The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Take to the Road for Week Nine Trip at UTEP
10/22/2018 4:50:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – Off to its best start in school history, the UAB football team hits the road this coming Saturday, Oct. 27, to face UTEP at the Sun Bowl.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
UAB Head Coach Bill Clark
Opening Statement:
"I just want to backtrack to the press conference from the game. What an honor it was for us to get to play for Children's Harbor. We've done it two years in a row and started a great tradition here, getting to recognize the patients and former patients with the names on the back. There's a special thing going on there. We look to continue doing that. Our players have embraced it.
"We had a great crowd for Homecoming. There was a lot of energy in the pregame walk. We knew it was going to be a special night. Those things, going into the game, were really special and exciting. What a game. We knew North Texas was really good, especially on offense, averaging close to 40 points per game. We probably didn't start out the way we wanted to defensively. I learned quickly that man-free is not a good call against those receivers and that quarterback. We had to make some adjustments at half. It was the same thing offensively. We had some opportunities. We had some three-and-outs that weren't great. We still did some good things. We went in and made some halftime adjustments. I'm so proud of the way we came out and played the second half. Defensively, we had the big fourth down stop early. Going in on a drive we had a fumble. We got the safety and were able to come back down and score. Offensively, we really clicked in the second half. Special teams was really good all night. I'm proud of each of those units. Defensively, we played really, really well in the second half and held on to win a huge game for our program.
"Moving forward to El Paso: Coach Dimel has been in the biggest games in the biggest leagues. He's a great coach. Their last two games, I got to see them against North Texas, they led throughout a lot of that game. It was down to the wire. Against Louisiana Tech, they were inside the 10 at the end of the game with a chance to tie it up or go for two to win it. They're believing in what he is doing. There is not a lot separating any of us in this league. We're going to have to be ready. After our game, I saw that in our players. They were excited. As we say, it's another championship game for us. We should have a great week of practice and plan on playing against a good football team who is improving. They're going through some injuries right now, but they're improving. I call them a good football team because that's what I have seen out of them the last two weeks. I know they're hungry for a win."
On progress in year two of the return:
"The turnaround at Prattville was something. Getting to build a program at South (Alabama) and going to Jacksonville State, my alma mater, following Coach Crowe: there were a lot of great things. We're making history every day. It's hard for something to be much more special than what we had Saturday. Throw in Children's Harbor, a great opponent, Homecoming, making school history, breaking records and fighting for first place. When you really get to do it, you get a loss for words. You have to bring yourself back to reality. Our goal has been a championship this whole year. That's the fine line we all walk. How do you talk about championships and not be let down if something doesn't happen? I told our guys before the game, 'This is not our season but we're going to let it all hang on the line.' I don't know how to get anything great without expecting it and working for it and believing in it. We sat out there and hung out with our fans for 15 or 20 minutes outside. We tried to soak it in. I knew I was going to have to wake up Sunday thinking about El Paso. We celebrated, but in the locker room, they were serious. They know we've got a lot of football ahead of us. I would caution our fans against going ahead and penciling us into the championship game. It's good to hope and to dream and have expectations, but we have a lot of football left to play. That's when you set kids up for problems: when you do those things. It puts too much pressure on them. We want to keep playing and literally play them one at a time. We're going to focus on this one. Like I said, they are playing really good football right now. They have a great coach and believe in what he is doing. You see it. They're playing with a lot of confidence. You see it against two teams that we had to fight for our lives against to get a win. But, Saturday was unbelievable. It really was."
On preparing for UTEP:
"Offensively, they're a zone read. Zone read or any option is an equalizer. The things their coach did at Kansas State were amazing. He's a guy that's used to taking less and doing more with it. That's the kind of coach he is. Defensively, they're very multiple. They gave North Texas fits. That gives me respect for them. They know what they're doing. You will see them in a three-man front. They have a solid kicking game. They're desperate to win. They're playing well. He (Dimel) says that they're confident. That's the way we're going to treat them. I see that out of our players. I hope we keep seeing it. That's the question for us: can we keep doing what we're doing? Now, we're at three weeks of great practices. I can say every day that I thought we had a great practice."
On preparing the team to play for a championship:
"They haven't but I have. I've told them all year to listen to what we're telling them. We know what we're doing and we've been there before. We have a routine. We don't change the routine. The whole 24-hour deal is really who we are. That's why I was laughing on Saturday night. I knew how I was going to be at five o'clock on Sunday morning. It's on to El Paso. We do the good-bad-ugly first thing Monday morning. They're here and we look at the bad first, and there was bad. It's okay to enjoy this but staying humble is the key to everything we do. My dad was a coach so that's what I was brought up with. If we can stay humble and keep our heads screwed on, we'll have a chance to do everything we want to do. That's what we've worked for. I think we'll see that. That's what I saw out of them this morning. Practice will tell us a lot."
