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With 77% of the votes UAB picks up the W in week 4 against Tulane. Onto week 5.

This is the game we've all been waiting for. Team talent overall is pretty comparable, but obviously Malik Willis is their X-factor. I don't think their defense is as good as the stat below would indicate though. They got a lot of that in their wins over North Alabama, Western Carolina, ULM & UMass. Not at all downplaying their schedule, they took down a lot of good teams, but anyone with a pulse on offense was able to keep up with them. My money is on this being a shootout (by UAB standards) and the final score being close at like 35-32.

UAB
Prior Year Record: 6-3
2020 Team Talent Rank: #92
2021 Recruiting Rank: #115
Scoring Offense: 28.4 PPG/#65
Scoring Defense: 21.4 PPG/#26
2021 FPI: #69

Liberty
Prior Year Record: 10-1
2020 Team Talent Rank: #127
2021 Recruiting Rank: #112
Scoring Offense: 38.2 PPG / #16
Scoring Defense: 20.6 PPG / #22
2021 FPI: #72

I assume those are Liberty's stats, not Tulane's, right?

I think we find a way to win this game. It won't be easy, and Willis will be a handful, but the emotion of this day, and what I assume will be a great crowd, will hopefully be enough to overcome him.

This is the scariest game on the schedule because of Willis. UAB has a better overall team but he is so dynamic. I expect UAB to put heat on him but I have nightmares of him breaking containment. We haven’t faced a QB as good as him in a loooooong time. And I mean that as no disrespect to D’Eriq King, who basically beat us with his feet last year. Willis is a level up from King.

(08-19-2021 01:16 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  I assume those are Liberty's stats, not Tulane's, right?

I think we find a way to win this game. It won't be easy, and Willis will be a handful, but the emotion of this day, and what I assume will be a great crowd, will hopefully be enough to overcome him.

Correct. Fixed.

I think it’ll be a shootout and we don’t have the firepower to win.

This is a good breakdown on Willis. I think he's the most explosive player UAB has faced since The Return. Gotta bring the heat to him while keeping him in the pocket. Oh, and did I mention Auburn screwed up bigtime?

Tough one. I think we can pull it off but it will have to be a perfect game. I’ll take UAB by a score.
Also, why can’t we get QBs like Willis. You would think UAB would be just as much of an opportunity for a mobile QB as liberty. I know we’ve won with our current QB talent, but only talent like Willis can get us to that next level.

I look at the recruiting rankings from last year for both schools and UAB seems to have recruited slightly better than Liberty. Then I look at Liberty's schedule the last two years which overall has been tougher than UAB but they have faired better against their perceived tougher competition than UAB.

This is where UAB has to improve significantly in order to get to a NY6 bowl or potential playoff spot in the immediate future.

(08-20-2021 10:07 AM)Qwilliams07 Wrote:  Tough one. I think we can pull it off but it will have to be a perfect game. I’ll take UAB by a score.
Also, why can’t we get QBs like Willis. You would think UAB would be just as much of an opportunity for a mobile QB as liberty. I know we’ve won with our current QB talent, but only talent like Willis can get us to that next level.

This is pretty much true of every G5 program. Special QBs are the difference makers. This has always been the case.

Southern Miss was beating the Alabamas and Auburns and Florida States when they had ... Brett Favre.
East Carolina was beating the Miamis and NC States when they had ... David Garrard.
UCF was scaring the heck out of SEC teams and Nebraska when they had ... Daunte Culpepper
UCF was going undefeated when they had ... McKenzie Milton
Memphis was in the Cotton Bowl when they had ... Paxton Lynch
Louisiana Tech was beating the Alabamas when they had ... Tim Rattay
Marshall was going undefeated when they had .... Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich
Tulane went undefeated when they had Shaun King
BYU was nationally relevant when they had Jim McMahon, Steve Young.
Hawaii was beating the Alabamas and Michigan States when they had Timmy Chang and going to the Sugar Bowl when they had Colt Brennan

I could go on.

