Trojans Fall On Final Play Against UAB

Saturday, September 18

Birmingham, Ala.

3:00 pm

Troy University

UAB

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

9/18/2010 5:38:22 PM | Football

Blazers score on a 44-yard pass as the clock hits 0:00

By: Ricky Hazel

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – With just 69 seconds left on Saturday at Legion Field, UAB needed go 99 yards to score a winning touchdown against a staggering Troy defense.

The Blazers covered the final 44 of those yards on a “Hail Mary” pass as time expired, with Jackie Williams wrestling the ball away from a trio of Troy defenders just outside the goal line. He was rewarded for his efforts with a touchdown call, which was upheld by replay.

UAB (1-2) converted the PAT with no time on the clock to take a 34-33 victory from the stunned Trojans (1-2).

“It was almost like a bad dream all day long,” Trojans coach Larry Blakeney said. “It looked for a long time that it was headed for right where it ended up. We punted the ball down to the number, putting them 99 yards away, and they did exactly what they needed to do.”

After forcing bad throws from junior quarterback Bryan Ellis on the first two plays of the final drive, the Trojans flushed him from the pocket on third down, but he was able to connect with Pat Shed for a 20-yard gain.

Ellis, who came on in relief of starter David Isabelle in the second quarter, hooked up with senior Frantrell Forrest for consecutive gains of nine and 16 yards to get to the 46. Consecutive incomplete passes left the Blazers facing another third down pass, which Ellis was again able to convert, hitting Williams for 10 yards to the Troy 44.

On the final play, a trio of Trojans surrounded Williams near the goal line. Juniors Xavier Lamb, Jimmie Anderson and Ladarrius Madden had Williams surrounded, but he went up between them and came down with the ball.

Replay appeared to show Williams was just short of the end zone, but officials upheld the call of touchdown called on the field.

“I couldn't tell,” Blakeney said. “The replay looked like he had the ball at about the one foot line, but I don't know what the officials saw. The thing was that they got the ball into position to make the play, and made the play.”

Defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi said all he could do as the pass went up was hold his breath.

“The first thing that went through my head is that we have to slap the ball away,” Massaquoi said. “It was one of those passes that you have to hold your breath on. We should have been able to dominate this game, but it came down at the end to who wanted it more. Obviously UAB showed us that they did today.”

The final touchdown pass brought the Blazers all the way back from an early 23-0 deficit. Williams was on the receiving end of scoring passes from Ellis of four and 36 yards in the second half. UAB also capped a 60-yard scoring drive with a two-yard TD run from Daniel Borne.

Two of UAB's scoring drives in the second half only covered 60 yards after Troy kickoffs out of bounds.

“That is just awful, you can't do that to your defense,” Blakeney said. “We have had some real woes in the kicking game. Kicked it out of bounds today, but have had trouble covering kicks. There is no magic to it. You have to kick it in bounds and you have to go cover the kick and make a tackle.”

The other mistake in the kicking game came early on when Michael Taylor missed his extra point try on the first Troy touchdown of the game.

Those mistakes in the kicking game, combined with the 15 penalties that went against the Trojans for 119 yards, compared to just three for 38 yards against UAB, loomed very large in the game.

The Trojans piled up 566 yards of total offense in the game, but the UAB defense accomplished its goal of keeping the ball away from Troy senior Jerrel Jernigan, who had just six touches in the game for only 60 yards after averaging 235 all-purpose yards in the first two games.

“It is devastating to lose the game,” Jernigan said. “The play calling had nothing to do with it. We, as players, should have kept fighting the entire time. It came back on us.”

Despite a fumble on the opening kickoff of the game, the Trojans dominated the first 24 minutes of the game, racing out to a 23-0 lead.

Freshman quarterback Corey Robinson was spot on early, hitting on eight-of-11 passes in the first quarter for 163 yards. He continued with a hot hand early in the second quarter, connecting on three of his first five attempts for 61 more yards in leading two Troy scoring drives.

He finished the first half with 249 yards passing. His two scoring strikes came on a 79-yard play to sophomore Chip Reeves with 6:28 left in the first quarter, and from 15 yards to Jason Bruce with 10:08 left in the half.

The Trojans' other touchdown in the half came on a 34 yard run by DuJuan Harris with 6:35 left in the half.

From there, the Blazers seemed to get on track. UAB made a change at quarterback from runner David Isabelle to passer Bryan Ellis. The junior completed eight-of-10 passes over the final minutes of the half, piling up 128 yards. He got the Blazers on the scoreboard with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Fantrell Forrest with 3:03 left in the half.

The two teams exchanged turnovers through the end of the half. Troy punted once and lost the ball on a Shawn Southward fumble while UAB lost a Shed fumble and had a deep pass by Ellis intercepted by Anderson with just seconds left in the half.

Robinson finished the day connecting on 26-of-44 passes for 404 yards and two scores, but he was also sacked three times. He connected with 12 different receivers in the game. Harris rushed for a season-high 94 yards and scored twice on the ground.

“Corey didn't do a whole lot to hurt us,” Blakeney said. “He got sacked a few times, but that was really not his fault. I thought he did pretty well. I never had a 400 yard passing day, so I don't know how that feels.”

The Trojans must now find a way to regroup after consecutive tough losses. Troy opens Sun Belt Conference play at home next Saturday against Arkansas State.

“We've had some other tough times in this locker room and I told the team about that,” Blakeney said. “In 2006 we lost 21-3 here and that team went on to win the league and go to a bowl. That is the challenge for this guys, to try to do the same thing in the conference. That starts next week. This one is a bitter pill to swallow, I can promise you that.”