Memphis welcomed the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium on Saturday night for a nearly perfect night for college football. Memphis came into the matchup with Tulsa not only looking to improve to 2-0 in American play, but also to become the first team eligible for the postseason by securing a 6-0 record. 

After beating Arkansas a couple of weeks ago, the conversation around the program shifted from winning the American Championship to being in the driver’s seat to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. Memphis fans might recall that in 2019, the Tigers played this same Tulsa program and needed a game-winning field goal to keep their New Year’s Six Bowl aspirations alive. Like the game in 2019, the Tigers needed to come in on Saturday night locked in to avoid falling into a trap against a far less talented Tulsa team. 

Memphis opened the game strong on the defensive side of the ball by forcing a Tulsa punt, which set up a Tigers touchdown with 8:00 on the clock as the Tigers took an early 7-0 lead over the Golden Hurricanes. Tulsa would miss a 37-yard field goal to start the second half. The missed Tulsa field goal gave the Tigers some mometum as Brendon Lewis found Jamari Hawkins on a 47-yard first-down throw that gave the Tigers a first and goal, eventually leading to another Memphis touchdown to make it 14-0 Tigers. Tulsa would find a 37-yard touchdown pass with 7:46 in the half to cut the Tigers’ lead to 14-7. Brendon Lewis would find Cortez Braham Jr on a 14-yard touchdown pass to extend the Tigers’ lead to 21-7 over Tulsa with 2:38 remaining in the half. The Memphis defense would force a Tulsa interception that would set up a Memphis touchdown drive, capped off with a Brendon Lewis QB keeper, to make it 28-7 Memphis with 1:08 left in the half. Memphis would take the 28-7 lead over Tulsa to the locker room. 

Memphis put together a promising drive to open the second that ended with a 50-yard field goal from Gianni Septic to extend the Memphis lead to 31-7 with 9:53 in the third. Memphis would put together a 6-play 37-yard drive to extend the lead to 38-7 over Tulsa. Memphis added another touchdown to the scoreboard to make it a final score of 45-7.

With the win over Tulsa on Saturday night, the Tigers are now heading back to the postseason for the 12th straight time. 

Memphis will now take a week off before heading to Birmingham to take on UAB on October 18th. 

Photo Credits- Memphis Football on X