| DETROIT -- Early in the fourth quarter, ball at the wrong 31. Memphis fans were starting to fret. |
| A fat lead had become a thin one. Akron fans were sounding as nutso as Akron fans may have ever sounded, like, in the history of the school. |
| "Fear the Roo," they said. |
| No, really. That's what they said. |
| They just had to stop Memphis and get the ball back. They just had to stop DeAngelo Williams... |
| You're laughing now, right? |
| Because that's what every team thinks. That's what every Memphis opponent has thought for the last four years. |
| Just stack the box. |
| Throw everyone at the guy. |
| Then the guy gets the ball and, see, that's when the plan breaks down. |
| So Maurice Avery gave it to Williams, and Williams did what he so often does, he made a cut, then popped it outside, then, somehow, way at the other end of the field, the ball was at the 1 and the game had irrevocably changed. |
| "You know what?" said Akron coach J.D. Brookhart, looking for the right words. "He's, um, really fast." |
| And strong. |
| Williams showed that on the next play, when he carried two Akron players into the end zone. |
| In the stands, Sandra Hill, Williams' mother, waved her pompon so hard the little blue and white strands started to come off. |
| "That's how you answer back, baby," she said. |
| Fear the Roo? |
| Nah, Fear the Blue. |
| Especially the one wearing the two and the zero, who finished his breathtaking Memphis career just the way you'd hope. |
| With a win. |
| With one big trophy (for winning the game), and another big trophy (for winning the MVP award), and a lump in his throat that might have been bigger than both. |
| That came when after it was all over, when someone asked how he felt. |
| "The thing I'm most proud about is the friendships and relationships I have with my team ..." |
| Williams' voice gave way. |
| "Awwwww," said quarterback Maurice Avery, who shares a room and the backfield with Williams. "He's going to do it." |
| Cry, that is. |
| After four years, three bowls and 6,021 yards, isn't that OK? |
| Memphis defeated Akron in the Motor City Bowl on Monday, 38-31. It was the team's 24th win in the past three years. |
| It was fun, too, a merry and exuberant slice of what the Memphis program has become. So what if the game was played the day after Christmas? So what if Detroit isn't particularly warm? |
| "I'd say it's 33-35 degrees," said Dave Brown, the weather guy, and who else would you believe? |
| But it was warmer inside, where several thousand Memphis fans seemed to be having a ball. Former Tigers Marcus Bell and Tony Semple showed up. |
| "It's like a family reunion," Semple said, in wonderment. |
| Except these folks all got along! |
| There were Democrats and Republicans, whites and blacks. |
| "Garrison Keillor said the great ones give us a gift," said Gus Radford, one of the throng. "DeAngelo has given us a gift. He's given us four years of his life, he's put us in the national spotlight, he came back when he didn't have to and he's won this ball game for us." |
| Williams would be the first to say he didn't do all that himself. Avery, his roomie, threw for 170 yards. Stephen Gostkowski hit another 50-yarder. John Doucette flopped on an onsides kick at the end. |
| But Williams is the one with the touch of greatness, and don't take my word for it. |
| Ask Jerome Harrison, the halfback from Washington State, who was sitting in the stands. Harrison happened to be one of two running backs -- Garrett Wolfe of Northern Illinois was the other -- ahead of Williams for the NCAA's rushing title coming into the game. |
| "I'm here to support him," said Harrison, who lives in Kalamazoo. "He's an awesome back." |
| Harrison met Williams at a recent awards ceremony in Orlando. |
| "My teammates were like, 'Don't you hate him?'" Harrison said. "I said, 'Naw, man, he's real cool.'" |
| So there sat Harrison, pulling for Williams, and it was a sight to see. |
| Williams would do something remarkable. Harrison would come flying out of his seat. |
| "I don't mind finishing second to a back like that," Harrison said, and it's a good thing, too. |
| Harrison wound up averaging 172.7 yards a game. |
| Wolfe wound up with 175.6. |
| Williams had 30 carries for 233 yards to finish first with 178.1 |
| He also passed Tony Dorsett and Archie Griffin to set a record for most 100-yard games (34) in a career. |
| "Coach says I'll appreciate it when I'm 50," he said. |
| The rest of you can feel free to appreciate it now. |
| Which everyone in attendance seemed to do, rising to their feet and giving Williams one last ovation as he started to leave the field. |
| Just then, a small boy tugged on Williams' jersey. Naturally, Williams stopped. |
| Joshua Berger, 10, happened to be at the bowl game with his father. He wanted an autograph. |
| Williams obliged. Berger beamed. |
| "He's the next Walter Payton," he said, breathless. "And he's really, really nice." |
| It all figured, didn't it? |
| The guy's career at Memphis had been over for maybe five minutes, and he was already making new friends. |
| --Geoff Calkins |