Deep in the third quarter, after Brady White zipped a pass to Sean Dykes in the end zone to open up what would be an insurmountable lead, the Memphis public address announcer said it was time for a quintessentially 2020 diversion.

The masked kiss cam!

So the music played, and the in-stadium camera found couples sitting side by side, and the couples put their masks together and smooched.

It was sad and it was sweet and it was a wry summary of the night.

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No, a masked kiss isn’t anything close to the real deal.

But, for now at least, it’s all we’ve got.

The same goes for Saturday’s Memphis football season opener, which was about as much fun as a pandemic opener can be.

The fans were few but deeply grateful to be there. The band was small but mighty good. And the Memphis Tigers gave coach Ryan Silverfield the first win of his career, defeating Arkansas State, 37-24.

“I’m super grateful and super blessed,” said quarterback Brady White, who threw four touchdown passes. “It’s finally come to fruition. It’s here.”

It was a night unlike any other in the history of the program, a night when just 4,500 family members, boosters, fans, cheerleaders and band members were allowed in the Liberty Bowl.

Outside the stadium, Debra Rowser held up a sign for $10 parking, waiting for cars that would never come.

“I can usually make $500 on a good day,” she said. “This is going to hurt a lot of people out here.”

The massive fountain in Tiger Lane was turned off for the occasion. Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch described the scene as “surreal.”

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A fan named John Sumerel tossed a football with his 6-year-old son, Walker, but wondered aloud whether they were breaking the rules.

“I’m happy to be here but I’m nervous, too, if that makes sense,” he said. “You don’t even know how you’re supposed to feel.”

Scott Forman arrived two hours before kickoff. For the first time in 73 games, he did not have a tiger to watch over. Forman is in charge of TOM III, the Memphis mascot. But the conference ruled that mascots are not allowed on the sidelines this year.

“It’s a hard day for me,” he said. “It’s really hard. But I’d rather have football without TOM than no football at all.”

Forman did pay a visit to TOM before heading to the stadium.

“I think he’s confused, he hasn’t been anywhere in a while,” he said, and who among us can’t relate to that?

The stadium itself looked sadly empty, with vast swatches of empty seats. Memphis fans who were already ticked about the health department’s attendance limitations became freshly enraged when photos of the place made their way to social media. 

But you’ll notice that University of Memphis officials have not uttered so much as a word of complaint. They understand the need to stop community spread of the coronavirus.

“I wish the rest of Tiger nation could be here,” said a fan named Phil Glass, who has been wearing a mask (and a kilt, and heavy boots, and a fake white beard) to Memphis games for years. “This is going to be different, for sure. It’s going to feel really weird.”

It did, too. Feel weird. The band members were spaced 12 feet apart and their instruments were individually miked. The officials used buzzers instead of whistles, because a buzzer doesn’t involve saliva. The pregame flyover was by an evac helicopter.

The crowd tried to make as much noise as possible, but when the public address guy urged people to “Get Loud,” it felt almost unfair.

“I told the players before the game, ‘When you run out there, it’s going to feel different,’ ” Silverfield said. “But all the stuff on the outside doesn’t matter when you get between the white lines.”

Except, of course, if the stuff on the outside involves positive test results. Which pretty clearly had an impact Saturday night. Three Memphis players listed as starters were scratched before kickoff. All Silverfield would say was “the contact tracing can affect you. It’s just part of it.”

Happily, the remaining players had just enough to meet the moment. White threw those four touchdown passes, Dykes caught 10 passes for 137 yards and the defense — which looked decidedly shaky in moments — earned three opportunities to celebrate with the (yes, it’s back this year) turnover belt.

“If you can’t appreciate a good championship wrestling belt, then shame on you,” said Silverfield, who will get no arguments from Memphians.

It was a good night after a lot of long days. It was a small miracle it happened at all. So instead of arguing over attendance or contact tracing or all the other things that people are arguing over these days, let me tell you about a fan named Mike Nordengren.

Nordengren has been coming to Memphis games alone since his wife passed away. He has been to every opener for the past 20 years except for one, when he was deployed in Afghanistan.

Before this opener, he decided to go find his regular seat in the stadium. 

“I just wanted to get a picture of it,” he said. “I’m really grateful to be here.”

When asked to explain why, Nordengren compared the game to a USO show. 

“When it’s over, you have to go back to combat,” he said. “But for a few hours, it makes you forget everything and feel good again.”

COVID-19 isn’t combat, of course. But this has been a long and wearying fight. 

“I think we needed tonight,” Nordengren said. “I think we all needed it, a little bit.”