MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Steve Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield, defensive coordinator Greg Stewart, along offensive lineman Brian Ankerson and defensive lineman Jeremiah Littles met with the media Monday to recap the Memphis game and preview Saturday's game against UAB.

Below are some highlights:

Head coach Steve Campbell
- Opening statement:
"Obviously we are disappointed in our showing against Memphis, going into the game I felt that if we could play a clean game as far as cutting down on penalties and turnovers that we could go toe-to-toe with them.  They came out and were the more violent football team, the game was decided at the lines of scrimmage.  We needed to see that, when we go to work this week we need to make sure we have our stinger out and we're ready to go from the get go.  The things had hurt us through the first two weeks, we wound up with three penalties and didn't have a turnover until the game was well decided; the things that had gotten us the first two weeks didn't get us this past week, there were definitely some things to build off of

"Now, we need to be the more physical, violent football team and stay in check with the things that can hurt you.  We've got another great test this week, UAB is a very good football team on both sides of the football.  They are very good defensively — they are ranked in the top half in the country in a lot of different categories — and offensively they are throwing the ball around really well and they have a big back they can hand the ball off to and run it.  Their quarterback has done a good job of getting the ball down the field to their receivers.  It's a big challenge for us this week, but it's a game that we're definitely looking forward to.  Our guys responded really well last night when we practiced, we watched the film and were able to see some of the plays where we could have taken advantage of a couple of things and that game a better football game.  We'll make those corrections and move forward this week."

On the team's injury situation:
- "We're banged up because that was our most physical football game this year, Memphis was a very physical bunch.  We'll lose a guy or two, but we are getting some guys back which is good."

On putting the Memphis game behind:
- "There is a desire to do that, but I think we can learn a lot.  There are some games where you just want to burn the film and move on, this game I know I learned a lot.  We went toe-to-toe physically with Nebraska on the line of scrimmage, I thought we held our own and may have actually had the upper hand.  We outgained them and we outgained Jackson State two-to-one, I thought going into the Memphis game if we didn't turn the ball over and have penalties we would be good, but that was not the case.  What I learned about our team is that we need to have an edge.  Memphis came in and was definitely playing with an edge, we need to get that edge back.  Let's learn from this before we put it behind us.  It wasn't a [Sun Belt] conference game, so we have one more test — we've played a Nebraska team everybody picked to win their half of the Big Ten, we've played a Memphis team that faced Central Florida twice [last season] — against a UAB team that played Middle Tennessee two weeks in a row after meeting in their conference championship game.  Before we go into our conference we'll have faced some really good tests."

On Cephus Johnson:
- "I was pleased with some of the things that Cephus has done, what I challenged him with this past week was don't turn the football over.  We need to make a few more plays without putting ourselves in danger of turning the football over.  We have a young football team that will take each and every week and improve."

On the team's youth:
- "Jared Wilson came in and did some good things, I thought [John] Tank Miller had a couple of good runs against a Memphis team that I think is ranked seventh in the nation in defense;  once Tra [Minter] goes down the rest of them are freshmen, but those guys got in there and filled in.  Our freshman punter had his best game kicking, so there were some areas where you could see a couple of silver linings.  There will be a day — and it needs to be this week — where two or three of those things come together at the same time."

On he knows about UAB QB Tyler Johnston III:
- "Just that he didn't lose any games in high school, he's a winner who does a great job and has continued at UAB what he did in high school.  He is an athletic guy, but what I hear is it is not so much his athleticism as it is his savvy."

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield
- On goals for UAB game on Saturday:
"The goal for us is to win the game like it is every week. Coming off [the Memphis] game I think we're a little disappointed in our performance. We had some opportunities early to make some plays offensively that might have given us a chance to win that game. It wasn't that we played bad early; we just missed some opportunities and the game kind of got away from us. We also had a couple of turnovers late that you'd rather not have, but I feel our guys continued to fight and kept battling. I think we need to be a little bit more physical. Coach [Steve] Campbell talked about coming out ready to be physical and Memphis kind of got after us a bit, and we need to respond to that a little bit better.

