The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
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UAB Travels to North Texas for 2023 Season Finale
11/20/2023 3:47:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – The UAB football looks to conclude the 2023 season on a high note this Saturday, Nov. 25, when the Blazers travel to North Texas. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
Opening Statement:
"Good morning. I'm going to use this opening statement a little bit different. I think this is an appropriate week to do this. In an era where we're seeing coaches getting fired and the 100's of millions of dollars being wasted, I told you from jumpstart that I thought this [head coach] is one of the most overrated positions in all of football except for who you hire, the culture you have and the platform that you use. And I'm really proud of this year for a few things, despite the record. Number one our community service. Over 1,300 hours our boys have given back to the city of Birmingham, over a $40,000 economic impact, and then my ability to use my platform to spread goodness. My shoe for my cause has been something I have decided to do this year. This is my son's foundation in front of me, but over there you see all the different causes that we've celebrated and tried to pour gasoline on their missions throughout the year. It's been a really big success, and this being November - it's National Adoption Month - this week's shoe will be the Dave Thomas Foundation shoe. There are over 140,000 kids looking for forever families right now in our country. The Dave Thomas Foundation has placed about just under 14,000 kids with forever families. Matt McCants, who is somebody that is the glue to this program, I mean I might tear up thinking about what he has done for this program, was adopted. It's dear to his heart. I wanted to use the last game of the year - with it being November National Adoption Month and how dear Matt is to my heart and this program's heart - to celebrate a foundation that's been close to his heart. So, I know there's a lot of football stuff to talk about, but I think the narrative for me at least this week is we have a lot to be thankful for and we're in a great city that has incredible charitable organizations. I've been fortunate enough to be attached to some other ones nationally that we've been able to celebrate, and I'm hoping that this is something that I can use my platform to pour even a little more gasoline on. So, with that, North Texas an incredibly challenging opponent. Their offense looks like a bunch of superstars playing. They have incredible numbers. We have a great challenge, and with that I'll take some questions."
On scheming for North Texas' offense:
"Well, you have to be careful because the quarterback might be the most talented player in the conference, and that's with Tulane's kid Pratt and [UTSA's] Frank Harris who are two of the better players in the country. This kid might be the most talented. He is - I mean wow - is he talented. And if you make a mistake he can beat you with anticipation, he can beat you with arm strength and he can beat you with his legs. Designed quarterback runs. His scramble run clip is scary. So, I think you have to be very careful. They're a very aggressive offense and can run the ball very well too, so they can create a lot of challenges for you. So, it's not as easy as we're just going to pin our ears back and rush the passer. Teams have tried that, and they've got gashed doing it, look at the Tulsa game. I think it's probably our greatest challenge defensively of the year. Now, thank goodness we're playing good defense right now. We've been trending upwards. We handled a very good quarterback last week, but this is a different animal. Not only is he a very good passer, but his strength. It's not even his athleticism. He's so strong. You see him break so many sacks. He gets out of so many sacks and so many tackles that honestly, I don't know what the plan is right now."
On the defensive progression through the season:
"Honestly, I'll just give the big 30,000-foot answer. It's Sione going upstairs, and everybody in the building getting on the same page as him. You know what I mean? You hire coordinators to be the brain children for their sides of the ball, and everybody in the building must be on that same page. This is a new staff and their great coaches, but everybody has done it a little bit differently in different places. I think once everybody got on the same page, then the kid started sensing that ok this is who we are, and this is how we're going to grow. It didn't show up - there's still big yardage numbers and we're still losing games – but your eyes see that that's better technique, that's better structurer and that's better eye work. And then you start adding freshman into the mix because we're playing a bunch of freshmen, and you see that they're getting it and playing at a high-level. So, I knew it was coming at some point. I didn't have the guts to say it was coming - to be honest with you - especially against E.J. Warner, but I knew it was coming at some point. Last week, outside of four plays, we played phenomenal defense. Not good defense but phenomenal defense outside of four big plays we gave up, which were well-designed plays and some really good effort on Temple's side of the ball. I'll also say, look at the national numbers on defense. It's very hard to play great defense in college football right now. Even when you play good defense, you're still going to give up some plays because these offenses are so dynamic, and the rules are in such favor of the offense as well."
On growth from DC Sione Ta'ufo'ou:
"I'm really proud of him. This was hard for all of us. Your pride, your ego – which I think is different – and your self-worth get tied into this thing. When you're getting gashed and we don't hide from the truth - we're getting gashed – you start questioning yourself at times. I saw Sione go through a real introspective time, and to his credit he didn't flinch. He didn't go into a hole, he didn't cower, he didn't make excuses and he didn't blame other people. He took a close look in the mirror. We spent a lot of time together as friends but also as colleagues and said we're not about problems, we're about solutions. That's kind of how me and him have rolled for the last 15 years, and we went to work on finding solutions and we think we found them, so I'm super proud of him. There's nobody else I'd rather have by my side as a defensive coordinator than Sione. I'm putting my job on the line there, and I feel very confident in doing so."
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
- Quarterback Jacob Zeno is 340 passing yards away from setting the single season school record in that category. Zeno has 2,841 passing yards this season and ranks second nationally in completion percentage (74.5) and fourth nationally in completions per game (26.3).
