UAB Travels to North Texas With C-USA West Division Title In Sight

BIRMINGHAM – With an opportunity to win back-to-back C-USA West Division titles, the UAB football team travels to Denton on Saturday, Nov. 30, for its regular season finale at North Texas. Kick is set for 3 p.m. CST on Stadium and the game can be seen locally in Birmingham on MY68.

The Blazers need to defeat the Mean Green and have Florida Atlantic beat Southern Miss to claim the West Division title. If that happens, UAB would travel to Florida Atlantic for the C-USA title game on Dec. 7, which would pair the last two C-USA champions against each other (FAU in 2017, UAB in 2018).

Who: UAB (8-3, 5-2 C-USA) at North Texas (4-7, 3-4)
Where: Denton, Texas – Apogee Stadium
When: Saturday, Nov. 30 – 3 p.m.
Watch: Stadium (Birmingham – MY68)
On the Call: Chris Hassel (play-by-play), A.J. Hawk (color)
Listen: WJOX2 100.5 FM
On the Call: David Crane (play-by-play), Steve Irvine (color), Trey Ragland (sideline)
Series: UAB leads, 3-1
Last Meeting: Oct. 20, 2018 – UAB, 29-21
Streak: UAB, W1

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

With so much on the line for the Blazers, it will be no easy task as UAB faces the most prolific quarterback in North Texas history, Mason Fine. For his career, Fine has thrown for 12,237 yards and 91 touchdowns.
However, UAB's pass defense has been lights out this season and enters the final game of the regular season ranked fifth nationally in passing yards allowed at 169.3 per game. In the last two games, the Blazers have 18 total pass breakups.
UAB held the league's top ranked offense to just 270 total yards and 14 points last week. The Blazers are the nation's sixth ranked defense and are in the top 10 nationally in seven major statistical categories, including third in both fumble recoveries (13) and third down defense (27.4).
With a minimum of two games remaining, the Blazers have tallied 36 sacks and 87 tackles for loss, both of which ranks UAB 10th nationally. Last season, the Blazers set the school record with 48 sacks and 111 TFL.
C-USA Defensive Player of the Year candidate Kristopher Moll and C-USA Newcomer of the Year candidate Jordan Smith each have a team-high 13.5 TFL, while C-USA Freshman of the Year candidate Alex Wright has 8.0 TFL. Wright's 8.0 TFL and 4.0 sacks are the most of any freshman in the league.
Quarterback Dylan Hopkins is 2-1 as the starter in replacement of Tyler Johnston III who is working himself back from an injury suffered in the Tennessee game. Hopkins threw for 185 yards and a touchdown in the 20-14 victory over Louisiana Tech last week.
Wide receiver Austin Watkins Jr. has 883 receiving yards and is 117 yards shy from becoming just the third player in program history to have 1,000 receiving yards in a single season. He, Myron Mitchell (534) and Kendall Parham (548) have combined for 1,965 of UAB's 2,326 receiving yards (84.5 percent).
The unsung heros of UAB's success have been the offensive linemen. Plagued by injuries, the offensive line has had seven different starting lineups through 11 games, but has allowed the fewest sacks of any team in the league (13), and continues to operate at a very high level.
UAB is 27-11 overall, 19-5 in Conference USA and 15-2 versus West Division opponents since returning to action in 2017. All of those marks are the most of any team in the league during that span.

The Blazers will have a close eye on the Southern Miss at FAU game which kicks at 2:30 p.m. CST on Saturday. For more information on UAB Football, fans can follow @UAB_FB on Twitter and Instagram.

UAB Travels to North Texas With C-USA West Division Title In Sight

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Players Mentioned

Dylan Hopkins

Tyler Johnston III

Myron Mitchell

Kristopher Moll

Kendall Parham

Jordan Smith

Austin Watkins Jr.

Alex Wright

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics