The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Football Continues Preparations For Houston
11/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 2, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB football team continued its preparations Wednesday for Saturday's Conference USA contest with Houston with a lighter morning workout.
The Blazers will kick off against the 14th-ranked Cougars at 6 p.m. at Legion Field. CBS Sports Network will televise the game with Dave Ryan (play-by-play), Rich Rodriguez (color) and Krista Blunk (sidelines) on the call.
The Blazer IMG Sports Network radio broadcast will air locally on WUHT-FM 107.7 in Birmingham. David Crane and John Whitcomb have the call with Sam Miller on the sidelines. The pregame show begins 90 minutes before kickoff.
UAB head coach Neil Callaway said his team eased the workout some from Tuesday's practice as they have several players dealing with typical midseason bumps and bruises.
"We backed off a little bit and took the shoulder pads off," Callaway said. "We worked hard yesterday and I thought it was pretty good practice today for the most part. We are beat up and banged up and have guys trying to get well. We had a good practice and a good tempo."
Callaway also talked again about the challenge of facing Houston's high-powered offense led by its record-setting quarterback Case Keenum.
"[Keenum] is like a coach on the field," Callaway said. "He has been in their system for a long time, six year.. He understands fully what they are trying to do, and understands fully what defenses are trying to do. That's what makes it so hard.
"The most impressive thing is that he's only thrown three interceptions (with 32 touchdown passes) which is phenomenal, since they are throwing the ball 40 or 50 times a game."
Callaway also said the Blazers will need their defensive backs to step up against the talented group of Houston receivers.
"Our secondary has to be more physical than their receivers," he said. "Don't get me wrong, we have to tackle the [running] back, too. There have been times this year we've done a nice job on the perimeter but there has been three or four times we haven't been strong on the perimeter as far as tackling and being physical."
