FOOTBALL CUSA Championship Game @ Johnny Red Floyd Stadium, 12:30PM, Saturday, December 1, 2018

[SpaceRaider]

Middle Tennessee (8-4, 7-1) vs UAB (9-3, 7-1)

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Location: 1720 2nd Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35294
Founded: 1969 Enrollment: 20,902 Undergrad 13,134 Postgrad 7,768
Acceptance rate: 87%
Colors: Forest Green and Old Gold Nickname: Blazers Mascot: Blaze
Fight song: UAB Fight Song
Series: 4-3
at Middle Tennessee: Middle Tennessee leads, 3-0
at UAB: UAB leads, 3-1
Last Meeting: November 24, 2018 - Middle Tennessee 27, UAB 3
Stadium: Legion Field, 400 Graymont Avenue West, Birmingham, AL 35204
Head Coach: Bill Clark (Jacksonville State, 1990)
Record at UAB: 23-14 (3rd) Overall: 34-18 (4th)
2017 Record: 8-5 2017 Bowl: Bahamas
Starters Ret./Lost: 17/5 Lettermen R/L: 55/17


Weather Forecast:

Where: Johnny Red Floyd Stadium, Capacity (30,788), 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN 37130

Stadium Policies: All bags will be checked prior to stadium entrance. Bags 24"-by-24"-by-24" inches and smallerwill be allowed into the stadium. There will also be separate lines for those without bags.


Television: CBS Sports Network - Carter Blackburn (play-by-play), Aaron Taylor (analyst), John Schriffen (sideline) --- (643-1643 AT&T U-Verse, 229 Charter Spectrum, 720-1303 Xfinity/Comcast, 221 DirecTV, 158 Dish Network)

Radio: PxP: Chip Walters, Analyst: Wes Counts, WMOT FM 89.5 (Murfreesboro), WGNS AM 1450 (Murfreesboro), WGNS FM 100.5 (Murfreesboro), WGNS FM 101.9 (Murfreesboro), WPRT FM 102.5 (Nashville), Sirius XM 203 and 968

(TuneIn app) TJ Rives (PxP), Kelly Holcomb (AN)

Streaming: Audio, Video

Live Stats: LIVE STATS

Newspapers: al.com, , , ,

Message Boards: Blazer Talk,

Blogs: Blazer GameDay, The Daily Dragon,

Athletic site: uabsports.com, goblueraiders.com,

Media Guides: UAB, Middle Tennessee

Preseason Previews:

Game Notes: UAB game notes, Conference USA Notes, MT game notes

Game Previews: Conference USA Championship Game Prediction and Preview: UAB vs. Middle Tennessee, ,

Roster: Blazers, Blue Raiders

Twitter: @UAB_FB, @CoachBillClark, , @UABEquip, @UABAthFacOps, @uab_tickets, @UABStudents, , , @BlazerGameday , @DudleyDoWriteAL, , @The_DailyDragon, @BlazerBoosters, , , , , , @tedchastain,

Hashtags: #GoBlazers, #WinAsOne, , , #CUSACHAMP , #BeatUAB, #BlueRaiders, #MTvsUAB, ,, #TrueBlue,

Facebook: UAB Athletics, , , ,

Youtube: UAB Athletics,

Instagram: uab_fb,

 

[MTOleBlue]

LET’S WIN THIS SHIP!

 

[SpaceRaider]

Middle Tennessee opens -1.5

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college...am-@-middle-tennessee-state.cfm/date/12-01-18

 

[SpaceRaider]

espn predictor has MT with 57% chance of a W

http://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401056703

 

[MT01]

Will be interesting to see how Clark adjusts after game one. I believe one thing we will see UAB do is go to a screen game to take away our pass rush and blitzes. FIU beat us almost exclusively on WR screens. Every time Shafer dialed up blitz FIU hit a big play on a screen.

So, does Shafer recognize this liklihood and say you know we aren't going to blitz much this game? And instead drop seven or eight in pass coverage and keep everything in front - maybe put Brooks as a spy on Erdely to keep him from running around. This game is going to come down to who adjusts and counter-adjusts the best.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

I don't think there will be any secrets come out next week...each team knows the other. Both team will be who they are and the one that makes the most plays and eliminates turnovers wins.

MT01 - I think your right about them running more screens, anything to slow down the rush. If so we are going to need to cover better, I hope that our Safeties are back next week.

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

We need a couple of trick plays that they haven't seen from us...

 

[RaiderDawg78]

Will be interesting to see how Clark adjusts after game one.

I read they had 3 starting OL and their starting RB out against us. Clark said he expects all back Saturday.

Also, gotta wonder how vanilla they went knowing they held out so many starters and not wanting to show us anything new.

