The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Week 3 Transcript – Georgia Southern
9/12/2022 3:45:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – The UAB football team returns to Protective Stadium this coming Saturday, Sept. 17, to host Georgia Southern in a non-conference contest. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CST.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
COACH VINCENT:
Opening Statement:
"Good morning. Obviously disappointed with the outcome of the game. It's hard to beat anybody, any quality team, well really any football team in Division I with four turnovers. There are a lot of positives – ton of positives from this game. We went in into a great atmosphere in adverse weather conditions. I thought our kids prepared great all week. I thought our coaches prepared great all week. I thought we came in and we were prepared. We played with passion, we played with toughness. There was a lot of adversity throughout that game, and if you just want to talk defensively, we had three fumbles on offense, one fumble in the special teams – in the return game – our defense with sudden change time after time after time they handled adversity, took the field again. Liberty was not able to cash in any points off the turnovers, so that's an extreme positive when you put one of your units, our defense, in adverse situations and they came back time after time after time and rose to the challenge.
I've got extreme confidence in our coaches, in our players. I thought that, minus the turnovers, that we played extremely hard on offense. We rushed for over 240 yards – 5.6 yards a rush – our offensive line played extremely hard and our tight ends. We came off the ball. We were physical. We blocked well on the perimeter. Our running backs ran with a purpose. So, a lot of positives. We stuck together to the end. Our football team never blinked. We never pointed fingers. We stuck together all the way to the final second, and we continued to stick together after the game and that's a good sign because we know we're going to have setbacks and we're going to have adversity, but the main thing is that this football team sticks together and we continue this journey. I think some of the positives on special teams, we were able – except for one – to cover kicks well and our punters kicked well, so there was a lot of positives. We just have to clean up our mistakes, we've got to continue to get better and we've got a big challenge ahead of us with Georgia Southern."
On QB Dylan Hopkins playing the whole game:
"The plan going in was to play Jacob Zeno. The flow of the game and the situations of the game like turning the ball over on the first play. And then driving down and getting stopped. Just the flow of the game and the weather, I felt like it was Dylan's time to stay in the game. He is our starter and being in adverse situations, I felt like we needed to go with our starter.
On the connections between UAB and Georgia Southern:
"Coach [Richard] Owens and I worked together for six years. We have a strong relationship. Bryan Ellis – I have known Bryan for 10 years and have a strong relationship with him. I have a lot of respect for Bryan, I have a lot of respect for Richard. They are good friends of mine. They do a great job. Obviously, Richard Owens coaching here and Bryan Ellis playing quarterback here, it adds a little twist to the story. At the end of the day, we have to prepare. They have the No. 2 ranked offense in the country. They are coming off a big win against Nebraska. They have thrown the ball 102 times in two games, so they are throwing the ball over 50 times a game and are scoring over 50 point a game. They've given up zero sacks in 102 attempts. That tells you the QB is making good decisions. They are doing a good job up front and he is getting the ball out quick getting it to his playmakers. This is going to be a big challenge for our defense, a big challenge for our football team. We are excited about getting back home to Protective Stadium. We know we have a quality opponent who is coming off one of the biggest wins in school history. We have to prepare, take it one day at a time, and get ready for a good opponent in Georgia Southern.
On turning the page after a tough loss:
Life is tough. Adversity happens in life and adversity happens during a football season. You can go back to 2022 when we lost to Louisiana and Louisiana Tech back-to-back and then have five games canceled. We were able to then go to Rice with 42 scholarship players and beat Rice, then go to Marshall for the championship game. You go back to 2019 when we lost our conference opener to Western Kentucky and we had four turnovers. We were able to come back and win the West again. You have strength through adversity. Forged in fire. Adversity – you let it weaken you or let it strengthen you. Here are UAB, we choose to let it strengthen us. We know we have a long journey ahead. We've got players who care about each other. We have players who are going to stay the course and we're excited to get back to practice today and get back to playing on Saturday.
CENTER WILL RYKARD:
On the success of the running game:
"That is what we pride ourselves on. We knew we were going to have to do it. We knew it was going to be on us – it was a wet game, a slippery game, and that's what we came in to do. We thought that we did it well. We feel like we still left a lot of yards and points on the field, so we have to get back to the basics this week."
On moving on to the next game:
"It definitely was a tough one. It eats at you. It is still eating at me. But we have to turn the page. That's the great thing about football – you get another chance. It is a big one this week. Starting Monday morning, I always like turning that page to start focusing on the next one."
On being from Georgia:
"I am from South Georgia. I know a lot of people from [Georgia] Southern, so it means a lot playing a Georgia team. I am proud South Georgia boy, but I am definitely an Alabama native this week. I can promise you that."
SAFETY JAYLEN KEY:
On how they played against Liberty:
"We came out and did exactly what we practiced all week and all fall camp during the scrimmages and mock scrimmages. We practice on sudden change. When our time was called, we went out there and focused on the next play."
On handling sudden change throughout the course of the game:
"It's not something you can really practice for because it is a sudden change. When it happens you just have to drop everything you're doing and go back to the field. Focus on the next play, don't worry about what just happened with the offense. Just go out there and play defense."
Season tickets remain on sale for UAB's five remaining home games. Season and single game tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
- Georgia Southern (2-0) is coming off one of its biggest wins in school history with a 45-42 road victory at Nebraska last Saturday. The Eagles put up 642 yards of total offense against the Cornhuskers and bring the nation's second-ranked offense to Birmingham on Saturday. Along with averaging 52 points per game, Georgia Southern averages 388 passing yards per game and has thrown the ball 102 times in two games (51 attempts per game).
