The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Week 3 Press Conference: Tulane Preview
9/10/2018 4:39:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB football team puts its seven-game home winning streak on the line this coming Saturday when the Blazers host Tulane University at Legion Field. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
Opening Statement:
"Obviously, we are still licking our wounds. You know, that 24-hour rule is hard to follow, probably even harder after a tough loss, especially on the road. Give Coastal Carolina credit, they really played hard, especially offensively, I thought they did a good job. Second half, they made some good adjustments to what we were doing. Obviously, 14 penalties for 150 yards I think, is right where we were. Maybe the most penalties I've ever been part of. I'm beyond disappointed in that. After looking at them, there was obviously some that were no doubt that we did, there were some that I thought were very questionable, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that other than just saying I'm very frustrated and we've got to do a better job, for sure, on our part for that. We looked at the film this morning and got all that behind us and now we're moving on to Tulane, and we'll talk about them. What a great job those guys do. This is one of those games we pointed to in the offseason. We think, one of the best teams we'll play, and that's counting everybody on that schedule. Well coached, both sides of the ball and special teams. Last year, I think, they had five games that were decided by less than a touchdown that they could've won. They could've beat Wake Forest, who's a really good team; it was an overtime game, and then they looked really good this week. We're going to have to do a great job here at home to have a chance to win this one. Early kickoff, we need a really good crowd there, and I think we will have one and hopefully we get this bad taste out of our mouths."
On being able to respond to a loss:
"I think for us, you need to play all kinds of opponents, and there's just a different feel for going on the road. I thought we were ready, I thought we had a great summer, we worked extra on Coastal. I don't think it was a lack of preparation. I think the things that we've got to look at is what happened when we lost some of those guys we lost from last year: who's going to step up? Who's going to take their place? Do we need to simplify defensively, offensively? What are those things that lets our guys play fast when they're not thinking? That's where coaching comes in. I think after the game, our guys were very upset, which they should've been. They're still upset today, which they should be. Now we're going to see what we do with it. It starts with how we prepare. I don't think from a work standpoint, last week, we worked just as hard. I didn't think we were very emotional, which was a little surprising to me. My question is always, after a big win, how do you handle it, how do you handle the road. This is, as I say, we've been shocked into coherence, and sometimes it takes that tough loss. If you're a real competitor, you hate everything about it, and that's where we are right now. We're going to see how we respond. It's very similar to the Ball State game last year. I didn't really know that that was possible, that we could have more penalties than we had at Ball State, but we did. I know that was a hard loss, I didn't know what kind of team we were going to have at that point, and I think we responded the right way and I think this group will do the same."
On looking for leadership in the fourth quarter:
"I think so, and that all starts with me. I told the guys, I said, I'm going to take this one. Obviously, I didn't have them as prepared as they needed to be, whatever that reason was. I do think we got frustrated; we had played so well offensively in the first half and we still moved the ball, then we shot ourselves in the foot. I don't want to spend all day talking about penalties, but when you have that number of penalties, and they were such big numbers, I think we started really getting frustrated, and it showed. We talk a lot about winning the fourth quarter. That's really everything for us. You want to start fast, and then you play that whole second half like it's 0-0 even though we're ahead, and we didn't for whatever reason. We're looking for leadership. Just having a bunch seniors doesn't mean you have a bunch of leaders, so that's what we're looking for. All this starts with me. I told them this one's going to be on me, and the next one will be on all of us, so we'll see what happens."
On counteracting frustration during a game:
"You call timeouts. I try to put them in these situations at practice where it's tough, it's fourth quarter, you got to persevere. Those are things we do May, June and July. Some of those things, I don't know what you do when you have that yardage in penalties. I think that just upped our level of frustration, and I think we had a little bit of thinking we're good. I think we've bought into that whole, we've got a bunch of guys back, we had a good year last year, and we're supposed to be good, and that's all relative. I tried to explain to them that now you are a big deal to everybody you play. You have become a big deal. Not that you weren't, because it's college football. Everybody wants to win. I think, some of the adversity in the game we didn't handle like we should've. We had no postgame problems or anything like that, but it was just we didn't handle it during the game and that's something we're going to be able to point back to and say, okay, this is what it looks like and how are we going to respond next time. We're going to have adversity this week. This is a really good team. I want everybody to know it. We're going to have to play great to be in it. I'm planning on us doing that, but we're going to have to play great. They play in a really good league; they're playing top competition all the time. We're going to see how we respond. This is one of those I was looking forward to because it will tell us a lot about ourselves before we go into conference play."
