The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Irons out Memphis Game Plan
10/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 26, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB Football team practiced for just over two hours Wednesday afternoon implementing the Memphis game plan. The Blazers practiced in full pads while going through drills and team workouts. UAB has lost its last three games by a combined 11 points, and travels to Memphis Tuesday, Nov. 1, to face the Tigers.
"We haven't played well enough to win and we need to settle down and play better," said UAB head coach Watson Brown. "We have spent time the last two days getting back to our game techniques. Memphis has DeAngelo Williams who is a great player and we know he is going to handle that ball. We just need to hold him down the absolute best we can. Offensively, we've been good but we need to work on getting off to a better start. When we get an opportunity to run the ball, I'm sure we will Tuesday against Memphis."
UAB has won the last five meetings against Memphis and holds a 5-2 series advantage. The Blazers are 3-4 on the year. UAB is led by senior quarterback Darrell Hackney who led all C-USA quarterbacks last week with 29 completions and 407 yards passing. Despite Hackney's three touchdown passes, UAB fell to Southern Miss, 37-28, at Legion Field. Hackney has 2,144-passing yards and 13 touchdowns already this season. The record-setting quarterback moved into sixth place all-time in passing yards in Conference USA history.
The Tigers are 4-3 overall and 3-2 in Conference USA. Memphis is led by senior running back DeAngelo Williams, who is among the many Heisman Trophy candidates after leading the nation in rushing touchdowns last year. Williams was named the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week for his performance last week against East Carolina. He registered his fourth 200-yard rushing game of the year, carrying a career-high 39 times for 226 yards. With 240 all-purpose yards, Williams moved up to fourth place on the NCAA's all-time all-purpose yardage list with 6,858.
The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN2. Gary Bender, Bill Curry and Dave Ryan will call the action from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The game will be carried live on the ISP Blazer Sports Network on WYDE-FM 101.1. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.