- Despite four turnovers on offense at Liberty, UAB's defense allowed zero points off those turnovers and will once again need to bring its A game against Georgia Southern. The Blazers are allowing 312.5 yards per game and just 169.0 passing yards per game. Additionally, UAB ranks 12th nationally in third down defense, holding opponents to just 6-of-27 (22.2 percent) through the first two games.
- After missing the first game due to illness, DeWayne McBride returned to rush for 177 yards and a touchdown against Liberty. McBride is sixth nationally amongst active players with a career average of 99.4 rushing yards per game and is averaging 7.3 yards per carry for his career. His backfield mate Jermaine Brown Jr. added 91 rushing yards, and in the process, moved into 10th place on UAB's career rushing list. Both McBride (7th – 1,987) and Brown Jr. (10th – 1,532) rank top 10 in rushing all time at UAB.
COACH VINCENT:
Opening Statement:
"Good morning. Obviously disappointed with the outcome of the game. It's hard to beat anybody, any quality team, well really any football team in Division I with four turnovers. There are a lot of positives – ton of positives from this game. We went in into a great atmosphere in adverse weather conditions. I thought our kids prepared great all week. I thought our coaches prepared great all week. I thought we came in and we were prepared. We played with passion, we played with toughness. There was a lot of adversity throughout that game, and if you just want to talk defensively, we had three fumbles on offense, one fumble in the special teams – in the return game – our defense with sudden change time after time after time they handled adversity, took the field again. Liberty was not able to cash in any points off the turnovers, so that's an extreme positive when you put one of your units, our defense, in adverse situations and they came back time after time after time and rose to the challenge.
I've got extreme confidence in our coaches, in our players. I thought that, minus the turnovers, that we played extremely hard on offense. We rushed for over 240 yards – 5.6 yards a rush – our offensive line played extremely hard and our tight ends. We came off the ball. We were physical. We blocked well on the perimeter. Our running backs ran with a purpose. So, a lot of positives. We stuck together to the end. Our football team never blinked. We never pointed fingers. We stuck together all the way to the final second, and we continued to stick together after the game and that's a good sign because we know we're going to have setbacks and we're going to have adversity, but the main thing is that this football team sticks together and we continue this journey. I think some of the positives on special teams, we were able – except for one – to cover kicks well and our punters kicked well, so there was a lot of positives. We just have to clean up our mistakes, we've got to continue to get better and we've got a big challenge ahead of us with Georgia Southern."
On QB Dylan Hopkins playing the whole game:
"The plan going in was to play Jacob Zeno. The flow of the game and the situations of the game like turning the ball over on the first play. And then driving down and getting stopped. Just the flow of the game and the weather, I felt like it was Dylan's time to stay in the game. He is our starter and being in adverse situations, I felt like we needed to go with our starter.
On the connections between UAB and Georgia Southern:
"Coach [Richard] Owens and I worked together for six years. We have a strong relationship. Bryan Ellis – I have known Bryan for 10 years and have a strong relationship with him. I have a lot of respect for Bryan, I have a lot of respect for Richard. They are good friends of mine. They do a great job. Obviously, Richard Owens coaching here and Bryan Ellis playing quarterback here, it adds a little twist to the story. At the end of the day, we have to prepare. They have the No. 2 ranked offense in the country. They are coming off a big win against Nebraska. They have thrown the ball 102 times in two games, so they are throwing the ball over 50 times a game and are scoring over 50 point a game. They've given up zero sacks in 102 attempts. That tells you the QB is making good decisions. They are doing a good job up front and he is getting the ball out quick getting it to his playmakers. This is going to be a big challenge for our defense, a big challenge for our football team. We are excited about getting back home to Protective Stadium. We know we have a quality opponent who is coming off one of the biggest wins in school history. We have to prepare, take it one day at a time, and get ready for a good opponent in Georgia Southern.
On turning the page after a tough loss:
Life is tough. Adversity happens in life and adversity happens during a football season. You can go back to 2022 when we lost to Louisiana and Louisiana Tech back-to-back and then have five games canceled. We were able to then go to Rice with 42 scholarship players and beat Rice, then go to Marshall for the championship game. You go back to 2019 when we lost our conference opener to Western Kentucky and we had four turnovers. We were able to come back and win the West again. You have strength through adversity. Forged in fire. Adversity – you let it weaken you or let it strengthen you. Here are UAB, we choose to let it strengthen us. We know we have a long journey ahead. We've got players who care about each other. We have players who are going to stay the course and we're excited to get back to practice today and get back to playing on Saturday.
CENTER WILL RYKARD:
On the success of the running game:
"That is what we pride ourselves on. We knew we were going to have to do it. We knew it was going to be on us – it was a wet game, a slippery game, and that's what we came in to do. We thought that we did it well. We feel like we still left a lot of yards and points on the field, so we have to get back to the basics this week."
On moving on to the next game:
"It definitely was a tough one. It eats at you. It is still eating at me. But we have to turn the page. That's the great thing about football – you get another chance. It is a big one this week. Starting Monday morning, I always like turning that page to start focusing on the next one."
On being from Georgia:
"I am from South Georgia. I know a lot of people from [Georgia] Southern, so it means a lot playing a Georgia team. I am proud South Georgia boy, but I am definitely an Alabama native this week. I can promise you that."
SAFETY JAYLEN KEY:
On how they played against Liberty:
"We came out and did exactly what we practiced all week and all fall camp during the scrimmages and mock scrimmages. We practice on sudden change. When our time was called, we went out there and focused on the next play."
On handling sudden change throughout the course of the game:
"It's not something you can really practice for because it is a sudden change. When it happens you just have to drop everything you're doing and go back to the field. Focus on the next play, don't worry about what just happened with the offense. Just go out there and play defense."
Season tickets remain on sale for UAB's five remaining home games. Season and single game tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Players Mentioned
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