On looking forward to Tulane:
"Being an old conference opponent, they're not in our conference now, but I think for them, we start with them offensively. It's an option mentality, which is tough, hard-nosed. Their backs hit it. They understand were the double-teams are happening and where guys are slipping off blocks. Big, strong backs. Quarterback: 6'2", 225. This Banks guy, I mean, if he's not up for the Heisman, he probably should be. This guy, he's a runner, thrower. People don't tackle this guy. He's really electrifying. He's one of those guys I'm watching all summer going, 'This guy's unbelievable.' He's going to play somewhere at the next level, whether it's at quarterback or receiver, or whatever they do. I think he can play quarterback. He's got a cannon for an arm, strong, good in the pocket. Their O-line is good. Similar to us, their whole offense is back. I think they lost one guy: that's what I believe. Similar to us, Coach Fritz has worked his way up, FCS to Georgia Southern to Tulane. Those kind of guys, their staff, we run into them on the road recruiting. They're defense plays really hard. They remind me of us or what I want us to be: guys fighting, scratching, doing whatever it takes to win. It's a well-coached, well-organized, hard-nosed team on both sides of the ball and they do a great job on special teams as well."
On wide receiver Kendall Parham:
"I think one of the things for Kendall, he was a big speed sweep and jet sweep and tops guy in high school besides doing his receiving thing. When he and some of his teammates came to our camp in the summer, he was my favorite receiver I saw all summer. It was, 'I want to get this guy.' Good hands, he comes to practice every day and practices hard. It's important to him. I think he'd be the first one to tell you today, he had a great catch, he had the big long run, he was determined to get in the end zone, he had good blocking on the perimeter, he had one touchdown pass I know he'd like to have back at the end of the game that he would've caught. Terrific game and getting better. The thing you love about this guy: he comes to practice and he enjoys football."
On showing Coastal Carolina multiple looks:
"We've got a bunch of things that we work every week. That was one that we'd been saving. Andre executed it and Lucious almost had that ball. Great throw, and it was a time we needed to change the field position to get in field goal range, which we did, we just missed a field goal."
On viewing his team through a personal lens:
"I say this all the time: I'm a coach's son, I've been doing this about 30 years. What makes this job great, and what makes it terrible at the same time, is you know what goes with wins and losses. I'm too smart when we win. I know what I'm thought of when we lose. That's what makes this game great because there's so few opportunities. We dissect each game and we go through it and we save it and it's a part of history. What that team last year did, they responded to a Ball State loss, they responded to a Charlotte loss, and we're going to see what this team does. Everything I've seen out of them, I feel like they're going to respond. This next team we play is going to have something to do with what we do. We could respond really well and still be tough. This game's going to be tough no matter what. I want people to, hopefully, have realistic expectations knowing this is a really good team we're playing. At the same time, it is all about how you handle adversity. That is the measure of probably anybody. I say that about men all the time. We're going to have adversity. We're going to have ups and downs. My son and I, who is on the team, were talking about it. It was the text last night, how are we going to be, and I said we're going to be fine. We're going to handle it. This is what we go through in life. Do you quit? Do you fight? Do you drop your head? Do you keep your head up? That's why I said this one's on me and I'm going to take this one. I didn't prepare them as good as I should've and it starts with me. I think they're going to handle it. I know the staff's going to handle it and we'll be better for it."
Wide Receiver Kendall Parham:
On his touchdown run:
"That's actually something we just put in later on in the week before the game because we knew [Jarrion] Street was going to be out for the week. We wanted a speed guy back there. I was performing well with it at practice. When coach called it in the game, I knew I had to execute it because I knew we needed it at that point in the game. It just came out great."
On the coaching staff having confidence in him:
"It feels great. It feels very reassuring. It makes you more confident in yourself knowing that your coaches believe in you. It puts an extra hand on your shoulder, telling you that you can do it. It really helps."
On his role on the team:
"I'm just trying to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. Like coach said, it was a touchdown catch that I really want back that I left at the end of the game. Really, it's just trying to take advantage of every opportunity."
On the feeling of running a successful play:
"It feels great. When I first got it, my main goal was just speed and burn it and run. When I started cutting back, I knew my team was going to block, and thankfully they did. I'm very thankful for that."
On looking forward to Tulane:
"I'm extremely ready to see how we respond. That game, it was tough. Nobody likes to lose. I know I hate losing and my team hates losing. We're really going to try to respond with everything we've got. We gave everything last week, but this week means that much more."
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
- This is the 10th all-time meeting between UAB and Tulane with the Green Wave holding a narrow 5-4 lead.