 

[sWiley]

I'm terrified that UAB is going to make a ton of adjustments while our coaches stick with the same ole' same ole'. If we go into this game using the same game plan as last time, I fear we will lose. UAB will make the adjustments. We've gotta be prepared to attack in different ways on offense and defense. UAB knows exactly how we are going to attack them now which makes it much easier to stop.

On offense, we will need to run the ball better in between the tackles. I imagine UAB is going to cheat the outsides because we burned them so badly with our speed. I also believe they will blitz more and not let Brent have so much time. Brent has a history of not dealing with blitzes well. We need to be prepared to make adjustments for this quickly.

On defense, I get it. We held them to 89 yards. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"...With that being said....UAB is going to bring in more protection and have more hot routes to help AJ with our blitzes. They will run more WR, RB, and maybe even TE screens to offset the pressure we bring. They will get AJ to get that ball in the air earlier when it's single coverage on the outside and hit those big receivers. I know we will continue to blitz but don't be surprised if it doesn't work nearly as well this time. We better be prepared to adjust. Really hope we have Blankenship and Moffit back there this time. Our safeties were not tested at all last game because our front 7 dominated. I believe that will change with the next game.

 

[TrueBlue147]

I think we will beat them again. They were just a paper tiger that had a really weak OOC schedule. They had Tulane, Coastal Carolina (which they loss), Savannah State (1AA), and Texas A&M The West also turned out to be much weaker than we thought and UAB feasted on them. Some of the worst East teams had wins over their best teams. Western beat La Tech, ODU beat N. Texas, and Charlotte beat Southen Miss. Then they got easy wins against Rice, UTEP, and UTSA.

Their offense may play a little better this game, but I don't see them stopping our offense and that will be the difference. They were full strength against us on defense and it didn't matter. We could have easily had a couple more touchdowns if not for some stupid penalties.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Yeah they haven't really played anyone, except TAMU who destroyed them.

 

[sWiley]

I hope our players don't come into the game with your attitudes. If it was going to be such an easy and guaranteed victory we would be favored by more than 2 points.

We just beat them 27-3, yet Vegas is only setting us at home as a 2 point favorite? Something smells....

I'm telling you right now. This is going to be a war and we better come prepared in all facets. Be prepared to see a completely different UAB team next Saturday.

 

[blueraiderJT]

I agree. It will be a tough game but their OL was injured and could not block us. They are going to adjust and probably have their best week of practice. Our team will be focused. Stock seems to keep an even keel when it comes to team attitude.

 

[D-winns]

I hope our players don't come into the game with your attitudes. If it was going to be such an easy and guaranteed victory we would be favored by more than 2 points.

We just beat them 27-3, yet Vegas is only setting us at home as a 2 point favorite? Something smells....

I'm telling you right now. This is going to be a war and we better come prepared in all facets. Be prepared to see a completely different UAB team next Saturday.

sWiley,

Well it isn't often I do so, but this time I totally agree with you.
We will see/should see 2 completely different teams next Saturday.
The Championship game will be determined by 2 factors:
1) How well did the coaches, from each team, learn from positives and negatives and did they adjust accordingly.
2) Have our players bought in to the fact that everything has changed and this is for all the goodies. They MUST treat this as the most important game of their carrier.
Going to be fun!!!

Go Blue!!!
D-winns

 

[SpaceRaider]

excerpt:

...The UAB Blazers take the field with the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders for the second straight week with the CUSA championship on the line.

The Alabama-Birmingham Blazers never got their offense going in a 27-3 loss to Middle Tennessee to set up a rematch for the CUSA championship. Alabama-Birmingham had almost no offense to speak of with a season low 89 total yards.

Blazers quarterback AJ Erdely was inconsistent connecting on 9-20 for 90 yards and an interception while losing 48 rushing yards while Tyler Johnson III went 0-4 and ran once for six yards.

Jarrion Street was the top Alabama-Birmingham runner with 40 yards on 12 carries with the team unable to push the Blue Raiders defense off the line of scrimmage. Kailon Carter led the Blazers receiving corps with a pair of receptions for 49 yards with a 40 yard catch being the longest play from scrimmage.

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders didn’t light up the scoreboard with 394 yards but the offense played mistake free football and controlled the clock with nearly 35 minutes of possession to secure a spot in the CUSA title game.

Quarterback Brent Stockstill gave Middle Tennessee a productive passing attack completing 22-29 for 261 yards with a pair of touchdowns while losing three yards on five rushes.

Chaton Mobley paced the Blue Raiders on the ground with 52 yards on 14 totes while Zack Dobson recorded a 45 yard scoring run and caught a scoring pass. Ty Lee was the top Middle Tennessee receiving option with 100 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions.

Under is 5-0 in UAB Blazers last 5 games following a straight up loss and under is 4-0 in UAB Blazers last 4 games on turf and UAB Blazers are 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 games following a straight up loss. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall, are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 conference games and are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game. Under is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings and home team is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 meetings and underdog is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 meetings.....

