Shreveport, LA – On a gusty, rainy day, UAB stopped a late scoring drive to upset No. 13 BYU, 31-28. Momentum swings for both teams set the tone. The teams battled back and forth. Dewayne McBride rushed for 183 yards and one TD for the UAB Blazers while Cougar RB Tyler Allgeier had another banner day for BYU in our presence, running for 193 yards and three TDs.
Blazer QB Dylan Tompkins passed for 189 yards, one TD, and threw one INT. Subbing for injured starter Jaren Hall who suffered a foot injury in the final game against USC, BYU’s Baylor Romney matched Hopkins adequately. He completed 15 of 23 passes for 195 yards. In the end, the difference came down to a completed pass fumbled by Sam Nacua on a late drive. The Blazers controlled the clock on the ground as McBride and Jermaine Brown ran the ball for first downs to force BYU to use its three time-outs. They ran out the last 3:36 of the game.
Independence Bowl: Windy, rainy city – Shreveport
Blazing start
The game started by exchanging two of the only three punts on the day. Thereafter, the Blazers (9-4) started the scoring with a 60-yard drive resulting in a 10-yard TD pass from Hopkins to TE Gerrit Prince who took it in along the right sideline. BYU (10-3) turned the ball over on downs to give UAB its next possession starting from their 33. They got back on the board again quickly as McBride ran up the right sideline 64 yards on the second play for a 14-0 lead at the end of the first.
UAB TE Gerrit Prince tip-toes down right sideline for 10-yard TD pass to open Independence scoring. Oddly, no block in the back called here.
BYU needed a wake-up call…
The second score by UAB seemed to wake up BYU. If a cold rainy, miserable day in a sparsely crowded, under-maintained bowl facility wasn’t depressing enough, to be without their regular starting QB had to be even more disheartening for the Cougars. However, on top of that, they probably felt somewhat dissed by the bowl planners at ESPN.
Originally, this game contract matched the Cougars and the champions of ConferenceUSA, namely the 12-1 UTSA Roadrunners who ranked in the Top 20 most of the season. What a great game this looked like on the first Saturday of bowl season! Because of the enticing match-up, we decided this game looked best among the opening Saturday bowl options this weekend. Let’s go!
We at Collegefootballfan.com almost reconsidered not attending later since they announced now the No. 13 team was playing the unranked 8-4 Blazers. The original alternative got us excited about seeing 10-2 BYU playing 12-1 UTSA in a more meaningful test. Somehow, ESPN got UTSA to play San Diego State, loser of the MWC championship instead. Maybe they knew Hall wasn’t going to play? Even BYU fans near us wondered why Hall wasn’t starting.
UAB’s defense shut BYU down to go ahead, 14-0, in the first.
Why we persevered
No excuses made for the BYU side, but the change of such an opportunity could have “taken the wind out of their sails” as the saying goes. We only went at this point to add the Independence Bowl “experience” for the first time. We’re glad we attended the game after driving eight hours, the last three in the rain , but to say the least, we don’t plan to go back again. The aging facility leaked like a sieve under the stands during the downpour. No atmosphere.
Granted it was raining hard, but everything seemed to be planned last minute. Concessions (beer) opened later than the gates. No restroom facilities in any parking lots. Not sure what else the stadium is used for, but without an interesting matchup to start, nothing much was going on here. The Gumbo we got was good to start, but it was all rice in the bottom half of our cup. Check the box. We’ve been to the Independence Bowl.
BYU battles back
We analyzed what was happening on the field. Thankfully, we noted that the second score by UAB seemed to start an attitude adjustment along the BYU sideline. A kick return started BYU at their 28. Then the offense got going on the back of Allgeier who we saw score five TDs at Provo this season when the Cougars defeated UVA, 66-49. Handoffs to him resulted in gains of 37, 6, 18, 8, and four yards down to the one before he took it in for the Cougar score. It got the No. 13 team fired up finally. HC Kalani Sitake even started pumping his fists along the sideline. The defense came up with big hits on UAB’s next possession.
The Blazers lost four yards on three plays before the last punt of the game. Hobbs Nyberg returned the punt 13 yards to set BYU up on the 50. Two completions from Romney to his brother WR Gunner Romney and to Allgeier set up a two-yard scoring run by WR Samson Nacua. The Cougars seemed to be feeling like themselves again. The Blazers usurping the big underdog role to their advantage in this bowl, came right back with a nine-play, 78-yard drive. Hopkins unleashed a 23-yard scoring strike to Prince who made a diving catch in the end zone to recapture the lead for UAB, 21-14.
Samson Nacua crosses goal line for BYU score to lock up score, 14-14.
