BYU vs UAB — Independence Bowl Postgame Notes and Quotes

The following postgame notes and quotes are from BYU's 31-28 loss to UAB on Saturday, Dec. 18 at the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. The game was played at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana and televised on ABC and broadcast on the BYU Sports Network. BYU finished the 2021 season at 10-3, while UAB was 9-4. 

BYU FLAG BEARERS
USA flag: Jared Kapisi
Utah state flag:  Earl Tuioti-Mariner
Team flags:  Sol-Jay Maiava, Ethan Erickson, Josh Singh, Alema Pilimai
Alumni/special guest flag: Kalani Sitake along with Peterson family (Eliza, Isaac, Samuel, Sarah-Sophia)

SERIES RESULTS
The Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl marked the first meeting between BYU and the University of Alabama-Birmingham in football. UAB now leads the series 1-0. The Cougars have a 39-13-1 overall record against teams from Conference USA in football.

BOWL RECORD
The Independence Bowl was BYU's 39th bowl game in school history—tied for 20th in the
FBS. The Cougars are now 16-22-1 all-time in bowl games and 3-2 in the Sitake era. 

TEN-WIN SEASON
With 10-3 record in 2021, BYU won 10 games for the second consecutive season for the first time since the 2008 and 2009 seasons. It is BYU’s 18th season with at least 10 wins.

PLAYER NOTABLES

• Wide receiver Samson Nacua scored his first rushing TD (two-yards) at BYU and his fourth touchdown of the year (three receiving). 
• Linebacker Max Tooley led BYU with 10 tackles. It was his second highest total of his career, having collected 13 in the final regular season game at USC.
• Hayden Livingston collected his second interception of the year. His first came in the season opener versus Arizona. 
• Defensive end Tyler Batty collected 2.5 sacks versus UAB. His career-best was three sacks against Louisiana Tech in 2020. He now has 7.5 sacks in his career.

TYLER ALLGEIER’S RECORD SETTING NIGHT

• At 4:46 in the third quarter, Tyler Allgeier’s three-yard run broke the BYU single-season rushing mark, passing Luke Staley (1,582) who won the Doak Walker award in 2001. Allgeier finished 2021 with 1,601 yards rushing. 
• In the first quarter, Tyler Allgeier passed former BYU running back Ronney Jenkins’ (253 carries in 1998) to break the BYU record for rushes in a season. With 27 rushes versus UAB, Allgeier finished 2021 with 276 carries.   
• With 192-yards versus UAB, Allgeier passed Lakei Heimuli (No. 6 at 2,710) and Taysom Hill (No. 5 at 2,815) in career rushing yards. Allgeier has rushed for 2,899 career yards—No. 5 all-time at BYU.
• With three TDs today, Allgeier now with 36 career rushing touchdowns, passing Jamaal Williams and Jamal Willis for No. 2 all-time. He is tied with current BYU running back coach Harvey Unga. Staley holds the career BYU record with 41. 
• With a one-yard rushing touchdown at the 12:48 mark in the second quarter, Allgeier became the first Cougar to score at least one touchdown in 11 consecutive games, passing wide receiver Mike Chronister who had 10 straight from 1976-77. 
• With 14:33 to go in the fourth quarter Allgeier scored his third rushing touchdown of the night, setting a new BYU bowl record with three touchdowns, passing several Cougars with two including Zach Wilson who had two in 2019 at the Hawaii Bowl. It was Allgeier’s third game of the year with three or more touchdowns. 

POSTGAME QUOTES
UAB vs. BYU
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl | Independence Stadium | Shreveport, Louisiana

BYU HEAD COACH KALANI SITAKE
Sitake opening statement:
“Well, the game did not go as we wanted, but a lot of credit to UAB. They played a fantastic game. Didn’t work in our favor, but I give a lot of credit to UAB for making plays. They made a couple plays more than we did. I've said before Coach (Bill) Clark’s a great coach, and so the credit to those guys for getting this win. It was a tough game for us and we have to learn from this we get better.

Still a fantastic season. I want to show appreciation to the people of Shreveport , who have been amazing to us. Even though the game didn’t go our way, we really had a great time here. Enjoyed the hospitality and enjoyed getting to know players and coaches on the UAB side so we'll get better from this. 

On learning from the tough loss:
“I feel like this entire season, when you're looking at who we played, it was difficult because I don't know if we ever put together 60 minutes together as a team, and that's my job as a coach. But in this game I do give a lot of credit to the opponents that we played. Once the season is done, I have to evaluate everything. Find ways to get better as a program and we did that last year. We just lost and so hopefully our guys are hungry. That would be the key for us.”

On Sitake’s extension:
“I just love being around these guys. These guys mean a lot to me. So yeah. I love being around our
players a lot. And right now they're hurting. So it's okay. My job is to rally them back on this. And wish
the guys that are moving on to the NFL good luck.”

On Tyler setting the BYU season rushing record:
“He just works really hard, and the loves football. I’m really proud of the things that he's accomplished. He's a team guy. He has tons of football ahead of him. Who knows what jerseys he’s gonna be wearing. He's got some decisions to make, but he knows we love him. We appreciate him and he's got a bright future. So we'll just see what happens.”

On if Injuries we’re a reason they couldn’t put together a full 60 minutes:
“I think that's part of it. I don't know if we can really put it on one thing, but we do have a lot of different
bodies and then we got down a couple starters. I think if you can have the same eleven that started the
season for the bowl game on both sides of the ball on offense and defense I’d say we’re in a pretty good
spot, but that's the game. It's a violent physical game. So you're gonna have guys banged up. We're gonna have to rely on the depth. We knew this going into this season. But we’ve got a lot of these guys coming back. We have a lot of guys returning and now the focus returns on us as a coaching staff, getting our guys ready to be more experienced but also keep our depth rolling and then see what happens in the  2022 season.”

RUNNING BACK — TYLER ALLGEIER
On setting record:
“It’s an honor. It’s an on honor to be on the field with this team and a part of this offense.”

On BYU team message to teammate Samson Nacua after fumble:
“It’s just part of the game. We live to play this game. Football is just so fun. We just love it so much. You can never expect anything, or you can expect the unexpected, I guess. It’s an unfortunate event for him, but he has a team and a family that loves him so much. You live and you learn. I had a fumble earlier in the year and you just live and you learn from that but everyone had my back.”

On his future:
“We’ll see what happens. I’m going to keep you guys guessing, but we’ll see what happens.”

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN — TYLER BATTY
On BYU’s defense:
“We have a lot of talent. We have a lot of guys who can make plays. My biggest take overall looking to
next year is just cleaning up the little things. That’s what tonight came down to was everybody doing
their job.”