 

[Predarat]

I agree with some others. A lot of things went right on Saturday for MT, a lot of things went wrong for UAB. Likely this evens out Saturday and it will be a fight to the finish. Maybe TAMU/LSU, that would give me a heart attack.

 

[blueraiderJT]

I don't think the "a lot of things went right" argument applies to our D in that game. 89 total yards and 7 sacks indicates that this was no accident. Now I expect UAB to play better but Shafer clearly figured them out and will do so again. Their line did not block well and is injured. That's where we'll continue to focus on. If they can't run, they are crippled. It's that simple. We were clearly the best conference D they have faced all year. They had no answers. Will they find some? Maybe but we might find some more ways to disrupt them too. Blankenship coming back will cause problems.

On offense, it's simple to me. put Dobson in the slot and line up Lee in the X. If they load up the box to stop Mobley. Dobson will get open before they know what to do. They drop back in a cover 2 or 3 to stop Lee and Dobson, hand off to Mobley. Dobson would never not be on the field. I'd use him like I use hot sauce. I would put him in everything. Slot receiver, X, Y, H back hybrid, RB, Maybe even QB on a toss play. Dude is electric. When he makes a dude lose his cleats on a side step and hurdles another dude like he was a street fixture, you know you got to get him the ball.

 

[NUTZ4UMTSU]

I'm terrified that UAB is going to make a ton of adjustments while our coaches stick with the same ole' same ole'. If we go into this game using the same game plan as last time, I fear we will lose. UAB will make the adjustments. We've gotta be prepared to attack in different ways on offense and defense. UAB knows exactly how we are going to attack them now which makes it much easier to stop.

On offense, we will need to run the ball better in between the tackles. I imagine UAB is going to cheat the outsides because we burned them so badly with our speed. I also believe they will blitz more and not let Brent have so much time. Brent has a history of not dealing with blitzes well. We need to be prepared to make adjustments for this quickly.

On defense, I get it. We held them to 89 yards. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"...With that being said....UAB is going to bring in more protection and have more hot routes to help AJ with our blitzes. They will run more WR, RB, and maybe even TE screens to offset the pressure we bring. They will get AJ to get that ball in the air earlier when it's single coverage on the outside and hit those big receivers. I know we will continue to blitz but don't be surprised if it doesn't work nearly as well this time. We better be prepared to adjust. Really hope we have Blankenship and Moffit back there this time. Our safeties were not tested at all last game because our front 7 dominated. I believe that will change with the next game.

Moffitt has been redshirted

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

Raiderman needs to be back and we need to be wearing black. Gotee, Black...I like this attitude.

I might have to wear a pork pie hat. Someone get Stock one pronto.

 

[blueraiderJT]

How To Train Your Dragon Part 2! LET's GET IT!!!!! We get our 6th home game after all.

 

[lightningsig]

Love that! Inspired me to create a meme.

 

[BlueAlpha]

I watched both Brett’s post-game comments & CRS presser from today. When both were asked about the advantages of playing for the conference championship at home, I thought both their answers were kinda sad. Brett said the advantages centered around knowing the routine, what they were gonna eat, etc. Nothing about a home field atmosphere. When CRS was asked, he was similarly non-plussed. Did say he hoped for a good crowd, but that was basically it.
I swear he just looks worn out. You might think finally getting to the conference championship game he would be almost giddy. I still think he is not long for this job. I think playing 3 body bag games a year has taken a toll. Going to both Michigan & Iowa next year, w/o the benefit of one of 25 QB’s in NCAA history to throw 100 or more TD passes, would understandably have one gun shy.
I ran into Floyd Walker before the Vandy game. We talked for about 10 minutes. The last thing he told me, and I don’t think he would mind me sharing, was this. “If I had known sooner what it was like coaching high school football, I would have left college coaching a long time ago”.
CRS has made some pretty nice $$$ the past few years and should have reasonable pensions from the states of SC & TN. You’ll never convince me he will stick around solely for the $$$.

 

[SpaceRaider]

I watched both Brett’s post-game comments & CRS presser from today. When both were asked about the advantages of playing for the conference championship at home, I thought both their answers were kinda sad. Brett said the advantages centered around knowing the routine, what they were gonna eat, etc. Nothing about a home field atmosphere. When CRS was asked, he was similarly non-plussed. Did say he hoped for a good crowd, but that was basically it.
I swear he just looks worn out. You might think finally getting to the conference championship game he would be almost giddy. I still think he is not long for this job. I think playing 3 body bag games a year has taken a toll. Going to both Michigan & Iowa next year, w/o the benefit of one of 25 QB’s in NCAA history to throw 100 or more TD passes, would understandably have one gun shy.
I ran into Floyd Walker before the Vandy game. We talked for about 10 minutes. The last thing he told me, and I don’t think he would mind me sharing, was this. “If I had known sooner what it was like coaching high school football, I would have left college coaching a long time ago”.
CRS has made some pretty nice $$$ the past few years and should have reasonable pensions from the states of SC & TN. You’ll never convince me he will stick around solely for the $$$.

