UAB Blazers College Football Pregame Quote, 10/24/2022

Obviously a tough, disappointing road loss. I thought our players prepared well throughout the week. We came out and played extremely hard, we took the lead early, overcame some adversity, losing our quarterback Dylan Hopkins, and continued to play hard. [We] had a chance to win it there at the end and again turnovers were a big factor in this game. That’s on me as the head coach. Extremely proud of our players, proud of our staff, and how we continue to work and continue to stick together. The bottom line is, we’ve just got to go on the road, and we’ve got to win a game on the road. That falls on me. Our kids and our staff are playing their tails off. We’re preparing, we’re doing things the right way, we’ve just got to be able to finish it off in the end, to execute in the end and to have better ball security. We’ve got another road game this Saturday at FAU. We’ve got a challenge to go on the road and win a conference game and get back on track and that’s our goal and our mission going forward.

On DeWavne McBride’s confidence moving forward:

DeWayne McBride is leading the nation in rushing; he’s helped us win a lot of big games here. I’m proud of his effort, his focus, his commitment to this team. He runs extremely hard; he gives everything he’s got. Being the team player he is, he takes it personally, he takes it to heart. The biggest thing, you’ve just to learn from your mistakes and you’ve got to move forward. We’ve got to put one foot in front of the other, we’ve got to continue to focus on ball security. That’s what we’ve got to do. Plain and simple. His confidence is fine, this team is behind him, this staff is behind him. We believe him now more than ever. It’s just something we’ve got to continue to work on.

On limiting turnovers on the road:

I wish I had the answer. We’ve got three road losses and we’ve got 10 turnovers in our road losses. That falls on me. Our kids are preparing, they’re fighting their tails off, they’re playing extremely hard, they’re playing for each other. I accept full responsibility as the head coach.

On game planning to handle challenges on the road:

We’ve worked on that week in and week out. It comes down to execution in critical moments. It comes to down to ball security and protecting the football on the road. I think we’ve had great plans; we’ve been put in situations where we’ve had the opportunity to win it. At the end of the day, it falls on me. It falls on me as the head coach. That’s something I’m going to get fixed; we’re going to work hard to get fixed. I believe in this team; I believe in this staff. We’ve just got to overcome it. Our focus this Saturday is to overcome it at FAU.