The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Week Three Press Conference: Coastal Carolina
9/11/2017 1:39:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Returning home to Legion Field on Saturday, Sept. 16, head football coach Bill Clark held his weekly press conference on Monday to discuss the upcoming game with Coastal Carolina and to reflect back on Ball State.
GAME INFORMATION:
Saturday, Sept. 16
UAB vs. Coastal Carolina
Legion Field - 12 p.m.
Watch: WBRC FOX6 (Doug Bell, Jay Sonnhalter, Christina Chambers)
Twitter/Instagram: @UAB_FB
NOTES:
- UAB leads Conference USA and ranks 12th nationally with 297.5 rushing yards per game.
- Spencer Brown's 151 rushing yards at Ball State was the fifth highest total in a single game by a freshman in program history.
- Brown is averaging 96.5 rushing yards per game, ranking him fourth in C-USA.
- Tevin Crews has led the defense in tackles in each of UAB's first two games and his 11.0 tackles per game ranks him third in C-USA and 19th nationally.
- This is the first meeting between UAB and Coastal Carolina. The two schools will play again next year in Myrtle Beach.
Opening Statement:
"We're back from a tough road loss at Ball State. I think the main question going into that game was how would we handle being on the road. Going back to last week our coaches and players had a really good week in preparation from pregame to warmup to in the game, everything I saw they were ready to play. Obviously, a rollercoaster game. I thought our offense made some really good improvements, defensively if you would have told me we would contain their running game and their quarterback I would have felt like we would've played really well.
"We just couldn't get off the field on third downs. Give them credit, they hit a lot of big plays when we were in press coverage and the guy gets free and gets some catches. I thought our special teams played really well and then we had two let-downs at the end that I was really disappointed in. It was not characteristic of us and it was a tough loss, any loss is tough but I think our guys are going to learn from it. They know what it looks like now, I don't think we'll be in any worse conditions as far as adversity goes. We've been there and came back with our heads up. After the game and yesterday just getting guys rehabbing and in meetings I am really pleased with their attitude. This is something they needed to see and experience and just be in it and hopefully we'll be better for it."
On not getting off the field on third down:
"I think we were more concerned with their running game and maybe I could have put us in more third and long situations in practice so I always look at myself. We had a hard time getting to their quarterback. Their offensive line did well and he stood in there. We gave him man pressure and he stood in there and they caught every ball. We were draped all over them and they made catches. I was shocked at how many third and longs we got them in but we felt good about the coverage and give them credit, they made some good plays with people all over them."
On what Spencer Brown brings to the offence:
"We knew immediately in the summer based off what we saw in high school that he was a guy that was going to be able to play. We tried to get him in the first game but there is so much more than just running the ball. There are protections, blocking in the perimeter all these things you ask running backs to do and of course it starts with ball security. Kind of got his feet wet in game one but where we really saw him was going against the defense all during camp. They could hardly tackle him and I think that was the standard our guys saw and it was how fast can we move this guy along."
On what went wrong with the special teams:
"The kickoff, we had a bad kick, Nick had a really good day kicking field goals but hit a line drive and two guys got double teamed. The safety didn't get out like he was supposed to, just a mistake with a bad kick and it's hard to get down there and cover with a line knuckle drive. The fumble was just ball security, got to protect the ball."
On the importance of another good crowd:
"It's huge, the 12 p.m. kick is a little different so we need our crowd back. We need that to be a home field advantage for us. We're playing a good team coming off their first FBS win but we need our crowd there and I hope to get more than what we had in the first game."
On what he sees from Coastal Carolina:
"You see a team that is very option oriented, belly, trap, speed option and speed sweeps. Coach Chadwell was at Charleston Southern and ran the option every way you can run it just out of the gun. Defensively we're going to have to do a great job of playing responsibility football. They have all kinds of window dressing and all the things that go with it, play-action off it. Defensively they are very sound and they play really good special teams, one of the top FCS programs in the country that is now an FBS school."
Players Mentioned
RB
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LB
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