I was struck by the remark about feeling of relief than of joy,

 

[SpaceRaider]

goblueraiders.com:

MT vs. UAB Championship Game Presser

 

[MTTim]

We will win by two tds.

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

Jinxed

 

[SpaceRaider]

Sidelines:

FIU’S LOSS, MT’S DOMINANT WIN ON SATURDAY SETS UP A SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY

 

[DABLUERAIDERS]

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[MTsumner92]

Love the title of this thread. sight for these sore eyes.

 

[BigBlueBrad]

Come on, Saturday!

 

[MTTim]

Jinxed

Nah. I predicted we would win by 2 lasr Saturday. Same teams no need to change.

 

[MT01]

UAB 52
MT 17

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

UAB 52
MT 17

I see what you did, well played

 

[MarJac23]

View embedded media

When someone says. " We're not making Excuses" ......
They are making Excuses.......

 

[blueraiderJT]

They will be improved this week but they are still injured. Saturday was more than we got lucky. We just matched up really well. They didn't change their gameplan much at all from the last 2 weeks because Shafer knew what they were doing almost before they did. When a defense holds a team like UAB to 89 total yards, it's obvious that UAB didn't change anything because the playcalls and formations gave away what they were going to run. They didn't disguise their sets. They didn't adjust at all in the 2nd half either. Even the one screen play they ran that really worked was ran only once where we would have ran the well dry. They weren't holding back. They are injured and were tired. They will have some new energy because their backs are against the wall but we can play with them obviously.

The huge question for me is if Johnston starts or if they still go with AJ? Another question is if they change their offensive signaling or if they disguise their plays more because Shafer had their play calling pegged. It wasn't just that our D came to play. Shafer knew their plays, tendencies, and what they were lining up to do before the play was called. When that happens, it doesn't matter about a dropped pass here and there because the attack never stops. The last point of concern is their offensive line. If they come in here with the same lineup with no adjustment to the roster, we will get a lot more sacks. We were destroying their guards. They will see that easily in the film study but honestly, they are beat up. Clark wasn't poker playing there, he was honest.

However, like coach has always said. It's about us. We will know within 5 minutes into the game whether they have adjusted or not. Spencer Brown is a big component of what they do but their line is a problem for them that has to get figured out and they might not be able to do that within 5 days. We will see. It will be a great game. Hope everyone shows up. The weather may end up being great for us hopefully.

 

[blueraiderJT]

I watched both Brett’s post-game comments & CRS presser from today. When both were asked about the advantages of playing for the conference championship at home, I thought both their answers were kinda sad. Brett said the advantages centered around knowing the routine, what they were gonna eat, etc. Nothing about a home field atmosphere. When CRS was asked, he was similarly non-plussed. Did say he hoped for a good crowd, but that was basically it.
I swear he just looks worn out. You might think finally getting to the conference championship game he would be almost giddy. I still think he is not long for this job. I think playing 3 body bag games a year has taken a toll. Going to both Michigan & Iowa next year, w/o the benefit of one of 25 QB’s in NCAA history to throw 100 or more TD passes, would understandably have one gun shy.
I ran into Floyd Walker before the Vandy game. We talked for about 10 minutes. The last thing he told me, and I don’t think he would mind me sharing, was this. “If I had known sooner what it was like coaching high school football, I would have left college coaching a long time ago”.
CRS has made some pretty nice $$$ the past few years and should have reasonable pensions from the states of SC & TN. You’ll never convince me he will stick around solely for the $$$.

I know it sounds weird but he is somehow different around his team. He's more fired up when he speaks to them and such. His press conferences are terrible. When he talks to his team, he let's his hair down more. However, I would have loved him for once to say "This is it. We need the town of Murfreesboro to show up. It's time for y'all to step up. We brought y'all a championship game, now back us up and be here. We haven't had a losing season in 7 years. Other teams can't say that. UT ain't playing. VU ain't playing. You want some more football? Well get down here and watch us play some." That's how I might have put it. "I hope you'll come out and support us" is lame. It should have been "We're playing for a dang championship. Vandy isn't. UT isn't. You have a championship game in your back yard. We have 8 wins going for our 9th. If you don't come you're missing out on history and a dang good football game. No excuses."

 

[SpaceRaider]

early forecast for Saturday

Thunderstorms, high 68F, low 51F, winds S 10-20 mph, chance of rain 80%

 

[blueraiderJT]

That shifts from now til then though. Hopefully. Is there a non-rain dance we can do?

 

[SpaceRaider]

goblueraiders.com:

Blue Raiders expecting battle for C-USA title