2006 UAB Blazers football team

The 2006 UAB Blazers played their 16th season of football for UAB, the 11th in Division I-A, and the 7th as a member of Conference USA. The team was coached by Watson Brown, who stepped down from the Athletic Director's job to focus on coaching in his 11th and final season. His assistants were Pat Sullivan, offensive coordinator and assistant head coach and Rick Christophel, defensive coordinator.

Schedule (3-9, 2-6)

1. September 2: Lost at Oklahoma, 17-24: The Blazers opened the season with a loss at No. 10 Oklahoma, who came into the game as 24-point favorites. Sooners running back Adrian Peterson gained 139 yards and a touchdown in 24 carries to help overcome inconsistency from quarterback Paul Thompson. Junior Sam Hunt spelled UAB starting quarterback Chris Williams early, leading an 80 yard drive for the Blazers first touchdown, a 5 yard Corey White rush up the middle. A second touchdown drive, capped by a 24 yard pass to White was followed by a recovered fumble. The ensuing Swayze Waters kick gave UAB a 17-14 lead. The Sooners countered with a 69-yard Peterson reception on a screen pass. Waters missed a 43-yard attempt late and Oklahoma was able to run out the final 2 minutes on the clock. The Blazers defense held Oklahoma to 15 first downs. They intercepted Thompson twice, sacked him once, and forced two fumbles. UAB attempted 40 rushing plays to Oklahoma's 29. Team doctor Brenda Baumann was injured when receiver Willie Edwards collided with her on the sideline.
2. September 9: Won against East Carolina 17-12 at Legion Field: UAB's defense made forced a critical fumble at the end of what could have been a game-winning drive for the Pirates late in the game. Sam Hunt started the game at quarterback, but Chris Williams led the offense most of the way, going 12-16 for 144 yards and both UAB touchdowns. Parker Mullins made a 31 yard field goal at the end of the first half to give the Blazers a 10-3 lead. The announced crowf for the 6:05 PM game was 23,116.
3. September 16: Lost at Georgia 34-0: The Bulldogs dominated the entire game between the hedges, handing the Blazers their first shut-out since September 2002. UAB managed only 163 yards of offense, against a swarming defense. Dan Burks averaged 4.6 yards on 10 carries to lead the UAB offense. Starter Sam Hunt, a Georgia native, completed 7 of 11 passes for 48 yards and Chris Williams came in, making 5 of 10 throws for 46 yards. Both QB's were sacked twice, losing 50 yards on sacks.
4. September 23: lost 16-10 in overtime against Mississippi State at Legion Field: Each team only scored twice in regulation in the defensive battle at Legion Field. An announced crowd of 36,104 saw the Blazers nearly pull out a win when Parker Mullins made a 37 yard field goal at the end of regulation to force overtime. State's Adron Chambers intercepted Chris Williams pass at the goal line in the Blazers opening overtime possession, and then Omar Connors broke free for a 21 yard touchdown run to give MSU the win. In 11 games against SEC opponents, this was the first home game for UAB.
5. September 30: Won against Troy University 21-3 at Legion Field. Sam Hunt led the offense, passing for 145 yards and rushing for another 69 while UABs pass rush stymied Troy's blockers, sacking quarterback Omar Haughabook 6 times in front of a crowd of 32,818.
6. October 7: Won against Memphis 35-29 at Legion Field in the Battle for the Bones. UAB's offensive line took charge, opening up room for the Blazers to rack up 288 yards of rushing offense. It almost went for naught, though, as Memphis' quarterback Martin Hankins completed a number of critical long passes to put the Tigers in scoring position. His first play from scrimmage was an 82 yard completion to Ryan Scott to give Memphis a touchdown advantage before the crowd of 20,644 got a chance to find their seats. UAB marched methodically back up the field on their first drive, tying it up with a 1 yard Corey White run. White finished with 129 yards on 28 carries. Marcus Elliott added 109 on 11 carries, including a 62 yard sprint where he ran out of gas and was brought down just short of the end zone. The UAB defense made a critical stop on the Tigers' last drive, sealing their 7th straight victory in the rivalry and claiming the 100-pound trophy.
7. October 14: Lost 34-33 at Rice University. A last second 9 yard touchdown pass from Rice's Chase Clement to Jarett Dillard gave Rice the upset. The play was set up by a fumbled interception return by linebacker Kris Guyton. Clement passed for 3 touchdowns and rushed for the other 2 scores. UAB's Chris Williams finsihed the day 15 of 28 for 288 yards and four touchdowns. Parker Mullins missed the first extra point, and a 2-pt conversion attempt on the next score also failed.
8. October 21: Lost to Marshall 31-24 at Legion Field. The Thundering Herd's Ahmad Bradshaw racked up 242 yards on 25 carries, scoring two touchdowns, helping Marshall's formerly feeble offense rack up 473 total yards. Chris Williams was 18 of 30 for 205 yards for the Blazers. He three for a touchdown and rushed for another to lead UAB. Marculus Elliot paced the UAB rushing attack with 129 yards. UAB was unable to rally from 7 points down, even after Will Dunbar intercepted Bernard Morris at the Herd's 41 with 4 minutes left.
9. October 31: Lost 22-9 at Southern Methodist University. Down 9-7 in the fourth quarter, SMU scored two touchdowns in five minutes to take the victory. UAB managed only three Swayze Waters field goals. UAB forced two turnovers and had two more apparent turnovers denied by the officials (an apparent fumble ruled an incomplete pass and a muffed punt called back for interference). Chris Williams went 18 of 33 for 133 yards. Freshman Rashad Slaughter caught 10 of those 18 passes for 62 yards.
10. November 10: Lost to the University of Texas - El Paso 36-17 at Legion Field. UTEP's Jordan Palmer racked up 447 of his team's 456 yards of total offense in the air, completing five touchdown passes and the Miners took advantage of two Sam Hunt interceptions to overcome the Blazers. For UAB Corey White stood out with two touchdowns, one on the ground and one in the air.
11. November 18: Lost 25-20 at Southern Miss. Damion Fletcher's 163 yards rushing kept UAB's defense on the field and allowed the Golden Eagles to survive a 20 point fourth quarter rally led by redshirt freshman QB Joseph Webb and by Brandon Register's 67-yard fumble return. Webb was sacked in the end zone for a USM safety to close the scoring with 38 seconds left.
12. November 25: Lost 31-22 at Central Florida. Golden Knight quarterback Kyle Israel score the game-winning touchdown on a keeper to hand UAB its 6th straight loss to close the season. After UAB rallied from 21-0, Webb's tying two-point conversion was called back on a penalty. UCF drove 80 yards in 6 plays on the ensuing possession and never looked back. Webb, in his first start, finished with 289 yards passing and one rushing touchdown. Willie Edwards had his third 100-yard day as a receiver and Chris Felder returned a fumble 44 yards to finish UAB's scoring for the season.

