The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Back Home Thursday To Take On Southern Miss
10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- After back-to-back games on the road, the UAB Blazers will return to Legion Field Thursday night for a Conference USA battle with Southern Miss.
Kickoff is set for 7:04 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by CBS College Sports. In addition, the matchup will be carried on the Blazers ISP Sports Network and can be heard in the Birmingham area on flagship station WUHT-FM 107.7. The pregame show will begin 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
Both teams have had a short week to prepare for tonight's contest. UAB (1-3, 1-1 C-USA) is coming off a 56-19 loss at Texas A&M last Saturday night. Southern Miss (3-1, 1-0 C-USA) suffered its first setback of the season last Saturday, falling 35-28 at Kansas.
"I looked back at my notes from last year," Blazers' head coach Neil Callaway said. "I like what we did last year, but I think you always have to kind of play it by ear. We're kind of a banged up football team right now, so we're backing off a little more than we did last year. We came in Sunday and didn't even look at the A&M film; we went straight into the Southern Miss film."
The Blazers held light practices Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as they head into Thursday's matchup.
UAB is seeking its first win over the Golden Eagles though there have been numerous closely-contested games in the series that USM leads by a 9-0 count. Last year's matchup in Hattiesburg was not one of those close games as Southern Miss jumped on the Blazers early and kept their momentum going for most of the game en route to a 70-14 victory.
"We went over there last year and got embarrassed," said Callaway. "Hopefully, we'll get that corrected. We're excited about the game and for the chance to play Thursday night on TV. We're looking forward to it."
Callaway feels the Blazers will be facing one of the elite teams in Conference USA when they play Thursday.
"I think they have an outstanding football team," he said "I think Southern Miss and Houston are the two most talented teams in our league. I've been very impressed with their speed. Their skill position guys on both sides of the ball can really run.
"Their quarterback (Austin Davis) does a good job of managing the game for them. He throws a good ball, and when he runs, he's always falling forward making positive yards. They have a lot of weapons offensively, but to me, he's (the quarterback) what makes them go. Defensively, their speed at linebacker and in the secondary is outstanding.
UAB quarterback Joe Webb is looking to bounce back after a tough outing at College Station, Texas last weekend. Webb, the nation's No. 13 rusher at 108 yards a game, was held to 65 yards on the ground by the Aggies and threw for just 60 as he hit 8-of-18 passes.
As a team, UAB has been a productive team running the ball. The Blazers will enter Thursday's game ranked No. 12 in the country in rushing yards per game (230.5). UAB is 109th in passing offense at 157.5 yards per contest.
