The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Memphis
Football Blazes Past Memphis 31-17
9/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 28, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Freshman quarterback Darrell Hackney, making his first start, ran for a touchdown and completed 13 of 22 passes to lead UAB to a 31-17 win over Memphis Saturday night.
UAB (2-3, 1-0 Conference USA) played without leading rusher Kendal Gibson, who was out with a hamstring injury. But Theron Dudley ran for 102 yards on 14 carries and Dan Burks ran for 96 yards and a touchdown.
UAB's finest performance of the season came one week after its poorest as the Blazers struggled in a 34-0 loss at Louisiana-Lafayette last Saturday.
Danny Wimprine completed 22-of-39 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown to lead Memphis (2-3, 1-2).
UAB outrushed Memphis 223-68 and recovered two fumbles in the endzone for touchdowns. The Blazers' offensive output (390 yards) was their best of the season.
"Our kids played lights out, it's unbelievable,: said UAB head coach Watson Brown. "In this business, you have to keep your head, you have to stay cool. You can't let one game do something to you, you have to hang in there.
We had kids playing tonight that weren't supposed to play. We had two offensive linemen get hurt and both of them tried to come back and play. They came in here and responded and that is what I am proud of."
The first fumble recovery came after touchdown runs of three yards by Hackney and 12 yards by Burks, giving UAB a 14-3 lead. Memphis lined up for a punt from its own 33 yard line, but the snap went over punter James Gaither's head and bounced toward the Tigers' goal line.
Gaither tried to kick the ball out of the back of the endzone, but UAB's Chris Brown recovered in the endzone for a touchdown, making it 21-3.
Memphis closed to within 21-17 on a 21-yard scoring run by Dante Brown and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Wimprine to Travis Anglin.
With less than a minute left in the first half, UAB had the ball at the Memphis 47 yard line. Jhun Cook took a pass from Hackney and carried it inside the Memphis 5, where Cook fumbled as he was tackled. The ball bounced into the end zone and was recovered by UAB's Chico Cleveland for a touchdown. That gave UAB a 28-17 lead at halftime.
The only scoring of the second half came on a 20-yard field goal by UAB's Nick Hayes a few seconds into the fourth quarter.
Roddy White caught four passes for 47 yards and Cook added three catches for 49 yards for UAB. Dante Brown carried 12 times for 81 yards to lead Memphis in rushing.
Tavares Gideon was the Tigers' leading receiver with five catches for 52 yards.
UAB will now look to an open week before resuming Conference USA action Oct. 12 with a home game against Houston (2:00 p.m.).