- UAB brings Conference USA's No. 1 and the nation's No. 18 rushing offense into the contest against Tulane. The Blazers have rushed for no less than 285 yards in the each contest this season and lead the league with seven rushing touchdowns.
- UAB Athletics, in conjunction with the College Football Playoff Foundation, is participating in Extra Yard for Teachers this Saturday to salute teachers for their hard work and dedication to continuing education. Along with wearing special helmet stickers, there is a discounted ticket available for teachers by using the promo code EDUCATION.
Opening Statement:
"Obviously, we are still licking our wounds. You know, that 24-hour rule is hard to follow, probably even harder after a tough loss, especially on the road. Give Coastal Carolina credit, they really played hard, especially offensively, I thought they did a good job. Second half, they made some good adjustments to what we were doing. Obviously, 14 penalties for 150 yards I think, is right where we were. Maybe the most penalties I've ever been part of. I'm beyond disappointed in that. After looking at them, there was obviously some that were no doubt that we did, there were some that I thought were very questionable, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that other than just saying I'm very frustrated and we've got to do a better job, for sure, on our part for that. We looked at the film this morning and got all that behind us and now we're moving on to Tulane, and we'll talk about them. What a great job those guys do. This is one of those games we pointed to in the offseason. We think, one of the best teams we'll play, and that's counting everybody on that schedule. Well coached, both sides of the ball and special teams. Last year, I think, they had five games that were decided by less than a touchdown that they could've won. They could've beat Wake Forest, who's a really good team; it was an overtime game, and then they looked really good this week. We're going to have to do a great job here at home to have a chance to win this one. Early kickoff, we need a really good crowd there, and I think we will have one and hopefully we get this bad taste out of our mouths."
On being able to respond to a loss:
"I think for us, you need to play all kinds of opponents, and there's just a different feel for going on the road. I thought we were ready, I thought we had a great summer, we worked extra on Coastal. I don't think it was a lack of preparation. I think the things that we've got to look at is what happened when we lost some of those guys we lost from last year: who's going to step up? Who's going to take their place? Do we need to simplify defensively, offensively? What are those things that lets our guys play fast when they're not thinking? That's where coaching comes in. I think after the game, our guys were very upset, which they should've been. They're still upset today, which they should be. Now we're going to see what we do with it. It starts with how we prepare. I don't think from a work standpoint, last week, we worked just as hard. I didn't think we were very emotional, which was a little surprising to me. My question is always, after a big win, how do you handle it, how do you handle the road. This is, as I say, we've been shocked into coherence, and sometimes it takes that tough loss. If you're a real competitor, you hate everything about it, and that's where we are right now. We're going to see how we respond. It's very similar to the Ball State game last year. I didn't really know that that was possible, that we could have more penalties than we had at Ball State, but we did. I know that was a hard loss, I didn't know what kind of team we were going to have at that point, and I think we responded the right way and I think this group will do the same."
On looking for leadership in the fourth quarter:
"I think so, and that all starts with me. I told the guys, I said, I'm going to take this one. Obviously, I didn't have them as prepared as they needed to be, whatever that reason was. I do think we got frustrated; we had played so well offensively in the first half and we still moved the ball, then we shot ourselves in the foot. I don't want to spend all day talking about penalties, but when you have that number of penalties, and they were such big numbers, I think we started really getting frustrated, and it showed. We talk a lot about winning the fourth quarter. That's really everything for us. You want to start fast, and then you play that whole second half like it's 0-0 even though we're ahead, and we didn't for whatever reason. We're looking for leadership. Just having a bunch seniors doesn't mean you have a bunch of leaders, so that's what we're looking for. All this starts with me. I told them this one's going to be on me, and the next one will be on all of us, so we'll see what happens."
On counteracting frustration during a game:
"You call timeouts. I try to put them in these situations at practice where it's tough, it's fourth quarter, you got to persevere. Those are things we do May, June and July. Some of those things, I don't know what you do when you have that yardage in penalties. I think that just upped our level of frustration, and I think we had a little bit of thinking we're good. I think we've bought into that whole, we've got a bunch of guys back, we had a good year last year, and we're supposed to be good, and that's all relative. I tried to explain to them that now you are a big deal to everybody you play. You have become a big deal. Not that you weren't, because it's college football. Everybody wants to win. I think, some of the adversity in the game we didn't handle like we should've. We had no postgame problems or anything like that, but it was just we didn't handle it during the game and that's something we're going to be able to point back to and say, okay, this is what it looks like and how are we going to respond next time. We're going to have adversity this week. This is a really good team. I want everybody to know it. We're going to have to play great to be in it. I'm planning on us doing that, but we're going to have to play great. They play in a really good league; they're playing top competition all the time. We're going to see how we respond. This is one of those I was looking forward to because it will tell us a lot about ourselves before we go into conference play."
