Purpose Line Stand Lifts UAB to 31-24 Upset Win over No. 22 Memphis

BIRMINGHAM – A goal-line stand within the closing seconds of the sport lifted the UAB soccer crew to a 31-24 upset victory over No. 22 Memphis on Saturday afternoon at Protective Stadium.

UAB (3-4, 1-3 American) celebrated its fifth win over a nationally ranked opponent in program historical past and its first ranked win since 2021 when the Blazers defeated No. 13 BYU 31-28. UAB additionally snapped the nation’s longest energetic successful streak at present, ending Memphis’ 10-game unbeaten streak. Additionally, UAB is now 8-1 in Children’s Harbor video games.

The protection held the nation’s twenty sixth ranked offense to simply 362 yards of offense, and Tariq Watson made the play of the sport by tackling Greg Desrosiers Jr. on the 1-yard line as Memphis was working in to tie the sport, which allowed UAB’s protection to shut out the competition by making four-consecutive stops to win the sport.

Iverson Hooks turned in a profession efficiency, catching 11 passes for 172 yards and three touchdowns. His 172 receiving yards have been essentially the most by a UAB participant since Tejhaun Palmer recorded 179 in 2023. Hooks opened the scoring on a 15-yard landing cross from Ryder Burton, who made his first profession collegiate begin at quarterback. Burton completed 20-of-27 for 251 yards and three touchdowns, marking essentially the most passing yards by a UAB quarterback in his first profession begin since Bryson Lucero threw for 319 yards towards South Alabama in 2020.

Memphis (6-1, 2-1 American) answered rapidly with a 99-yard kickoff return for landing by Sutton Smith. UAB then went up 10-7 after a Jonah Delange 21-yard area objective halfway by way of the second quarter.

The Tigers marched 75 yards on a 12-play drive to take their first lead of the sport on a Greg Desrosiers Jr. speeding landing with 1:12 left within the half. Hooks responded along with his second rating of the night time, a spectacular 16-yard landing seize with two seconds left to ship UAB into halftime forward 17-14.

Solomon Beebe prolonged the Blazers’ lead early within the third quarter with the longest speeding landing in class historical past of 81 yards. It was additionally the longest run Memphis has allowed this season. Beebe completed with 106 yards on 5 carries, changing into the primary 100-yard rusher the Tigers have given up in 2025. UAB led 24-17 on the finish of the third quarter.

With Memphis threatening to tie the sport, Pierre Royster got here up along with his second interception of the season by catching the ball on the 1-yard line after which downing it in the long run zone, giving UAB possession on the 1-yard line.  The Blazers then put collectively an 11-play, 99-yard drive capped by Hooks’ third landing catch of the night time from 20 yards out with 4:06 left on the clock.

A 37-yard landing cross to A.J. Hill obtained Memphis inside a landing at 31-24 with 2:19 left, and Memphis then compelled a punt to get the ball again with 1:50 left.

It seemed as if Memphis was going to tie the sport with Desrosiers working free in direction of the tip zone, however Watson’s hustle play saved the sport and after overview he was dominated his knee hit the bottom on the 1-yard line. With 4 probabilities to tie the sport, Memphis had two false begins and UAB’s protection compelled 4 straight incomplete passes to win the sport.

The Blazers outgained Memphis 470-362 and dominated the time of possession 35:05-24:55 which allowed Memphis to solely have seven possessions for the whole sport.

UAB now leads the all-times sequence over the Memphis, 11-7.

The Blazers are off subsequent week after which return to motion on Nov. 1 at UConn. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.