After suffering a tough 33-30 loss to Conference USA rival Memphis on the road, Alabama-Birmingham (1-5, 0-2 C-USA) comes into Houston with its sights set on clinching its first conference victory of the season.
A last-second field goal by Memphis freshman kicker Vinny Zaccario handed head coach Neil Callaway and his squad their second consecutive loss. Callaway said individual errors had a heavy toll on the Blazers.
"It was a game that we had a chance to win," Callaway said in a press conference, "but through the mistakes we made, we were unable to win. It’s my fault for allowing it to go on."
The Blazers spread 11 penalties evenly on both sides of the ball, six offensively and five defensively, for a total of 127 yards.
"We killed ourselves on foolish penalties," Callaway said. "We are not going to allow that to go on. We want to have class when we play."
The Blazers’ defense dominated in the first quarter and allowed the Tigers no points. The second quarter proved different as Memphis put a 20 spot on the scoreboard, taking a 20-16 halftime lead.
"We came in and started fast," Callaway said. "We had some match-up problems with that big receiver (junior Carlos Singleton, 6 foot 8 inches and 220 lbs). We tried to adjust to that situation and probably made ourselves more vulnerable on the run. They didn’t make the mistakes that we made and they won the ball game. We have to learn how important the little things are and focus on doing things the right way."The "right way" is how the Blazers plan to approach Thursday’s contest against the Cougars (2-3, 1-0 C-USA), who are coming off a bye week after defeating then-No. 23 East Carolina.
For Callaway, the most worrisome issue is the Cougars’ heavy supply of speed.?"I think Houston is a very good football team," he said. "They have team speed on both sides of the ball and two excellent quarterbacks.
They do a good job of mixing the run and the pass. Their speed at receiver is outstanding. They have some guys that can run."
While speed is readily associated with Houston’s offense, the quickness of Houston’s defense is not to be ignored.
"Defensively, I’ve been impressed with the defensive end, No. 53. (Senior Phillip Hunt is) an outstanding pass rusher and one of the better ones we’ll play against," Callaway said. "I’ve been impressed at the speed of their linebackers."
The Blazers are also focused on finishing the game against Houston to assure what happened at home against Memphis won’t happen on the road against Houston.
"We need to keep the intensity up and keep playing throughout the whole game," junior wide receiver Mark Ferrell said.
