The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Brown Addresses Media As UAB Prepares For Memphis
9/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 29, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- UAB head football coach Watson Brown talked with members of the media here Monday about the Blazers' upcoming game against the Memphis Tigers on Saturday, October 4, at 1 p.m. in Memphis, Tenn. UAB has won three straight against the Tigers, including a 31-17 win in last year's contest in Birmingham.
"They are more explosive on offense than I've seen them in the past," Brown said. "It's hard to defend them because they aren't one-dimensional. We're going to have our hands full. I'm sure they're ready to play us. We're going to be ready to play. I think we're going to be confident. We believe we can win the game, but we're going to have to play a lot better than we played in the close games that we've lost."
The Blazers were idle last week and used the time to get healthy and work on fundamentals at practice.
"I'm not sure our players thought it was an off week," Brown said. "We had a very physical week of practice. I thought we needed it. We've got to keep blocking, tackling and improving on fundamentals. Our backs needed work on holding onto the ball and carrying it a little better. I think we got better last week and I think we're ready to see if we did improve."
UAB has lost three straight and is looking to avoid its first four-game losing streak since 1998. Most recently, the Blazers lost at South Carolina, 42-10, on Sept. 20. UAB started slowly against the Gamecocks, tallying only 87 yards of total offense in the first half. The Blazers are now 1-1 in road games.
"I didn't think we were confident or poised," said Brown. "It comes from maturity, there's no doubt about that. We've got to learn to do that. Our first road game, against Baylor, was not like it was in Columbia. I didn't think we reacted the same way. I didn't like our attitude about the game. It wasn't that we weren't ready, it was that we didn't have any confidence. Our teams here have always gone on the road and felt like we could win anytime out there and I didn't feel like we had that in this game. It's just growing pains."
Player Quotes Return Specialist Jason Southall
On the team's practices during the off week
"We've just been trying to get back to the basics. We've been trying to get everything going right and making sure that we get the right personnel in. Coach (Watson) Brown stressed that he wanted us to have a good hard week of practice so that we could get our toughness back. He felt like we lost some of our toughness during these losses, so we just worked on getting back to the fundamentals."
On this Memphis team being better than they have been over the last few seasons
"Yeah, they have a nice running back (TB DeAngelo Williams) and everything. They have a new defensive coordinator in Joe Lee Dunn from Mississippi State, so they are a lot different team than we've seen in the past. We'll just need to be able to keep up with everything that they will be trying to do against us on Saturday."
Quarterback Darrell Hackney
On the off week and the physical practices that they had
"It was a pretty tough week for everybody. We all worked hard and we worked on improving our game. We're just trying to get better, day in and day out. I took half of the week off, because Coach (Brown) wanted me to get some rest, and hopefully my ankle will continue to get better. We also tried to get Chris (Williams, second-string quarterback) some more reps and more understanding of the game."
On playing Memphis on the road and what concerns him the most about them
"Well, it seems like they blitz on every down and that concerns me the most. I think that they are going to come after me on every play. I have to get myself ready for that. We won the last three meetings, so they are going to want to beat us and we have to be ready to play some ball."
On how a win against Memphis would rebuild the confidence level of the team
"If we win this game, then we would probably get all of our confidence and momentum back. It has been coming back slowly but surely, so we just need to go out this week, practice hard and hopefully we'll come up with a victory against Memphis."
On the adjustment of having a new quarterbacks coach (Rick Christophel)
"It's going to be different. It's not new, but it's still going to be different. I know the offense back and forth and coach Christophel is going to stay on me and make sure that I do the right things. He understands the offense too, so things will be the same, but it will also be different because we're without coach (Pat) Sullivan."
Wide Receiver Bradley Chavez
On the off week and the physical practices that they had
"It was really physical. It was a good two days in full pads and we had some great practices. It was good to go up against our own teammates for a change for the first time since two-a-days, so it was really nice to get to go up against each other again."
On whether or not it is sort of therapeutic to hit each other in practice again
"Yeah, it was. During two-a-days, it was really rigorous and we all got tired of seeing the same old faces, but now we've gone back to the fundamentals and started all over again really."
On if this week off will be beneficial for the team when it comes to playing Memphis
"I think for our team that it definitely was beneficial, but we never know how we're going to perform in a game until we play Memphis on Saturday. Overall, it definitely helped us out to have this week off, because it allowed us to get back to the basics of things."
