I remember vividly sitting in the Liberty Bowl thinking that a bowl game for the Tigers was just around the corner, all that was needed was one last stop, and it was 4th and 27 to boot. We all know what happened on that play, it was a kick in the stomach except about a 6 inches lower.

From Wynne, AR. (although seemingly from Heaven) came DeAngelo Williams, He was the miracle all Tiger fans quietly prayed for. Although not dominant the Tigers went on a nice run, and you would have thought we were in the Sugar Bowl not the New Orleans Bowl. Excitement was at an all-time high, season tickets were at a all-time high, we were on a roll !!

The bar had been raised; no longer would we have to worry about silly things like 4th and 27, we were above all that now, we were going to be a thorn in the SEC’s side. We had Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Mike Terico at our house on Thursday night, we had 47,000 for CUSA games, things were good. We were now going to pull that kid from Melrose that always went to UT, we were going to give Arkansas a real fight for the kid at Frayser, we were going to kick holes all in that fence company from Oxford. It was when, not if we would gain our first CUSA title and play in the Liberty Bowl, it was how are we going to lock up our Head Coach long term, it was how can we keep our assistants…. we worried about all the things big time programs had to worry about and why not we were on the blue and grey road to BIGTIMENESS.

Well somewhere on that road we took a wrong turn, maybe it was not recruiting well (most recruiting services will agree), maybe it was sending a booklet to the Big East, (you know that had to impress). Whatever wrong turn the program took it led right to a disaster in 2006. Things were going to be much different in 2007, gaps had been filled by JUCO’s, redshirt freshman were ready to step up, our starting quarterback was now in his second year and we had gotten rid of the blitz ‘em like hell Joe Lee. Heck I admit it I thought the team was going to be significantly better, I mean how could you not see 7 wins with this schedule.

All this brings me to Jonesboro, AR. Home of the best bleacher bangers in America. As I sat in this gigantic lightning rod for a second time this season, I was a bit concerned about how the Tigers would overcome being throttled in Orlando. Quickly those worries turned to “Hell Ya” type excitement, a reverse here, double pass there, plowing thru the “Indian Uprising” for first downs was lots of fun, seeing big number 99 rumble down the field for the 30th point of the game was priceless.

At halftime I made my calls home, my wife was speechless 31-6 she repeated to me, even asking me to repeat it a 3rd time, my 5 year old, still mad at me for leaving him at home, was going to get his Hankins jersey on. Things were good back at the ranch so my concern turned back to finishing this thing off and getting home at a reasonable time.

Things started off a bit shaky with the Tigers stalling on their first drive, but hey just punt that baby out of bounds and pin them deep ….right ? well that was the plan, but the plan was also for the Tigers to have 11 players to cover the punt not 10, thus leading to only 5 men on the line and time to re-punt after the penalty. Just punt it out of bounds again and lets get it on. Or you could just punt it right to them and let them run it back for a TD…. Plan B was chosen and with that it was 31-13. From this point on it looked like Memphis vs The Redskins (the skin’s with Theisman). Receivers were running loose, backs were running wild, and our offense decided that running the option with Hankins was the best choice on a critical 3rd and 9. If you were not there all I can tell you is that all hell broke loose, and to make it worse you could see it coming. It was like I was being forced to watch someone stealing from me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I am greatly worried where this football program is heading. Memphis football is again desperate for success, where and who is our savior now ??