Tigers dominate Blazers
Offense and defense click as U of M wins its second straight
BIRMINGHAM — It was likely the final game between the University of Memphis — bound for the Big East in 2013 — and UAB. And what was at stake for the Tiger football team Saturday at Legion Field was more than the 100-pound Battle for the Bones trophy.
After struggling for more than three years to field a competitive entry in Conference USA, the U of M is finding some lateseason muscle and, well, explosiveness. In a game that saw the Tiger offense, defense and special teams produce as they haven’t in years, the U of M overwhelmed UAB, 46-9, before a sparse crowd that included several hundred Tiger fans.
The dominating performance followed a 37-23 victory last weekend over Tulane and gave the U of M back-to-back wins for the first time since 2008. The Tigers (3-8, 3-4) close the season, their first under coach Justin Fuente, at home next weekend against Southern Mississippi with the opportunity to finish 4-4 in C-USA play.
“I’m very proud, very proud of the way they’ve stuck to it,” Fuente said. “I’m not sure they’ve always done that in the past. They’re continuing to go out and work and that’s not always easy.”
For a program that entered Saturday’s game having gone 7-39 in its past 46 games, the Tigers played with a sense of urgency from the opening snap. The U of M scored on its first four possessions and limited UAB (3-8, 2-5) to a first-half field goal. In the second half, the Tigers were never threatened.
Tiger quarterback Jacob Karam, in the best game of his season, flirted with perfection. Running back Brandon Hayes picked up only the second 100-rushing game by a Tiger this season, Keiwone Malone
became the first Tiger to have 100 or more punt-return yards since 1994 and Paulo Henriques kicked a career-best 51 yard field goal.
“We played well on both sides of the ball from the opening kick,” Fuente said. “Defensively, we were able to play pretty physical.”
The Tiger defense held UAB running back Darrin Reaves, who had averaged 191 yards in his past three games, to 38 yards. And the U of M shut down a UAB offense to roughly half its 422 yard average.
UAB coach Garrick McGee acknowledged the Tigers, as Fuente noted, were ready from the first snap.
“You have to give Justin a lot of credit, his team was ready to play,” McGee said. “They didn’t do anything offensively, defensively or on special teams that was new. We just didn’t play with much energy or enthusiasm.
“I heard a lot of guys at the half saying, ‘Let’s wake up, let’s wake up’ but that kind of bugs me when it’s game day. You only get so many game days per year.”
For Memphis, Karam finished 14- of-16 for 147 yards and three touchdowns and had two passes dropped. Hayes rushed for a career-best 127 yards and three touchdowns, including a 46-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Malone had 112 yards on five punt returns, including a long of 57.
“We went out and played with great chemistry,” Hayes said. “We wanted to get this W for our seniors and go out (in the Tigers’ final road game) with a bang. We put it together on offense, defense and special teams.”
Karam, the Texas Tech transfer, also caught a pass for a 13-yard gain and rushed eight times for seven yards.
“Offensively, we knew we wanted to come out fast and jump on them,” Karam said. “And then the defense did an incredible job of stopping them time after time after time. This was just a great team win all together.”
The Tigers got first-half touchdowns from four different players: tight ends Alan Cross and Jesse Milleson, receiver Malone and Hayes.
Hayes gave the U of M a 7- 0 lead, after the Tiger defense forced a three-out to start the game, by capping a 66-yard drive with a 7-yard run. Another three-and-out led to a 70yard scoring drive, which ended with Karam rolling right and spotting a diving Malone from 30 yards out.
The Tigers made it 21-0 late in the opening quarter when Karam escaped a heavy rush and fired a pass to Cross, who beat UAB safety Jake Ganus at the goal for the ball. The drive began at the UAB 24 after the U of M’s Reggis Ball blocked a Blazers’ punt and Kendrick Golden recovered it.
UAB, averaging 31 points per game, avoided a firsthalf shutout by getting a 48yard field goal from the appropriately named Ty Long early in the second quarter. Memphis answered with a 75-yard scoring drive, aided by two third-down conversions and a 38-yard run to the UAB 2 by Hayes. Milleson got the TD on a 2-yard reception.
In the second half, the Tigers got two TDs from Hayes, Henriques’ field goal and a 2-point return by Charles Harris of a blocked UAB extra-point try.
“We stayed aggressive and tried to keep the pressure on UAB,” Fuente said.