WVU falls short, losing 42-37 to Memphis in the Frisco Bowl

Seth Henigan threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns in his final game for No. 25 Memphis, matching the American Athletic Conference career TD passing record with 104 as the Tigers held on to beat West Virginia 42-37 in the Frisco Bowl on Tuesday night.

Memphis (11-2) reached 11 wins for just the second time in its 109 years of football and improved to 4-0 in bowl games under fifth-year coach Ryan Silverfield.

West Virginia had scored on six consecutive possessions (four touchdowns) before one more chance in the final minute after the Tigers missed a 50-yard field goal. But the Mountaineers’ final push ended when Elijah Herring had an interception.

Henigan is the only current four-year FBS starting quarterback to do it all with the same school, and his 50th game for the Tigers came just over 20 miles from his hometown of Denton, Texas. He completed 18 of 26 passes, including an 89-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter when DeMeer Blankumsee was fumbled at the 1.

Garrett Greene was 29-of-40 passing for 328 yards with two TD passes to Hudson Clement, and also ran for 95 yards and a score for the Mountaineers (6-7). Clement finished with 11 catches for 166 yards and CJ Donaldson ran for 83 yards and two TDs.

West Virginia played five days after Rich Rodriguez was rehired for another stint as head coach at his alma mater 17 years after he left. He was at the game while offensive coordinator Chad Scott served as interim head coach.

Memphis never trailed and went ahead 7-0 on Henigan’s first TD pass about 10 minutes into the game, a 4-yard underhand scoop to Mario Anderson on the next play after the quarterback had a 23-yard run. His AAC record-matching score was an 18-yarder to Blankumsee with 55 seconds left in the first half for a 28-14 lead.

Clayton Tune threw 104 TD passes for Houston from 2018-22.

Henigan finished as Memphis’ career rushing leader with 14,266 yards, 104 touchdowns and 1,147 completions. All of those records were previously held by Brady White, the quarterback he succeeded for the Tigers.

West Virginia was down 17-0 less than five minutes into the second quarter after Green had a fourth-down incompletion and Greg Desrosier ran 46 yards for a Memphis TD on the next play. The Mountaineers then scored on six consecutive possessions.

Memphis scored at least 20 points in its 40th consecutive game since November 2021, which is by far the nation’s longest active streak. Next on the list is Miami’s 16 game streak. … The Tigers already had a 10-game winning streak for the first time. The only other time they had more wins was when they went 12-2 in 2019.

Rodriguez opens his second stint as West Virginia’s head coach at home against FCS team Robert Morris on Aug. 30. His last game with the Mountaineers was a 13–9 loss to Pittsburgh in a regular season finale on December 1, 2007 that cost them a chance to play in the BCS national championship game. He then traveled to Michigan.

Memphis has won its last eight games in its home stadium, starting with a victory over Big 12 team Iowa State in the 2023 Liberty Bowl. Their 2025 opener is against FCS team Chattanooga on August 30.

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