UAB Football Travels to Miami for Thursday Night Contest

BIRMINGHAM – Playing its first road game of the season, the UAB football team travels to Miami for a Thursday night contest with the Hurricanes. Kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium is set for 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST on the ACC Network.

The Blazers and Hurricanes are meeting on the gridiron for the first time. A win would give UAB its first victory over an ACC opponent in program history and its first win over a Power 5 opponent since 2004.

Who: UAB (1-0) at Miami (0-0)
Where: Hard Rock Stadium – Miami Gardens, Fla.
When: Thursday, Sept. 10 – 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST
Watch: ACC Network
On the Call: Dave O'Brien (play-by-play), Tim Hasselbeck (color), Katie George (sideline)
Listen: WJOX 94.5 FM
On the Call: David Crane (play-by-play), Steve Irvine (color), Trey Ragland (sideline)
Series: First Meeting

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

UAB is coming off a season-opening 45-35 victory over Central Arkansas in which the Blazers set a Conference USA record with their 19th-consectuive home victory. This is Miami's first game of the season and its only non-conference game of the year.
Spencer Brown opened his senior season by tallying his 14th career 100-yard rushing performance. Brown rushed 24 times for 127 yards and a touchdown. He now has 3,249 career rushing yards and is the nation's second active career leading rusher.
Fellow senior Austin Watkins Jr. had seven catches for 72 yards, and in the process cracked UAB's Top 10 for career receiving yards. Watkins Jr. now has 1,246 career receiving yards in just 19 career games.
Tyler Johnston III was 17-of-25 for 143 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the season opener, and improved his record to 11-4 as the starter. Redshirt freshman Bryson Lucero was also impressive in his first substantial action, completing 7-of-9 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.
Despite allowing 35 points to the Bears, the UAB defense had a very solid outing which included six tackles for loss, two sacks, six pass breakups, five quarterback hurries and one interception. 21 of UCA's 35 points came off UAB turnovers.
Sophomore Nikia Eason Jr. registered both sacks for the Blazers. He was one of two players in the nation to have multiple sacks in the first week of the season (Isaiah Kaufusi – BYU).
Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year candidate Kristopher Moll returns home to Miami this week. Moll had eight tackles, two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries in the season opener.
The defense allowed just 293 total yards against UCA with 193 coming through the air and 100 on the ground.
Redshirt freshman placekicker Matt Quinn was named the Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week. Quinn was perfect in his collegiate debut, going 6-of-6 on PAT and 1-of-1 on field goal attempts. Junior punter Kyle Greenwell also had a great outing, compiling a 45.0 yards per punt average on four punts. He had a long of 53 and pinned two inside the 20.
Miami begins year two under the direction of head coach Manny Diaz after a 6-7 record last year. The Hurricanes have a new offensive coordinator in Rhett Lashlee, who was most recently the offensive coordinator at SMU.
Not only will this be the first game for Lashlee, but also for starting quarterback and Houston graduate transfer D'Eriq King. In his career at Houston, King threw for over 4,900 career yards and 50 touchdowns, while rushing for over 1,400 yards and 28 touchdowns.
Miami has not lost a home opener since 2006. The Hurricanes return 11 starters and 39 letterwinners from last year's team.

Following Miami, the Blazers will have an off week before heading to South Alabama for their third-consecutive Thursday night game. UAB and South are scheduled to play on Thursday, Sept. 24 on ESPN at 6:30 p.m. CST.

UAB Football Travels to Miami for Thursday Night Contest

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Players Mentioned

Spencer Brown

Nikia Eason Jr.

Kyle Greenwell

Tyler Johnston III

Bryson Lucero

Kristopher Moll

Matt Quinn

Austin Watkins Jr.

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