The 2008 UAB Blazers football team represented the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) as a member of the East Division in Conference USA (C-USA) during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by second-year head coach Neil Callaway, the Blazers compiled an overall record of 4–8 with a mark of 3–5 in conference play, placing a three-way tie for fourth at the bottom of the standings in C-USA's East Division. The team played home games at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

Schedule

Game summaries Tulsa

The Blazers began their season at home against Golden Hurricane of Tulsa, but after taking a 13–7 lead after the first would fall by a final score of 45–22. UAB would score first on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Joe Webb to Frantell Forrest. Tulsa would respond with a 10-yard David Johnson pass to Jacob Collums, only to have UAB take a 13–7 lead on a 9-yard Jeffery Anderson touchdown reception. Tulsa would respond with a pair of consecutive touchdowns in the second to take a 21–13 lead before Forrest returned a kickoff 90-yards for a touchdown to bring the score to 21–19. A late 32-yard Swayze Waters field goal would give the Blazers a 22–21 halftime lead. However, UAB would not score again for the afternoon and lose by a final score of 45–22.

Florida Atlantic

The Blazers first road game of the 2008 season took UAB to Ft. Lauderdale, where they would lose too the FAU Owls in a 49–34 shootout. After going down 14–0 on a pair of FAU touchdown passes, UAB would score its first points on a 27-yard Swayze Waters field goal. The Owls would answer with a touchdown run early in the second in taking a 21–3 lead only to see the blazers respond with a pair of Joe Webb touchdown passes, 20-yards to Zach Lankford and 19-yards to Frantell Forrest, in closing the gap to 21–17. However, FAU would score once more before the half in taking a 28–17 halftime lead.

The Blazers would open the third by scoring on a 2-yard Aaron Johns run only to see the Owls once again respond with another touchdown. After a late 43-yard Waters field goal in the third, UAB's final points would come in the fourth on a 10-yard Justin Brooks touchdown run.

Tennessee

Traveling to Knoxville to face the Volunteers, all the Blazers could manage was a single 47-yard Swayze Waters field goal in the third to avoid the shutout in this 35–3 defeat. For the game, UAB was outgained on offense 275 to 548 total yards.

Alabama State

The Blazers would amass 486 yards of total offense in winning their first game of the 2008 season with a 44–10 victory over the Hornets of Alabama State. UAB would strike first on a 41-yard Joe Web run with the Hornets responding in kind on a 39-yard Rei Herchenbach touchdown pass to Darius Mathis in tying the game at 7–7 midway through the first quarter. The Blazers would regain the lead late in the first quarter, and never relinquish it again on a 24-yard Webb touchdown pass to Jeffery Anderson. In the second, the Blazers would add another pair of touchdowns on an 11-yard Rashaud Slaughter run and a 36-yard Webb pass to Anderson in taking a 28–7 halftime lead.

UAB would continue to amass points in the third on another pair of touchdowns coming on a 6-yard Slaughter run and 15-yard Justin Brooks run in extending their lead to 42–7 entering the fourth. In the fourth, each team would exchange a pair of field goals in bringing the final score to 45–10. For the game, Joe Webb would rush for 121 yards and a touchdown and pass for 238 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

South Carolina

Traveling to face their second SEC opponent on the 2008 season, the Blazers were defeated 26–13 by the home Gamecocks in Columbia. After only connecting on a pair of Swayze Waters field goals in the first half, the Blazers lone touchdown came late in the fourth on a 1-yard Joe Webb run.

Memphis

In the annual Battle for the Bones, Memphis defeated UAB 30–33 on a Thursday night in Birmingham. The Blazers would get on the board in the first after Joe Webb connected with Mike Jones for a 16-yard touchdown reception, followed with an 18-yard Swayze Waters field goal to give the Blazers a 10–0 lead entering the second quarter. After Memphis scored early in the second, UAB would respond with a 9-yard Webb run to take a 16–7 lead. However this would be UAB's final lead of the evening as Memphis would score another pair of touchdowns in taking a 20–16 lead at the half. In the second half, Webb would score on runs of 12 and 10-yards in the third and fourth quarters respectively, but were unable to take the lead in falling by a final score of 30–33. For the game, Webb rushed for 93 yards and three touchdowns in addition to passing for 235 yards and another touchdown for the evening.

Houston

In the first conference road game of the 2008 season, the Blazers would fall 20–45 at Houston. UAB would dominate the first half in taking a 20–3 lead going into the half. The Blazer would score on a pair of Swayze Waters field goals (50 and 23 yards respectively) and on a 3-yard Joe Webb touchdown run and a 21-yard, Zach Lankford touchdown reception. However, 42 unanswered Cougar points in the second half would provide Houston the 45–20 victory.

Marshall

Southern Miss

The Blazers were out-rushed 96 to 463 total yards in this 70–14 blowout loss on the road to the Golden Eagles. After going down 28–0 after the first, UAB would score their first points on a 14-yard Joe Webb touchdown pass to Rashaud Slaughter early in the second. The Blazers only other points would come in the third on a 12-yard Mario Wright touchdown reception. For the game, the Golden Eagles out-gained the Blazers in total offense by a final margin of 610 to 223 yards, with both USM's Tory Harrison and V.J. Floyd each gaining over 100 yards on the ground.

Tulane

Following a bye week, the Blazers would make the trip to the Superdome and emerge with a 41–24 victory over the home Green Wave.

East Carolina

This 17–13 Pirates victory marked the first all-time win for East Carolina in Legion Field against the Blazers.

UCF

Personnel Coaching staff Neil Callaway – head coach Kim Helton – Offensive coordinator/tight ends Eric Schumann – Defensive coordinator/safeties Corey Barlow – Cornerbacks Tim Bowens – Receivers Lorenzo Costantini – Defensive line Steve Davenport – Running backs Will Friend – Offensive line Tyson Helton – Quarterbacks/recruiting coordinator Tyson Summers – Linebackers Steve martin – Strength and Conditioning/Football & Baseball Ervin lewis – Director of Football Operations

Roster 2008 UAB Blazers rosterUAB Official Athletic Site: 2008 RosterQuarterbacks 5 Joe Webb – Junior 10 Bryan Ellis – Freshman 12 Cameron Cowart – Senior 14 Rodney Bivens Jr. – Senior 17 David Isabelle – Freshman

Running backs 2 Jae Fitzgerald – Freshman 20 Jimmie Blair – Freshman 28 Aaron Johns – Senior 30 Justin Brooks – Sophomore 38 Dexter Barnett – Sophomore 40 Jim Mitchell – Junior 44 Caleb Dyck – Sophomore

Wide receivers 1 Rashaud Slaughter – Junior 7 Frantrell Forrest – Sophomore 11 Mario Wright – Sophomore 15 Sylvester Mencer – Senior 22 Mike Jones – Sophomore 24 Cameron Thompson – Sophomore 36 Paul Schoolar – Junior 80 Mark Ferrell – Junior 82 Justin Johnson – Sophomore 83 Brandon Heath – Senior 85 Rodell Carter – Sophomore 89 Darryl Harris – Junior Tight ends 81 Joseph Waller – Sophomore 84 Zach Lankford – Junior 86 Jeffery Anderson – Sophomore

Offensive line 53 Jake Seitz – Junior 55 Terence Edge – Sophomore 59 Sean Dailey – Freshman 63 Willie Thompson – Junior 64 Greg Calhoun – Freshman 68 Adam Hollifield – Sophomore 71 Matt McCants – Sophomore 72 Logan Creel – Sophomore 73 Caleb Thomas – Freshman 75 Daniel Seahorn – Junior 77 Jared Koechner – Junior

Defensive line 50 David Decordova – Junior 76 Todd Howanitz – Junior 87 Bryant Turner – Sophomore 90 Joe Happe – Junior 91 Tim Davis – Sophomore 92 Anthony Barnes – Junior 93 Nick Davison – Freshman 95 Richard Carter – Senior 96 Elliott Henigan – Freshman 97 D.J. Reese – Sophomore 98 Adam Arthur – Freshman Linebackers 13 Keon Harris – Sophomore 33 Mike Tashman – Sophomore 35 Lamanski Ware – Freshman 38 Garrett Armstrong – Freshman 44 Kyle Roget – Junior 45 B.J. Steed – Junior 46 Terry Thomas – Senior 48 Drew Luker – Freshman 49 Brad Dukes – Junior 51 Joe Henderson – Senior 57 Jarrell Watters – Freshman 58 Katrell Watters – Freshman

