Cougars’ Perry Olsen deserves the game ball
Another fall weekend. Another Memphis Tigers football game. A not so another epic meltdown. I can only chalk it up to another year of growing pains for the players and the staff. Hopefully, another learning moment for Ryan Silverfield.
But alas, the loss was an accumulation of what-if moments that could have changed the game. What if Memphis had taken the extra point versus missing the two-point conversion? What if Memphis’ defense hadn’t been able to hold Houston out of the endzone on that crucial 4th and 1? What if Memphis’s offense had done as poorly earlier as they did later? What if the defense had been as loose early as it was late?
So many what-ifs? And with one or more changes, Memphis could have pulled out the victory. Memphis could have blown Houston out of the stadium. Or Memphis could have lost long before they had a chance at their epic meltdown.
For my wife and me, the game was another treat. It was a time to get out and watch the student-athletes of our Memphis Tigers football team. Always hoping for a win, even in their leaner years, we headed to the Liberty Bowl to enjoy another game. It was a beautiful fall day with the sun beating and the heat kept at bay. It was perfect football weather.
After we sat and before the game began, I was sure that this game was going to be a close one. But as I sat in the stands and took a hard look at the stats and the fact Memphis was at home, I came up with my own prediction. I texted my son that Memphis should win 36-27.
During the game, I continued texting my son updates, as he wasn’t able to watch the first of the game. Since he was going to get to see the fourth quarter, we agreed that I’d quit texting him then. But prophetically maybe, my last text was “hopefully we don’t screw it up.”
As the world watched Memphis on ESPN2, the team looked poised to have a great game and an unexpectedly easy win. As they headed into the fourth quarter, the Tigers were up by 13 points. With another touchdown early in the fourth quarter, they were then up by 19 points. And then came one of the many crucial decisions by Coach Silverfield. The Tigers would go for the two-point conversion to get up by three touchdowns. But alas, the attempt failed. But no one at the time thought much of the play. After all, the Tigers were still up by 19 points. Who knew then that if we had made that two-point conversion or just made the extra point, the game’s end could have been a lot different?
After this play, Houston scored a touchdown in short order. They also missed their two-point conversion attempt. So, the lead shrank to a still solid 13 points. Then it was Memphis ball, and we took our time and ate up the clock. Using up over four minutes, Memphis got down to Houston’s 14-yard line. They then took out the sails of the offense. With three straight run plays netting seven yards, Memphis took the easy field goal. The lead was back up to 16 points. Because of how large of a mountain Houston would have to climb to win, the Tigers were now statistically a 99% probability to win. As we would eventually find out, the Tigers don’t play the stats very well.
As I was watching the Cougars bench after that field goal, you could see the despair and defeat. Many of their players were sitting on the bench with their heads down. Even the ones standing on the sideline looked ready to pack it in and head for the bus. Of course, then in a moment, everything about the game, the Houston players, and the game itself changed.
On the ensuing kickoff, Jayce Rogers took the ball on his own goal line and took off for an electrifying 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. A loose and confident Memphis team watched the play unfold, trying to will the special teams to bring Rogers down. It was at that moment that I realized that my prophetic text had a slim chance of coming true. The Tigers were now only up by 10 points. Sure, there was not much time left, but in any sport, it isn’t over until it is over.
In his run, Jayce Rogers used all his combined speed and agility to slice through the Tigers’ coverage for a seemingly perfect kickoff return. In stunned silence, I watched as he sprinted across the goal, celebrating right in front of my seat.
As the Tigers and their fans would later learn, Jayce Rogers had just ignited the Cougar bomb that would help Memphis blow up an impossible lead. And so it was. After Memphis got the ball when they successfully recovered a Houston on-side kick, the offense once again took the sails out of their successful game plan. Using seven straight run plays, the Tigers moved the ball 22 yards and settled for another field goal. But at least the lead was back up to 13 points—almost two touchdowns. Of course, then Houston scored a touchdown on their next possession, recovered a successful on-side kick, and came back to score another touchdown with just 18 seconds to go in the game.
As the game ended, with our quarterback getting sacked, the fans still could not move to the exits. Standing stunned, frustrated, and mad, they looked to make sense of the loss. But finally, my wife and I joined the rest of Tigers Nation to go to our cars and endure a long drive home in silent bewilderment.
For me, the trip home began with what few brain cells I have left trying to figure out what had happened. How could that game have unfolded in the way it did at the end? The odds were too great against it happening. I decided to rewatch the taped game, at least the last eight minutes.
At first, I just looked over some plays I thought were questionable and that the officials might have gotten wrong. For once, I was wrong. The calls I thought were wrong were actually called almost perfectly. So I thought about just giving up going down this rabbit hole, but I watched the kickoff return all over again.
In so doing, I found the actual hero of the game. His name is Perry Olsen.
As Jayce Rogers was making his way through the pack at the beginning of his return, Cameron Smith was setting up for a spectacular collision with Jayce Rogers. With Rogers in his sights, it was evident that the kickoff return would either be stopped or slowed enough to allow other Tigers players to catch up to the action. Then out of the blue came Perry Olsen chasing down Smith from behind. And with Olsen pushing his left hand onto Smith’s left shoulder and shoving his right hand into Smith’s back, it prevented Smith from executing his run-stopping pounce. With that best chance of a Tiger getting a stop on Rogers, he was off to the races. In the end, he was out of the pack and uncatchable. It was almost the perfect runback.
But the return wasn’t perfect. But with a well-timed, good old-fashioned block in the back, Perry Olsen made the key play in that return. In that block, Olsen allowed his teammate to avoid a return-stopping collision. In the end, Olsen’s play allowed Rogers to reset the game, re-energized the Cougars, and reignited the dying embers of the Cougars faithful.
So, if you are a Cougars fan, make some noise for Perry Olsen. And if you don’t know who the young man is, I understand. It took me a minute to find him. In the ESPN app, it had him as #41, not the #43 who delivered the game-changing block.
But the truth is Olsen’s block wasn’t the only thing that led to the Memphis loss. There were several instances that could have led to an even worse outcome. Without the defense making some stands, Houston would have probably won by even more.
The other truth is that Memphis lost because they switched from playing to win into a “playing to not lose” mode. It’s one of the craziest things I see in football, and it sometimes has disastrous consequences. Coaches will decide they have enough lead to change their game plan to be more conservative. After all, what are the odds of losing after you are up by 19 points late in a game? The truth is that their loss was statistically impossible until it wasn’t.
However, when a team takes off the gas, the once-potent offense sputters. Their rhythm and their energy are no longer there. The plays become more conservative and thus more unnatural for the offense. On the opposite side of the ball, the defense begins to bend a little. The goal switches from not letting your opponent score to not letting them score too quickly.
As your opponent has nothing to lose and everything to gain, they will exploit your change of game plan. They still have a hunger to win or to at least not lose as badly as they are. They take their game into a gambler’s save face mode.
Of course, as the score gets closer, the team that’s ahead will try to figure out how to sew up the win. But instead of going back to the game plan that put them ahead, they use a mix of clock management, safe plays, and settling on FGs, even if they might have been able to keep the ball moving. Again, not the game plan that put them ahead. In fact, in the end, the new game plan becomes a new way of figuring out a way to blow a big lead and a probable win.
For now, I will not go off on Coach Silverfield. First, he’s still new to this gig. Second, he has new staff and a new look at how to manage the team. Third, we are 4-2 and probably looking a lot better than we thought we would. Fourth, I’ve been a Tigers fan for a long time, and we have come a long way. And finally, I am a true Tigers fan. I will support the coach and the team regardless of the Ws. After all, isn’t that what true fans do?