Western Kentucky held off a bit of a fourth-quarter charge from Memphis to polish off the Tigers en route to a 51-31 victory in the Boca Raton Bowl. We expected high-flying offense and tons of points. This game had the highest total of any bowl game for those placing over/under bets in Las Vegas, and the game cleared the number.
2016 Boca Raton Bowl final score: Western Kentucky beats Memphis behind strong rushing performance
The Hilltoppers stood tall on Tuesday night.
Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images
The teams traded punts to start the game, then Memphis opened the scoring. What really got things going, though, was this touchdown by lineman Forrest Lamp late in the first quarter.
It was technically a run, and Lamp’s 9 rushing yards tied for second among Hilltoppers rushers — a far cry from Anthony Wales’s virtuoso 245-yard, three-TD performance, but what Lamp lacked in quantity he certainly made up for in quality.
Wales’s best moment of the night came on this 53-yard run.
This wasn’t just any trick play. This was the Little Giants “hide the little guy behind a bunch of big guys” play that has been wonderfully brought back to the forefront of our sporting attention, thanks to South Dakota State. But props to Western Kentucky for adding its own brand of flare here with the fake kneeldown.
The Tigers certainly put up a fight in the end, but it wasn’t enough. The Hilltoppers brought home the win and will enter the Mike Sanford era with the mythical bowl bump to propel them through the offseason.
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