Coaching Career of Chris Matthews

[cubsfan203]

Nerves Get Better of Young Tigers in Starkville

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Aug 28, 2010

STARKVILLE, MISS. -

All in all it's safe to say that Coach Matthews was not happy at all after today's game. The Tigers played really bad on both sides of the ball. They couldn't stop the Bulldogs offense, and couldn't even run a simple draw play without messing it up. Time will tell if they can fix these flaws, but anyone watching today's game could realize just how much work this Memphis team is going to need.

1  2  3  4  Final  Memphis   0  0  7  7  14  Mississippi St   7  0  6  18  31   Team Totals  Mem  Miss St  FIRST DOWNS  13  28  TOTAL OFFENSE  338  405  RUSHING YARDS  -15  198  PASSING YARDS  353  207  Turnovers  3  0-0  Fumbles Lost  0  0  Intercepted  3  0  Possession Time  12:42  15:18  Third-Down Conversions  3 of 13  2 of 11  Fourth-Down Conversions  0 of 3  0 of 1  Penalties  2-25  5-49

Mississippi dominated the first half. The led 13-0 at the break, and had freshman quarterback Ryan Williams looking completely out of place. He had throw 2 interceptions, and hadn't come anywhere close to leading the Tigers to a touchdown. Coach Matthews even send him to the lockers early and let sophomore Tyler Bass take the final snaps of the 2nd quarter.

The Bulldogs were led by their running back, Elliot. He was able to run all over the Tiger defense. His totals on the day were 128 yards on the ground on 24 carries, scoring 3 touchdowns. Elliot also had 3 catches for 55 yards. Possibly even more impressive was Mississippi State's defense. They forced 3 interceptions, and allowed -15 yards rushing. That's outstanding, no matter who you are playing.

The second half was slightly better for the Tigers. Ryan Williams and Billy Foster, who was the Tigers star on the day nabbing 6 receptions for 172 yards, hooked up for a 70 yard touchdown in the winding moments of the 3rd quarter. Aside from a few accuracy issues, Williams was much better in the 2nd half. He threw 2 touchdowns and only 1 interception on an attempted 4th down conversion. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the defense, who allowed two touchdowns in the fourth quarter when the game was 17-14.

The Tigers take on ECU next week, who destroyed Tulsa in their season opener. They lost their starting QB Dominique Davis in the game, though, so perhaps Memphis can take advantage and come away with a victory.

[cubsfan203]

Memphis Pulls Through, Wins Conference Opener

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Sep 11, 2010

GREENVILLE, N.C. -

The first half of this game was almost the polar opposite of Memphis' first game against Mississippi State. They managed to control the momentum, and despite not being able to score as often as they would like the defense held their ground and allowed Memphis to jump out with the early lead.

1  2  3  4  Final  Memphis   3  10  0  14  27  East Carolina   0  3  0  14  17   Team Totals  Mem  ECU  FIRST DOWNS  13  15  TOTAL OFFENSE  361  358  RUSHING YARDS  106  27  PASSING YARDS  255  331  Turnovers  4  2  Fumbles Lost  1  1  Intercepted  3  1  Possession Time  16:08  11:52  Third-Down Conversions  6 of 13  4 of 12  Fourth-Down Conversions  1 of 1  1 of 2  Penalties  2-25  4-22

The Tigers started the scoring when they made a 28 yards field goal midway through the first quarter. The nice drive was flawless until Williams just couldn't hit his target once they got into the red zone. Deciding to play it safe, which was not what a lot of Tiger fans were expecting, Matthews elected to get the 3 sure points instead of going for it.

ECU would answer the Tigers' field goal early in the 2nd quarter, to even the score at 3-3. Despite being just a 35 yarder, it might have been the most amazing field goal ever. It started out looking like it was going to miss by a couple feet left, before curving AGAINST the wind to sneak within the uprights. Memphis came out gunning on the following possession, and quickly drove down the field, capping the drive with a 8 yard pass from Williams to Onarheim to give Memphis a 7 point lead.

The third quarter was boring, but the fourth quarter is where things got really interesting. East Carolina recovered a fumble and took it 22 yards for a TD with 4:26 remaining on a controversial call. Replays showed what looked like Ryan Williams' arm moving forward, and Coach Matthews challenged the call, but the play stood as called. With that score the game was tied at 10. Two plays later, however, Jerrell Rhodes was taking the ball 66 yards for a touchdown.

East Carolina threw a pick on the ensuing drive, and the game looked to be over. Not so fast my friends. Coach Matthews decided to go for a score, and told Williams to go for the end zone. Williams did, and he threw an interception. The Pirates drove down the field, and scored on a 30 yard pass to make the game 20-17. The onside kick failed, and Matthews had Williams throw the ball again for a 17 yard TD with just 0:02 remaining. East Carolina's players and fans were extremely angry after the game, but Coach Matthews just shook their hands with a huge grin on his face.

