UAB Runs Over Rice 40-14 on Blazers’ Senior Day
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 24, 2024
UAB 40, RICE 14
WHAT IT MEANS: The UAB seniors leave Protective Stadium with a win after their final home game. That doesn’t erase what has been a difficult season but it is a good feeling for the seniors.
WHEN THE GAME TURNED: The most obvious moment came on the final play of the first half. Rice was in position to cash in on a gift from a huge mistake by the UAB special teams. The Owls were forced to punt early in the final drive of the half. But the drive was extended by a pair of UAB penalties, which resulted in 30 yards for Rice and a first down. Rice eventually had the ball on the 2-yard line with six seconds remaining and trailing 20-14. Quarterback E.J. Warner threw a pass to his left side that was picked off by Adrian Maddox, who ran 99 yards for a score. So, instead of possibly trailing at halftime, the Blazers took a 27-14 lead into the locker room.
Another key moment in the first half came after Rice motored down the field on its opening drive and took a 7-0 lead. That tough start had the potential to snowball into something worse, especially during a season that hasn’t gone as expected. But true freshman Solomon Beebe took the ensuing kickoff and raced 90 yards before being pulled down by the facemask. UAB had first down at the Rice 5-yard line and converted on a first down pass from Jalen Kitna to Malachi Holt-Bennett.
WHY UAB WON: The Blazers made plays when they were there to be made. They also won the running game battle and won the turnover tussle, 4-1.
WHAT ARE THE KEY STATS: If the scoreboard counts as a stat, UAB won the second half, 13-0, and the final three quarters, 26-0. UAB outgained Rice, 190-115, on the ground. Twelve of UAB’s 21 first downs came on rushing attempts. UAB kept the ball on the ground for all but three plays during the 13-play, 94-yard drive that began with 3:29 left in the third quarter and concluded with a 7-yard TD run by Lee Beebe Jr. with 11:01 remaining. UAB gained 74 yards rushing on 10 carries during the drive.
WHO GETS THE GAME BALLS: It has to start with Lee Beebe Jr., who had 161 rushing yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns. He gained a robust 10.1 yards per carry.
*Linebacker Michael Moore was suspended for the first half because he was ejected for making contact with an official late in the fourth quarter in the loss at Memphis. His second half numbers – nine tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, an interception with 8-yard return and pass breakup – were sensational.
*Give a game ball to UAB defensive coordinator Sione Ta’ufo’ou, whose defense allowed just one legitimate scoring drive.
*Wide receiver Corri Milliner had six catches for 90 yards and 45-yard scoring reception provided the final points.
*Lou Groza Award semifinalist kicker Jonah Delange made both field goal attempts (32, 43 yards) and all four of his extra point attempts. He is now 21-of-22 on field goals this season and was successful on all 28 of his extra point attempts.
*Safety Tyjon Jones (5 tackles, fumble recovery, interception, pass breakup) and nickel back Adrian Maddox (5 tackles, forced fumble, interception returned for TD, two pass breakups) played a big role in the win.
WHAT DID COACH DILFER, ADRIAN MADDOX AND LEE BEEBE JR. SAY IN POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Trent Dilfer
Opening statement: Happy for our seniors, really happy for our team. It's been a very disappointing year, obviously. But still to come out and play some of our best football with so many things going against us, it makes me very proud. But we have one more, and we've got to play even better next week.
On winning the second half: Well, I think we went and won it (in the second half) to be honest with you. That's what I told them at halftime, let's not try to hold on, let's go win this thing. I thought the defense, like they did outside the first drive of the game, played tremendous to start the second half. They get the big fourth down stop, and then the offense goes 94 yards and throws it, I think, twice on the whole drive. I think that's taking it to them. And then defense gets another big stop, and we take a shot to kind of close the thing out. So we wanted to stay aggressive. We didn't want to be foolish. That happens when your defense just gets stop after stop after stop, and that's what happened today.
On what he said to his team after falling behind on first drive: I didn't say much. I mean, we made corrections. I was on the defensive headsets as they were making corrections and I think the defense players didn't freak out. You know, you kind of respond with poise. And then I do think Solomon (Beebe), his big return, just the entire return team, I definitely think that puts air back in the balloon. This whole story this year has been our inability to emotionally regulate. So when we lose momentum, our emotions get the best of us, and it just kind of spirals from there. This was the first game where we would recapture momentum when we lost it. I thought that was one of the many times in this game that we lost momentum early and recaptured it with the big kick return.
On using the fullback: Yeah, you know we have a lot of different personnel groupings. We did, we put a big boy in there, we've used multiple ways of trying to convert short and large in goal line situations. Lee's big run in the first half is a Wildcat type play. So, we'll use fullbacks, multiple tight ends, we'll do anything we possibly can at this point.
On his thoughts during the momentum switching interception return: Well, it sounds like you were in my brain. That's exactly what I was doing. I was actually taking notes. I was like, okay, we were going to get the ball back. We're up six. We're going to try to get three more, be up nine. We get the roughing the punter, we get the personal foul. All of a sudden, they're scoring range. Now they get down there and they're goal to go. I'm like ‘Okay, how am I going to make sure this team doesn't fall apart with the end of the first half?’ Change of momentum again. I'm literally sitting there and I look up and I see Adrian picking it off. I started yelling, get back, get back. We already had the one interception where we had the sideline violation. But again, this is new for us. It's new for us to dig our way out of losing. We had played losing football there then in the first half by giving them the 30 extra yards and a possession and allowing them to get down there and then we turn it into winning football. People are always saying learning how to win, right? Learning how to win is learning how to emotionally regulate when things aren't going your way and flipping the script on the other team. There's multiple cases today where Rice might've had an advantage and the next thing you know we recapture that advantage. Hopefully today is the beginning of a lot of winning.
On Jalen Kitna and E.J Warner: Yeah, I deeply admire both the fathers, great quarterbacks in the league, great humans. That's the thing that stands out to me is Kurt and Jon are two of the best people that I ever met in the NFL. And they raised incredible sons, too, that have been really darn good football players. It's scary playing E.J. I was telling the story there in the week. I remember the first time I saw EJ was in Elite 11 Regional when I was in Nashville. I looked to Kurt, and I said, man, he is gonna be a great player. He just has the makings of a great player. We were fortunate that he did not play his best against us and part of that was because we made it happen. But, man, I think the world of both those kids and their fathers.
On how he feels physically after having neck surgery on Monday: The adrenaline's helping. I'm sure I'll be paying the price a little bit later, but it's not about me. There was nothing that was gonna let me miss this one. These kids work too hard and because I had a little setback doesn’t mean I was gonna miss it. But I want to make sure that, despite my circumstances, I still bring the energy. We've talked a lot about that towards the back half of the season, that we're a better team when everybody's bringing in the energy, and I wasn't gonna let a little boo-boo slow me down.
On the play of Michael Moore: I was really proud of Michael. I told him in the first half he was being a great teammate. Like, he was super communicative, not just linebackers, like, overall. He was like a coach on the field, which showed he wasn't feeling sorry for himself. He took the news this week like a pro. He understood that he made a mistake. He was grateful that he didn't have to miss this whole game, that the league was gracious enough to give him the two halves, you know, the first half this week and the first half next week. So, you know, again, one of the stories of this season is we're learning as a group to not let our circumstances dictate our actions. I thought, Mike, after the fact, after what happened in Memphis, did a good job of slowing down and saying, okay, I caused this, these are my new present circumstances, and I'm not going to make them worse by feeling sorry for myself for making excuses. I'm going to find a way to be a value adder. He practiced hard all week. It's hard to practice when you don't think you're playing, you know, in the first half. You know, by the way, both these guys (Maddox and Beebe) are dealing with stuff, too. You know, they've been dealing with all kinds of things. So, guys dealing with a lot of unfortunate circumstances, yet not letting that dictate their approach.
Lee Beebe Jr.
On his big game and his brother’s big kickoff return: It was a great moment. I love seeing Solomon make plays, really just us both making plays, I just love seeing my little brother make plays and just provide a spark for our team.
On becoming more comfortable with each carry: Well, yes, I'd say that but I also have to get credit to the O-line, because whenever I'm eating, they're eating as well. I couldn't eat without the O-line.
On the ease of running behind the UAB offensive line: I said from scale one to ten, it was like an eight. Just because on the offensive line kept their poise when the bad plays we had from the loss of yardage. They kept doing what they did best and that ultimately went in our favor.
Adrian Maddox
On his interception return for a TD: So what happened was, we was in Cover 2. I seen the QB like staring at me the whole time. He kept checking to me. The play before, I almost picked him off. He tried me again. I’m like, ‘He’s going to throw this for real? He threw the ball?’ The rest is over with – 99 yards. There you go.
On what he thought with the ball in his hands: You got to run, it’s time to go, it’s time to score. I see green grass and I got to score. But I will say, without my team, I would be nothing, though. We executed all day. They made a plays to get it right on the goal line. Without my team, none of that would have happened.
On defending Lee Beebe during practice: You better bring it, you better bring it. You know Beebe is going to try to run (you over). Him and Isaiah Jacobs, boy, fall camp got real.
WHERE IS UAB’S NEXT ASSIGNMENT: UAB closes the season on Saturday at Charlotte. The Blazers try one more time to get back-to-back wins for the first time this season.