BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - UAB head coach Garrick McGee wanted to see more improvement from his defense in Saturday's game against Northwestern State.

He certainly gave the unit more chances to compete.

It didn't backfire. UAB got a strong performance on the ground from Darrin Reaves and two touchdowns from Jamarcus Nelson in a 52-28 win over the Demons, an FCS opponent, in front of an announced crowd of 8,723.



"What we came out saying was that we have to become a defensive-minded program to get where we wanted to go," said McGee after UAB improved to 1-2. "We don't want to be average. We don't want to just be OK. We're pushing to be one of the best teams in our conference and to get there, we're going to have to be more defensive minded.

"It's all connected together. The pressure, the man coverage, us kicking off two times, it's all part of the grand scheme of things."

Reaves, who ran for 178 yards and two scores, was one of UAB's four captains at the coin toss. He said the referees were making sure UAB didn't accidentally say the wrong thing at the toss.

"He actually tried to tell us not to (kick)," Reaves said. "He said, 'Ya'll don't want to do that.' I said, 'Yes, yes we do. The guys from Northwestern State said, 'Thank you.' It was weird."

The statement was made as UAB applied more pressure and played tight man coverage. UAB forced a punt on the first drive and after the snap went over the punter's head, UAB recovered on the 8 and quickly took a 7-0 lead on Austin Brown's 1-yard touchdown pass to Kennard Backman.

"We're not afraid to put our defense on the field," Reaves said. "We've got confidence in our defense. Our defense is a strength. That's what Coach McGee was saying when he elected to kick the ball off twice."

Nelson gave UAB a 14-0 lead on a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown, his sixth touchdown of the season. UAB lead 24-7 on Jonathan Perry's 23-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Staples and led 31-14 at half.

NSU went 75 yards in just four plays after the second half kick, which didn't please McGee, but UAB answered with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Nelson and a 50-yard touchdown run by Reaves.

"I felt like we needed a spark," said Reaves, who made sure to credit his offensive line after the cameras were off. "We came out on the first drive from halftime and we got stopped. I felt like the team needed a spark and I tried to do everything I could to give us a big play. I cut across the field, no one was there and I just so happened to end up in the end zone."

Gardendale native Jordan Howard, who ran for 66 yards on 12 carries, scored his first career touchdown on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter.

NSU put up 344 total yards and had some success on the ground. The Demons were credited with just 150 yards rushing, but that came after 32 yards were negated because of the bad snap on the opening punt.

The Blazers' Jimmy Jean had an interception. UAB had two sacks - one from Greg Maclin and a combined sack from Chris Rabb and Diaheem Watkins. The Blazers had eight tackles for loss.

"Like I've been saying, we're a very talented team," McGee said. "We obviously had more talent than that team did. When we're playing against a team that doesn't have the athletes that we have, we do have enough high-quality athletes to expose them.

"I think we're a very good team. There is a lot of we've got to get cleaned up. I thought it was sloppy throughout the game. There's a lot we've got to clean up to get where we need to get going."

UAB used two quarterbacks. Brown went 10-of-20 for 159 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Perry went 3-of-7 for 53 yards and a touchdown. Backman had five catches for 62 yards.

UAB is at Vanderbilt next Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

UAB 52, NORTHWESTERN ST. 28

Northwestern St. 7 7 14 0--28

UAB 17 14 14 7--52

First Quarter

UAB_Backman 1 pass from A.Brown (Long kick), 11:12.

UAB_Nelson 63 punt return (Long kick), 10:09.

NwSt_Atzenweiler 1 run (C.Moore kick), 4:11.

UAB_FG Long 27, 1:15.

Second Quarter

UAB_Staples 23 pass from Perry (Long kick), 12:08.

NwSt_Atzenweiler 3 run (C.Moore kick), 4:41.

UAB_D.Reaves 8 run (Long kick), 1:08.

Third Quarter

NwSt_Hollier 34 pass from Adkins (C.Moore kick), 13:52.

UAB_Nelson 41 pass from A.Brown (Long kick), 9:16.

UAB_D.Reaves 50 run (Long kick), 8:00.

NwSt_Taylor 6 run (C.Moore kick), 5:33.

Fourth Quarter

UAB_Howard 8 run (Long kick), 5:00.

A_8,723.

___

NwSt UAB

First downs 21 21

Rushes-yards 39-150 34-242

Passing 194 212

Comp-Att-Int 23-45-1 13-27-1

Return Yards (-2) 92

Punts-Avg. 9-36.0 4-41.0

Fumbles-Lost 4-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 6-60 5-44

Time of Possession 34:14 25:46

___

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_Northwestern St., Atzenweiler 15-100, Taylor 4-40,

Llorens 6-22, Adkins 7-15, Ru.Morris 6-5, Team 1-(minus 32). UAB,

D.Reaves 17-178, Howard 12-66, Team 1-(minus 1), A.Brown 4-(minus 1).

PASSING_Northwestern St., Adkins 23-44-1-194, C.Jones 0-1-0-0. UAB,

A.Brown 10-20-1-159, Perry 3-7-0-53.

RECEIVING_Northwestern St., Ryan 8-24, Toussant 4-23, Hollier 3-78,

Eagan 3-28, Llorens 1-19, T.McClain 1-13, Ru.Morris 1-6,

Atzenweiler 1-3, Taylor 1-0. UAB, Backman 5-62, Nelson 3-60,

Height 2-54, Staples 1-23, D.Reaves 1-7, Henderson 1-6.