For a game that kicked off in the middle of a weekday, man this game had it all. Unfortunately for BYU, the outcome didn’t go in their favor as BYU fell to Memphis in the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl, 55-48 in double overtime.
This was a back-and-forth game that had many momentum swings. There were fireworks in Miami Beach from the opening kick with both offenses coming out scoring four touchdowns in four possessions.
Things settled down in the second quarter and BYU entered the halftime locker room with a 28-24 lead.
In the second half, BYU came out flat and was completely uninspired in the third quarter. Had it not been for a holding penalty that overturned a 60-yard Memphis touchdown run, BYU would have been staring down a 17-point deficit in the third, and we probably wouldn’t have been talking about this brawl at all.
BYU battled back, forcing Memphis into turnovers, which was something rare for the Tigers. Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch had not thrown an interception since October 11th; today he threw three, including a pick six to senior linebacker Zac Stout who gave BYU a lead of 45-38 with 7:48 remaining.
One of the key plays of the game was when Memphis decided to punt with 4:38 remaining in the game, the Tigers pinned BYU on their own five-yard line. BYU then went three and out and Memphis took the ball over on BYU’s 35-yard line.
Memphis moved down the field and set up a 4th and 5 with seconds remaining, and Lynch created enough time in the pocket to find wide receiver Kelwone Malone to tie the game up with 45 seconds remaining.
Mendenhall made a questionable decision by burning two timeouts to try and ice Memphis’ kicker on a PAT attempt. The move backfired as Memphis made the PAT and gave the ball back with only 40 ticks left.
The game went to overtime and BYU hit a field goal to take a three-point lead. BYU then held Memphis’ offense to a three-and-out, forcing a 55-yard field goal attempt that was made by Tigers kicker Jake Elliott. The kick could have been made from 60 yards it was a beautiful kick.
In the 2nd overtime, Memphis found the endzone fast with a touchdown pass to Roderick Proctor, and then BYU came up short on their attempt in the second overtime.
The two teams brawled, as you already know by now.
BYU falls to 8-5 for the third consecutive season and lost their second consecutive bowl game for the first time in the Mendenhall era.
The brawl after the game is capturing the headlines from this one, but this was a game that was sloppy and poorly played by BYU. Too many blown opportunities, and they couldn’t come up with enough plays to win it in the clutch.
We will have more coverage from this game and BYU Football as we enter the off-season here at Lawless Republic.