The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Enters Season's Final Week
11/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB football team will close out its 2008 season Saturday with a trip to Orlando, Fla., for a Conference USA contest against UCF at 1 p.m. ET.
With 11 games in the books, UAB head coach Neil Callaway met with members of the media Monday at his weekly press conference, addressing the upcoming UCF game and the Blazers' 17-13 loss this past Saturday against East Carolina.
"I thought we played extremely hard and competed to the very end (against ECU)," Callaway said. "From that standpoint, I couldn't be any happier or more pleased. We made some mistakes in every phase of the game that cost us, so we'll continue to work hard, but I am proud and happy with the way our guys competed."
Against East Carolina, UAB (3-8, 2-5 C-USA) led for much of the second half, but the Pirates scored a touchdown in the closing minutes to escape with a win. The Blazer defense turned in one of its best performances of the season, forcing five turnovers and holding East Carolina below 300 total yards. The defensive unit has now caused nine turnovers in the past two games.
UCF (4-7, 3-4 C-USA) has won two straight games, including a 28-21 victory this past Saturday over Memphis. The Knights are 2-3 in home games at Bright House Networks Stadium.
"Looking at them on film, they remind me a lot of East Carolina," Callaway said. "They are a very, very good defensive football team. Offensively, they do a good job with maintaining balance, but they have some youth on that side of the ball. They are very sound in the kicking game, but there is no question that the strength of their football team is their defense."
UCF has won the previous five meetings with UAB in the all-time series. The Knights won last year's contest, 45-31, in Birmingham.
Saturday's game will be carried on the Blazers ISP Sports Network. It can be heard locally on WWMM 100.5 FM radio in Birmingham.
UAB head coach Neil Callaway
On the East Carolina game
"It was a game in which I was very proud of our guys. I thought we played extremely hard and competed to the very end. From that standpoint, I couldn't be any happier or more pleased with what they did. Because of our youth and lack of numbers, we don't have a large room for error. We made some mistakes in every phase of the game that cost us. It probably would have given us the opportunity to win the game, but the bottom line is that we didn't get it done. So we'll continue to work hard, but I am proud and happy with the way our guys competed."
On UCF
"Looking at them on film, they remind me a lot of East Carolina. They are a very, very good defensive football team. Offensively, they do a good job with maintaining balance, but they have some youth on that side of the ball themselves, which has not made them as productive as they would like to be. They are very sound in the kicking game, but there is no question that the strength of their football team is their defense.
"It will be a big challenge for us offensively. Defensively, we are going to have to do a good job. They have a couple of good, young running backs that are very physical runners that we are going to have to cope with. Like I said before, they do maintain balance, so we are going to have to make sure we are able to stop them from getting the big plays and throwing the football."
On the seniors' last game
"It's the last game for this senior class. We've talked about trying to win the last three. Obviously, we can't do that. Now we have to try to win the last one. I'm sure all of our guys, because of the oneness and character that they've developed over the last couple of years, will all be trying as hard as we can."
Senior P/PK Swayze Waters
On whether the team's performance lived up to expectations this season
"Going into the season, we were looking to improve on last year. We have improved a lot, even though our record may not show it. We've played a lot of close games this year. I think this program is right on the verge of being a great team in Conference USA."
On what he says to motivate his teammates going into the last game of the season
"I don't really have much to say to them. It's just a mindset that we have all developed from the hard work that we put in all year. When you put in so much hard work together, it makes you want to fight for your teammates. We have developed that oneness as a team that coach Callaway was talking about earlier."
Senior DE Richard Carter
On playing the last game of the season on Saturday at UCF
"This is the last game of my senior year, so of course I want to go out with a bang. Right now, all we have to play for is each other and our pride. We are going to go out and practice hard this week to prepare for the game and hopefully come away with a win. We're not going to take anything lightly, and we are not going to give up."
On how the season has been up to this point
"This year has been a rollercoaster. We had some good wins, and we had some heartbreaking losses like the Memphis game. We've always tried to keep our spirits up and look forward to the next game."
On the upcoming UCF game
"We're going to have to play hard on Saturday. We can't beat ourselves with making silly mistakes. We just need to stay focused the whole game and go out there and give it our best."
Senior LS Jeff Hamby
On his mentality going into his final collegiate game
"You always want to go out a winner. We're going to continue to fight through this last game. We want people to remember us in a good light and get this last victory."
On preparing for UCF
"We have to control what we can do. We have to prepare this week and do everything we can to go into UCF ready to play. We need to cut down on mistakes and try to play as close to a perfect game as we can."
