The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
at Georgia
UAB Falls To No. 4 Georgia, 16-13
10/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
UAB (3-5), playing with a redshirt freshman quarterback (Chris Williams) making his first career start, gave Georgia (7-1) everything the Bulldogs wanted. The Blazers took a 13-10 lead with 9:52 remaining in the third quarter on the strength of a 47-yard field goal by Groza Award candidate Nick Hayes. But Georgia came back with a pair of three-pointer by its own Groza candidate, Billy Bennett, the final one with 12:47 left to claim the narrow victory.
UAB, a 29-point underdog, played well for the second week in a row against a ranked team. The Blazers led No. 15 TCU 24-16 in the third quarter, but wound up losing 27-24 after quarterback Darrell Hackney sustained a season-ending thumb injury.
That forced UAB to give redshirt freshman Williamshis first college start against the nation's top-ranked defense. The youngster fared well, making no major mistakes and keeping the Blazers in the game.
"I am real proud of my players," UAB coach Watson Brown said. "Our plan was to get into the fourth quarter and make the game as short as possible."
The Bulldogs had to make a late defensive stand to preserve their victory. Williams completed a 24-yard pass to Bradly Chavez to the Georgia 32, within range for Nick Hayes to attempt a tying field goal.
But a delay of game penalty backed up UAB, then Derrick White sacked Williams for an 11-yard loss. Under heavy pressure, Williams failed to complete his next two passes, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs with 1:54 remaining. They managed to run out the clock.
"We knew we had to stop 'em right there," said defensive end Quentin Moses, who had to step in when All-American David Pollack went down early in the game with a leg injury.
Following the script, Georgia jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead, only to have UAB tie it by halftime. The Blazers went ahead for the first time on Hayes' 47-yard field goal with 9:52 left in the third quarter.
At the start, it looked like the Bulldogs might seize control early as they marched right down the field on their first possession as Greene completed four straight passes, the last a 16-yard touchdown to Damien Gary. Bennett kicked a 48-yard field goal early in the second quarter to make it 10-0.
But UAB responded with an 18-play, 75-yard drive that consumed nearly 10 minutes of the second period. Theron Dudley scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to pull the Blazers within 10-7.
On the final play of the half, Hayes kicked a 27-yard field goal to tie it up.
In his first start, Williams was 12-of-21 for 97 yards, with one interception.
"Under the circumstances, I think we did a good job," linebacker Zac Woodfin said. "We fought our guts out today."
