Stung by the heartbreak of their last two title game appearances, Antonio Gibson made sure that Memphis was the team that was celebrating in this year's American Championship

by Dick Weiss

MEMPHIS — The strength of this high-scoring Memphis football team this season has been the number of skill position players who can take over a game.
 
But there is no one who has been more of a game-changer than 6-2, 221- pound senior wideout Antonio Gibson. Gibson gave us a preview of coming attractions earlier this season when he piled up an American Athletic Conference-record 386 all-purpose yards that included a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as the Tigers knocked off 15th-ranked, SMU, 54-48, before a massive crowd of 59,506 at the Liberty Bowl and an ABC national television audience.
 
But the junior college transfer that Norvell added last year saved his biggest moments for Memphis’ 29-24 victory over the Bearcats in another dramatic American Athletic Conference championship game Saturday.  Gibson rushed for 130 yards in 11 carries, including a 65-yard touchdown; had 72 yards on three kickoff returns; and caught three passes for 32 yards, including the winning touchdown off a six-yard bubble screen from Brady White with just 1:14 to play.
 
Gibson was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the game but the award just as well could have gone to Riley Patterson, the Tigers’ junior kicker who boomed a pair of 50- and 52-yard field goals among his four total three-pointers that helped push Memphis (12-1) into a likely spot in the New Year’s Six Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
 
It was Memphis’ third straight appearance in The American’s championship game. Unlike the two previous games - shootout losses to unbeaten UCF squads - this one saw the Tigers with the finishing kick.
 
“After those last games, we came in here with a chip on our shoulders,” Gibson said. “I felt every time I touched the ball I was going to make something happen. I put it in my head that we were going to leave with that trophy so going down and scoring was instilled in my head, nobody was going to stop me.”
 
The game was a huge triumph of wills against a rugged Cincinnati team (10-3), which was playing Memphis for the second time in eight days after the Tigers took a 34-24 win in this same stadium.
 
The Bearcats actually took a 24-23 lead when Sam Crosa kicked a 33-yard field goal with 4:23 to play before the Tigers rallied for a 10-play, 75- yard drive on their final possession that featured Gibson rushing five times and catching two passes to give Memphis a first-and-goal from the 7-yard line.
 
It ended with Gibson splitting out to the right side and making his memorable catch when coach Mike Norvell opted to go for a touchdown on third-and-five instead of letting the clock wind down and settling for an easily makeable field goal. He didn’t want to get beat on the other side by a possible last-second field goal.
 
“We knew this was going to a game that was going to come down to responses,” Norvell said. “How we responded to adversity. How we responded to success at times. But that’s the character and heart of these kids.”
 
This championship was 52 years in the making and Norvell could feel the heartbeat of the city. “That’s what makes the city of Memphis so incredible,” he said.. “It’s what makes this job so incredible. You represent something that’s special. For anybody who hasn’t lived in Memphis, you will never understand.”
 
Live in the moment, even if it was slightly awkward.
 
Norvell, who lifted Memphis into a new stratosphere during his five years here, took a plane this morning for Tallahassee where he was introduced as the new head coach of Florida State. Florida State rained on the Tigers’ parade when it sent out the announcement of a press conference in the third quarter, without naming Norvell specifically, and iconic former coach Bobby Bowden gave his seal of approval shortly thereafter. 
 
On Saturday, Norvell did his best to deflect the elephant in the room. “This is about us winning a championship,” he said when reporters questioned him about the announcements from Tallahassee.
 
This is the third straight year and the fourth time in the last five seasons that the winner of The American will play in the New Year’s Six. One of these days, the College Football Playoff selection committee will have to give The American more respect and consideration.
 
These were two top-20 teams in the championship game. Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, who did not play last week because of an ailing shoulder, passed for 233 yards and ran for 113 more and would have been a fine choice as Most Outstanding Player had the Bearcats come away with the win. Ridder also had a 15-yard touchdown in the first half when the Bearcats took a 14-10 lead.
 
Cincinnati, knowing it needed a touchdown, hung in until the end, driving to the Memphis 21 on its final possession. Memphis needed a nerve-wracking four-down defensive stand to seal the deal. After Ridder’s fourth down pass fell incomplete, the crowd of 33,008 exploded in a long overdue celebration.  
 
“We didn’t find a way,” Fickell said. “We didn’t have the answers there at the end. But it wasn’t for lack of preparation. It wasn’t from lack of fight and it certainly wasn’t from a lack of care and love for every one of those guys in the locker room.”
 
So on Memphis goes. To a 12th win for the first time in program history; to its first New Year’s Six bowl as the Tigers await their pairing for the Cotton Bowl. Word out of Memphis was that Norvell offered to lead the Tigers through the completion of this season if it made sense for both Memphis and Florida State. It’s a question that will be answered in the coming days.
 
But no matter what happens, Memphis will always have this Tiger tale to remember.