UAB coach Trent Dilfer said earlier this week that he’s looking forward to getting to Athens Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN2) for what will be his second time in an SEC Stadium.
Coming from a former NFL quarterback who led the Baltimore Ravens to a 34-7 win over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, this statement qualifies as an eye-opener.
“An SEC atmosphere at night is way better than the Super Bowl,” Dilfer said earlier this week during his weekly press conference. “I think it’s the second-coolest thing I have ever been to as a spectator.”
Dilfer’s other trip to an SEC stadium came several years ago when he took his daughter – currently a volleyball player at Louisville – to Alabama for an official visit. The Crimson Tide played Ole Miss.
The only other event Dilfer rates higher is the Kentucky Derby.
“It’s the coolest thing I have ever been able to go to, in live sports,” Dilfer said. “I think it’s better than Super Bowls.”
He expects Saturday night’s game in Sanford Stadium to be not far behind.
“I’m personally, really excited about going to an SEC game at night,” he said. “I mean, it’s different. Their slogan is 'It just means more.' It’s different, and it’s true.”
Dilfer’s take on the team on the other side of the field – two-time defending champion Georgia – is equally as impressive.
When Dilfer looks at the Bulldogs, it reminds him of playing any number of teams he came across in the NFL.
“It looks very much like getting ready for the Baltimore Ravens, or getting ready for the Rams, or Chargers, or whoever you’re playing that week,” Dilfer said. “You have really good players that are really well coached, and that know what they’re doing, and that know what you’re doing.”
There are other reasons Dilfer said the Bulldogs and Kirby Smart’s setup in Athens reminds him of an NFL team.
Besides the obvious job Smart has done in recruiting and developing players, it’s the way they’re coached that has the UAB coach handing out praise.
“The third thing, that is my NFL eye, is that they are NFL coached. They are incredibly well-coached. From their eye discipline to their hands, to their communication, they shed blocks, and they sustain blocks,” Dilfer said. “That is football at its highest level is can you shed blocks and can you sustain blocks when you’re on offense. Their schemes fit into the coaching realm.
"They’re very complex defensively. Offensively, they’re multiple. So, you can’t guess. You can’t get into a guessing game with them. It very much looks like, when did I retire, in 2008? This is 2006, 2007, or 2008 as a backup quarterback studying defense from a coach’s eye, it looks very similar.”
Dilfer offered other examples where he feels the Bulldogs excel.
“They can adjust, and they finish. That would be the other thing I would say about really good players,” he said. “People talk so much about height, weight, speed, measurables, and all that. All that is true, but a great player finishes, and they have finishers.”
For example:
“When their defensive lineman gets through and has a tackle in the backfield, they make the tackle. When their secondary player triggers on a blocker and needs to shed them and stay outside leverage, he does, and he tackles the ball carrier. When their corner needs to reroute and stay on the backside hip in man coverage and play the ball, he does, and it gets picked,” Dilfer said. “They have finishers, and that’s what I’m accustomed to. And that’s what we need to get better at is developing our really good players. We have really good players. But they got to develop, and they have to learn how to finish.”
