Vols look to bounce back
No. 15 Tennessee is back at Neyland Stadium Saturday as it plays host to Alabama-Birmingham.
Kick off between the Volunteers and Blazers is slated for 12:45 p.m. and the Big Orange will be looking to bounce back from a heartbreaking overtime loss to Southeastern Conference rival Georgia.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel and the Vols (2-1) are eager to move forward as they prepare to face UAB (2-1) in Knoxville this week.
“At the end of the day in this game, you have to constantly move forward and you have to take advantage of every day,” Heupel said at his Monday afternoon press conference. “You can’t look in the rearview mirror. You have to look out the windshield and keep driving forward.”
The coach also knows his squad will have to be prepared to face a team in the Blazers (2-1) that will come in to Knoxville looking to upset the Vols.
Heupel said UAB will look to run the ball against Tennessee.
“We have to do a great job against the run,” he said. “With who we’re facing, what they do offensively, shift-trade motions, communications at all three levels and then, pass defense.
“Again, when I talk defense, you guys hear me say this a lot, it’s all 11 being a part of that. It’s communication, second and third level, it’s pattern recognition in our zone concept and it’s applying pressure to the quarterback, which can be just your front four, but it can also be any of the 11 that are in that package.”
Offensively, Tennessee’s attack has been potent this season and wide receiver Chris Brazzell has emerged as a favorite for Vols’ first-year quarterback Joey Aguilar.
Brazzell had 177 yards and three touchdowns in Tennessee’s 44-41 loss to the Bulldogs last week.
“I think attention to detail has been a huge part of his success,” Hepel said of Brazzell. “Understanding coverage, understanding his role in the scheme, playing with great fundamentals and technique.
“He’s playing really confident, going up and attacking the football. He did a great job on Saturday, and he has the first couple of weeks too.”
In last week’s loss to Georgia, Tennessee’s defense struggled on third down and Heupel said that must improve moving forward.
“There’s been some really good things, and then some things that we haven’t done well enough,” he said. “At times, we’ve applied great pressure to the quarterback; other times, we can be better at it.
“At times, we’ve played really good coverage, and at times, we feel like we’ve given up some things that we feel like we’re in control of too.”
The loss against Georgia certainly stung, but Heupel said his team has learned from the heartbreaker.
“No moral victories in this game. We are certainly long past anything like that,” he said. “I think competitive makeup, competitive composure.
“The ability to play the next play, that’s the important thing in big things. I thought they handled themselves well the majority of the night. Looking at the film today, the ownership that each individual has to take in the things they can do, where it’s not me that allows a play to unfold.”
The Blazers enter the game coming off a 31-28 victory over Akron. UAB, which has endured its share of struggles in recent years, opened the year with a 52-42 victory over Alabama State before losing to Navy, 38-24, in the second week of the season.
The Blazers are coached by former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, a Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens following the 2000 season. Before arriving in Birmingham, he was the head coach at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville.
