MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Darrell Henderson rushed for nearly 200 yards while Brady White threw for just under 300, with the duo accounting for four scores to help lead Memphis to a 52-35 non-conference football win over the University of South Alabama on Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

Henderson carried 22 times for 188 yards, reaching the end zone from 13 and 54 yards out, while White completed 22-of-29 attempts for 292 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Tigers improved to 3-1.  Evan Orth was 24-of-32 passing for 360 yards and three touchdowns including finding Jamarius Way 10 times for 185 yards for the Jaguars, who fell to 1-3.

Nigel Lawrence recorded 11 stops for South, sharing game-high honors with UofM's Curtis Akins.

Memphis 52, South Alabama 35 (final stats)
South Alabama/Memphis photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-The Jaguars took an early 7-0 lead when they scored on their opening possession of the contest, marching 75 yards in 11 plays and four minutes and 45 seconds.
-UofM scored touchdowns on three of its first four drives to go ahead 21-7 less than five minutes into the second quarter, but South responded with touchdown marches of 75 and 87 yards to tie the contest with a minute left before the break.
-The Tigers recorded points on their opening two drives of the second half, using a fourth-down stop inside their 10-yard line late in the period to take a four-point edge to the fourth quarter.
-Memphis sealed the win with three scores in the final 15 minutes.
-The two teams combined for 319 yards of total offense in the opening quarter, 582 at the half and 1,030 for the game.
- Henderson came in game leading the nation with an average of 173.7 rushing yards per game and was below that figure until scoring his second touchdown of the contest.

NOTES
-It was the first meeting between the two schools.
-The Jaguars recorded a season-best 467 yards of total offense.
-South came into play successful on 18.6 percent of its third-down conversions, but were 8-of-15 overall against the Tigers including making 6-of-8 in the opening half.
-Memphis' 92-yard drive — which ended on a 16-yard Tony Pollard touchdown run a minute-and-a-half into the final quarter — was the longest put together against the Jag defense this year.
-Orth not only finished with career-high totals in both yards passing and touchdowns, he matched the school game record in the former category first set by Ross Metheny at Louisiana on Nov. 24, 2012.
-Way recorded his second straight 100-yard game after posting game-high totals in both catches and yards, setting a career high in the latter category for the second week in a row.
-Kawaan Baker scored his team-leading sixth and seventh touchdowns of the season, the third time this fall he has reached the end zone on multiple occasions in a game.
-Jahmmir Taylor's first catch of the season was a career-long 62-yard effort midway through the second quarter, helping set up 2-yard touchdown run by Tra Minter that cut the Jaguar deficit in half.
-It's the third time in the last two weeks the junior running back has reached the end zone after he scored just twice all last season.
-It marked the third time in four contests that Lawrence has led team in tackles.
-It was also the third outing this fall that the senior — who paced the Sun Belt Conference in stops coming into play — has recorded a double-digit total in the category.
-Redshirt freshman A.J. DeShazor was credited with a career-high eight stops, including an assist behind the line of scrimmage, as well as with a pass broken up.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
On his thoughts on the game: "The guys fought really hard and I thought we did a lot of things really, really well. We made a couple of mistakes that I can point the finger directly at myself for that could have made the game even more interesting. Our guys though fought hard and gave a great effort. We created some mismatch opportunities on offense; [Memphis] had a hard time covering Jamarius and our other receivers. They were out there making plays. I thought Evan threw the ball well and that we protected him.  We put some things together offensively better than we have at any point this year.  We had a couple of red zone issues [tonight] that we had not had; if we had done a couple of things differently in a couple of those situations, we could have put ourselves in better position to win the game.  Memphis is a great football team and you have to take your hat off to them.  Mike [Norvell] does an outstanding job coaching them and they have a lot of talented players. It's never good when you come up short, we have to figure out a way to keep from coming up short.  Again, our guys gave great effort and did what we asked them to do."
On the improvement of the team: "Offensively, we went to some things earlier and opened it up a little bit earlier than we had been.  Evan got the wide receivers the ball and those guys went up and made plays, and that was good to see.  We have to continue to give those chances to do that."

Senior S Nigel Lawrence
On what can be taken from the game: "We really have to tackle better.  We played hard and ran to the ball.  We needed to tackle better and get some turnovers and it would've been a whole different game."
On Darrell Henderson: "He's a good running back, but no matter who it is I feel like we should be able to make the tackle."
On the team's ability to battle throughout the game: "That's what we preach, to play four quarters of football.  We're not going to stop doing that, we are going to keep fighting and keep trying to win."

Senior WR Jamarius Way
On his performance tonight: "I was able to make a couple of plays tonight when my number got called, but we weren't able to get the win."
On what Memphis' defense was doing that allowed him to get open opportunities: "They gave us a lot of man-to-man coverage and we go against that in practice a lot; it was basically like our one-on-one drill. I feel like I can win it every time I go one-on-one."
On the progress of the team: "I do feel that we're making progress, but it's something that we've had for a while; it's just now starting to show.  Everything we do in the weight room, in film study and in practice is showing.  We can play with any team in the nation, it's just a bigger name on the other jersey. We need to learn from our mistakes tonight and feed off of the big plays we made.  If we do that we should be fine going back into Sun Belt play."

Up next: USA returns to Sun Belt Conference action on Saturday with a trip to Boone, N.C., to take on Appalachian State, with the contest slated to get underway at 2:30 p.m. (CDT).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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