Oct. 13, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- As UAB kicked off its Homecoming week on Monday, Blazers head football coach Neil Callaway met with the media at his weekly press conference to preview this week's matchup.

Following back-to-back Thursday night games, UAB prepares for a traditional Saturday afternoon game this week. The Blazers will host Marshall on Saturday at a 3 p.m. CT in Conference USA action.

"We are playing a much improved Marshall football team," Callaway said. "They are going to give you a bunch of different looks, and that's we have to be ready for. It's going to be a challenging game for us."

UAB is coming off a 45-20 loss last Thursday at Houston. The Blazers started out fast and rode two Joe Webb touchdowns (one rushing and one passing) and two Swayze Waters field goals to a 20-3 halftime lead. Houston, however, turned things around in the second half, scoring 42 points to pull out the win.

"It was a tale of two halves," Callaway said. "In the first half, we went out and played a pretty good half. We came back out in the second and really didn't do anything positive on either side of the football. It was a disappointing loss, especially with the opportunities we had in the first half."

One of Waters' field goals in the game came from 50 yards. The senior also punted eight times for an average of 50.6 yards on his way to C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

Webb leads the UAB offense as he ranks 11th in the nation in total offense with 299.6 yards per game. Webb's 84 rushing yards per game ranks third in the country among quarterbacks.

In Saturday's contest, UAB faces a Marshall team that enters the week at 3-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play with league wins over Memphis and Southern Miss. The Thundering Herd is coming off an open date last week, which followed back-to-back non-conference losses, including a 33-10 defeat in its most recent outing, Oct. 3 against Cincinnati.

UAB trails 3-0 in the all-time series with Marshall, but all three games have been decided by a touchdown or less. Marshall won last year's meeting with a 46-39 victory in Huntington, W.Va.

Saturday's game will be carried on the Blazers ISP Sports Network. It can be heard locally on WWMM 100.5 FM radio in Birmingham.

Head Coach Neil Callaway

On the Houston game
"It was a tale of two halves. In the first half, we went out and played a pretty good half. We came back out in the second and really didn't do anything positive on either side of the football. It was a combination of two things. I think we finally woke Houston up, and we had some adversity there starting the second half. From that point on, I felt we went downhill on both sides of the ball.

"We have to learn about adversity. It's no different than life. You are going to have adversity your whole life in whatever you do. How you deal with and overcome adversity is going to determine how successful you are going to be. It's the same thing with this football team. When things are not going well, we have to keep fighting and keep scrapping to do things to win football games. It was a disappointing loss, especially with the opportunities we had in the first half. In the second half, we disintegrated and didn't play well at all."

On Marshall
"We are playing a much improved Marshall football team. They hired new defensive and offensive coordinators this year. They are a little different scheme-wise from what they were last year. I do think they are much improved.

"Offensively, their running back is one of the top three running backs in this league. He's a true sophomore who is a physical, hard-running running back. That's where they start with the offense. Defensively, they hired a new coordinator. He's come in and installed more pressure. They are going to give you a bunch of different looks, and that's we have to be ready for. It's going to be a challenging game for us."

On playing consistently and working through adversity
"Why we don't work through adversities, I can't tell you that. We have to develop an attitude that we aren't going to take `no' for an answer. We have too many guys that are giving in once a little bit of adversity pops up. We have to learn to work through it and keep competing."

On dealing with adversity
"We have to make every play we can make on both sides of the ball. We don't need to take anything for granted. We have to score when we have opportunities to score, and just make the plays that are there. We have to expect to win, prepare to win and then go win."

On being outscored 42-0 in the second half against Houston
"They didn't change anything. It was a matter of them stepping their game up and us not making the plays we made in the first half."

On Homecoming week
"It's a fun time. It's part of being a student-athlete to be involved with Homecoming. Hopefully, it's a meaningful event for everybody. There are some distractions that go along with it, but that's part of it. We want to be involved in Homecoming, but our main focus has to be on winning the ballgame Saturday afternoon."

On the defense's first half performance at Houston
"I thought our guys played fast. They swarmed to the football. In the first half, we did a good job in coverage, but we didn't do it the second half. Coach Schumann was in rhythm with them making calls, anticipating plays and formations. I think there were a lot of positive things. But we have to play for 60 minutes."

Freshman Safety Chase Daniel



On losing the halftime lead at Houston
"You could see the look in everyone's eyes. Once that first play happened that went wrong, it just snowballed. It was kind of like `here it goes again.' I think we got too laid back and too comfortable with the lead at halftime. We need to go out in the second half playing harder than the first half to fight for that win."

On the players not getting down on themselves
"Once we get that next win, I think things will fall into place with us. We just need to keep a winning mentality and believe that every time we go onto the field that we are going to win."

Senior Center Jake Seitz

On overcoming adversity
"When things don't go right, it's all about how you respond to it. If something goes wrong, buckle down and keep fighting. That's something that we didn't do very well this past game against Houston."

On playing better in the first half than the second half against Houston
"We need to put an entire football game together. Once we do that, I think we will really get going. Coming out fast is just as important as finishing the game. Playing a strong second half is what we are working on."

On keeping the team's confidence up
"If we can just get another win under our belts, that could go a long way in terms of our confidence. We just need to keep our heads up and build our team confidence."

Freshman Cornerback Terrell Springs

On the second half of the Houston game
"I don't know what happened. We were playing really well in the first half. Once the first thing went wrong in the second half, I think we got down on ourselves and things went downhill from there."

On the adversity that UAB has faced
"We need to get over the hump. We've been in a lot of close games, but we just can't seem to get over that hump and get the win."

On staying positive the rest of the season
"We have heart. The whole team is playing its hardest. You want to go out there and go all out for your teammates. There is still a lot of football this season. You never know what can happen."