UAB Blazers College Football Pregame Quote, 10/31/2022

Good morning. Obviously, coming off another frustrating, tough loss on the road. I felt like we started slow on offense. First three possessions, didn’t get a lot going. A lot of self¬≠ inflicted wounds that really stalled drives. I felt like we responded in the second quarter. We had two really long drives to really get back and retake the lead. Really didn’t start fast in the second half offensively. We fought to the very end and had a lot of positives. I felt like our team had great leadership. We fought to the end; we did not turn the ball over on the road. We gave ourselves a chance to win there at the end. We fought all the way until the very end. Defense got a big stop, gave us the ball back. We were able to drive the length of the field and had a shot to tie the game up. We’re frustrated. This team is frustrated, but we’re together. There’s no division, there’s no negativity. We fight. We prepared extremely hard, we fought to the very end, we just have to pull out a win there at the end. We’ve got to find a way to finish. Talked to the team yesterday and the biggest message is, we’re together. Our goal and our focus is to get this senior class and to get this football team to a bowl game. This class has done a lot for this program; they’ve done a lot for this city. There’s no quit and there’s no negativity. Our goal and our mission is to fight until the very end and get this senior class and get this football team to a bowl game. We set the standard high at UAB. We embrace those standards. We do not back down from those standards. Our goal and our mission is to play for a championship year in and year out at UAB. That’s something that were proud of, it’s something that we fight for. Right now, we’ve got to kind of adjust our goals for the rest of this season. This senior class and this football team has done a lot for this program. Our goal is, like I said, to get these guys to a bowl game. In my opinion, we’ve got the best football team [we’ve faced] up to this date coming to Birmingham, to Protective Stadium this Saturday in UTSA. They’re defending league champion, they’ve got a lot of guys back, they’ve won five football games in a row. We know it’s going to be a tremendous challenge, but it’s a challenge this team is going to prepare for and is going to be ready for Saturday.

On looking ahead rather than reflecting on the past games:

It’s tough. When you look back, we’re 4-4 right now. We’ve lost four road games by a combined 21 points. We had the opportunity to win three of them at the end, and we just didn’t finish. That falls on me as the head coach. I’m proud of our players, proud of their effort, proud of their attitude, proud of their fight, and proud of their togetherness. We’ll fight to the very end together and we’ve proven that over and over. We’ve just got to find a way to finish. We’ve got to find a way to finish. We didn’t turn the ball over on the road this week and that was a positive, that was improvement, but we’ve just got to find a way to finish. You can’t look back; you’ve just got to put one foot in front of the other and you’ve got to keep going and that’s what this team has done. We’ve got a big game coming and we’ve got a lot of football left. We’ve got a big conference game coming to Birmingham. We’ve played well at home. We’re 4-0 at home, we’ve played well. We’ve got a big challenge Saturday that we’re looking forward to.

On UTSA QB Frank Harris:

This year, they’re averaging over 35 points a game, they’re throwing for over 330 yards a game. He’s an experienced quarterback, he’s won a lot of big games. He won a conference championship last year. You see him this year, they find a way to finish a lot of games. Like you go back to the North Texas game and they’re down. There’s about a minute and 13 seconds left in the game and they drive down and they score with 15 seconds left. He’s a guy that’s been in those moments. It doesn’t faze him, and he’s found a way to win games. He does a great job extending plays, he’s very accurate, and he’s got three receivers that are 6’3″ plus that have put up a lot of big numbers this year. I think traditionally, the last two years, you’ve seen more of a run first offense when [Sincere McCormick] was in there with him. Now I think they’re more of a pass first, RPO offense with him making a lot of really good decisions.

On last year’s game against UTSA and UTSA Coach Jeff Traylor:

You go back to last year’s football game; they were undefeated. We knew we had to come in and beat those guys to win the west and play for the conference championship. Our team went in and really played a great game. We played lights out from the beginning to the end. They drive down and score I think with two seconds to go to take the lead. It’s one our guys remember, without a doubt. It was a tough loss. To have those guys come back to Birmingham this year, it’s a great opportunity for us to go out there and play the defending league champions at home when they’re playing their best football of the season right now. You know, Jeff Traylor, I’ve got a lot of respect for Jeff Traylor. I’ve gotten to know him well the past couple of years. He’s a great football coach. He grew up as a high school football coach in the state of Texas. Gilmore high school, the stadium is named after him. We played them three years ago in 2019 and you could see the toughness that he brought to the team and the mentality that he brought. I think they’ve recruited extremely well. They’re tough, they play together. I’ve got a lot of respect for coach Traylor and what he does, and really, what he stands for.