- Jermaine Brown Jr. continued his All-America worthy season last week against Temple with a career-high 153 rushing yards and his 10th rushing touchdown of the season. Brown Jr. has 1,370 all-purpose yards this season and needs 38 rushing yards at North Texas to become just the third player in school history to have 3,000 career rushing yards (Spencer Brown and DeWayne McBride).
- UAB's defense had one of their best performances of the season with two sacks, three TFL, 10 QBH, nine PBU, an interception and a fumble recovery. The UAB defensive unit will be tested against the nation's 9th ranked offense in North Texas who averages an AAC-best 482.4 yards per game.
Opening Statement:
"Good morning. I'm going to use this opening statement a little bit different. I think this is an appropriate week to do this. In an era where we're seeing coaches getting fired and the 100's of millions of dollars being wasted, I told you from jumpstart that I thought this [head coach] is one of the most overrated positions in all of football except for who you hire, the culture you have and the platform that you use. And I'm really proud of this year for a few things, despite the record. Number one our community service. Over 1,300 hours our boys have given back to the city of Birmingham, over a $40,000 economic impact, and then my ability to use my platform to spread goodness. My shoe for my cause has been something I have decided to do this year. This is my son's foundation in front of me, but over there you see all the different causes that we've celebrated and tried to pour gasoline on their missions throughout the year. It's been a really big success, and this being November - it's National Adoption Month - this week's shoe will be the Dave Thomas Foundation shoe. There are over 140,000 kids looking for forever families right now in our country. The Dave Thomas Foundation has placed about just under 14,000 kids with forever families. Matt McCants, who is somebody that is the glue to this program, I mean I might tear up thinking about what he has done for this program, was adopted. It's dear to his heart. I wanted to use the last game of the year - with it being November National Adoption Month and how dear Matt is to my heart and this program's heart - to celebrate a foundation that's been close to his heart. So, I know there's a lot of football stuff to talk about, but I think the narrative for me at least this week is we have a lot to be thankful for and we're in a great city that has incredible charitable organizations. I've been fortunate enough to be attached to some other ones nationally that we've been able to celebrate, and I'm hoping that this is something that I can use my platform to pour even a little more gasoline on. So, with that, North Texas an incredibly challenging opponent. Their offense looks like a bunch of superstars playing. They have incredible numbers. We have a great challenge, and with that I'll take some questions."
On scheming for North Texas' offense:
"Well, you have to be careful because the quarterback might be the most talented player in the conference, and that's with Tulane's kid Pratt and [UTSA's] Frank Harris who are two of the better players in the country. This kid might be the most talented. He is - I mean wow - is he talented. And if you make a mistake he can beat you with anticipation, he can beat you with arm strength and he can beat you with his legs. Designed quarterback runs. His scramble run clip is scary. So, I think you have to be very careful. They're a very aggressive offense and can run the ball very well too, so they can create a lot of challenges for you. So, it's not as easy as we're just going to pin our ears back and rush the passer. Teams have tried that, and they've got gashed doing it, look at the Tulsa game. I think it's probably our greatest challenge defensively of the year. Now, thank goodness we're playing good defense right now. We've been trending upwards. We handled a very good quarterback last week, but this is a different animal. Not only is he a very good passer, but his strength. It's not even his athleticism. He's so strong. You see him break so many sacks. He gets out of so many sacks and so many tackles that honestly, I don't know what the plan is right now."
On the defensive progression through the season:
"Honestly, I'll just give the big 30,000-foot answer. It's Sione going upstairs, and everybody in the building getting on the same page as him. You know what I mean? You hire coordinators to be the brain children for their sides of the ball, and everybody in the building must be on that same page. This is a new staff and their great coaches, but everybody has done it a little bit differently in different places. I think once everybody got on the same page, then the kid started sensing that ok this is who we are, and this is how we're going to grow. It didn't show up - there's still big yardage numbers and we're still losing games – but your eyes see that that's better technique, that's better structurer and that's better eye work. And then you start adding freshman into the mix because we're playing a bunch of freshmen, and you see that they're getting it and playing at a high-level. So, I knew it was coming at some point. I didn't have the guts to say it was coming - to be honest with you - especially against E.J. Warner, but I knew it was coming at some point. Last week, outside of four plays, we played phenomenal defense. Not good defense but phenomenal defense outside of four big plays we gave up, which were well-designed plays and some really good effort on Temple's side of the ball. I'll also say, look at the national numbers on defense. It's very hard to play great defense in college football right now. Even when you play good defense, you're still going to give up some plays because these offenses are so dynamic, and the rules are in such favor of the offense as well."
On growth from DC Sione Ta'ufo'ou:
"I'm really proud of him. This was hard for all of us. Your pride, your ego – which I think is different – and your self-worth get tied into this thing. When you're getting gashed and we don't hide from the truth - we're getting gashed – you start questioning yourself at times. I saw Sione go through a real introspective time, and to his credit he didn't flinch. He didn't go into a hole, he didn't cower, he didn't make excuses and he didn't blame other people. He took a close look in the mirror. We spent a lot of time together as friends but also as colleagues and said we're not about problems, we're about solutions. That's kind of how me and him have rolled for the last 15 years, and we went to work on finding solutions and we think we found them, so I'm super proud of him. There's nobody else I'd rather have by my side as a defensive coordinator than Sione. I'm putting my job on the line there, and I feel very confident in doing so."
Players Mentioned
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