An eerie yet familiar situation presents itself for the UAB football team as it prepares for its final home game of October.

Brimming with confidence after two crucial league wins in the return season of 2017, the Blazers fell to a winless Charlotte 49ers team in overtime and are hoping history does not repeat itself as they play host to the Charlotte, Saturday, Oct. 15, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham.

Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on Stadium.

“Excited about getting into another conference game at home, staying here in Birmingham,” UAB interim head coach Bryant Vincent said. “We’ve had five chapters written in this book. This is chapter six moving ahead with another conference game. Records don’t matter, we know Charlotte is extremely talented.”

UAB is coming off a 41-14 win over Middle Tennessee State in the annual Children’s Harbor game, highlighted by a career performance from senior receiver Trea Shropshire. The Blazers were offensively balanced, amassing 581 total yards with 303 yards on the ground and 278 yards through the air, and were dominant on the defensive side in building a 38-7 halftime lead.

“Extremely proud of our players and coaches and being able to represent those patients and families and be able to play for the memory of the patients that weren’t there with us Saturday,” Vincent said. “We came out and we started fast. Being able to go down and score on our first drive, get a good stop on defense and come back and score again, made for one of the better halves of football I’ve seen here at UAB. The urgency, the sense of focus, the passion and the way we started the game in all three phases, I couldn’t be more proud of this football team.”

The Blazers are firing on all cylinders heading into the meat of the league schedule and face a Charlotte team with 1 win this season, a 42-41 shootout at Georgia State, and a loss to FCS foe William & Mary. Despite a 1-5 record, Charlotte has improved drastically in its last three contests and is capable of upsetting UAB given similar circumstances to the programs’ initial meeting.

Entering the first meeting in 2017, Charlotte was winless on the season while the Blazers were 4-2 with last-minute victories over Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee State. UAB would fall 25-24 in overtime at Charlotte but rebounded to finish the regular season at 8-4.

“At the end of the day, it’s college football,” Vincent said. “Every given Saturday, every week of this football season, you’ve seen upsets. Each and every week, you see it over and over and over, and you’ve got to get prepared. Your team has got to be prepared. You have to be ready because it’s hard to win Division I football games. You’ve got to stay the course on the things that got you there.”

Although there were setbacks at Liberty and Rice, UAB is hitting its stride in all three phases of the game.

The Blazers are ranked ninth in rushing offense (236.4 ypg), led by DeWayne McBride and Jermaine Brown Jr., and the passing game is beginning to evolve midway through the season. McBride leads the nation with 160.2 ypg on the ground, ranking 10th in rushing yards, and faces a Charlotte rushing defense ranked 130th in the nation (253.3 ypg). Trea Shropshire had a career-high 193 yards against Middle Tennessee State and opens up the intermediate passing game for the rest of the UAB offense. He is also leading the nation in yards per reception (28.6) for the second straight year.

“This football team is an experienced team, it’s a mature team, and it’s a very smart football team,” Vincent said. “We know that we’re still backed in a corner. Every game is a championship game for us. That’s our mindset, that’s what we talk about as a team. It’s about us and it’s about us preparing daily.”

Defensively, UAB is shutting down opposing passing offenses and has allowed only two quarterbacks to pass for more than 200 yards in a game this season, Liberty’s Kaidon Salter (202 yards) and Georgia Southern’s Kyle VanTrease (204 yards). The Blazers rank second nationally in pass efficiency defense (93.28), allowing a 53.3 completion percentage, and are 13th in passing yards allowed (168.6 ypg). UAB also ranks 23 in total defense (317.6 ypg) and 20 in scoring defense (16.8 ppg), leading Conference USA in both categories.

Charlotte’s defense has allowed opponents to build early leads but the offense is capable of keeping the 49ers in the game. Quarterback Chris Reynolds was injured in the season opener at FAU but returned for Charlotte’s win over Georgia State and has played well since returning to the lineup, passing for 891 yards and 11 touchdowns against 4 interceptions in three games.

Considering UAB’s experience and depth are meshing into a formidable unit, Reynolds represents the lone key for any possible upset by Charlotte.

“Chris Reynolds, their quarterback who got hurt, he’s the guy that makes them go,” Vincent said. “When he’s in the game, they play differently. Charlotte is winless and they go to Georgia State and beat them and Reynolds has a heyday. With Chris Reynolds at quarterback, Charlotte is obviously a dangerous football team. They’re a team that believes in him and you can tell that he’s a winner.”