TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – When it was all over and the emotions of Saturday’s events finally began to sink in, Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield allowed himself to recognize the magnitude of the moment.
“This is monumental,” he said. “Let’s call it what it is. This is huge for our program.”
It’s difficult to summarize briefly what had just happened. Memphis had beaten top-ranked Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium. Silverfield had beaten coach Mike Norvell, the man responsible for so much of what happened to the Tigers on Saturday. Silverfield would not have been in Tallahassee, would never have come to Memphis, if it hadn’t been for Norvell.
The Florida State coach shouldn’t move to a bigger program and then lose to his old team, but that’s exactly what the Tigers (3-0) had just done, pulling off an ugly 20-12 victory over a Seminoles team that is officially in crisis after an 0-3 start. They have a lot of questions and very few answers.
But this afternoon — and this day, and maybe this college football season — it’s not about Florida State. It’s about Memphis.
“It’s just a testament to our culture,” quarterback Seth Henigan said. “Someone asked me yesterday, ‘What’s going to make the difference in this game?’ I said, ‘Our culture.’ We’re a senior-led group, we’re an experienced group. We’ve played a lot of football.”
The Tigers earned their first real road win against a power conference team since Sept. 12, 2015, when they defeated Kansas 55-23. And Silverfield, who rarely deviates from the maxim “the next game is the most important” after wins or losses, couldn’t help but take a breather.
“We will remember this game for a long time,” he said.
How much it will be remembered depends on what happens next. Memphis is coming off a power conference win, but the meaning and weight of Saturday’s triumph will depend on how Florida State plays the rest of the season. The Tigers, however, could be favored in every game for the rest of the season. And if they win the American Athletic Conference and Memphis moves into the College Football Playoff, the history of this season will include a long chapter about what happened in Tallahassee today.
It looked easy until it wasn’t. Memphis forced a turnover on the second play of the game and then took an early lead with a field goal. Florida State’s offense was lifeless in the first half and the Tigers had a 13-3 halftime lead that probably could have been even bigger.
The Seminoles looked like a different team in the second half, answering a Memphis touchdown with a rushing touchdown of their own and getting the ball back with 2:46 left, even after a huge fourth down by running back Greg Desrosiers.
A few hours earlier, Silverfield had stood alone, looking out into the stadium, which was almost empty at the time. The emotions, the gravity of the moment, would only matter if Memphis managed to stop the game. A few minutes earlier, he had looked out into a nearly full stadium – the fans had stopped booing and started cheering loudly for the team in red.
DJ Uiagalelei dropped back to pass and looked down the field. Chandler Martin blitzed. The game was in the hands of the Memphis defense. If you watched this team play last season, that’s exactly the position Norvell and the Seminoles wish they were in.
Martin had contacted Henigan earlier this week.
“I’m sorry I didn’t defend well last year,” he told him. “You won’t have to score as many points.”
In case anyone wanted to know, this Memphis defense is not the Memphis defense of last year. Martin (eight tackles) sacked Uiagalelei. William Whitlow Jr. and Matt Hudson sacked him again two plays later. That effectively ended the game, as a final attempt by Uiagalelei didn’t even make it into the end zone.
It was a victory for Memphis, a victory for the Group of Five, a victory for the continuity of the program under Silverfield.
“In an era where quarterbacks are constantly changing, I think that’s what makes the difference this year for our team and our program,” said Henigan, who rushed for 272 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. “We’re better at communicating, we love each other and we’re a senior-led group.”
It was the Tigers’ biggest win since Norvell was their coach from 2016 to 2019 and Silverfield joined him as offensive line coach.
“I think it’s pretty big,” Henigan said.
And indeed, this is the part that the Tigers fans who screamed in the arena after the game were most excited about.
It may not be the biggest win they have this season.
Reach sportswriter Jonah Dylan at [email protected] or @thejonahdylan.
