The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Football Holds Its Weekly Press Luncheon
11/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB football team held its weekly press luncheon on Monday as head coach Watson Brown and a select group of players met with the media to discuss the Blazers' upcoming road game against the Houston Cougars at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The critical Conference USA matchup will be televised live on Charter/Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS).
UAB (5-6, 4-3 C-USA) enters Saturday's contest with an opportunity to become bowl-eligible for the third time in four seasons. Last week, the Blazers used a late field goal from Nick Hayes to defeat the USF Bulls, 22-19, on the road in Tampa, Fla.
"We've been in so many close games this season that it feels really good to win one at the end," said Brown. "We've had eight close games this season and we've won three of them and lost five, but I think it was our turn last week. Our players didn't lose their cool. They kept their poise after South Florida came back and tied the game, and they did an outstanding job of coming back and winning the game with a huge defensive stop and long, game-winning drive."
The Blazers are currently one of three teams vying for the C-USA's fifth bowl position along with both Cincinnati and Houston. UAB and Cincinnati can each become bowl-eligible with wins this weekend, while the Cougars have already secured at least a .500 record.
"Since Darrell (Hackney) went down, we've been playing better against the defensive-oriented teams than we have against the offensive-oriented teams," Brown said. "That's mainly because it's so hard for us to outscore people and Houston is another one of those teams. With all of the marbles at stake here in this game, we need to try to figure out a way to slow them down and the best way to do that is to possess the ball with our offense and keep Houston off of the field."
Houston (6-5, 3-4 C-USA) heads into Saturday's crucial meeting with one of the top offensive attacks in the conference.
In 11 games this season, the Cougars have compiled 344 total points and Houston averages over 31 points per game. The Cougars have scored over 40 points five times this season and rank among the top-four teams in the conference in every major offensive category. Houston currently ranks second in C-USA in rushing offense (203.8 yds/g), third in scoring offense (31.3 pts/g), third in total offense (442.7 yds/g) and fourth in passing offense (238.9 yds/g).
"Our defense is the key for our team right now," said Brown. "We're not going to outscore people. We just don't have the firepower to get that done with Darrell (Hackney) out. We have the ability to score enough to win, just as long as we stay in within range and we can not afford to turn the ball over. We forced six turnovers on Saturday and only gave up one and that has been the thing that has been reversed in our other games this year."
UAB owns an unblemished 3-0 all-time record against Houston and has outscored the Cougars by a total of 123-65. The Blazers defeated Houston on the road at Robertson Stadium in a lopsided 43-21 victory during the 2001 campaign.
PLAYER QUOTES
Linebacker Zac Woodfin
On having a good shot to reach the team's first bowl game
"That's how I feel and it seems like it's between us and Houston as far as who's going to be able to go, but we can't really dwell on that because we were bowl-eligible two years ago and we didn't get taken. We're just going to go to Houston and take care of business there. We just need to worry about winning our game and hopefully everything else will take care of itself."
On if it's easier to focus on a game knowing that you have to win to become bowl-eligible
"As a team, we just want to win just for the sake of winning. We hate to lose and this is our last game of the regular season and we want to send our seniors out with a win. We're going to prepare this whole week on just getting a win against Houston and if we do that then we'll be bowl-eligible. At that point, we'll just have to let the bowl guys decide on who they want to pick and hopefully it will be us. I feel confident that they will."
On if he can explain why the team has played so well on the road this year
"I can't explain it. I think that the major thing has been turnovers. When we're at home, we turn the ball over three or four times a game for some odd reason and when we're on the road we take care of the ball really well and we win football games. It sure has been unexplainable, but I'm glad that we do play well on the road, because we have an important road game this weekend and hopefully we'll play well again."
Placekicker Nick Hayes
On snapping his extra-point streak of 68-straight against USF on Saturday
"They (USF) got up pretty high to block it, but I also caught the ground a little bit on the kick and didn't get it as high as I should have gotten it. It was sad and actually hurt us in the long run, because we could have been up by a point there at the end, but it happens. I'm just glad that I had another chance to redeem myself there at the end of the game."
On if he's ever had two kicks blocked in the same game before
"I've only had one blocked ever and that was in high school. I'd never had one blocked in college and I really didn't know what to do, so I just tried to jump on the ball afterwards. It was tough and I hope that it never happens again."
On his first game-winning field goal on Saturday against USF
"That was my first game-winning field goal in college. I had one in high school, but I hadn't had one yet in my three years of kicking here. It felt good to get a chance to do it."
On if he feels that qualifying for a bowl game is within reach
"Definitely, we're going to Houston to play a very good team and we are playing really well right now. I think that we're going to go in there with the attitude that we need to win this game in order to go to a bowl, and I think that everyone is pretty pumped up about it. We're going to go down there and give it our best shot."
Quarterback Curtis Falany
On his good performance against USF
"I was pleased with the way that we played. I just tried to do what we had to do and that was to move the ball with our offense. I just put it in the arms of our running backs Corey (White) and Trey (Chaney) and we just worked toward getting those first downs when we needed them. We weren't really looking for the big play, but we were able to get one. I felt pretty good about how I played, but then in the fourth quarter, I got hit a couple of times and got knocked out, but now I feel fine."
On if he had ever been hit that hard in high school
"I had definitely never been hit that hard before. It's just something that I'll have to get used to and just work through."
On the mindset of the team right now knowing that they need to win this week
"We need to focus on beating Houston. Last year, we were in the exact same situation and were beating Cincinnati, but then we blew the lead late in the game and now we know that we need to go in 100 percent ready to play. Houston has a great ball club. They are already bowl-eligible and they have a really good team."
