The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Meets With Media Regarding Game with USF
11/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 1, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Head football coach, Watson Brown, along with several UAB football players, met with the local media here Monday to discuss UAB's upcoming game against USF at 6:30 at Legion Field on Wednesday. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
Saturday marks the second meeting between the Blazers and the Bulls, with UAB leading the series 1-0. UAB won the two teams only meeting 22-19 last fall on a game-winning field goal by Nick Hayes.
UAB is coming off an open date after a 59-55 loss to Tulane last Saturday. The Blazers are now 5-2 overall and 3-1 against Conference USA opponents.
USF last played on October 22, in a 41-9 loss to Louisville. The Bulls are trying to snap a four game losing streak and are 2-4 overall and 1-3 in C-USA.
UAB's loss to Tulane snapped the Blazer's four-game win streak, and also prevented the Blazers from being bowl-eligible for at least another week.
"There were no turnovers in the game," said Brown. "Neither offense had a turnover in the game. You don't score 59 and 55 points without both sides giving you the opportunity and that didn't happen in this game, which is why this was such a weird game. There was no double overtime, there weren't any turnovers, neither quarterback threw an interception and there weren't any fumbles; that's why this was such a weird game. But now everybody is seeing that you can lose, especially on the road, if you don't play well. We learned that we are a good team when we play well and we are a very average team when we don't play well. We have played really well a lot, and I think people just got past that thinking this is a really good team. We have to play well to win."
Wednesday's game is the Blazers' third and final nationally televised game this season. UAB's games against Florida State and TCU were each covered by ESPN2 and ESPN.
"We have had media coverage all year," Brown said. "You have got to treat every game the same when all the other things are considered. The players have to treat everything the same whether the game is nationally televised or not. That's what we do; you can't get to high for a big win and you can't get too down about a loss, you have got to get ready for the next one."
Both UAB and USF have had extra time to prepare for the game on Wednesday. Despite the Bulls' recent losses, the Blazers are expecting a tough game.
"They lost to some good teams," said Brown. "They have a very a good defensive team but they struggle on offense. Their defense is very good, they are very quick and I think they match us well. We like to spread you out and get the ball in the open field. We will do better against teams that aren't as quick and athletic as maybe some of the ones that are more athletic and I think that this is an athletic defense, so they concern me. I think it is going to be much tougher for us to score the points we have been scoring and we are going to have to play better defense."
PLAYER QUOTES
QUARTERBACK Darrell Hackney
On being able to make a big play early in the game "The momentum of the game changes when we can make big plays early in the game. The defense feels like they are down. When a team is scoring a lot of points and making big plays, it's difficult to come back."
On Receiver Roddy White
"I've seen him make plays with single coverage and when teams are double covering him. Teams are starting to notice that Roddy has a lot of receiving yards and that he's a playmaker. He's just hungry and ready to make big plays."
LINEBACKER Gaylon Black
On the loss to Tulane
"We were surprised by the loss, but that's why we play football every Saturday; any thing can happen. We just came back and worked on the defense. We watched film and saw what we needed to work on. We had some extra time to get ready for this game against USF, so we were really able to fix what needed to be fixed."
On South Florida
"South Florida has a lot of good athletes. Their record might not be great, but their athletes are very quick, and they have to potential to beat a lot of teams. They have a lot of ways to beat you with their offense. They play hard, and you know that every time you play them they are going to give you all they've got.
CORNERBACK Bobby Keyes
On the atmosphere at practice after the loss to Tulane
"We tried to do the same thing we do every week, but there was definitely a different atmosphere. We were all just ready to go to work. Everybody had a positive attitude and we decided that we were going to take it upon ourselves to make sure that we don't let the same thing happen again."
On the UAB defense
"It hurt us very badly to let the offense down against Tulane. Coach tried to even it out and not lay the blame on anyone in particular, but when it all boils down, it was definitely on the defense. The offense worked so hard to make big plays and keep us in the game; we're going to try to repay the offense on Wednesday night. We went into practice and added a little bit more to our arsenal, which I think is going to make us better."
