UAB Falls To 2-7 After Second Half Comeback By UCONN
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 10, 2024
UCONN 31, UAB 23
WHAT IT MEANS: UAB is officially eliminated from reaching the six wins needed for bowl eligibility.
WHEN THE GAME TURNED: Things changed after UConn quarterback Nick Evers was sideline with a lower body injury. In came Joe Fagnano, who spearheaded the come-from-behind victory. The key to the comeback came when UConn scored two touchdowns in 17 seconds to turn a 13-point deficit into a 24-23 lead with 8:28 remaining. The first touchdown came on a 6-yard fourth down pass from Joe Fagnano to Shamar Porter. On the first play of the ensuing UAB possession, officials ruled that a pop pass from Jalen Kitna to Kam Shanks was a fumble that was recovered by Jack Barton at the UAB 21-yard line. Replay officials upheld the fumble, even though it appeared Kitna was standing at the 20-yard line and Shanks touched the ball just inside the 21-yard line. UConn scored two plays later to take the lead for good.
WHY UAB LOST: UAB was outscored 28-3 after halftime. Two critical referee calls went against the Blazers in the second half. Both of the plays resulted in turnovers and led to what were ultimately the game-winning points. But, UAB could have put itself in a position where those calls didn’t matter. UAB went away from the running game in the second half despite having tremendous success on the ground in the first half. The Blazers also committed four turnovers.
WHAT ARE THE KEY STATS: UAB entered the red zone three times on Saturday without scoring a red zone touchdown. The Blazers were 3 of 3 on red zone trips but each time they came away with a field goal. Lee Beebe had 17 carries for 115 yards with a 25-yard touchdown run in the first half and 21 yards on six catches. But, he also had a key fumble. Corri Milliner got his first college touchdown on a 38-yard pass from Jalen Kitna (22-of-42 for 233 yards).
WHO GETS THE GAME BALLS: No one from UAB gets a game ball.
WHAT DID COACH DILFER SAY IN HIS POSTGAME APPEARANCE ON BLAZER SPORTS NETWORK FROM LEARFIELD
Opening statement: Obviously, incredibly painful, we’re finding more ways to lose. We had that one, played really well for a while. And turnovers and mistakes killed in the second half. Credit to UConn, they did a good job of capitalizing on him. That drive they had to start the second half was impressive. But then our inability offensively to sustain the ball and give our defense some breaks was a tough deal.
On going away from the run in the second half: We should have called more runs, but, you know, we had really good opportunities. They were giving up so much stuff. We're trying to get the ball on the perimeter. Plays were working, and we were moving the ball and just turned it over. The thought was, in the first half, just throw it into the fringe zone and then run it in. So we would have had more opportunities to run the football if we didn't turn it over. I remember when used to play, it was like, well, you stopped running the ball. And then we turned it over in the second half and had a third of the plays we should have had. To run the football, you get a lot of plays. When we ended up with 50, 60 plays, and we ended up with 80 something plays (in a typical game). I'm sure I'll watch the film and I wish I called more runs.
On the official explanation for the turnover on the pop pass: I didn’t get one. I’ve never seen it called a fumble but it was today.
On his team’s energy: I want to say this, our energy was good. I was proud of the kids, regardless of circumstances. That was kind of the challenge. Guys were staying positive. There wasn't complaining, there wasn't moaning. It was like, OK, respond and go out there and try to make a play. So I was proud of that. Really, this thing came down to turnovers. I don't know how else to say it. You turn over three times in the second half, your chances of winning are going to be slim. We move the ball. We get into scoring territory close, we turn it over. We have the incomplete pass that’s called a fumble. And then we start a drive with a 10-yard flip pass to Beebe and they call that fumble. You're talking about early calls (in a series), the first play of a drive is the incompletion that's called fumble. And then the first play of the second drive is the call that is a fumble for Beebe. Let's say your average of seven plays a drive, which is a decent drive, that's 12 plays that just got taken away. Put your defense in a terrible position. It's very hard to be successful that way. I'm sure we'll look at the film and regret a lot of stuff. But all the losses hurt, this one hurts because it's a new way and we found it.
On UConn’s quarterback situation: Very similar players I had Nick Evers at the Elite 11 years ago. We thought both of them, that side car, outside zone, quarterback, keep stuff was going to be part of the game plan. I thought we did a pretty good job taking that away. They love to run the switch route. The one they ran today the Swiss Baroque warehouse, the one they hit for the touchdown. We knew it was coming. They took advantage of their opportunities and we didn’t.
On UAB front seven: I think both of our lines of scrimmage are playing a lot better. We've worked really hard at it. Again, I'm proud of the guys, they've worked their tails off. They've stayed focused on getting better, haven't let a devastating season to this point affect their preparation. They’ve worked hard, it really helped. We have three old guys there, (Kevin) Penn, Desmond (Little) and LD (Cox) that want to keep playing football. So they keep on working on getting better.
On the UAB postgame locker room: Well, I told them I wish I could say something to make the pain go away, because they hurt, but you can't. I talked about the dangers of blaming people. When a locker room turns on each other, it's never a good thing. So when you give a game away, everyone's going to wonder whose fault it was. Just blame me. That's the easiest thing to do. I deserve it, but I don't want them to blame each other. You get in and start blaming each other. These are lifelong relationships, hopefully. I'm still friends with my college teammates. I think these guys should be friends for the rest of their lives. And you don't want to let something you say or something you do have a frustration affect that.
We'll have a little bit of time off and we'll come back and try to flush this thing quick and move on. I've never been a believer that there's nothing to play for. I've always been a believer that every time you put on pads, you're representing something. We're representing the university, you're representing your family. You're representing our city, which we care deeply for. So just because a bowl game is in sight doesn't mean (we’ll quit). I'm about to play forward, we'll come in back to work and try to go be our rival.
On lack of red zone success: Story of the season, right? I think we leave the country in long drives, it was all field goals, it's killing me. I love Jonah (Delange), I'm glad he's kicking a lot of them and making them, but I'd rather not. You know, I'll torture myself on some of the calls, we thought we could run it in, you know, the first try, we call it a run that we think is gonna be pretty successful when it gets stoned. It's a third down, you know, they're a big pressure team on third down. Jim (Mora Jr.) did a great job, they changed up some of the tendencies, so we would call a man-beater and they'd play zone. We expected way more pressure in this game, way more main coverage. They played us pretty soft, so they'd trick us there.
You know, we drop a touchdown, Jaylen makes a great throw, back of the end zone on third down play, and kind of wet gloves and wet footballs. It always comes down to execution. And for whatever reason, we're not executing the red zone. I mean, I can show you how many calls we have, like, we try. We try to find every which way in scoring. We just haven't made enough plays.
On the shoes he wore on Saturday to honor his son Trevin: Yeah, so this you know every week we we try to shine light on something. This week was my son's foundation, the Trent Dilfer Foundation. Had a little picture of him on it, which is pretty good. Then the other shoe has the foundation stuff on it - ribs and root beer We always celebrate his birthday, which is Monday. With ribs and root beer, people around the country know that was his favorite meal. This weekend's really gonna hurt It's always an emotional weekend. It's always a little bit better when you win a football game, but tough weekend.
WHERE IS UAB’S NEXT ASSIGNMENT: The Battle for the Bones is up next in Memphis. UAB can’t play in a bowl game but they do have the opportunity to get one of the best trophies in college football back in Birmingham.