BY SHANNON SHELTON
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER |
| Few would dispute DeAngelo Williams' selection as the Motor City Bowl's most valuable player after seeing him tear up the turf at Ford Field on Monday. |
| Except for maybe Williams himself. |
| The way Williams saw it, Maurice Avery was the one who helped Memphis get the victories the Tigers needed to become bowl eligible. If Avery hadn't taken over at quarterback when two starters suffered injuries, Memphis wouldn't have made it here. That meant Williams would have been sitting at home this holiday season instead of padding his statistics and raising his NFL draft stock. |
| "I think he's our most valuable player, hands down," Williams said after Memphis' 38-31 victory over Akron. "He makes our offense go." |
| Against Akron, Avery did more than just hand the ball off. He added another dimension to the offense with his 7-of-13 passing effort which resulted in 170 yards -- nearly a quarter of the 724 total yards he produced in six regular-season games. He also rushed for 43 yards and kicked three punts, one of which put Akron at its own 2. |
| Avery finished the season 5-2 at quarterback. |
| "I thought he handled the game very well," Akron coach J.D. Brookhart said. "They've got some very athletic and talented wide receivers that know how to go up and get the football. They made plays tonight." |
| Avery made his biggest mark in the second quarter, completing a 42-yard pass to Earnest Williams and making two passes to Ryan Scott -- one for 50 yards and a second for 48. The 50-yarder set up Memphis' first touchdown, as Williams took a pitch and ran for a one-yard touchdown two plays later. |
| "I said all week we'd have to throw the ball to win," Memphis coach Tommy West said. "We would probably take between five and eight shots and have to hit the deep ball to win the game. |
| "(Akron) did exactly what we thought. They loaded the box for the running game early and we made the big plays." |
| Williams ran for 233 yards on 30 carries and scored three touchdowns. |
| During his Memphis career, Avery has gone from quarterback to receiver to quarterback again. He was recruited as a signal caller before moving to wide receiver during his sophomore season. That's where he expected to stay until this season, when injuries felled expected starter Patrick Byrne and backup Will Hudgens early in the season. |
| Memphis was 2-3 before Avery took over at quarterback against Houston. In his victorious debut, Avery threw for 112 yards, including a 66-yard TD, and rushed for 105 yards and a score. |
| Avery said he was pleased to see Akron's defense thrown off early, allowing Memphis to take a 13-3 lead into halftime, which provided the momentum for its second-half surge. |
| "I think they thought we'd run the ball the whole game," Avery said. "We just opened the pass up." |
| Contact SHANNON SHELTON at 313-223-3215 or sshelton@freepress.com. |