1993 UAB Blazers football team

1993 UAB Blazers football
Conference Independent
1993 record 9-2
Head coach Jim Hilyer
Home stadium Legion Field
Seasons
« 1992 1994 »

The 1993 UAB Blazers football team represented the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the college football season of 1993, and was the third team fielded by the school. The team's head coach was Jim Hilyer, who was entering his third season as the program's head coach. They played their home games at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama and competed as a Division I-AA Independent. The Blazers would finish their first season at the I-AA level with a record of 9-2.[1]

Schedule

Date Opponent Site Result Attendance
09/06/93 Troy State Legion FieldBirmingham, AL L 3-37   14,207
09/11/93 Morehead State Legion Field • Birmingham, AL W 52-14   6,051
09/25/93 at Western Kentucky L. T. Smith StadiumBowling Green, KY L 13-40   7,000
10/2/93 at Miles Legion FieldBirmingham, AL W 31-6   4,000
10/9/93 Lambuth Legion Field • Birmingham, AL W 40-14   5,856
10/16/93 at Mississippi Valley State Rice-Totten FieldItta Bena, MS W 33-19   9,500
10/23/93 at Charleston Southern Buccaneer FieldCharleston, SC W 48-20   1,550
10/30/93 at Wofford Snyder Field • Spartanburg, SC W 23-11   1,304
11/6/93 at Butler Butler BowlIndianapolis, IN W 31-27   1,047
11/13/93 Dayton Legion Field • Birmingham, AL W 27-19   7,428
11/20/93 Prairie View A&M Legion Field • Birmingham, AL W 58-12   4,181
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. All times are in Central Time.
Schedule Source: 2008 UAB Football Media Guide: Records & History I

Game Summaries

Troy State

1 2 3 4 Total
Troy State 3 7 14 13 37
UAB 3 0 0 0 3

In the Blazers first game as a Division I-AA Independent, UAB would take an early 3-0 lead on a 24-yard Kevin Thomason, only to fall by a final score of 37-3 to the in state Trojans.[2]

Morehead State

1 2 3 4 Total
Morehead State 0 0 14 0 14
UAB 14 17 14 7 52

The Blazers would notch their first win as a Division I-AA Independent, with this 52-14 victory over Morehead State at Legion Field. Pat Green would score both of UAB's first quarter touchdown on separate 1-yard runs in taking a 14-0 lead. The second quarter would see the Blazers tack on an additional 17 points on a David Thornton touchdown run, a 14-yard John Whitcomb touchdown pass to Jermaine Johnson and a 20-yard Kevin Thomason field goal in taking a 31-0 halftime lead.[3]

After Morehead would break the shutout with a pair of third quarter touchdowns, the Blazers would answer with a pair of touchdowns to close the third. The scores would come on a 35-yard David Thornton run and on a 67-yard Whitcomb touchdown pass to Derrick Ingram. UAB would tack on a 9-yard Chip Harris touchdown reception from Chris Williams to provide the final 52-14 marggin of victory. In the victory, the Blazers would have 482 yards of total offense.[3]

Western Kentucky

1 2 3 4 Total
UAB 7 6 0 0 13
Western Kentucky 7 13 14 7 41

In their first game on the road as a Division I-AA Independent, UAB would travel to Bowling Green and see their second defeat in three game with this 41-13 loss to the Hilltoppers. The Blazers would score first on a 1-yard Pat Green touchdown run. After Western answering with a touchdown of their own, UAB would take the lead for a final time on a second 1-yard Green run. Following this score, the Blazers were unable to reach the endzone again in this 41-13 defeat.[4]

Miles

The Blazers would play a "road" game in their home stadium playing cross-town opponent Miles College, and be victorious in this 31-6 victory. With the running game only able to gain 20 yards rushing, John Whitcomb completed 25 passes for 196 yards and a pair of touchdowns. For the game, the Golden Bears were flagged 21 times for 179 yards in the defeat.[5]

Lambuth

Before a home crowd, UAB would defeat the NAIA Division II Lambuth by a final score of 40-14. The Blazers were successful on offense in gaining 446 total yards and on defense in only allowing 202 yards while making 5 turnovers in the victory.[6]

