The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Prepares To Travel To UTEP
11/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 15, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB football team was on the practice field here Tuesday for around two hours in helmets and pads, as the Blazers get ready to take on UTEP on Nov. 19. The game, which will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools, kicks off at 5:15 p.m. (CT) at the Sun Bowl and will be broadcast locally by the i Network. UAB needs to win both of its last two games to become bowl eligible.
"We've played hard every week," said UAB head coach Watson Brown. "I think we'll play well and I think we'll have a shot to win the game. We'll have to play really well because I think this is the best team in the league. They have good team speed and playmakers on both sides of the ball. They get a lot of easy yards off of athletic ability. It's a solid team with the best team speed of anybody we've played."
UAB (4-5, 2-4) is coming off another close loss to UCF on Saturday. The Blazers had a 21-10 lead in the third quarter, but could not hold on as they committed four turnovers in the fourth quarter, allowing UCF to rally for the 27-21 victory. Senior quarterback Darrell Hackney continues his outstanding senior campaign. Hackney became the No. 4 all-time passer in Conference USA history, with his 240-yard performance against the Golden Knights. Hackney now has 9,424 passing yards in his career. Running back Marculus Elliott had the best performance of his career against UCF, scoring the first two touchdowns of his career and running for a career-high 116 yards on only eight carries.
UTEP (8-1, 5-1) will be looking to clinch, at least, a share of the Conference USA Western Division crown Saturday. The Miners are 5-0 at home this season and 10-1 in the Sun Bowl under head coach Mike Price. UTEP is getting noticed by the national media as well. The Miners are ranked 24th in the Associated Press poll this week and 25th in the USA Today poll. UTEP leads the league with 35.4 points per game and only 21.2 points allowed this season. Quarterback Jordan Palmer threw for four touchdowns in the first half in the Miners' 45-0 win over Texas Southern last week.
In addition to being televised on the i Network, the game will be carried live on the ISP Blazer Sports Network on the flagship station, WYDE-FM 101.1.
