BACK WHEN: Chris Felder and the last time UAB beat the Pirates

Fourth down from the East Carolina 43. James Pinkney in the shotgun. Three receivers wide right, two wide left. About a minute left at Legion Field on a Saturday night in September 2006. East Carolina trailing UAB 17-12.

Pinkney had time. He threw deep to Phillip Henry in the seam, over Will Dunbar's outstretched arms. Dunbar went up to knock it down and missed by inches. Henry caught the ball at the 20 and turned upfield.

Chris Felder was behind him. UAB's strong safety sprinted across the field, closing the angle as Henry ran toward the end zone. At the 1-yard line — with Henry a step from scoring — Felder reached in with his right arm and punched the ball loose. The ball bounced into the end zone. Will Evans, No. 13, fell on it for a touchback. The Blazers ran out the clock from there.

UAB 17, East Carolina 12.

"Effort made that last play," Watson Brown told the Birmingham News. "Quickness had something to do with it because he can run. But he could have been standing there saying, 'Oh my God, here it goes again.' But he sprints over there, gets right behind the guy. I mean, it wasn't an accident. He got behind the guy and did it exactly how you're taught to do."

Skip Holtz, ECU's head coach, had been running down the sideline when Henry caught the ball. "I thought he was going to get into the end zone," Holtz said. "Next thing I knew the ball was on the ground. It's heartbreaking. I've never lost one like that. I've never seen it on the last play like that."

UAB plays East Carolina this week, hosting them in Birmingham for the first time since 2012 and the first time as members of the American Conference. They have not beaten the Pirates since that night. Without Chris Felder, they wouldn't have beaten them that night, either.

Felder signed a national letter of intent with the University of Alabama out of high school. He didn't qualify academically. He ended up at Butler County Community College in Kansas, where he made 128 tackles and four interceptions in two years, helped Butler win a national championship in 2003 and wondered what might have been.

Then he signed with UAB.

"I probably matured a lot after I left high school," Felder told the Birmingham News. "Right out of high school, I probably wasn't ready to come into D-I."

He wasn't ready for UAB, either. Not at first. The coaching staff had penciled him in as an immediate contributor, but a 5-foot-10, 185-pound former cornerback from Willis, Texas, who had transferred high schools, bounced through juco and arrived on campus in the summer doesn't just walk into a Division I-A defense and start hitting people. He struggled to fit into the lineup. He played inconsistently. He started two games, missed a third because he left the team for the birth of his son back in Kansas.

"When you sign a junior college player and they don't become eligible until the summer, it's really hard," Watson Brown told the News. "They're walking in the door for the first day of practice and they're like a true freshman. I think it all just overwhelmed him."

"What changed me was my son was born," Felder said. "I knew I had to be responsible and grow up. I've got other responsibilities in the world and I've got to take care of him. That's what really, in essence, motivates me."

Felder left spring practice in 2006 as the starter at strong safety. He kept the job through fall camp. In the season opener at No. 10 Oklahoma, he jumped a route in the red zone and intercepted a pass to kill a Sooner scoring drive, then made four tackles in a 24-17 loss on a fumble call Blazer fans still grumble about.

Brown called him the most improved player on the team. "His confidence level is just so much higher," Brown said. "When you even talk to him now, his head's up, he's got a smile on his face, he's happy, he feels good about himself."

East Carolina came to Legion Field on Sept. 9, 2006 with Chris Johnson in the backfield and Aundrae Allison split wide. Both teams were 0-1. Holtz's Pirates had been picked apart in their opener. Brown's Blazers had lost at Oklahoma in a game that felt like it could have been a win.

UAB ran a two-quarterback system with Chris Williams and Sam Hunt. Hunt would go on to a more successful career in country music. The Blazers ran the ball 42 times for 124 yards at 2.95 per carry. The offense managed 323 total yards. Five East Carolina players were assessed unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The game moved at the pace of a highway construction project, and it was about as pleasant to watch.

But UAB's defense did something remarkable. The Blazers built a wall around Allison, who had set an ECU record with 1,024 receiving yards in 2005 and had NFL scouts bracketing him on their boards. UAB doubled him with a linebacker underneath and a safety over the top. Allison finished with zero catches — the first time he'd been shut out in his ECU career.

"It was the most frustrating game I've ever played in," Allison told the Raleigh News & Observer. "I'm the type of guy who wants the ball at all times. If I can't make a play for my team, I get mad and frustrated. I feel like I let the team down."

And Chris Johnson — the same Chris Johnson who would be drafted by the Tennessee Titans two years later and rush for 2,006 yards in 2009 — carried the ball 12 times for 51 yards. UAB held a future NFL Offensive Player of the Year to 4.3 yards per carry on a Saturday night at Legion Field in a game most of the country didn't know was happening.

ECU settled for a Robert Lee field goal in the first quarter after Kevin Roach hauled in a 25-yard reception to the UAB 8. That was as close as the Pirates' offense got to the end zone for three quarters.

Norris Drinkard beat ECU cornerback Kasey Ross to a ball in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown and a 7-3 UAB lead. Will Dunbar intercepted James Pinkney before halftime to set up a field goal that made it 10-3. Another Lee field goal cut it to 10-6 in the third.

Then Steven Brown — Watson Brown's son, a sophomore wideout — caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Williams past ECU safety Pierre Parker to push the lead to 17-6.

Pinkney, who threw for 280 yards on 20-of-38 passing, drove ECU the length of the field late in the fourth quarter and hit tight end Devon Drew for a 1-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion pass failed — Felder was whistled for pass interference but came back to knock down a second conversion try. UAB led 17-12.

The Pirates forced a three-and-out. ECU got the ball back with one last chance.

Pinkney hobbled out of the visiting locker room wearing several ice bags. "It was all pride. Not wanting to lose," he said. "It just didn't go our way. It shouldn't have been that close anyway."

The Blazers went to No. 10 Georgia the following week and lost 34-0. They lost to Mississippi State in overtime, 16-10. They lost at Rice 34-33 in a game that defied logic — UAB intercepted a pass that would have sealed the win, tried to return it, fumbled, and Rice recovered with time for one more play, which they hit for a winning touchdown. They lost to Marshall by a touchdown, lost at Southern Miss by five, lost at SMU and lost to UTEP and lost at UCF.

Three wins. Nine losses. The ECU game was one of the high points.

Watson Brown resigned as head coach. He wanted to return to his previous role as athletic director and promote Pat Sullivan — the Auburn Heisman Trophy winner who was UAB's offensive coordinator — to replace him. The powers that be blocked it. An attempt to hire Jimbo Fisher was also blocked. Brown left to become head coach at Tennessee Tech. Neil Callaway, a former Alabama and Georgia assistant, was hired to pick up the pieces. That didn't go well, either.

Johnson became CJ2K. Allison was drafted in the fifth round by the Minnesota Vikings. Pinkney finished his ECU career and moved on.

Holtz would return to Legion Field years later as the head coach at Louisiana Tech, where he'd experience more last-second heartache at the hands of the Blazers. He eventually landed in Birmingham for good, winning three spring league championships with the Birmingham Stallions in the stadium UAB now calls home.

Felder finished his career at UAB and moved on. The play at the 1-yard line was the best thing that happened in a 3-9 season.

UAB has not beaten East Carolina since.