UAB Blazers vs Ohio Bobcats Match Player Stats On Dec 22, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Dec 22, 2017

Dorian Brown ran for 152 yards and four touchdowns to pace Ohio to a 41-6 win over Alabama-Birmingham in the Bahamas Bowl on Friday afternoon at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau.

Brown, a senior who missed the Bobcats' regular-season finale with a hip injury, scored on runs of 74, 9, 25 and 14 yards. He came in with 13 TDs in 42 games.

It was the first bowl win for Ohio (9-4) since beating Louisiana-Monroe in the 2012 Independence Bowl. The Bobcats had lost three straight bowls, including 28-23 to Troy in last year's Dollar General Bowl.

UAB (8-5) came up short in its first bowl appearance since 2004, a sour end to the program's return to the field after a two-year hiatus. The Blazers were inactive in 2015-16.

Ohio jumped out to a 27-3 halftime lead, scoring on its first two possessions thanks to TD passes from sophomore quarterback Nathan Rourke. Rourke connected with sophomore receiver DL Knock on a 2-yard TD on the opening drive and then found junior Papi White from 56 yards out for a 13-0 lead.

Rourke threw for 185 yards on 12-of-18 passing while rushing for 30 yards and catching a 15-yard pass. White had four catches for 106 yards.

The Bobcats upped the lead to 20-0 early in the second quarter on Brown's 74-yard TD run, the 41st rushing score of 2017 for Ohio to break the single-season school record. Ohio ran for 249 yards, averaging 244.5 yards per game for the season.

UAB got on the board with 7:28 left in the second quarter when Nick Vogel connected on a 34-yard field goal. Vogel had a 47-yard attempt blocked late in the first quarter.

Ohio's Brown scored from 9 yards out with 1:16 left before halftime to build a 27-3 lead.

A 25-yard Vogel field goal pulled the Blazers within 27-6 with 10:46 left in the third but they couldn't build any momentum as they went three-and-out on their next two possessions. Each of those short drives was countered by a Brown TD run, his 25-yard score coming one play after a 34-yard punt return by Kylan Nelson.

UAB, which scored at least 24 points in all but one previous game this season, couldn't finish off its drives. The Blazers got into Ohio territory on eight of 12 possessions but they failed to score a TD for the first time in 2017.

Junior quarterback A.J. Erdley was 24-of-45 for 254 yards for UAB. His 2,331 yards this season were the most by a Blazers passer since Austin Brown had 2,673 yards in 2013.

NOTES: Sophomore QB Nathan Rourke set the Ohio school record for touchdowns responsible for with 39 (21 rushing, 17 passing, one receiving). Tyler Tettleton held the previous mark with 38 in 2011. ... UAB finished with its most wins since joining FBS in 1996. ... Senior RB Dorian Brown's 74-yard TD run was the longest run play in the 4-year history of the Bahamas Bowl. ... UAB's loss dropped Conference USA to 4-4 in bowl games with one team left to play. Southern Mississippi faces Florida State in the Independence Bowl on Dec. 27. ... Ohio junior RB A.J. Oullette became the first Bobcat to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Beau Blankenship in 2012.