The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Expecting Strong Test This Weekend Against UCF
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB football team was back on the practice field Tuesday morning as the Blazers worked out in full pads in preparation for their final regular season game.
UAB (5-6, 4-3 C-USA) will host UCF (7-4, 5-2 C-USA) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CT at Legion Field as the Blazers strive for a six-win season for the first time since 2004.
UAB head coach Neil Callaway was pleased with his team's progress on Tuesday and said the Blazers are continuing to work at strengthening their coverage team, which gave them problems this past Saturday in a 37-21 loss at East Carolina.
"It was a good practice," Callaway said. "We did what we've normally been doing on Tuesdays except we added the kicking part in a little bit more at full speed, so hopefully it will pay off for us come Saturday.
"We're still looking, but we're going to change some things up a little bit (in the kicking game), and hopefully that will help us."
Against UCF, the Blazers will face a team that has taken over the top spot in the Conference USA statistics in both total defense and scoring defense. The Knights are currently tied for second place in the C-USA East Division standings, coming off a 49-0 shutout victory over Tulane this past Saturday.
UCF will have some added motivation as the Knights look to avenge a 15-0 loss to UAB in last year's season finale in Orlando.
"They're quarterback is paying well, and they have two excellent running backs," Callaway said. "They're a big, physical offensive football team. They'll be a lot like East Carolina, I would think, offensively.
"Defensively, again I think they're a lot like East Carolina with a big, physical defensive line and good speed in the secondary. They're a lot better football team than they were a year ago."
Saturday's game will be carried on the Blazers ISP Sports Network and can be heard in the Birmingham area on flagship station WUHT-FM 107.7 with David Crane (play-by-play) and Jake Arians (color) on the call. The pregame show will begin 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