On looking forward to Tulane:
"Being an old conference opponent, they're not in our conference now, but I think for them, we start with them offensively. It's an option mentality, which is tough, hard-nosed. Their backs hit it. They understand were the double-teams are happening and where guys are slipping off blocks. Big, strong backs. Quarterback: 6'2", 225. This Banks guy, I mean, if he's not up for the Heisman, he probably should be. This guy, he's a runner, thrower. People don't tackle this guy. He's really electrifying. He's one of those guys I'm watching all summer going, 'This guy's unbelievable.' He's going to play somewhere at the next level, whether it's at quarterback or receiver, or whatever they do. I think he can play quarterback. He's got a cannon for an arm, strong, good in the pocket. Their O-line is good. Similar to us, their whole offense is back. I think they lost one guy: that's what I believe. Similar to us, Coach Fritz has worked his way up, FCS to Georgia Southern to Tulane. Those kind of guys, their staff, we run into them on the road recruiting. They're defense plays really hard. They remind me of us or what I want us to be: guys fighting, scratching, doing whatever it takes to win. It's a well-coached, well-organized, hard-nosed team on both sides of the ball and they do a great job on special teams as well."
On wide receiver Kendall Parham:
"I think one of the things for Kendall, he was a big speed sweep and jet sweep and tops guy in high school besides doing his receiving thing. When he and some of his teammates came to our camp in the summer, he was my favorite receiver I saw all summer. It was, 'I want to get this guy.' Good hands, he comes to practice every day and practices hard. It's important to him. I think he'd be the first one to tell you today, he had a great catch, he had the big long run, he was determined to get in the end zone, he had good blocking on the perimeter, he had one touchdown pass I know he'd like to have back at the end of the game that he would've caught. Terrific game and getting better. The thing you love about this guy: he comes to practice and he enjoys football."
On showing Coastal Carolina multiple looks:
"We've got a bunch of things that we work every week. That was one that we'd been saving. Andre executed it and Lucious almost had that ball. Great throw, and it was a time we needed to change the field position to get in field goal range, which we did, we just missed a field goal."
On viewing his team through a personal lens:
"I say this all the time: I'm a coach's son, I've been doing this about 30 years. What makes this job great, and what makes it terrible at the same time, is you know what goes with wins and losses. I'm too smart when we win. I know what I'm thought of when we lose. That's what makes this game great because there's so few opportunities. We dissect each game and we go through it and we save it and it's a part of history. What that team last year did, they responded to a Ball State loss, they responded to a Charlotte loss, and we're going to see what this team does. Everything I've seen out of them, I feel like they're going to respond. This next team we play is going to have something to do with what we do. We could respond really well and still be tough. This game's going to be tough no matter what. I want people to, hopefully, have realistic expectations knowing this is a really good team we're playing. At the same time, it is all about how you handle adversity. That is the measure of probably anybody. I say that about men all the time. We're going to have adversity. We're going to have ups and downs. My son and I, who is on the team, were talking about it. It was the text last night, how are we going to be, and I said we're going to be fine. We're going to handle it. This is what we go through in life. Do you quit? Do you fight? Do you drop your head? Do you keep your head up? That's why I said this one's on me and I'm going to take this one. I didn't prepare them as good as I should've and it starts with me. I think they're going to handle it. I know the staff's going to handle it and we'll be better for it."
Wide Receiver Kendall Parham:
On his touchdown run:
"That's actually something we just put in later on in the week before the game because we knew [Jarrion] Street was going to be out for the week. We wanted a speed guy back there. I was performing well with it at practice. When coach called it in the game, I knew I had to execute it because I knew we needed it at that point in the game. It just came out great."
On the coaching staff having confidence in him:
"It feels great. It feels very reassuring. It makes you more confident in yourself knowing that your coaches believe in you. It puts an extra hand on your shoulder, telling you that you can do it. It really helps."
On his role on the team:
"I'm just trying to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. Like coach said, it was a touchdown catch that I really want back that I left at the end of the game. Really, it's just trying to take advantage of every opportunity."
On the feeling of running a successful play:
"It feels great. When I first got it, my main goal was just speed and burn it and run. When I started cutting back, I knew my team was going to block, and thankfully they did. I'm very thankful for that."
On looking forward to Tulane:
"I'm extremely ready to see how we respond. That game, it was tough. Nobody likes to lose. I know I hate losing and my team hates losing. We're really going to try to respond with everything we've got. We gave everything last week, but this week means that much more."
Players Mentioned
WR
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