College football: Memphis defeats Iowa State 36–26 in the Liberty Bowl, shutting down their run game.
“Zero” was crucial to Memphis’ victory in the Liberty Bowl. Not what one would anticipate from the victor.
That was the crucial statistic, though. Not a single turnover for Tigers. Memphis has no penalties.
And most importantly, Iowa State had zero rush yards.
In the Liberty Bowl on Friday night, the Memphis defense shut down Iowa State’s running game while quarterback Seth Henigan threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns. The Tigers won 36–26.
The contest was a rematch of the Liberty Bowl, which Iowa State won 21–20 in 2017. Furthermore, the Cyclones were assigned as the home team
even though they were playing at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, home of the Tigers. Memphis was not expected to challenge Iowa State, even with home field advantage, and that gave the Tigers motivation.
Referring to the zeros and Henigan’s performance, Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield said of the performance, “I think that’s how you win pretty handily against a Big 12 opponent in a bowl game.” “We’ve played the most complete game of the season, in my opinion.”
Memphis (10-3) of the American Athletic Conference finished with at least 10 wins for the fifth time in program history behind 107 yards rushing from Blake Watson. The Tigers’ offense totaled 530 yards.
