The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Begins Preparations For Louisiana Lafayette
9/16/2002 12:00:00β―AM | Football
Sept. 16, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- UAB head coach Watson Brown held his weekly press conference here Monday discussing his team's preparation for this week's match-up between the Blazers and the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns.
Saturday's game will be the sixth time UAB has met Louisiana Lafayette on the playing field. The Blazers currently hold a 4-1 advantage in the series, winning last year's contest 47-2 in Birmingham on September 30, 2002. This match up has been the most common in UAB's short Division I-A football history.
The Blazers are coming off a 26-20 defeat by the Pittsburgh Panthers. The Panthers pulled ahead of the Blazers with 5:18 to go in the 4th quarter and were able to hold onto the lead. Nick Hayes, a sophomore placekicker was 2-for-2 against the Panthers and is 5-for-5 for the season. Sophomore running back Kendal Gibson has already doubled his rushing total for all of last season,(80 yards, 32 carries), with 175 yards on 27 carries for an impressive 6.5 yards per attempt average.
Louisiana Lafayette enters this weekend's contest after falling to Houston, another Conference USA foe (36-17). Including that loss, the Ragin' Cajuns have not defeated a Conference USA team in six years. Their last win over a C-USA team was against Tulane on October 28, 1995(32-28). Wide receiver Fred Stamps established a new career high with 139 yards receiving in the Houston game. Stamps now has four 100-yard receiving games in his career. Quarterback Jon Van Cleave made a 78-yard pass to Fred Stamps for a touchdown against Houston - the longest passing play by the Cajuns since the opening game of the 1996 season.
UAB and Louisiana Lafayette will kick off on Saturday, September 21, at 6 p.m. at Cajun Field in Louisiana.
Below are a few comments made by Watson Brown along with several UAB players:
Watson Brown on Pittsburgh: ?You know, it's a little unique, we don't play very well at all against Troy and win and we play a much better game against Pitt and lose. There's no justice to this game. We move the ball well, but we're still giving up way too many yards on defense. We've just got to keep improving. We're still such a young bunch. Next week has got to be a better game. We've got to get better in practice and carry it to Saturday. I am starting to see the team practice better, but we are not totally carrying it to Saturday yet. We made a lot of plays in Saturday's game against Pitt, but in the last 5 minutes we didn't make any and they made every one to win the game.?
On the Injury Situation: ?We have lost 3 players in 3 games with ACL injuries. It's got to stop. We're not going to have a football team if this keeps up. I can't tell you why. Some years it happens, some years it doesn't. We've never had hurt defensive players here, now they are very young so that may be part of it. You just have to go on with what you have.?
On Louisiana Lafayette: ?We haven't played them in a few years. Our first Division I meeting against them we got clobbered and then we beat them the last 3 times. They have a new coaching staff and they are playing much better, much harder. We're going to have to play really hard to win. So far it seems like they have been in every game at the half and then the other teams have been able to put them away in the second half. But if we can't get the ball away from the other team then we are the tired team in the second half. Their style is a Virginia Tech style and it's an aggressive style. They really crowd the ball and make you beat them with a pass.?
Shamar Abrams: ?Pittsburgh was a real physical game with a lot of ups and downs and mistakes which we made. You try to get better from it. I learned a lot. It was my first time starting. I am going to try to get better from the mistakes I made. We lost a senior and starting line backer and that's kind of tough, but you just have to bounce back. I am looking forward to every game, to do my best and to try to prove a point.?
Thomas Cox: ?People don't give them (UL Lafayette) a lot of credit, but they're good. We watched them play against Texas A&M and it was 3-0 at halftime. Texas A&M's team just beat the team that we just played. They are a good team and they have a lot of seniors on defense just like Troy State. We are going to have our hands full. We are not going to slack off any. Any team can be beat on any given day. We have more confidence. We got better this week, offensively.?
