Memphis football's Boise State rally doubles as breakthrough for Seth Henigan | Giannotto

Seth Henigan walked gingerly up three steps and grimaced when he sat down at the podium to talk about it all.

About the terrible start. About the comeback that began before halftime. About the fourth quarter, when he made sure Memphis escaped with a 35-32 win Saturday over Boise State at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. About the doubts that crept into his mind, however briefly.

The Tigers’ quarterback was like a lot of us, emotionally and physically spent, and considering the worst there for a moment.

He thought about all of those blown leads of the recent past that seemed to start with Memphis up 17-0, rather than down 17-0. He thought about the delicate state of this program after the past two seasons under coach Ryan Silverfield.

“It was the most important game on the schedule because if we drop to 3-2, a lot of people will cross you off and forget about you,” Henigan said. “We want it all.”

And for the first time this season, he played like that.

This wasn’t Henigan’s most prolific stat line. There are 13 games in his career in which he threw for more yards than he did against Boise State (269). But this might well have been his most consequential performance at Memphis, given the situation and the stakes.

There had been a narrative starting to form. He hadn’t played poorly this season, but he also hadn’t made the leap most expected he would in his third year as a starter. Memphis, meanwhile, hadn’t played poorly this season, but it hadn't proven this would be any different than the promising starts that fell by the wayside the past two years.

Until now. Until Henigan delivered.

A loss to Boise State, particularly a blowout loss, would have made Saturday’s crowd of 30,364 seem like a rave the rest of the season. The enormous matchup with Tulane in less than two weeks still would have given Memphis a chance to assume the driver’s seat in the AAC — as it does now — but it would have come with the caveat that the Tigers hadn't beaten the two decent teams they’ve played.

It would have been yet another deflating setback, made even more conspicuous because this was a day Memphis honored the 2003 team that broke the program's 32-year bowl drought. This was a day in which DeAngelo Williams was brought to tears during a halftime ceremony celebrating his upcoming induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. This was a day that demonstrated why Memphis football is important to so many people, and so it was also a day that teetered toward disaster for anyone who cares about the program.

“This is a special group and I’ve been saying it all along,” Silverfield said. “The only way I can show you is wins on Saturdays.”

Henigan encapsulated all of that tension and (eventual) triumph.

His emergence as a freshman, and his continued presence in Memphis during the transfer portal era, have undoubtedly helped Silverfield survive the angst and attrition within the fan base. But Henigan is also likely the highest-paid player on the roster in this age of name, image and likeness benefits, and his stalled development was going to become a storyline sooner rather than later.

So the blocked field goal Memphis linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku returned for a touchdown might have been the turning point in this game. But what Henigan did could be the turning point for this season.

He found wide receiver Roc Taylor twice on the Tigers’ first touchdown drive and ran for a combined 39 yards on their second scoring drive right before halftime, when they finally found their footing.

Then there was that dime Henigan threw to wide receiver Koby Drake off his back foot on third-and-8 from his own 14-yard line early in the fourth quarter.

“I kind of got hit, and then I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I think Koby made a great catch.”

The throw was better. Maybe the best of his college career.

ORAL HISTORY: Reliving the 2003 Memphis football season, from flipping tires in snow to a New Orleans jail cell

Then came the 59-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Demeer Blankumsee to put Memphis up two scores.

“He was just wide open,” Henigan said, praising the play call. “It was actually a pretty bad ball.”

When Boise State answered, Henigan responded by leading a 75-yard touchdown march that consumed more time (6:38) than any previous Memphis possession this season.

“Definitely the biggest drive of the game,” he said, even though he and Silverfield both conceded to having flashbacks after tailback Blake Watson barely crossed the goal line.

Silverfield thought back to the Navy game a couple of weeks ago, when Watson fumbled inside the 1-yard line, as Memphis waited Saturday to see if a replay review would turn Watson’s touchdown into another fumble. Henigan thought back to last year’s Houston collapse as Boise State lined up for its last gasp of an onside kick, and briefly considered the worst.

By that point, though, he had already made a convincing case that his best has yet to come.

You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on X: @mgiannotto

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis football rally doubles as breakthrough for Seth Henigan