Navy upsets Memphis' perfect season with 45-20 win

In less than a week, Memphis went from being a Group of Five team that could potentially crash the Top 4 party, to a program that might not even be the representative for a New Year’s Six bowl game.

The No. 13 Tigers, which came into the game as one of nine undefeated teams remaining in the FBS, struggled against Navy’s option game and suffered a 45-20 defeat.

The Midshipmen are unranked, but are 7-1 this season with their lone loss against No. 5 Notre Dame.

Memphis (8-1) was the Group of Five’s hope at crashing the Top 4 party after dominating its schedule, which included a win against Ole Miss. However, Navy was the better and more focused team on Saturday night.

The Midshipmen stuck to their bread-and-butter option offense and gashed the Tigers for 374 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 66 carries. And when Memphis got a little overanxious about the run, quarterback Keenan Reynolds decided to throw a 75-yard touchdown pass to DeBrandon Sanders. It was the longest touchdown pass of Reynolds’ career and only his third touchdown pass of the season.

Reynolds came into the game needing one rushing touchdown to own the record for the most career rushing touchdowns in NCAA history, but he did not score.

Instead, Chris Swain took the reins of the Midshipmen rushing offense and ran for 108 yards and three touchdowns.

Memphis opened the game looking like the team we’ve seen all season. It used a four-play drive to cover 85 yards and capped it with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Paxton Lynch to Anthony Miller. However, the Tigers had trouble recreating that consistency as the Navy defensive line continually flushed Lynch from the pocket and kept the Memphis running game quiet.

Lynch completed 26 of 42 passes for 305 yards, but also threw an interception, which was one of three Memphis turnovers on the night.

The win gave the Midshipmen their first victory over a top015 team since Nov. 17, 1984, when they defeated then-No. 2 South Carolina. It was the first time the Midshipmen had defeated a top-15 team on the road since Sept. 21, 1974 (then-No. 8 Penn State).

The win also kept Navy tied with Houston atop the American Athletic West Division standings. Houston (9-0) is the only undefeated team remaining in the American Athletic Conference. It hosts Memphis next weekend.

For more Memphis news, TigerSportsReport.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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