The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Watson Brown Looks At Blazers' Upcoming Game At Tulane
10/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 14, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- UAB head coach Watson Brown held his weekly press conference here Monday afternoon discussing the team's preparation for this week's contest between his Blazers and the Green Wave of Tulane.
This Saturday's game, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m. at the Superdome in New Orleans, La., will mark the third time the Blazers have met the Green Wave on the playing field. The Blazers have won both of the previous meetings, including a 34-27 victory last October at Legion Field.
The Blazers are coming off a 51-34 victory over the Houston Cougars. After a 28-6 deficit in the first half of the game, UAB scored 38 unanswered points to defeat the Cougars for its second Conference USA win of the season.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Darrell Hackney threw for 329 yards in the game. Hackney's passing yardage is a UAB record in the Blazers' Division 1-A era which began in 1996. Hackney was also named the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. The Blazers totaled a season-high 406 yards on offense in the game.
Tulane is coming off a 35-17 victory over Cincinnati. J.P. Losman threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as Tulane beat Cincinnati 35-17 Saturday. Losman threw both his touchdowns during a 26-point second quarter, Tulane's highest scoring quarter since 1998. Losman completed 14 of 23 passes for 163 yards. Tulane (4-3, 2-2 Conference USA) forced four turnovers and had six sacks, three by Kenan Blackmon.
Below are a few comments made by Watson Brown, along with several UAB players.
Watson Brown "It has been an up and down swing. I think Saturday will help us. Coming back from that big of a deficit, to be down 28-6 before the half and then to outscore them 45-6 the rest of the way, you have got to turn a lot of things around to do that. Getting the touchdown right before the half was a huge momentum switch for us. We didn't go into the second half completely down and out. We regrouped a little bit. We didn't play well in the first half. We knew we could play much better and we did in the second half. Nothing really happened at the half. The kids just felt like they could come back and play better and we did. They motivated themselves that way."
On Darrell Hackney: "He is a freshman. He has had two starts and two phenomenal games. At the same time, the teams are trying to give him looks now. Houston tried to confuse him in a lot of ways, they pressured him some, but he handled that all really well. He is very talented. It is just a matter of his consistency. If they make him keep making the kind of plays he has been making, we are going to be fine. They wanted him to have to beat them."
On the Tulane game: "We have not played well on the road at all. To win in this league, you have to take care of home first and then steal a few on the road. That is how we have to approach it. This is our first road conference game. "The Dome" is a tough place to play. Tulane always plays well at home, so we know what we are going into. We have got to get it turned around. We have not been a good road team, but I think that is one of those growing processes. These kids have just not had the same confidence when we they have traveled, but hopefully we will see some of that this week."
On Tulane: "We are marked, especially after we lost to the Louisiana team in Lafayette as bad as we did. They are after us. They are on a roll right now. They have won two in a row. They have got a lot to play for and I believe they have a great chance to be one of our bowl teams."
James Malone: "It is and will be exciting to play there at the Superdome. I will just tell the younger guys to not get too excited and let it overwhelm them. I am concerned mostly about the guys playing on the turf. I know we will all be really excited, but hopefully we can settle down by the end of the first quarter and everything will fall into place."
On Tulane: "One concern is that we are going to go into the game thinking that we are just going to beat them. But we have had a wake-up call and we know that every game is going to be a tough game. They have a good offense and a good team that beat Cincinnati last weekend. My biggest concern is that we know what is at stake when we go there."
Zac Woodfin: "We can't really get excited about the conference championship until we have been there. Our biggest games in the conference are still to come, Southern Miss, Louisville and Cincinnati. Those are three huge games at the end of our season. I think it is going to come down to that. We are just going to have to take it week by week and try to get a win every week."
On the Tulane Game: "I am very excited about going to New Orleans. I am excited about trying to get a win on the road. That is something we haven't done this year yet. I am really confident that we can. We just have to work hard all week and practice hard. I think we have a good chance to win if we play well. Being on the turf and in the dome will be a bit of a different experience, but it is really the same game against the same players we played last year."
