The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Play Host To SMU At Legion Field
9/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 12, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- Fresh off a season-opening victory over Rice last weekend, the UAB football team hopes to make it two in a row when the Blazers take on the SMU Mustangs Saturday at Legion Field.
Gametime is set for 3:00 p.m. as UAB plays its second consecutive Conference USA opponent.
UAB (1-0, 1-0 C-USA) was impressive in beating Rice (44-24) last Saturday. The Blazers ran up 516 yards of offense against the Owls as quarterback Joe Webb rushed for a C-USA quarterback record 194 yards and passed for 221 yards.
Webb, who accounted for four touchdowns (two rushing/ two passing) in the game, was named the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Week on Monday.
Despite his team's offensive performance and the outstanding effort by Webb, UAB head coach Neil Callaway said his team is still looking for more production at running back, a subject he's harped on since the spring.
"It was a good start for Joe," said Callaway. "He wound up with over 400 yards of total offense. We still have to get better at the running back spot to help him. If we can do that, I think we'll be a hard offense to deal with. But if we continue to rely on Joe Webb for everything, people can do things to shut that down."
With the win over the Owls, the Blazers have now won three of their last four games and four of their last six dating back to the 2008 season. Callaway said confidence is high for his team right now.
"I certainly think Saturday's win helped," Callaway said. "Going back to last year, we did some things late to get on a roll, so hopefully we're continuing on from that.
"I think the confidence of this football team right now is pretty good, but we better be careful because you're only as good as your last outing. Saturday's game is over, and we have to get ready for the next one."
SMU (1-0, 0-0 C-USA) also opened the new season with a win as the Mustangs defeated visiting Stephen F. Austin, 31-23. SMU rallied with 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to overtake the Lumberjacks.
The Mustangs forced Stephen F. Austin into six turnovers, including five interceptions. SMU picked up its own C-USA Player-of-the-Week honor as senior safety Rock Dennis was tabbed the conference's defensive accolade after recording a pair of interceptions to go along with eight tackles in the game.
Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders is one of the Mustangs' top offensive threats. In the opener he caught eight passes for 66 yards and also returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown.
Head coach June Jones is in his second season at the SMU helm after a highly successful career at Hawaii. He was the Warriors' head coach in 2004 when Hawaii defeated UAB in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, 59-40.
The UAB/SMU game 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 at 1:30 p.m.
