Wake Forest beat Memphis in a thrilling Birmingham Bowl on Saturday, 37-34.
The Wake-Memphis Birmingham Bowl packed a game’s worth of drama into 75 seconds
And that doesn’t say anything about the 18-point deficit Wake overcame before winning silly.
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
It was a fun one, with 71 combined points, 907 yards of offense, and five lead changes. Memphis took a 28-10 lead four minutes into the second quarter, before Wake scored 20 unanswered points by the time the third quarter was over.
The game quieted down after that — for a time. Nobody scored until 1:15 was left on the clock, when Memphis capped a 14-play, 88-yard drive with a 9-yard Patrick Taylor TD run.
Wake still had time, though. The Demon Deacons went 75 yards in six plays (and just 41 seconds) to retake the lead on a QB keeper by Jamie Newman. The key moments were 49- and 20-yard completions from Newman to Alex Bachman, including one twisting grab by Bachman near the goal line that set up Newman’s touchdown on the next play.
If you thought things would be over at that point — with 34 seconds left and Wake up 37-34 — you’d have been wrong. After a failed squib kick gave Memphis the ball at its own 39, Brady White found an extremely open Joey Magnifico on a 44-yard pass down to the Wake 17. Even the field goal attempt that followed that was dramatic, as:
- Memphis’ Riley Patterson lined up a 38-yard field goal and made it.
- But it didn’t count, because Wake Forest had called a timeout to ice him.
- So Patterson kicked another and made it again, but a false start nullified this one.
- Then Patterson missed a 43-yarder, giving the Deacs the win.
That was all in the last 1:15, again.
This was a real journey of a game.
Early on, it looked like Memphis would run away with this one. The Tigers took their 18-point lead on a Tony Pollard 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, but their offense collapsed down the stretch (until it almost won the game at the very end). Wake Forest managed to score 13 points before halftime to make it a 4-point game heading into the locker room. Newman had a strong run right before half to make it a game:
In the third quarter, Wake kicker Nick Sciba nailed a career-long 49-yard field goal to pull within one of the Tigers. His 39-yarder at the end of the third quarter gave his team a 30-28 lead, the first for Wake since the opening touchdown.
For Wake Forest, this is a pretty sweet way to end a 7-6 year.
The Demon Deacons finished 3-5 in the ACC, but defeating a Memphis team that finished second in the AAC behind UCF isn’t too shabby, especially in the fashion it did. Also!
Newman (a backup who didn’t have star WR Greg Dortch) finished with four touchdowns on the day, including three on the ground and the game’s opening touchdown pass.
This is a tough way to lose a game if you’re Memphis, but such is life sometimes in the world of college football kickers.
Thanks for giving us one hell of a game, Birmingham Bowl!
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