Duck! Their kind of weather
At intermission, we ducked back under the upper deck to dry out and warm up a little. At least the chicken sandwich in tin-foil was hot, but by the end of the half in this sparsely populated stadium, they already sold-out hot chocolate and coffee. The announced attendance in this old building holding 51,000 supposedly totaled 26,276. No way! If that was the official count, more than half of it included no-shows. Luckily, both bands could perform from their wet perches high above the end zone. At one point, the crews of cancelled the B-52 Stratofortress flyover from the nearby Shreveport AFB were introduced. Another downer here at this year’s Independence Bowl.
BYU marching band and UAB’s performed from above today.
Allgeier again: before defenses take over
BYU wasted no time to tie this up. On the third play of Q3, Allgeier raced 62 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown to make it 21-21. UAB drove down in response to the BYU 13, but two consecutive sacks by Tyler Batty pushed the Blazers back to the 21. Matt Quinn put up a three for UAB from the 34 to take back the UAB lead. The Blazer D came up big halting a BYU run on a fourth and one at their 32 to take back over on downs. The Cougars turned it around though on the next series as a deflected pass from Hopkins got picked close off the ground by Cougar DB Hayden Livingston to take over from the BYU 48.
BYU’s Tyler Allgeier sprints past Blazer defense for 62-yard TD jaunt very early in Q3.
On the subsequent possession, BYU spotted the ball at the 33 to start the final period. On the very next play, Romney connected with Mason Wake (3 receptions, 55 yards) on a short flip pass past the line of scrimmage to ramble 26 yards to the one. Everyone left in Independence Stadium know who was getting the call, and Allgeier put the Cougars up, 28-24. The UAB Blazer offense clicked on its next possession. McBride picked up the bulk of the yardage, and Hopkins connected on several passes to keep the drive alive. On a key fourth and one at the BYU 20, McBride picked up three for the first. However, the killer for BYU came on a fourth and seven at BYU’s 14. Hopkins connected with WR Trea Shropshire in the end zone for only his second catch of the day and the lead, 31-28.
Trea Shropshire celebrates flipping ball after catching 16-yard game winner in the rain.
Down to the wire
With 5:51 left to play, BYU went with Allgeier on three straight plays. On fourth and four, Romney opted to throw a 17-yard strike to Wake to get a first down at the 50. His next pass was spot on as well when Samson Nacua extended his arms for the catch, but the Blazer defender grabbed his arms to cause the fumble and Mac Williams recovered for the Blazers at their 28. This derailed BYU’s comeback attempt, and the Alabama-Birmingham offense controlled the clock until time expired. Great game! Disappointing bowl setting.
The Blazers came up with the upset over No. 13 BYU in a well-played game by both teams on a day where weather was at its worst for any bowl contest. Too bad for us. Great for UAB! We still wish we could have seen the original match-up against the actual CUSA champion Roadrunners.
DeWayne McBride (22) rocked for 183 yards including a 64-yard TD in the Blazer victory.
Extra point:
At the end of the first bowl weekend of eight bowl games, ConferenceUSA came out with a 3-2 record. Middle Tennessee (7-6) surprisingly defeated Toledo (7-6) of the MAC, and Western Kentucky (9-5) whacked 10-4 Appy State of the Sun Belt, 59-38, in the Roofclaim.com Boca Raton Bowl. UTEP (7-6) fell to Fresno State (10-3) and No. 23 Louisiana (13-1) felled Marshall (7-6). ODU (6-7) fell to Tulsa (7-6) today to even out the C-USA bowl mark at 3-3. UTSA (12-1) and North Texas (6-6) carry the flag for CUSA in bowl games on Tuesday and Thursday respectively to finish the conference slate for 2021.
On a rainy day with gusty winds throughout, Dylan Hopkins set the Independence Bowl record for completion percentages with 19 of 23 for 189 yards. Quite an accomplishment in today’s rainy, wind-swept setting.
Next!
After this weekend’s travels and our first ever Tennessee family holiday to celebrate around a shortened Christmas holiday for most, we’ve decided to skip the Birmingham Bowl next Tuesday to enjoy what we can this year. What’s nice is we don’t have to travel far for our next bowl. It’s a very short drive to Nissan Stadium to see Tennessee and Purdue play in this year’s Music City on December 30. Then we’ll settle in to watch the CFP games on New Year’s Eve in comfort at home and see if we want to make it up to Indy for the championship game on January 10. Merry Christmas to our faithful collegefootballfan.com followers and college football fans of all teams.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all have a great bowl season from Collegefootballfan.com!
-by Steve Koreivo, ed. “Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the fan who’s seen ’em all!” Click on the title to order your last-minute Christmas gift for your favorite college football fan!