The gators would win the toss and kickoff to the Blazers. After a few runs Sharpe didnt waste any time as he hit receiver Ian Wilson with a beautiful over the shoulder toss over the out stretched of a Florida defender and raced 63 yards to give the Blazers a 7-0 lead as a stunned Swamp crowd looked on.
The excitement for the Blazers was short lived as the ensuing Kickoff was returned 96 yards by receiver #4 Curtis Smith. a three and out by the Blazers was answered with a 68 yard touchdown run by Gator Speedster running back #2 Victor Franklin and the first quarter would end with the Gators up 14-7.
VICTOR FRANKLIN BREAKS FOR A 68 YARD TOUCHDOWN IN THE FIRST QUARTER
The Blazers opened the second quarter up trying to establish the run but the speed of the Gator defensive front proved otherwise as the Blazers would again stall. Quarterback P. Jones would waste no time hitting receiver A. King for a 75 yard touchdown putting the Gators up 21-7 and seemingly looking to run away with the game.
A timeout after another short run by the Blazers saw a heated Travis Rhatigan challenge his players on the sideline. They would respond with a 12 play 79 yard drive that ended in Sharpe to Wilson touchdown pass. That would be the tandems second time hooking up thus far and it put the score 21-14 Gators mid-way through the second quarter. The Blazers defense also stepped up finally putting pressure on P. Jones and sacking him for a loss on third. The Blazers would use short runs and short passes as they executed a perfect two minute drill resulting in a one yard plunge by running back D. Pryor with 5 seconds left in the half and the Blazers knotted the game up at 21 all.
IAN WILSON LOOKS ON AS THE BLAZER FAITHFUL CELEBRATE HIS SECOND SCORING CATCH
Coming out the half the Gators were slowly losing momentum, despite their home run ability the Blazers were pretty much holding the Gators offense and star receiver K. Horne at bay. That is until Jones decided to finally throw his way. Horne would break the game wide open on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter by catching short crossing route spin out of a tackle and race 89 yards for the score waking up Gator nation as he chomped in the end zone. With the crowd back in the game Sharpe did his best to lead the Blazers down the field getting into Florida territory but they would have to settle for a field goal that was missed wide right.
The Gators were back in business and so was horn who put a devastating post move on Blazer safety Williams before going back corner catching a 47 yard touchdown putting the Gators back up 14 points 35-21.
KEITH HORNE BREAKS FOR A 89 YARD CATCH AND RUN
KEITH HORNE IGNITES THE CROWD AFTER A 47 YARD TOUCHDOWN CATCH IN THE THIRD QUARTER.
The Blazers lack of running game caused coach Rhatigan to bench Pryor and put in true freshmen Mathew Scott. Scott would nip and fight for three and four yards a carry and the Blazers would go 3 for 3 on third downs this drive. After getting into the red zone Sharpe found Rawls for a 19 yard touchdown pass putting the Blazers back within a score 35-28.
The fourth quarter saw UAB pin their ears back and go after Florida quarterback P. Jones. After giving up two straight long touchdowns to Horne the Blazers used a unique zone blitz scheme that saw them sack Jones on two straight occasions before forcing him to throw away the football on third and long.
A key moment came late on the Blazers next drive when true Freshmen M. Scott broke down the sideline for 40 yard run to the Gators 3 yard line but a suspect holding call erased the play. two plays later the Blazers saw themselves facing a fourth and one from their own 43 yard line down by seven with under three minutes to go the Blazers had to go for it. With the crowd as loud as can be the Gators stopped Scott right in his tracks for no gain giving the Gators the ball and a chance to run out the clock.
TRUE FRESHMEN MATHEW SCOTT GETS STUFFED ON 4TH AND 1 LATE IN THE FOURTH QUARTER
With the game all but down the unthinkable happened for the Gators, quarterback P. Jones tried to run the ball himself and got hit by DJ Washington who forced the fumble that was scooped by #43 T. Slaughter who then returned it 50 yards for the tying score. A fired up UAB sideline went nuts as you could here the boo's coming.
The Blazers would then go on to sack Jones another two times on the next drive forcing the Gators to punt. The Blazers would then sit on the ball and force overtime with the score tied at 35.
#51 DJ WASHINGTON JARS THE BALL LOOSE FROM FLORIDA QUARTERBACK PATRICK JONES
TOM SLAUGHTER RETURNS A DJ WASHINGTON FORCED FUMBLE FOR THE SCORE AS FELLOW TEAMMATE EUGEN JACKSON MEETS HIM IN THE END ZONE
The Gators would have to start the overtime period on offense. A fired up UAB defense would come on the field still amped as they would crush Franklin on a first down run, they would also get their seventh sack of the game on second down as Jones was blindsided from his backside. A ill advised throw on third down led to a field goal for the Gators. 38-35
With the game on the line the Blazers came out shooting and on the first play for them in overtime Sharpe would connect with his favorite target Ian Wilson for the 25 yard score down the sideline and the win.
ANDRE SHARPE TOSSES THE GAME WINNING PASS IN OVERTIME
PLAYS OF THE GAME
DJ WILLIAMS FORCES THE FUMBLE AS TOM SLAUGHTER SCOOPS AND SCORES TO TIE THE GAME AT 35 LATE IN THE FOURTH QUARTER
SR ANDRE SHARPE LOOKS OFF THE SAFETY WITH A GREAT PUMP FAKE HITTING A WIDE OPEN IAN WILSON FOR THE WIN
TOP PERFORMERS
UAB- ANDRE SHARPE 16-29 323 YARDS 4 TOUCHDOWNS
UF- PATRICK JONES 9-18 261 YARDS 3 TOUCHDOWNS 1 INT
UAB- IAN WILSON 3 REC 116 YARDS 3 TOUCHDOWNS
UF- KEITH HORNE 4 REC 154 YARDS 2 TOUCHDOWNS
UAB- DJ WASHINGTON 4 TCKL 2 SACKS
UAB- NICK WILLIAMS 5 TCKL 1 SACK 1 INTERCEPTION
| Sep 10, 2011 - UAB at UF |
| TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | OT | SCORE |
| UAB (1-0) | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 41 |
| #20 FLORIDA (1-1) | 14 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 38 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| UAB |
| UF |
| 368 | Total Offense | 335 |
| 45 | Rushing Yards | 66 |
| 323 | Passing Yards | 269 |
| 9 | First Downs | 5 |
| Punt Return Yards |
|
| Kick Return Yards |
|
| 523 | Total Yards | 538 |
| 0 | Turnovers | 2 |
| 7-15 | 3rd Down Converstion | 2-10 |
| 0-1 | 4th Down Conversion | 0-0 |
| 2-Point Conversion |
|
| 1-1-0 | Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 1-0-1 |
| 2-20 | Penalties | 1-5 |
| 18:39 | Posession Time | 9:21 |