The star of the game for Memphis had to be Jerrell Rhodes. After running the ball 7 times for 2 yards last week, his job was thought to be on a short string. This week he ran 17 times for 115 yards, including a 66 yard touchdown.

This dynasty will have much more information as it goes along. I will eventually have full player stats for every game, weekly recaps, etc but I just need to get this going first. I did the same thing in my CH2k8 dynasty, and it helped keep it going for a long time. Thanks for following!

[cubsfan203]

Tigers Offense Dominates Miners

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Sep 18, 2010

El Paso, TX -

This is what Coach Matthews envisioned when he came to Memphis. This is what bringing the Air Raid was supposed to be. For the first time since it was first implemented, it worked to perfection tonight in El Paso.

1  2  3  4  Final  Memphis   7  21  14  21  63  UTEP   14  0  0  7  21   Team Totals  Mem  UTEP  FIRST DOWNS  21  12  TOTAL OFFENSE  525  355  RUSHING YARDS  160  102  PASSING YARDS  365  253  Turnovers  1  3  Fumbles Lost  0  1  Intercepted  1  2  Possession Time  15:46  12:14  Third-Down Conversions  8 of 9  4 of 11  Fourth-Down Conversions  0 of 0  1 of 1  Penalties  2-20  7-59

The game didn't start out well for the Tigers, as it only took UTEP a little over a minute before they had drove down the field and scored a touchdown to start the game. Memphis would respond though, and after Ryan Williams had to leave the field for a second to tape up his ankle, Tyler Bass threw the ball 37 yards down the field to Marcus Rucker to even the game at 7.

Once again the defense fell apart, though. Donald Buckram looked like he was using cheat codes as he rumbled down the field breaking tackles for a 72 yard touchdown run. After that, it all came together for Memphis. Something just clicked, maybe Coach Matthews said something because they started playing like their lives depended on it.

Memphis would go on to score 49 unanswered points, making UTEP look silly on both sides of the ball. Freshmen Ryan Williams and Jerrell Rhodes combined for 8 touchdowns, with Rhodes running the ball in an incredible 5 times. The defense was also incredible the final 3 quarters. They shut down the UTEP attack multiple times for easy three and outs. It almost got to the point where they looked bored out there.

Coach Matthews will probably get some hate mail for running up the score, but he did warn people that he fully intended to score as many points as possible. When questioned about it during the post game press conference, all Matthews did was smile and say "I'm happy." The Miners fans were obviously upset, but they are probably just upset because their perfect record is now tarnished and both the Tigers and Miners sit at 3-1.

Memphis		UTEP
PASSING  Cmp-Att  Yds  TD  INT  Long  Sack  Ryan Williams   23-31  328  3  1  45  0  Tyler Bass   1-1  37  1  0  37  0		PASSING  Cmp-Att  Yds  TD  INT  Long  Sack  Trevor Vittatoe   17-36  253  2  2  33  2
RUSHING  Att  Yds  TD  Lg  Avg.  Jerrell Rhodes   21  127  5  57  6.0  Gregory Ray  2  23  0  17  11.5		RUSHING  Att  Yds  TD  Lg  Avg.  Donald Buckram   12  122  1  72  10.1
RECEIVING  Rec  Yds  TD  Lg  Marcus Rucker  6  145  1  45  Jermaine McKenzie   7  91  1  37  DeJarrius Adams   2  6  2  6		RECEIVING  Rec  Yds  TD  Lg  Corey Trisby  6  92  0  32  Donovan Kemp   2  52  0  30  LaVorick Williams   1  7  1  7
FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS		FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS

[cubsfan203]

Another Amazing Offensive Performance, Coach Matthews a Genius?

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Ryan Williams led the Tigers to an easy victory for the 2nd straight week.

Oct 2, 2010

Memphis, TN -

It's impossible to start a game any better than the Tigers did this afternoon. After kicking it off, on Tulsa's opening play the pass was picked off by Jamon Hughes. The very next play resulted in a touchdown pass from Williams to Foster. The rest of the game was very similar to last week's game, with the Tigers offense just taking the life out of the Hurricanes.

1  2  3  4  Final  Tulsa   7  0  7  7  21  Memphis   21  14  7  14  56   Team Totals  TUL  MEM  FIRST DOWNS  11  17  TOTAL OFFENSE  359  425  RUSHING YARDS  65  43  PASSING YARDS  294  382  Turnovers  2  0  Fumbles Lost  0  0  Intercepted  2  0  Possession Time  11:01  16:59  Third-Down Conversions  4 of 10  6 of 11  Fourth-Down Conversions  0 of 1  1 of 1  Penalties  3-35  1-10

Ryan Williams is starting to make a name for himself. After struggling to start the year, these past two games he has looked like a seasoned veteran. This isn't what anyone expected from the freshman going into the season, except for perhaps Chris Matthews. The experts laughed at his decision to use the Air Raid system, but we wonder if they are still laughing now. The Tigers were supposed to be the bottom of C-USA, yet they are now 3-0 in conference games.

