Back When: UAB earns its first win in I-A

UAB was ranked 111th of 111 teams in Division I-A. Dead last in their first season at the highest level of college football.

The ranking didn’t account for trajectory. UAB had fielded a club team in 1989, played non-scholarship Division III football in 1991 and moved to Division I-AA in 1993. By 1995, in a transition year, they had already beaten a Division I-A opponent on the road at North Texas. The climb was rapid and, at that point, unprecedented.

The 1996 season was the first at Division I-A. The schedule reflected the ambition. UAB opened at Auburn — surprisingly competitive for three quarters before falling 29-0 — then traveled to Maryland of the ACC. Two road losses to established programs. Third game: Arkansas State at Legion Field. UAB’s home opener.

Arkansas State’s John Bobo didn’t see a 111th-ranked team.

Bobo had coached at Alabama as an assistant to Ray Perkins. He knew the talent in the state. When he watched film of UAB at Auburn and Maryland, he told Wayne Martin of the Birmingham News that what he saw on tape didn’t match the ranking.

“It was shocking what they have been able to do at UAB in recruiting,” Bobo said. “They have four NFL-caliber defensive linemen. Their defensive line is better than Brigham Young’s.”

Arkansas State had opened its season at BYU and lost 58-9.

“They have no pre-conceived ideas about UAB,” Bobo said. “They know nothing except what they see on film, and when we stick a tape in and they look, they know what they’re going to have to face.”

On the night of September 14, 1996, 18,236 fans came to Legion Field. The Blazers’ projected starting tailback, Robert Davis, was held out for disciplinary reasons.

The early returns looked like the season so far. Arkansas State scored first and led 7-0, then 10-7. Rodney Hudson threw two first-half interceptions. The Blazers drove to the 11-yard line after the opening kickoff and fumbled. In the fourth quarter, they fumbled through the end zone. Five turnovers on the night. Twelve through three games.

Then the Blazers started running the football.

UAB had managed 157 rushing yards combined in its first two games. Against Arkansas State, they ran for 317.

Carl Sanders carried 19 times for 145 yards. His 57-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave the Blazers a lead they would not relinquish. Lucious Foster, a true freshman from Minor getting the call for the first time all season, added 68 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. On defense, cornerback Dainon Sidney returned an interception 26 yards for a score. Safety Izell Reese led the team with six tackles. Freshman cornerback Rodregis Brooks also got an interception, one of six turnovers by Arkansas State.

Five touchdowns turned a 10-7 deficit into a 42-17 rout. The Blazers’ first Division I-A win at home.

Alabama and Auburn both played that Saturday. At Legion Field, the program nobody expected to win was the one worth watching.

Watson Brown didn’t oversell it.

“We’re slowly proving that we belong,” Brown said. “I’m not saying we’re going to win a lot of games, especially if you look at who we still have to play. But I think at least we’re proving that we belong in Division I-A. That if they give us time, we can do this.”

Arkansas State’s Bobo had warned his players about four NFL-caliber defensive linemen. He should have mentioned the Blazers’ secondary. Sidney went on to play in a Super Bowl with the Tennessee Titans. Reese starred with the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills. Brooks was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts.

Offensively, Sanders seized the starting tailback job and finished the 1996 season as UAB’s first 1,000-yard rusher in Division I-A.

How unexpected was the rout? Well, UAB ran out of fireworks that were fired above Legion Field after touchdowns. But as Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News noted in his column, for UAB, “the fireworks have just begun.”

Up in the press box, Gene Bartow watched it all. After 18 years on the UAB basketball sideline, the athletic director who pushed for UAB to field a football team — what Scarbinsky called “a minor revolution” — wore a plaid shirt better suited to a California desert vacation and a smile to match.

There would be many challenges ahead — both in that inaugural I-A season and in the years to come both on and off it. Disappointing losses, oh-so-close almosts and fights for literal program survival and revival. But on this night, optimism and a sense of achievement were abundant. Dreams were big in Blazer land.

“We’re there,” Bartow told the News, obviously gushing with pride and without the benefit of a glimpse into the future. “We’re there, and bulldozers couldn’t move us out. We’re there.”