UAB Football Postgame Notes

Oct. 28, 2000

The win over East Carolina improved UAB's record to 6-2 overall, 2-2 in Conference USA...the Blazers have won six games for the first time as an NCAA Division I-A team, and for the first time since the 1994 season, when the I-AA Independent Blazers finished 7-4 overall.

UAB won the opening coin toss for the first time during the 2000 season....the previous seven opponents won the toss and all deferred the option...UAB opened a game with a kickoff for the first time in the ECU game.

Rhett Gallego's miss of a 45-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter was his second straight (he missed his only attempt in the Middle Tennessee game)...prior to that, he made his first 11 in a row to start the 2000 season....Gallego came back with makes from 39 and 31 yards to give the Blazers a 6-3 halftime lead.

Gallego's 44-yard field goal with 2:24 to play was the second time this season a field goal by him proved to be the difference...the other game-winning kick came on the road as well, as he booted a game-winning 32-yard FG as time expired against LSU.

Gallego hit three of four field goals on the day and now has converted 14 of 16 on the season...he is one field goal shy of tying the single-season UAB mark by Kevin Thompson (1993).

The Blazers' third-quarter scoring drought was snapped vs. The Pirates....UAB entered the ECU game having been outscored 34-7 by opponents in the third quarter this season (the Blazers' only points in the third quarter this season prior to the ECU came on a Percy Coleman touchdown run at Kansas on Sep. 16)....East Carolina scored 10 points to open the third quarter and led 13-6 in the final munute of the quarter, but Jeff Aaron hit flanker T.J. Simmons with a 28-yard scoring pass to tie the game...opponents have outscored the Blazers 44-14 in the third quarter this season.

Jeff Aaron's 28-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Simmons at the end of the third quarter was the longest of Aaron's career (it was his third TD pass as a Blazer)....it was also Simmons' first touchdown as a Blazer.

Aaron's 192 yards passing was also a career high....he has surpassed his career high in each of his three starts for UAB...he is now 3-0 as a starter (vs. Memphis, Middle Tennessee, East Carolina).

The Blazers are now 5-1 in games decided by five or less points this season and 3-1 in road games this season.

UAB goes back out on the road again next week (Nov. 4), taking on Cincinnati in a key Conference USA matchup at Nippert Stadium (Noon CST).

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics

UAB Football Postgame Notes

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