Mississippi Valley State

On the road, the Blazers would upset the Delta Devils 33-19 in extending their overall record to 4-2. UAB would score on the first play from scrimmage after Wayne White recovered a MVSU fumble in the endzone for a touchdown. Additional touchdowns would come on a 1-yard David Thornton run and a 3-yard Derrick Ingram reception from John Whitcomb in the victory.[7]

Charleston Southern

On the road, the Blazers dominate offensively on the road against the Buccaneers, also in their first year at Division I-AA. UAB would have 469 yards of total offense with both Derrick Ingram and Marcus McKinney topping the 100-yard receiving mark with 104 and 131 yards respectively.[8]

Wofford

On the road, Pat Green carried 23 times for 114 yards and John Whitcomb completed 20 of 31 passes for 196 yards in this 23-11 victory.[9]

Butler

In their fourth consecutive road game, the Blazers would be victorious in defeating the Bulldogs 31-27 with John Whitcomb completing 21 of 31 passes for 380 yards. After spotting Butler 14 points, the Blazers would get on the board in the second on a 66-yard Whitcomb touchdown pass Derrick Ingram. Down 21-7 beginning the second half, UAB would respond with scores on four consecutive possessions to take the lead and hold it for the victory. The four scores would come on a 17-yard pass from Whitcomb to Lamar Akles, a 42-yard field goal from Kevin Thomason, an 11-yard Ingram reception and 25-yard pass from Whitcomb to Cedrick Buchannon.[10]

Dayton

Also playing in their first year at Division I-AA, Dayton entered Legion Field with a streak of regular-season game victories at 46, and an overall unbeaten streak of 56 consecutive victories. As time expired, the Flyers would exit with their first loss since the 1989 season in this 27-19 Blazers victory. UAB would score first on an 11-yard touchdown pass from John Whitcomb to Derrick Ingram. The touchdown marked the first allowed by the Flyers defense in the first quarter since 1991, and the first overall touchdown allowed since 1991 over a span of 19 games.[11]

Prairie View A&M

In the final game of the 1993 season, the Blazers would take a 44-6 lead over the Panthers at the half in sending Prairie View to their 35 consecutive loss in this 58-12 blowout victory. John Whitcomb would star in passing for 447 yards on 28 of 38 attempts with six touchdowns. Derrick Ingram also starred in pulling in 12 catches for 178 yards and two touchdowns, in addition to becoming the first Blazer to surpass the 1,000-yard plateau in a season with 1,102 total receiving yards.[12]

Post season

The Sports Network: second team All-America
  • Derrick Ingram, Jr., WR
The Sports Network: honorable-mention All-America
  • Josh Evans, Jr., DT
  • John Whitcomb, Jr., QB

References

  1. ^ "2008 UAB Football Media Guide: Records & History I". University of Alabama at Birmingham Sports Information. http://uabsports.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/albr/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/RecordsHistoryI-08. Retrieved 2008-09-19. 
  2. ^ Bolton, Clyde (September 7, 1993). "Blazers OK in their I-AA debut". The Birmingham News. 
  3. ^ a b Martin, Wayne (September 12, 1993). "UAB steps up by beating OVC's Morehead State". The Birmingham News. 
  4. ^ Martin, Wayne (September 26, 1993). "Western Kentucky pulls away from UAB". The Birmingham News. 
  5. ^ Richter, Ari (October 3, 1993). "Whitcomb passes UAB by Miles". The Birmingham News. 
  6. ^ Rubin, Adam (October 10, 1993). "UAB wins in a romp". The Birmingham News. 
  7. ^ Special to the News (September 26, 1993). "Blazers pull upset". The Birmingham News. 
  8. ^ Special to the News (October 24, 1993). "Records broken in UAB win". The Birmingham News. 
  9. ^ Special to the News (October 31, 1993). "UAB wins again, improves to 6-2". The Birmingham News. 
  10. ^ Special to the News (November 7, 1993). "Big rally gets UAB past Butler". The Birmingham News. 
  11. ^ Rubin, Adam (November 14, 1993). "UAB stops Flyer streak at 56 games". The Birmingham News. 
  12. ^ Rubin, Adam (November 21, 1993). "Blazers wrap up solid 9-2 year with a rout". The Birmingham News.