Williams was exceptional yet again, completing 25 of his 33 passing attempts for 315 yards and 5 touchdowns. More impressive is the fact that he didn't throw an interception for the first time all season. Also impressive is the fact that his 25 completions were spread out among 7 different players.

Jamon Hughes also had a huge game. His interception on the first play really set the tone and the momentum never even came close to changing from the Tigers favor after that. He also recorded 5 tackles in the game, 3 of them for a loss.

Once again the Tigers ran up the score, and once again Coach Matthews provided some entertainment. "What the hell do you want me to do? They were so bad they couldn't stop our second team from scoring, that isn't MY fault!"

With the win the Tigers are now 4-1 on the year, and 3-0 in C-USA. With the loss Tulsa falls to 2-3, and a winless 0-2 in conference play.

Memphis Stats
Ryan Williams: 25-33, 315 yds, 5 TD, 0 INT
Tyler Bass: 4-6, 67 yds

Gregory Ray: 10 att, 19 yds, 2 TD
Jerrell Rhodes: 7 att, 23 yds, TD

Curtis Johnson: 5 rec, 96 yds, 2 TD
Jermaine McKenzie: 6 rec, 67 yds, td
Deven Onarheim: 5 rec, 66 yds, TD
Billy Foster: 6 rec, 65 yds, TD

[cubsfan203]

Defense Flawless in Huge Rivalry Game

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

The defense hit Louisville QB Adam Froman early and often.

Oct 9, 2010

Louisville, KT -

The Memphis Tiger football team only won two games last season. They are now one win away from becoming bowl eligible after making the rival Louisville Cardinals look like a high school football team today. This wasn't just an offensive beat down, the defense just demolished anything that Louisville threw at them.

1  2  3  4  Final  Memphis   0  17  7  10  34  Louisville   0  0  0  0  0   Team Totals  MEM  LOU  FIRST DOWNS  17  9  TOTAL OFFENSE  383  213  RUSHING YARDS  79  37  PASSING YARDS  304  176  Turnovers  0  2  Fumbles Lost  0  0  Intercepted  0  2  Possession Time  16:22  11:38  Third-Down Conversions  3 of 9  1 of 9  Fourth-Down Conversions  1 of 2  0 of 2  Penalties  2-20  3-32

Ryan Williams has become a hero in Memphis. His performance the past three games has been the most notable thing in Tigers football since the days of DeAngelo Williams. The guy is a true freshman, so he will be here for a while, and that has fans buzzing about the possibilities of this football team over the next few years. He was C-USA's offensive player of the week after last week's performance against Tulsa.

The defense gets all the credit for this one though. Shutting out an undefeated Louisville team at their place is an amazing feat. They got to the QB countless times and put him on the ground, including two ferocious sacks.

Jamon Hughes recorded an interception for the second straight game. Both times were incredible momentum swingers. On Memphis' first offensive drive they went for it on 4th and 2 and were stopped. The very next play Hughes picked off a pass to give the Tigers the ball right back. They would go on to score a touchdown on that drive.

It seems like a weekly thing, but once again Coach Matthews ordered his team to put more points on the board. With the clock winding down and Memphis' victory already in place, he called a time out with 2 seconds remaining and sent the kicking team on the field for one last field goal.

With the win the Tigers are now 5-1 on the year, and 3-0 in C-USA. With the loss Louisville falls to 4-1.

Memphis Stats
Ryan Williams: 22-32, 304 yds, 3 td, 0 INT
Tyler Bass: 4-6, 67 yds

Jerrell Rhodes: 16 att, 73 yds, TD
Gregory Ray: 3 att, 22 yds

Marcus Rucker: 4 rec, 93 yds
Billy Foster: 5 rec, 69 yds
Curtis Johnson: 4 rec, 36 yds, TD

Louisville Stats
Adam Froman: 15-24, 176 yds, 0 TD, 2 INT,

Bilal Powell: 9 att, 45 yds
Josh Bellamy: 1 att, 5 yds

Damien Copeland: 3 rec, 62 yds
Troy Pascley: 2 rec, 38 yds
Josh Bellamy: 1 rec, 23 yds

[Deuce2223]

Hey quick question. To post pics from your games, does the dynasty have to be online. Because I save pics and videos from my WSU dynasty but can't seem to find them at EA Sports World.

[vusa92troy]

yes and you can only have three picks loaded on EA at any one time. Some, load 'em on to EA and then save 'em, then load some and repeat. You can keep up to five videos.

[cubsfan203]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Hey quick question. To post pics from your games, does the dynasty have to be online. Because I save pics and videos from my WSU dynasty but can't seem to find them at EA Sports World.

No, it doesn't have to be an online dynasty. After you save them you have to find the highlights section then go to the picture and upload it. That will make it show up on the EA Sports World site.