The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Faces Marshall Saturday Afternoon In 2010 Homecoming
11/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 6, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB football team will play the first of three consecutive home games on Saturday when the Blazers play host to Conference USA foe Marshall at Legion Field in their 2010 Homecoming game.
The contest against the Thundering Herd will kick off at 3:06 p.m. at Legion Field and will be televised regionally by CSS (Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast).
The game will also be carried live on the Blazer Sports Network, airing locally on 107.7 WUHT-FM with the pregame show beginning at 1:30 p.m. CT.
The Blazers (3-5, 2-2 C-USA) is coming off a thrilling 50-49 double-overtime win at Southern Miss last Saturday. Marshall (2-6, 1-3 C-USA) will also come into the game on a winning note having knocked off UTEP last weekend in Huntington, W.Va.
UAB will now enter a three-game homestand that begins Saturday against the Thundering Herd. After Marshall, the Blazers will have a short turnaround before playing host to East Carolina next Thursday, Nov. 11 in a 7:00 p.m. CT game to be televised nationally on CBS College Sports.
UAB will play its final regular season home game on Saturday, Nov. 20 when the Memphis Tigers visit Legion Field (3:00 p.m.).
But first comes Marshall as UAB tries to win a third straight conference game for the first time since the 2004 season. Head coach Neil Callaway said earlier this week one of the keys for his team is that they must maintain their focus and continue playing hard.
"I think all along our guys have been pretty confident and have played very hard," said Callaway. "We were very disappointed in the game against UCF and we keep bringing that one up. Other than that one game, I think we have done a lot of good thing in every game. You want to be confident and at the same time you want to be hungry, too. We have to make sure we stay focused and keep our minds on what we need to do."
One of the reasons for UAB's impressive offensive numbers of late is the balance the Blazers have demonstrated through the air and on the ground. Last week against the Golden Eagles, UAB passed for 241 yards and ran for 223.
Junior running back Pat Shed accounted for 176 of those rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns as he had his best game as a Blazer. On Monday, Shed was named the C-USA Co-Offensive Player-of-the-Week.
QB Bryan Ellis had another good outing after a tough first half against Southern Miss. Ellis finished with three touchdown passes as he hit 22-of-34 for 241 yards.
Ellis increased his season numbers to 1,675 passing yards and 12 TD passes as he has connected on 57 percent of his attempts.
Ellis and the Blazer offense will face a Marshall defense that features one of the top defensive players in the country in senior linebacker Mario Harvey. Harvey has 92 tackles on the season as he averages 11.5 stops per game.
His teammate, junior defensive end Vinny Curry, has also had an outstanding season. Curry leads the conference in sacks (13.5) and in tackles for loss (9.5).
On offense, Herd QB Brian Anderson has passed for 1,364 yards and 11 touchdowns in eight games.
Marshall holds a 4-1 lead in the series after last season's 27-7 win at Huntington. UAB's only win in the series came two years ago as the Blazers claimed a 23-21 victory.
