MEMPHIS, Tenn. (10/14/06) ? With the clock reading :00, Arkansas State receiver Patrick Higgins jumped high in the end zone among a throng of Memphis defenders to catch a 53-yard pass from quarterback Corey Leonard to lead the Indians to a come-from-behind 26-23 victory over the University of Memphis Saturday in the Liberty Bowl.
“I am more than flipping out,” said an elated Head Coach Steve Roberts. “I am flat worn out. I am proud of our football team. This is just a great testament to the character of these young men, continuing to play with six seconds left. It would have been easy to go out there and run four plays, run three plays, and take it to the house. But, they kept competing and doing what we needed to do to put ourselves in position to throw that pass.
“I can't say enough about Patrick Higgins. He's been in a big time slump the last few weeks. He couldn't catch anything. I told Patrick last week after our ball game on Saturday night to keep his head up. Good things are going to happen to you if you keep working hard. We're going to need you to make a big play pretty soon, and he did that today.”
Higgins had two catches on the day for 79 yards. Running back Cedric Wilkerson, subbing for an injured Reggie Arnold, surprised the Memphis defense by picking up 116 yards on 23 carries, 74 of which were in the second quarter. Leonard finished the day completing 12 of 23 passes for 219 yards and two interceptions.
After leading the entire first half, 17-6, things looked grim for ASU late in the game after Memphis had erased the lead to 23-20 in favor of the Tigers when UM receiver Ryan Scott threw a 37-yard touchdown strike to Joseph Doss on the flea flicker. A few plays later, ASU's fate appeared to be sealed when Leonard was intercepted by UM's Heath Grant with just over four minutes left in the game.
A pass interference penalty against the Indians set up Memphis' first score, a 28-yard field goal by Matt Reagan with 10:38 left in the first quarter. ASU struck back at 5:38 with a 16-yard run by freshman receiver Brandon Thompkins. Josh Arauco connected on the point after to give ASU the 7-3 lead.
Higgins added another TD early in the second period at 13:31 on a 26-yard pass from Leonard. Arauco had a couple of field goals of 33 and 27 yards.
The third quarter belonged to the Tigers when Duke Calhoun scored on a 49-yard pass play from quarterback Martin Hankins and a 28-yard field goal by Reagan to cut ASU's lead to 17-16. Following the Scott-to-Doss play, Leonard threw the football up for grabs resulting in the winning catch. There was a short delay as officials reviewed the play, but the result was the same.
“It felt like 20 hours,” said Roberts. “I was scared to death. I was ready to go pull some wires somewhere and not let them review. But, they did make the right call.”
