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Blazers Back On Practice Field For Tuesday Morning Workout
UAB looks toward Saturday's Conference USA contest with SMU

*UAB QB Joe Webb Named C-USA Offensive Player-of-the-Week

Sept. 8, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Following its traditional off-day on Monday, the UAB football team returned to the practice field Tuesday morning to begin preparations for this weekend's matchup with SMU.
Saturday's kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT at Legion Field as the Blazers host a Conference USA foe for the second consecutive week. UAB is one of only two teams in the country to open with back-to-back league games, joining Miami (Fla.).

For Tuesday's practice session, the Blazers worked out for approximately two hours in full pads.

"I don't know why, but we were sloppy today," UAB head coach Neil Callaway said. "We worked through it, and hopefully we got some good out of it. The good thing is we still have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We have to make sure we stay focused on the task at hand."

The UAB defense is preparing for a June Jones-coached offense that is known for throwing the ball but has also enhanced its running game with the addition of Shawnbrey McNeal. The Miami (Fla.) transfer ran for 158 yards on 19 carries in SMU's season-opening win over Stephen F. Austin.

On the offensive side of the ball, UAB is game-planning for an SMU defense that forced six turnovers in its season-opener, including five interceptions.

"They're changing things up more, defensively," Callaway said. "It's not always an all-out blitz, but they're going to bring different people from different areas. They force you to execute offensively. We have to make sure we play smart, recognize what's going on and not let them create problems for us."

The UAB offense is coming off a 516-total yard performance in a win over Rice to start the season. Quarterback Joe Webb accounted for 221 yards through the air and a career-best 194 on the ground, marking the highest single-game rushing total by a quarterback in Conference USA history. Frantrell Forrest was on the receiving end of two Webb touchdown tosses in the win.

Saturday's UAB/SMU 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. The pregame show will begin at 1:30 p.m.

http://uabsports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/090809aab.html

Did anyone see the UAB-Rice game or film form the game? It would be interesting to see their schemes and athletes. That information would be invaluable in pre-game drink selections.

ponyte wrote:Did anyone see the UAB-Rice game or film form the game? It would be interesting to see their schemes and athletes. That information would be invaluable in pre-game drink selections.

I did not but I am thinking about looking at the replay on all access. I don't know what the charge would be but I am considering it so I can check out both teams.

http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=albr

SMU 86 wrote:

ponyte wrote:Did anyone see the UAB-Rice game or film form the game? It would be interesting to see their schemes and athletes. That information would be invaluable in pre-game drink selections.

I did not but I am thinking about looking at the replay on all access. I don't know what the charge would be but I am considering it so I can check out both teams.

http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=albr

If you see it, give us your thoughts. Thanks

"Jezzzz their crowds are horrible!"


UAB fan here ... Yes, we have difficulty, to say the least, competing for butts in the seats against Alabama and Auburn. The crowd wasn't great Saturday (about 15,000), but that video is deceiving because UAB's fans sit on one side of the stadium, and you're seeing the other (visitors) side. The perception that nobody attends our games is perpetuated by televised games and online videos in which only the visitors side is visible on screen. It appears that only a couple hundred people are in the stadium, but the viewers don't see the other 15,000-20,000 who are out of camera range on the home side. (Also, for what it's worth, the weather was LOUSY Saturday. It started raining in the morning and rained just about all day, keeping away the fair-weather fans. The weather forecast for this Saturday is looking OK, so we're hoping for a better crowd.)

Thank you for the update Blazer Fan.

Go Mustangs

This is the home side.

Blazer fan you’re a CLASS act, but in all honesty this venue is my least favorite in all of the places I have been. Was there twice for UCF games and if I were being generous, I would say there were 15,000 if you counted both games I attended.

Well hell I hope this doesn’t ruin the chance to drink your beer!


Cut off the top of that photo looks about like are sell out.

Let's be honest, OTP, the others were still on the boulevard and showed up after halftime (when those who were on time had already left)

Ok

OTP, it's hard to argue with you about the quality of Legion Field. It hasn't been modernized at all over the years. Legion Field's heydays were in the 1970's. UAB leases it from the City of Birmingham, and for some reason the City isn't as motivated to keep it up-to-date now that Alabama doesn't play there anymore. Go figure. LOL.

We'd love to have an on-campus stadium (not located in inner-city B'ham across the street from a major public housing project a la Legion Field) that would seat about 40,000, but that's years away, if ever. Our best hope for a modern venue is more likely the City's proposed domed stadium/convention arena. However, that's been a major political issue for years and may never happen either (despite the fact that our flamboyant mayor, who will go to trial in October on charges of receiving bribes when he was a county commissioner a few years ago, recently staged a symbolic ground-breaking for it).

BTW, the photo of Ford looks awesome. We'd kill for a stadium like that. When was it built? What's the seating capacity?

32,000 opened 2000


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_J._Ford_Stadium