Blazers lose battle to Memphis

Jonathan Deal, Assistant Sports Editor
Published On: 10/ 6/2008

UAB (1-5, 0-2) suffered a heartbreaking defeat to the Memphis Tigers (3-3, 1-2) at Legion Field Thursday night. With just seconds remaining on the clock, Memphis outlasted UAB with a 25-yard chip shot to seal the 33-30 victory.

Junior quarterback Joe Webb tied the game at 30 apiece on a 10-yard run with 4:02 left on the clock, but the score came too early as the visitors made one last drive, leaving just two seconds left on the clock when Vincent Zaccario nailed his second field goal of the night.

“I’m proud of the way our guys competed tonight,” said Head Coach Neil Callaway. “This loss is on me. We made too many mistakes tonight, and when you do that against good teams, you will get beat every time.”

Webb had another stellar night throwing for 209 yards and a touchdown in the loss. The junior signal-caller once again proved how effective he can be as a dual threat quarterback, leading all Blazer rushers with 93 yards and three touchdowns but had two costly fumbles late in the game.

Webb had nearly 100 yards rushing by halftime but was shutdown in the second half by a swarming Memphis defense that had four sacks in the second half.

“They made some adjustments in the second half,” said Webb. “They started dropping more people into coverage, so I had a hard time finding anybody open.”

UAB got off to a great start on their first drive of the game using a mixture of run and pass plays to gain a seven-point lead. The 10-play, 71-yard drive was capped off with a 16-yard Webb touchdown pass to Mike Jones. It was Jones’ first career touchdown catch.

The Blazers put together another impressive drive as the quarter came to a close, driving all the way to the 1-yard-line before settling for an 18-yard Swayze Waters field goal. On that possession, the Blazers were faced with third and long when Webb made an incredible run down the sidelines that broke the single-season rushing record for a UAB quarterback.

After shutting out the Tigers in the first half, the Blazer defense broke down on two long pass plays that combined for 78 yards, including an Earnest Williams 30-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Arkelon Hall.

“We came together as a group before the game and decided we weren’t going to let them move the ball on us,” said senior safety Will Dunbar. “They started throwing some screens, and we just took bad angles on them. We started to adjust to that as the game went on.”

UAB quickly answered with a six-play, 52-yard drive that consumed just 2:03 off the clock and was capped off by another Webb touchdown run, this time from 9 yards out. Waters then missed the ensuing extra point, making the score 16-7 UAB with 12:16 left in the second quarter.

Memphis answered the home team’s scoring when Hall threw his second and third touchdowns of the half to take the lead at halftime 20-16. The Tigers were given a gift on the drive when UAB committed their fourth personal foul penalty and seventh overall penalty of the half. The Blazers finished with a season-high 11 penalties for 127 yards.
Webb continued to be a one-man wrecking crew when he rushed for his second touchdown of the day on a 12-yard scamper to regain the lead for the Blazers, 23-20. Hall then threw his fourth and final touchdown pass of the day for Memphis when he found six-foot, eight-inch Carlos Singleton from 15 yards out. Singleton finished the game with five catches for 123 yards and a touchdown, while Hall went 18-for-28 passing with one interception and four touchdowns.

Leading by a touchdown late in the fourth, Memphis looked as though they were going to score again when senior cornerback Kevin Sanders intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep UAB’s hopes alive. The interception proved crucial as it led to UAB’s final touchdown drive.

“We all knew we had to make a big play,” said Sanders. “I saw the ball was coming my way on the fade route, so I just moved outside and made the pick.”

In a game where the last team to have the ball usually wins, it was Memphis who controlled the game at the UAB 8-yard-line with five seconds remaining in the game. Zaccario hammered home a 25-yard field goal, leaving UAB with just two seconds.

The Blazers will have to put the loss behind them and rebound quickly as they face an explosive Houston offense Thursday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. in Houston.
 

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