Army runs over uab 44-10
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 12, 2024
NAVY 44, UAB 10
WHAT IT MEANS: The hole gets deeper for Trent Dilfer and his team after they fell to 1-5 overall. This is the first five-game losing streak since the Blazers lost the final six games of the 2013 season under Garrick McGee.
WHEN THE GAME TURNED: The Blazers weren’t good early on a day when, realistically, it probably took a perfect game to pull off the upset. A dropped pass cost UAB on big play on the opening play and they failed to convert on 4th-and-short deep in their territory. After an encroachment penalty, Army quarterback Bryson Daily ran through UAB linebacker OC Brothers on the way to the first touchdown of the game. The tone was set quickly.
WHY UAB LOST: The offense wasn’t consistent but the key to this one was the UAB defense couldn’t stop Bryson Daily and the Army offense. The Black Knights rushed for 413 yards on 56 carries and gained 515 yards overall. Army scored touchdowns on its first five possessions and led 34-3 at half.
WHAT ARE THE KEY STATS: Bryson Daily carried the ball 12 times for 136 yards and scored four touchdowns. He was 3-of-7 passing for 102 yards with one touchdown. Defensively, UAB had no tackles for loss or sacks. UAB’s offense committed two turnovers, was 1 of 3 in the red zone and 6 of 16 on conversion downs. Jalen Kitna, in his second start, was 25-of-39 for 242 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Kitna had at least three dropped passes on potential big plays and was sacked three times. Kam Shanks (9 catches for 119 yards) and Amare Thomas (7 catches for 53 yards with a touchdown) had productive days and linebacker Michael Moore had a team-high 11 tackles. Army held the ball for 35 minutes and six seconds in the 60-minute game.
WHO GETS THE GAME BALLS: Nobody from UAB.
WHAT DID COACH DILFER SAY IN HIS POSTGAME APPEARANCE ON BLAZER SPORTS NETWORK FROM LEARFIELD
On Army: I think both them and Nate are going to be tough to beat down the stretch. Army's really strong, physically balanced. If you look at their offensive linemen, powerful , dudes, very flexible, so they can play very low, very hard to stop them from knocking you back. Obviously, I think quarterback's one of the best players in the country. I think both him and the Navy quarterback are two of the best players in the country. They won't get the credit they deserve because it's not flashy, but it's effective. And then defensively, you know, they have really good defensive speed. They are powerful dudes, and they're really smart defensively. You know, they play the game with the lead most of the time. We were trying to not let that happen offensively and match them. Just once again, story of the season, offensively just stubbed our toe.
On not getting the Army offense in long yardage situations: We had no chance once they start converting those (early downs). You know, they just, they tried, we had three plays in the third quarter. I get it, the score at that point, most likely it's over. But you know, you want to get the ball and score as many points as you can so you make it interesting. We had a three-and-out they had the ball for 14 minutes, I think, in the third quarter. That's what they do to you. They frustrate you offensively. They make it very hard on the play caller offensively to stay patient. They force you to be one-dimensional, and it's just a really good formula of football. Both them and Navy are very good at it.
On the failed fourth down conversion on UAB’s first possession: They’re all go for it (on) 4th-and-1 when you’re underdogs. I'm a metrics guy to a certain degree, but the odds, 10 years of research tell you that you need to go for those fourth and ones when you have them to have a chance to win the game. We knew we were going to have a hard time stopping them. I thought we'd move it the one yard, we didn't, you know, that's the danger. When you play that style of football, you have to make sure you execute in those situations and we have it at the level we need to.
On Jalen Kitna: I think outside that first interception, which was a mental mistake, he had his first read kind of coming over and left it a little too soon, he played pretty clean. He didn't have a lot of help, played clean with his eyes, threw the ball really well, made some big-time throws. It's just it's hard when you're not getting a ton of help elsewhere. (He) had, what, three big plays dropped on him, constant pressure all day long. So, I think he's gonna be a really really, really good football player, just needs to play more football.
On having patience against Army’s approach: It's hard, yeah. I mean, it's frustrating too, because you're not executing at the level you want to offensively. You're giving away too many opportunities and you get down that much. You're sitting there watching the clock bleed out and you can't come back on the field and stay balanced. You gotta throw in some token runs to slow down the pass rush. But you know you have to throw the ball to get back in it to any degree.
On UAB linebacker Michael Moore: He was running around all over the field. Again, it’s a very difficult offense to play against. As a linebacker, you not only have to play inside stuff, you got to run into the perimeter and chase the option. We know there's gonna be a lot of pressure on our inside linebackers.
On next week’s challenge at USF: They're all good. When you're not playing good, they're all good. First and foremost, my thoughts are with the people in Tampa. I lived there for six years and played there and the community is dear to me. I texted Coach Golesh and asked how his group was doing. They were doing good, they got off to Orlando. I know they play Memphis today. We’ve got to reload. You know, we're beaten, broken. Sorry not broken, we're beaten and battered, we just can't break. We gotta get to the point where we're not broken. There's a lot of cleaning things up to do. It's the same story every week but there's no quit in this group.
WHERE IS UAB’S NEXT ASSIGNMENT: UAB stays on the road, where they are 0-9 under Dilfer, for an AAC game against South Florida in Tampa.