Defensive backs 3 Andre Hicks – Freshman 4 Brandon Carlisle – Junior 8 Marquis Coleman – Freshman 17 Jeff Witt – Sophomore 18 Will Dunbar – Senior 19 Ugonna Amarikwa – Freshman 21 Kevin Sanders – Senior 23 Antoine Powers – Senior 25 Brock Ferguson – Sophomore 26 Justin Smartt – Junior 27 Michael McRae – Sophomore 29 Terrell Springs – Freshman 31 Chase Daniel – Freshman 36 Daniel Clements – Freshman 42 Ferson Stafford – Freshman 43 Matt Taylor – Senior Punters 94 Swayze Waters – Senior

Kickers 24 Trey Ragland – Freshman 94 Swayze Waters – Senior

Long snappers 60 Nick Haddad – Senior 62 Jeff Hamby – Senior

Recruiting In Callaway's second recruiting class, UAB signed 25 recruits.

Statistics Team Statistics UAB Opponents Scoring 273 375 Points per game 22.8 31.2 First downs 222 240 Rushing 101 95 Passing 104 125 Penalties 17 20 Total offensive yards 4,394 5,159 Rushing 2,027 2,004 Passing 2,367 3,155 Fumbles–Lost 17–9 15–8 Penalties–Yards 83–783 61–567 Average per game 65.2 47.2 Statistics UAB Opponents Punts–Yards 59–2,555 42–1,799 Average per punt 43.3 42.8 Average ToP/game 31:16 28:44 3rd down conversions 64/165 68/151 3rd down percentage 39 45 4th down conversions 5/11 6/15 4th down percentage 45 40 Touchdowns scored 31 49 Field goals–Att 19–24 11–18 PAT–Att 24–27 48–48 Attendance 190,616 563,398 Average 19,062 40,243

Scores by quarter

Offense Rushing Name GP Att Yds Avg Long TD Avg/G Joe Webb 12 198 1,021 5.2 41 11 85.1 Rashaud Slaughter 12 113 514 4.5 38 4 42.8 Justin Brooks 11 53 218 4.1 19 3 19.8 Aaron Johns 8 23 115 5.0 37 1 14.4 Jim Mitchell 12 19 78 4.1 14 0 6.5 Frantrell Forrest 10 8 43 5.4 12 0 4.3 Rodney Bivens 4 6 20 3.3 17 0 5.0 Caleb Dyck 12 4 14 3.5 9 0 1.2 Terence Edge 12 0 12 0 0 0 1.0 Mark Ferrell 12 2 11 5.5 11 0 0.9 Justin Johnson 11 2 4 2.0 7 0 0.4 Darryl Harris 12 1 −4 −4.0 0 0 −0.3 Swayze Waters 12 2 −12 −6.0 7 0 −1.0 Total 12 435 2,027 4.7 41 19 168.9 Opponents 12 420 2,004 4.8 78 25 167.0

Passing Name GP Effic Cmp-Att Pct Yds TD Int Lng Avg/GJoe Webb 12 115.53 208–353 58.9 2,367 10 16 43 197.2Rodney Bivens 4 0 0–0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 12 115.53 208–353 58.9 2,367 10 16 43 197.2Opponents 12 147.67 226–360 62.8 3,155 22 16 73 262.9

Receiving Name GP No. Yards Avg TD Long Avg/GFrantrell Forrest 10 44 536 12.8 2 38 53.6Rashaud Slaughter 12 29 176 6.1 1 21 14.7Jeffery Anderson 12 23 368 16.0 3 43 30.7Mario Wright 12 20 243 12.1 1 38 20.2Rodell Carter 12 16 206 12.9 0 38 17.2Zach Lankford 12 16 190 11.9 2 33 15.8Mark Ferrell 12 13 177 13.6 0 35 14.8Mike Jones 12 11 109 9.9 1 28 9.1Justin Brooks 11 11 101 9.2 0 23 9.2Darryl Harris 12 9 136 15.1 0 28 11.3Jim Mitchell 12 8 38 4.8 0 11 3.2Justin Johnson 11 7 82 11.7 0 43 7.5Aaron Johns 8 3 5 1.7 0 9 0.6 Total 12 208 2,367 11.4 10 43 197.2Opponents 12 226 3,155 14.0 22 73 262.9

Defense