 11-yard touchdown to put Memphis ahead 55-48. The game ended when Cougar quarterback Christian Stewart sailed a pass over the head of Jordan Leslie into the arms of a Tiger defender for an interception.
“I thought we had (the win),” said Stewart, who completed 23 of 48 passes for 348 yards, three touchdowns and three picks. “I blame the offense, though. We put the defense in bad situations. They played a heck of a game, good enough to win. We didn’t do enough on our side of the ball to win.”
In many ways, the game mirrored BYU’s roller coaster of a year.
“It was kind of like our season — it was up and down,” said Leslie. “In the end, I thought we had it, but we didn’t finish.”
The game was crazy from the start, with Cougar Paul Lasike fumbling on the third play from scrimmage, which led to an early Memphis touchdown. Then BYU tied it up just as quickly on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Stewart to Mitchell Juergens.
“You never know how it’s going to go,” Mendenhall said. “Bowl preparation is one thing and playing the game is something else. I think both teams had dialed up some of their most aggressive and dynamic plays from the beginning. There was nothing conservative about the game, right from the start.”
BYU rallied from a 24-14 deficit in the second quarter to take a 28-24 halftime lead. Memphis rallied to go up 38-28 late in the third quarter before the Cougars forced three fourth-quarter turnovers and went up 45-38 midway through the fourth quarter.
But with 45 seconds remaining in regulation, on fourth-and-4 from the BYU 5-yard line, bowl MVP Paxton Lynch scrambled around and found Keiwone Malone in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown to force overtime.
That’s the play that Mendenhall said he’ll remember most from the game.
“The play seemed to go a long, long time,” Mendenhall said. “A great play by them. They deserved it. They worked a half-second longer than our guys did. … It came down to Memphis making one more play than we made. They deserve credit.”
BYU also had its share of huge plays, including a pick-six by linebacker Zac Stout that pushed the Cougars on top, 45-38 with 7:48 remaining.
“Great play by Zac,” said defensive back Skye PoVey. “He wasn’t fooled by their play-action and he made a huge play for us. We just needed a couple of more of those and we could have come out with a win.”
With the win, Memphis finished the season 10-3, its first double-digit win campaign since 1938. The Cougars finished 8-5 for the third-consecutive season.
“Obviously an incredibly competitive and hard-fought football game,” said Memphis coach Justin Fuente. “BYU has a very good football team and those kids battled back from deficits twice. I’m proud of our kids and the way they played. It was a game that could have gone a million different ways, and there was 100 plays that you can replay in your mind, but in the end, I’m really proud of our guys and what they have accomplished.”
BYU was trailing, 24-14, early in the second quarter and Memphis appeared to be taking control of the game.
But the Cougars pieced together a 14-play, 62-yard drive that chewed up 4:49 off the clock, capped by a touchdown catch by Leslie as he ran backward toward the pylon. That TD cut BYU’s deficit to 24-21.
Due to a taunting penalty by center Tejan Koroma on the touchdown, the Tigers took over at their own 47-yard line. But two plays later, linebacker Alani Fua picked off Lynch and returned it to the Memphis 15-yard line. The Cougars surged ahead, 28-24, on a 3-yard run by Paul Lasike.
But the fireworks were only beginning, although BYU seemed to flat-line in the third quarter. In that period, the Cougars were outscored 14-0 and were outgained, 158-17, in total offense. Nothing seemed to go right for BYU. Then nothing seemed to go right for Memphis.
Then came the wild ending in a game that took two overtimes to decide.
“This is probably the craziest and most emotional game I have ever been a part of,” said Lynch, who threw for 306 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. “We knew it was going to be like that coming in here and we knew when the ups and downs started happening that we just had to go with the flow.”