The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
at Florida State (ESPN2)
UAB Falls To Florida State, 34-7
9/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Seminoles' B.J. Dean, James Coleman and Chris Rix scored on 1-yard runs and Xavier Beitia kicked two field goals for Florida State, which was coming off its worst offensive showing in 24 years.
The game was a sharp contrast for UAB which put up 56 points amd 516 yards of offense in a season-opening win over Baylor two weeks ago.After the FSU offense failed to score a touchdown against the Hurricanes in a 16-10 loss, the Seminoles went 74 yards on their opening drive for a score. The big play was Washington's career-best 48-yard run on the game's second play.
Florida State (1-1) had 489 yards of offense and didn't punt until late in the fourth quarter.
In addition to getting to Hackney for 54 yards in losses, the Florida State defense limited UAB to minus-24 yards rushing.
"You're never as good as it looks when you clobber somebody and you're never as bad as it appears after a game like this," said UAB head coach Watson Brown, "and that's what I told our kids. We got dominated pretty good tonight. The line of scrimmage was controlled by Florida State all night on both sides of the ball. It's hard to win football games when you can't control the line of scrimmage.
"We made mistakes, but the difference in the game was just the dominance up front. Every time we'd get something going offensively, they'd just stuff us. When they had to make a big first down, they did it."
The Blazers' lone touchdown came in the final minute of the first half on a 21-yard pass from Hackney to junior receiver Reggie Lindsey.
Leading 17-7 at halftime, the Seminoles appeared ready to take command of the contest on their first drive of the second half but the erratic Rix was intercepted at the goal line by UAB safety Justin Whitmore.
However, Florida State was back in business moments later when Pat Watkins 31-yard return with an interception set up Dean's 1-yard scoring run to give the Seminoles a 24-7 lead.
Washington's 2-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter made it 31-7.
Rix was 18-for-29 for 191 yards before leaving in favor of little-used backup Wyatt Sexton in the fourth quarter.
Rix, unable to get a win in five starts against archrival Miami, was booed when introduced at the beginning of the game and the crowd cheered when Sexton came in.
After missing a 49-yard try midway through the first quarter, Beitia connected from 30 yards on the first play of the second quarter as Florida State built a 10-0 advantage. His 22-yard kick completed the scoring in the fourth period.
Jae Thaxton blocked a punt by UAB's Parker Mullins to set up Coleman's 1-yard scoring run and give the Seminoles a 17-0 lead three minutes into the second quarter.
UAB (1-1) had rolled up more than 500 yards of offense in its 56-14 win over Baylor Sept. 4 in its opener, but couldn't gain a yard or first down in the first quarter, managing only six plays.
UAB will kick off against Memphis next Saturday, Sept. 25 at 6:00 p.m. CT at Legion Field.
