TAMPA, Fla. — UAB football faces one of the hotter teams in the American Conference next, traveling to Tampa, Fla., to take on South Florida on Saturday, Oct. 31. Kickoff is set for noon Eastern, 11 a.m. in Birmingham.
The Blazers are 4-3 and coming off a 30-17 win over East Carolina on Oct. 15. In that game, quarterback Ryder Burton threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns, and receiver CJ Smith caught eight passes for 119 yards. South Florida is 5-2 and last played Oct. 17, when it routed Kent State 29-2.
Burton, a redshirt junior from Springville, Utah, who has also been at BYU and West Virginia, has thrown for 1,184 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions this season. Running back Rod Robinson II, a San Diego native who started his career at Georgia, leads the ground game with 436 yards on 101 carries. Smith, a redshirt senior from Apopka, Fla., has 350 receiving yards on 19 catches.
South Florida is led by quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., who has 1,292 passing yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. D.J. Crowther has run for 518 yards and seven scores, and Bryson Rodgers is the top target with 30 catches for 334 yards. The Bulls are also one of the least penalized teams in the country, at 38.9 penalty yards a game.
The numbers point to a tough matchup for UAB’s defense near the goal line. Opponents have scored on every red zone trip against the Blazers, while South Florida has cashed in on 95.5% of its own chances inside the 20. UAB has held the ball longer on average, about 30 minutes, 55 seconds a game.
After the trip to Tampa, UAB returns home to host Charlotte on Nov. 7.
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