Results

Following the season, UAB head coach Watson Brown resigned his position to take the head coaching job at Tennessee Tech in his home town of Cookeville. UAB officials planned to offer the position to LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, but the offer was nixed by the University of Alabama System's Board of Trustees on the grounds that paying Fisher $600,000 a year would be fiscally irresponsible. In December 2006, Georgia offensive coordinator and line coach Neil Callaway was named as Brown's replacement.

Roster

Seniors

• Norris Drinkard, WR
• Brandon Register, DB
• Chris Williams, QB
• Orlandus King, LB
• Will Evans, DB
• Trey Cheney, RB
• Marculus Elliott, RB
• Nick Coon, WR
• Corey White, RB
• Dan Burks, RB
• Taylor Ownbey, FB
• Mastaki Smith, LB
• Larry McSwain, DE
• David Miller, DE
• Clarence Respress, DT
• Marcus Mark, LB
• Tommie Keys, OL
• Quinton Harris, OL
• Cornelius Rogers, OL
• Alan Leon, OL
• Julius Wilson, OL
• Jordan Erwin, TE
• LaDarrius Stanley, TE
• Parker Mullins, P/PK
• Jason Hamlin, DT
• Cortlin Johnson, DL
• Brandon Jeffries, DT
• Tony Haynes-Dalton, DL
• Jermaine McElveen, DE

Preceded by: 2005

UAB Blazers football 2006

Succeeded by: 2007

References

• Scarbinsky, Kevin (December 15, 2006) "UAB had Fisher until trustees sacked deal." Birmingham News.

External links

• UAB Sports website
• UAB football coverage at Al.com