On players being ready for UTEP:
"Somebody stopped me after the Rice game and said, 'You could be undefeated.' I asked my son that and he said, 'Dad, we wouldn't be where we are if that (loss to Coastal Carolina) hadn't happened to us.' That's the line you walk between confidence and arrogance. When we went to Coastal, we sat around and watched them play South Carolina on a Saturday and got to believing that. It's game-to-game, it's home games. It brought us to reality. They're sick of hearing that. Then they're going to hear Charlotte. Charlotte was the same team last year. They were getting beat by a touchdown. It's all those things. We have to prepare like I know we will. I hate to use negatives as a reminder but they work. That keeps us grounded for sure."
Linebacker Chris Woolbright:
On how Saturday night compares to other games in his career:
"I've always come up short in those situations so actually winning it was big for me. It was also humbling because of those past situations. In high school we'd get knocked out first round of the playoffs and in junior college we'd come up short of going to the playoffs. Getting that big win was humbling for me."
On the mindset going against UTEP:
"We treat every team the same. We prepare for them in practice and treat them all like they are the No. 1 team in the country. We prepare for the worst situations possible and we keep working. Hopefully we can go into the game playing our best and nobody on the team thinks we can slouch off on them. We remind our self what happened last year when we went to Charlotte and this year when we went to Coastal and slept on them."
On how the defense is playing:
"It's fun, we're all playing with a lot of confidence and it wasn't easy on how we got to this point. With good teams that comes together during the offseason and all the pieces are coming together now."
Running Back Jarrion Street:
On the game and the win against North Texas:
"It was huge, I've never won or been close to winning a championship. Knowing we have a chance to do that this year, it was huge. Going out there and fighting with your brothers made it sweet getting that huge victory."
On playing with Spencer Brown:
"Spencer is tough as nails and we feed off each other. We have different playing styles, he is more off a powerful runner and I use my speed more but Spencer has great vision and I feed off of that. We help each other and go hand-in-hand and push each other in practice."
On managing expectations and maintaining focus:
"Every week is a championship week for us and every week Coach Clark wants us to practice like its a championship or a bowl game. We approach every practice like that and we work hard. We give every opponent the same amount of respect, no one is any better or less than anyone else. That's how we approach every week."
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
- The Blazers have won a school best five straight games and carries its 6-1 overall record into El Paso. UAB is also 4-0 in Conference USA for the first time in program history.
- Spencer Brown earned Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week honors for his 100-yard, three touchdown performance in UAB's 29-21 victory over North Texas. Brown notched is third 100-yard rushing performance of the season and he now has 591 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns this year. He is four rushing touchdowns shy of setting the single season record.
- The UAB defense shut out North Texas in the second half and outscored the Mean Green 19-0 after halftime. The Blazers continue to boast lofty national ranks, including second in sacks per game (3.86), third in third down conversion percentage (24.1) fourth in fourth down conversion percentage (18.2) and 11th in total defense. In four C-USA games, UAB has allowed just 35 points (8.7/game).
UAB Head Coach Bill Clark
Opening Statement:
"I just want to backtrack to the press conference from the game. What an honor it was for us to get to play for Children's Harbor. We've done it two years in a row and started a great tradition here, getting to recognize the patients and former patients with the names on the back. There's a special thing going on there. We look to continue doing that. Our players have embraced it.
"We had a great crowd for Homecoming. There was a lot of energy in the pregame walk. We knew it was going to be a special night. Those things, going into the game, were really special and exciting. What a game. We knew North Texas was really good, especially on offense, averaging close to 40 points per game. We probably didn't start out the way we wanted to defensively. I learned quickly that man-free is not a good call against those receivers and that quarterback. We had to make some adjustments at half. It was the same thing offensively. We had some opportunities. We had some three-and-outs that weren't great. We still did some good things. We went in and made some halftime adjustments. I'm so proud of the way we came out and played the second half. Defensively, we had the big fourth down stop early. Going in on a drive we had a fumble. We got the safety and were able to come back down and score. Offensively, we really clicked in the second half. Special teams was really good all night. I'm proud of each of those units. Defensively, we played really, really well in the second half and held on to win a huge game for our program.
"Moving forward to El Paso: Coach Dimel has been in the biggest games in the biggest leagues. He's a great coach. Their last two games, I got to see them against North Texas, they led throughout a lot of that game. It was down to the wire. Against Louisiana Tech, they were inside the 10 at the end of the game with a chance to tie it up or go for two to win it. They're believing in what he is doing. There is not a lot separating any of us in this league. We're going to have to be ready. After our game, I saw that in our players. They were excited. As we say, it's another championship game for us. We should have a great week of practice and plan on playing against a good football team who is improving. They're going through some injuries right now, but they're improving. I call them a good football team because that's what I have seen out of them the last two weeks. I know they're hungry for a win."
