The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Face Tennessee Saturday In Knoxville
9/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 12, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB football team faces a challenging assignment Saturday when the Blazers take on the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville.
UAB (0-2) will go against a Tennessee team still smarting from its 27-24 loss on Labor Day at UCLA. In that game, the Vols held a 14-7 lead in overtime but ultimately lost on a Bruins' field goal in overtime. Tennessee did not play last weekend.
More than 100,000 fans are expected to pack Neyland Stadium Saturday as Tennessee plays its 2008 home opener. The game will kick off at 12:30 p.m. EDT and will be televised regionally by Raycom Sports.
The Blazers are playing their second consecutive game on the road as they dropped a 49-34 decision to Florida Atlantic last Saturday in Fort Lauderdale.
UAB head coach Neil Callaway realizes his team has a difficult task ahead on Saturday against one of the top programs in the country. Callaway is also quite familiar with the surroundings the Blazers will enter Saturday as he's made many trips to Neyland Stadium over the years as a member of coaching staffs at Georgia, Auburn and Alabama.
"They have to be one of the storybook programs over the years," said Callaway. "They were one of the best teams in the nation in the 1990s. Neyland Stadium has to be one of the top four or five places to go play in the country. Phillip Fulmer has been there a long time and has a tremendous winning percentage there. Our guys are extremely excited about the opportunity to go play. We like the fact that we will get to play in front 103-104,000 people."
In the first two games of the season, UAB has moved the ball on offense and comes into the contest averaging 448 yards per game. The struggles have been on the defensive side where the Blazers have yielded 47 points and 577 yards per game.
"We've tried several different things (on defense)," said Callaway. "We just have to keep working hard and stay the course. We are having a problem with guys freelancing too much and missing tackles. We did a little better last week than the week before. We've worked hard in practice, and we need to continue that."
UAB quarterback Joe Webb will come into the game ranked No. 8 in the nation in total offense (348.5 yards per game). He threw for a career-high 326 yards and rushed for 66 at FAU last Saturday. Sophomore receiver Frantrell Forrest caught 11 passes for 149 yards against the Owls, both career-highs for the Mobile native.
The Blazers and Volunteers will be meeting for the third time when they play Saturday. Tennessee has won both of the previous meetings with each contest also played in Knoxville. UAB nearly knocked off the Vols in the last meeting as Tennessee escaped with a 17-10 victory in the 2005 season opener.
In addition to the TV coverage, Saturday's contest will be carried on the Blazers ISP Sports Network, WWMM 100.5 FM radio. The radio coverage will begin at 11:00 a.m. (10:00 a.m. CDT) with pregame coverage.