"Losing Tra [Minter] hurt a little bit, but I thought the other guys behind him stepped up and tried to do everything we asked them to do. We have cut down on the amount of missed assignments that we were having so that's a big plus for us.

"Going into the UAB game, they're a very similar defense. They played for their conference [title] last year. They look to be aggressive on defense and they're going to mix their coverages up with some man and a little bit of zone. We're going to have to hit some [passes] down field. That's one of the things I feel we need to get better at. We missed a couple of those on Saturday against Memphis and we're going to work to get better at it this week."

- On his assessment of Cephus Johnson:
"Cephus played 45 snaps the other night and only had three minus plays. Early on we had a post ball the came wide-open and he kind of overthrew that ball. Cephus would have loved to have had that one back. He also had one other opportunity to run and scramble to make a good play on a third down, but he chose to throw it and he was off-balanced and it went incomplete. I really thought he played well other than missing those opportunities. I think that surprised him a little bit when he saw the film. He saw the same thing I saw, and I thought that was good."

- On Tylan Morton's play in relief:
"Tylan came in and first-and-foremost he made a big play, which he'd shown the capability of in practice. He's got a knack for making plays for us. We wanted to see if he could get something stirred up for us. I think sometimes Tylan tries too hard to do it all himself and that got him in trouble on a couple of plays, but it was good for him to get some reps. I thought he did a nice job other than the two turnovers."

Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart
- On bouncing back and the game-plan and approach to UAB this weekend:
"Coaching wise, I think I made our guys process a little too much information defensively [against Memphis] and it got us a little. Our defense plays its best when they just lineup and play fast when the ball is snapped. We'll get better in that area. This week, I'm going to make it simple for them and let them just lineup and let them play.

"I don't feel that there's a whole lot of difference between UAB and Memphis, because UAB's a good team that played for their conference championship last season. They have a really good quarterback [Tyler Johnston III] who can throw it and doesn't mind running the ball. They have a big running back who is 6-foot, 230 pounds [Spencer Brown]. We need to come out with intensity and try to set the tone of the game. Our guys are working hard and I love every one of them. We did some good things in Saturday's game, but there are still some things we need to improve on. We'll get that done this week."

- On the cause of the big plays allowed against Memphis:
"Part of it goes back to what I was just say in the fact that I feel I made them process a little too much information. They were thinking a little bit more rather than just playing. When you play a team like Memphis and you don't touch the guys until they reach the second level you're in trouble because they can fly. It makes it hard on everybody. Sure it's you get out of a gap, but it's also because you're thinking too much before the ball's snapped. When the ball's snapped, I want them to just be able to go do it and do it wide open. That's the way we played the first two weeks. I think we got a little bit 'cute' for the third week and we play better when we don't do that."

- On what jumps out to him on film about UAB QB Tyler Johnston:
"The first thing is his toughness. He's very tough and doesn't mind running the ball. He also has a really strong arm and he's really accurate. They do a good job of protecting him because I don't believe he's been sacked yet this season. You can tell he's played a lot of ball. He's a really, really good quarterback."

Offensive lineman Brian Ankerson
- Opening statement:
"I guess our goals would be to learn from our mistakes this week. Obviously we didn't have a great weekend. We need to bounce back against UAB in an in-state rivalry."

- On what they can learn from the loss to Memphis:
"I think that game will teach us how to bounce back. We came back in yesterday and had a good practice. We're ready for this week."

- On improvements that can be made:
"We had a couple of chances early to make some big plays that could have shifted momentum for us, and we didn't capitalize on them. We started trailing and didn't have a successful run game like we had planned to all year, so we had to start airing it out a little more. We just let it get away from us. We weren't on the field long enough to help our defense."

Defensive lineman Jeremiah Littles
- Opening statement:
"I think it's all about coming together. Through tough times, you have to face adversity and I feel like that game was one of them. We just have to come back this week and get better."

- On what they can learn from the loss to Memphis:
 "When you overcome adversity, you see who you are. I know we've worked really hard and put in a lot of work – coaches and players – and I think it'll show eventually."

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