The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Watson Brown Holds Weekly Press Conference
10/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 7, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- UAB head coach Watson Brown held his weekly press conference here Monday discussing the team's preparation for this week's homecoming contest between his Blazers and the University of Houston Cougars.
This Saturday's game, which kicks off at 2 p.m., will be the third time the Blazers have met the Cougars on the football field. The Blazers have won both of the previous meetings between the two schools, including a 43-21 decision at Houston last Nov. 17. UAB was also victorious in the initial match-up on Sept. 25, 1999 with a 29-10 victory.
The Blazers, who enjoyed an open date on the schedule last weekend, began Conference USA play with a 31-17 victory over the University of Memphis Tigers on September 28. Averaging just 228 yards of offense through the first four games, UAB turned in its best game of the 2002 season against the Tigers. The Blazers had 390 yards vs. Memphis, increasing the average to 260 per game.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Darrell Hackney made a successful debut in the Memphis game, passing for 167 yards and a touchdown, hitting 13-of-27 passes. He also ran for 31 yards and a touchdown.
Houston is coming off a 34-17 loss at TCU last Saturday, giving the Cougars a 2-3 record for the 2002 season. Opponents have taken advantage of 19 Houston turnovers this season to score 71 points, an average of more than 14 points per game. Junior Nick Eddy has assumed the quarterback position after suffering a hamstring injury in fall practice. In his collegiate debut in 2001 Eddy threw for 331 yards against Memphis, which is still one of the top debut performances in Cougar history.
Below are a few comments made by Watson Brown, along with several UAB players.
Watson Brown "We needed a break. We held 12 players from practice last week and we'll hopefully have all 12 of them to play this week. Some of them may not practice this week either. Five games in the month of September about got us. We have never been below the top four in the conference. We have been two different teams. The three home games we have played fantastic and two road games we have been awful. We have another home game this week and hopefully we'll play really well."
On Houston: "They have gone back to last year's quarterback (junior Nick Eddy) and they are more of a passing team now, like they were a year ago. We are having to prepare a little different than we expected last week. They threw 46 passes against TCU so we better be ready for the ball in the air. Conference play is every week. Houston has us marked. I think after Louisiana-Lafayette every team has us marked. I know they will come in here ready to play.
On quarterback Darrell Hackney. "He will be completely well by Saturday. He's our guy. We have got to throw the ball a lot better. We did with him in there and by doing that our running game picked up even more. When they have to back off of us a little bit, when we can't run the ball, it makes a big difference. I know he will be up and down a little bit. Thomas Cox is right there with a good attitude, ready to help him. He is the first one to get to Hackney when he comes off the field and I know Cox will be ready to get in there if Hackney can't play or gets injured."
Kirk Tuck on Houston: "They haven't won a conference game, but they have won two games. They are improved on last year and they have a lot of new players in there. They are going to be gunning for us. They were our first conference win, so I think they will be ready to play. I think they run a lot of the same defense we do. We will probably hear a lot about them beating Louisiana-Lafayette and us not, but maybe they will get overconfident. I don't think we are going to overlook them like we did UL-Lafayette."
Chris Brown on Houston: "I think this is going to be tough. Going into the last game, we got some confidence. We know we can play in this league. We know we can't take anyone for granted, especially with the Louisiana-Lafayette loss. Houston beat them, so we have to be tough. I think we will hear a lot about the fact that they beat a team we lost to. I think it's good. We did underestimate that game and you can't do that. There is some pride at stake going in because they have never beaten us."
