Week 13: UAB at Marshall

The motivation for first-year UAB coach Neil Callaway will be to keep his team out of sole possession of the East Division cellar.

Based on how the second half of the season has gone for the Blazers, it may be a difficult task. The Blazers have lost five straight and been held to 10 or fewer points four times during the losing streak. In an offense-happy league, UAB, at 17.8, is the only team averaging fewer than 22 points per game.

“It'll be a big challenge for us,” UAB coach Neil Callaway said. “It's the last game of the year and we all want to win this game for a lot of reasons. One reason would be for the seniors, to let them leave this program with a good taste in their mouth. Another is to build some momentum going into next year.”

Unfortunately for UAB, Marshall won't make a season-ending victory easy.

Marshall has enjoyed a late-season turnaround of sorts. The Thundering Herd, after an 0-7 start, has won two of four. The only losses during that stretch have come against division leaders UCF in the East and Houston in the West.

“They have really improved over the last three to four weeks,” Callaway said. “They played without their quarterback early on and I guess that's what caused them to struggle.”

Callaway said the Blazers must contain Marshall quarterback Bernard Morris and H-back David Sigler if they want to finish the season on a positive note.

Marshall's late-season success has allowed the Thundering Herd to put an early season loss to 1-AA New Hampshire behind them. The Thundering Herd has had to play the season without defensive end Albert McClellan, the league's 2006 defensive player of the year.

Marshall by 6