Conference foe in opener not ideal for young Owls

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Owls must work in inexperienced skill players in key game




Like Rice a year ago, UAB opens the 2009 season with a pair of Conference USA games.

That factoid is prominently displayed on the first page of the pregame notes distributed by the school's sports information staff.

So it's obviously not a secret, and it's enough to lead one to believe everyone involved must be comfortable with the setup, right?

?It makes you nervous, to be honest,? UAB coach Neil Callaway said. ?You'd like to get a couple (non-conference games) under your belt, get the kinks worked out. You want to win all of your games, especially your conference games. ?

?You get behind the eight-ball right away.?




A double-edged sword

Win both, as the Owls did last season, and all is more than well, a huge boost in early September. If not, well, hopefully it's a learning experience, which is how Rice coach David Bailiff is already viewing Saturday's season and league opener on the road against the Blazers.

?A year ago, we had veterans,? Bailiff said. ?With two new quarterbacks (John Thomas Shepherd and Nick Fanuzzi) this year, we won't have everything in. We have to get these quarterbacks to where they're confident during the game. We'll call plays that we believe will give us a chance to win, but we can't have these guys thinking so much that they can't play.?

They had better be quick learners because the road the next two weeks ? while outside of the C-USA ? runs through formidable Big 12 members Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. For UAB, SMU is up next, followed by trips to Troy and Texas A&M.

No easy picking for either school, but it could be worse.




Look at Miami.

According to those same UAB notes, the Hurricanes are the only other Football Bowl Subdivision team in the country that will start with consecutive league games. But they will do the 2008 Owls and the 2009 Blazers one better by playing three ACC games to open up .

It's a brutal stretch, eliciting a shake of the head from quarterback Taylor Cook, who left Miami to transfer and enroll at Rice this week.

The Owls didn't have nearly as rough of a go to begin 2008, but a pair of season-opening league victories over SMU and Memphis served as a catalyst for a 10-3 season.

?There are some positives to this,? Bailiff said.
It's not a perfect world

One of the motivating factors for non-BCS schools such as Rice and UAB is exposure. While the C-USA matchup may not yield a prime televised slot Saturday, the game that necessitated the switch might. Plus, such a showdown might be attractive midweek fare for ESPN, as Bailiff noted several C-USA games would be aired on Wednesday or Thursday evenings.

?In a perfect world, you play all of your preseason games in a row because those games are about getting your team ready for conference,? Bailiff said. ?But because of how the schedule lays out with Navy, and with the opportunity with CBS College Sports ??

He paused.

?But in a perfect world, we wouldn't do this.?

 

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Rice's defense looks familiar to UAB


Getting a good grasp on what to expect from the Rice offense has been difficult with Ed Zaunbrecher in his first year as the program's offensive coordinator and a bunch of newcomers on the field.

Things are a lot easier when studying the Rice defense. Head coach David Bailiff heads up the defense along with co-defensive coordinator Craig Naivar. Both are entering their third season at the school.


The Owls also return seven starters, so there isn't a whole lot of unknown.

"We have a good look by watching film to see what they do, which is an advantage," said Blazers quarterback Joe Webb.

UAB head coach Neil Callaway has been impressed by defensive ends Scott Solomon and Cheta Ozougwu and safety Andrew Sendejo after watching Rice on tape.

>> Offensive tackle Chris Hubbard, a 240-pound freshman, is going to play his first college game Saturday for the Blazers. Center Jake Seitz was asked earlier this week when was the last time he weighed 240 pounds or less.

"That's a tough one," said the 290-pound Seitz.

"Sophomore year in high school? Maybe even freshman year I was like 230. That's when I played defense but once I shot up to like 265 that's when they moved me to the offensive line."

Seitz said he doesn't have any concerns about Hubbard playing at such a light weight for an offensive lineman.

"He plays hard and he plays rough and that's what we like around here," Seitz said.

>> UAB practiced for two hours in full pads on Tuesday.

"We're still sloppy on some things for Rice. We've got to get those things worked out, but the effort and attitude was good," Callaway said. "Now it's just a matter of getting everything processed and comprehended for Rice. I think that's the biggest thing right now."

UAB will practice in shorts, shoulder pads and helmets on Wednesday.

 

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Will more experience mean more wins for UAB's football team?


UAB head coach Neil Callaway looks at his team and sees a team that is "bigger, stronger, and I think we have more team speed than we've had." All of that makes it a much different feel on Saturday in Callaway's third season opener as the UAB head coach.

"I remember when we played Michigan State (2007) the first game our staff was here, I asked our guys to stand up if they had ever played in a college football game, and there may have been about a dozen of them," Callaway said. "We are certainly past that point now. We're gaining on it, and we're heading in the right direction."

UAB opens the 2009 season on Saturday at 3 p.m. with a Conference USA game against Rice at Legion Field.


*Rice head coach David Bailiff responded with some humor when asked about defending UAB quarterback Joe Webb on Saturday.

"You remember Rocky I, where he went and got the chickens?," Bailiff said. "I told our d-line coach he better go buy a couple of chickens to see if we can't catch them. He is amazing. You watch the tape and there's time eight people miss him and then he completes a big pass down the field or he scrambles for a long yardage touchdown."


*Callaway said that Dexter Barnett would be the team's starting running back if the season started on Monday. The Blazers are waiting to see if Daniel Borne's ankle will be healthy enough for the talented junior college running back to be in the lineup.

Callaway also said that Rashaud Slaughter is "day-to-day" with an undisclosed injury. Slaughter, who was the team's top running back the past two seasons, has been sidelined for most of preseason practice.


*The Blazers definitely will begin with running back by committee.
"We have about five or six good running backs this year," said running back Jim Mitchell. "As far as day to day practice, I think we are all pretty close with each other as far as talent."

Callaway said their performance is critical to the offense.

"We need to find a running back or two or three that we feel comfortable giving the ball to them 30 times a game and we can come out somewhere between 100-150 yards from the running back spot," Callaway said.