On progress in year two of the return:
"The turnaround at Prattville was something. Getting to build a program at South (Alabama) and going to Jacksonville State, my alma mater, following Coach Crowe: there were a lot of great things. We're making history every day. It's hard for something to be much more special than what we had Saturday. Throw in Children's Harbor, a great opponent, Homecoming, making school history, breaking records and fighting for first place. When you really get to do it, you get a loss for words. You have to bring yourself back to reality. Our goal has been a championship this whole year. That's the fine line we all walk. How do you talk about championships and not be let down if something doesn't happen? I told our guys before the game, 'This is not our season but we're going to let it all hang on the line.' I don't know how to get anything great without expecting it and working for it and believing in it. We sat out there and hung out with our fans for 15 or 20 minutes outside. We tried to soak it in. I knew I was going to have to wake up Sunday thinking about El Paso. We celebrated, but in the locker room, they were serious. They know we've got a lot of football ahead of us. I would caution our fans against going ahead and penciling us into the championship game. It's good to hope and to dream and have expectations, but we have a lot of football left to play. That's when you set kids up for problems: when you do those things. It puts too much pressure on them. We want to keep playing and literally play them one at a time. We're going to focus on this one. Like I said, they are playing really good football right now. They have a great coach and believe in what he is doing. You see it. They're playing with a lot of confidence. You see it against two teams that we had to fight for our lives against to get a win. But, Saturday was unbelievable. It really was."
On preparing for UTEP:
"Offensively, they're a zone read. Zone read or any option is an equalizer. The things their coach did at Kansas State were amazing. He's a guy that's used to taking less and doing more with it. That's the kind of coach he is. Defensively, they're very multiple. They gave North Texas fits. That gives me respect for them. They know what they're doing. You will see them in a three-man front. They have a solid kicking game. They're desperate to win. They're playing well. He (Dimel) says that they're confident. That's the way we're going to treat them. I see that out of our players. I hope we keep seeing it. That's the question for us: can we keep doing what we're doing? Now, we're at three weeks of great practices. I can say every day that I thought we had a great practice."
On preparing the team to play for a championship:
"They haven't but I have. I've told them all year to listen to what we're telling them. We know what we're doing and we've been there before. We have a routine. We don't change the routine. The whole 24-hour deal is really who we are. That's why I was laughing on Saturday night. I knew how I was going to be at five o'clock on Sunday morning. It's on to El Paso. We do the good-bad-ugly first thing Monday morning. They're here and we look at the bad first, and there was bad. It's okay to enjoy this but staying humble is the key to everything we do. My dad was a coach so that's what I was brought up with. If we can stay humble and keep our heads screwed on, we'll have a chance to do everything we want to do. That's what we've worked for. I think we'll see that. That's what I saw out of them this morning. Practice will tell us a lot."
On players being ready for UTEP:
"Somebody stopped me after the Rice game and said, 'You could be undefeated.' I asked my son that and he said, 'Dad, we wouldn't be where we are if that (loss to Coastal Carolina) hadn't happened to us.' That's the line you walk between confidence and arrogance. When we went to Coastal, we sat around and watched them play South Carolina on a Saturday and got to believing that. It's game-to-game, it's home games. It brought us to reality. They're sick of hearing that. Then they're going to hear Charlotte. Charlotte was the same team last year. They were getting beat by a touchdown. It's all those things. We have to prepare like I know we will. I hate to use negatives as a reminder but they work. That keeps us grounded for sure."
Linebacker Chris Woolbright:
On how Saturday night compares to other games in his career:
"I've always come up short in those situations so actually winning it was big for me. It was also humbling because of those past situations. In high school we'd get knocked out first round of the playoffs and in junior college we'd come up short of going to the playoffs. Getting that big win was humbling for me."
On the mindset going against UTEP:
"We treat every team the same. We prepare for them in practice and treat them all like they are the No. 1 team in the country. We prepare for the worst situations possible and we keep working. Hopefully we can go into the game playing our best and nobody on the team thinks we can slouch off on them. We remind our self what happened last year when we went to Charlotte and this year when we went to Coastal and slept on them."
On how the defense is playing:
"It's fun, we're all playing with a lot of confidence and it wasn't easy on how we got to this point. With good teams that comes together during the offseason and all the pieces are coming together now."
Running Back Jarrion Street:
On the game and the win against North Texas:
"It was huge, I've never won or been close to winning a championship. Knowing we have a chance to do that this year, it was huge. Going out there and fighting with your brothers made it sweet getting that huge victory."
On playing with Spencer Brown:
"Spencer is tough as nails and we feed off each other. We have different playing styles, he is more off a powerful runner and I use my speed more but Spencer has great vision and I feed off of that. We help each other and go hand-in-hand and push each other in practice."
On managing expectations and maintaining focus:
"Every week is a championship week for us and every week Coach Clark wants us to practice like its a championship or a bowl game. We approach every practice like that and we work hard. We give every opponent the same amount of respect, no one is any better or less than anyone else. That's how we approach every week."
Players Mentioned
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