You can win a lot of games with a program manager but that next level almost always requires the kind of QB who doesn't come around very often and that most programs outside the p5 will never have.

There's also a common denominator for almost every one of those QBs listed above -- no one saw them coming when they signed (except Culpeper, maybe the BYU guys and Brennan, who was a transfer). The others were not really highly recruited. They became special in college.

I think this is where the transfer portal could help some G5 schools. They may have some quality players stuck on depth charts who see an opportunity as sophomores to transfer to a G5 and start for 2-3 years. But Liberty is benefitting only because Auburn was dumb upon dumb. Willis should be starting at Auburn right now and they'd be preseason top 10 and Gus would still be their coach.

(08-20-2021 10:07 AM)Qwilliams07 Wrote:  Tough one. I think we can pull it off but it will have to be a perfect game. I’ll take UAB by a score.
Also, why can’t we get QBs like Willis. You would think UAB would be just as much of an opportunity for a mobile QB as liberty. I know we’ve won with our current QB talent, but only talent like Willis can get us to that next level.

I agree and I echo your frustration. I'm excited to see what a healthy TJ can do and I hope we can keep him that way the entire season. Then I would like to see us add a couple of athletic options at QB for '22, if Tyler decides to return or not.

(08-20-2021 10:07 AM)Qwilliams07 Wrote:  Tough one. I think we can pull it off but it will have to be a perfect game. I’ll take UAB by a score.
Also, why can’t we get QBs like Willis. You would think UAB would be just as much of an opportunity for a mobile QB as liberty. I know we’ve won with our current QB talent, but only talent like Willis can get us to that next level.

I'll be Negative Nancy today and say that our offensive scheme wouldn't allow any quarterback to ascend like that. With our super rudimentary route trees and predictable, bland playcalling, we'll only ever have game managers.

This will be the 2nd toughest game on the schedule. I think it'll be a hard fought and quality game, but I see UAB eeking out a close win in the final moments. Liberty is good and Malik Willis is special, but I don't think UAB loses the stadium opener with what should be a good crowd.

(08-20-2021 01:06 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  This will be the 2nd toughest game on the schedule. I think it'll be a hard fought and quality game, but I see UAB eeking out a close win in the final moments. Liberty is good and Malik Willis is special, but I don't think UAB loses the stadium opener with what should be a good crowd.

I'm there no matter what but please, please let us have good weather.

(08-20-2021 12:37 PM)GoBlazers468 Wrote:  

(08-20-2021 10:07 AM)Qwilliams07 Wrote:  Tough one. I think we can pull it off but it will have to be a perfect game. I’ll take UAB by a score.
Also, why can’t we get QBs like Willis. You would think UAB would be just as much of an opportunity for a mobile QB as liberty. I know we’ve won with our current QB talent, but only talent like Willis can get us to that next level.

I'll be Negative Nancy today and say that our offensive scheme wouldn't allow any quarterback to ascend like that. With our super rudimentary route trees and predictable, bland playcalling, we'll only ever have game managers.

Hit the nail on the head. We also hype up our OLine up, acting like folks don’t see tape of us using 2-3 TEs for extra blocking. What would our OLine look like in a 4-5 WR set? We play our walkon WRs ahead of much better and taller possession based WRs. Don’t know why we don’t play them. Same with backs 2-4 on the depth chart and no, Jermaine brown should not be getting touches that are anything other than dump passes.

(08-20-2021 01:06 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  This will be the 2nd toughest game on the schedule. I think it'll be a hard fought and quality game, but I see UAB eeking out a close win in the final moments. Liberty is good and Malik Willis is special, but I don't think UAB loses the stadium opener with what should be a good crowd.

A good crowd? I'm expecting a sellout! Anything less than 40,000 for the opening of a brand new stadium in Downtown Birmingham would be disappointing.