The UAB Blazers were defeated handily by rival Memphis 53-18, losing their third straight Battle for the Bones game dating back to 2012.
Memphis’ offense, led by quarterback Seth Henigan, produced 526 yards on Saturday, outgaining the Blazers by 174 yards.
UAB was met with the opportunity to make this a competitive game often throughout the first three quarters, but turnovers constantly held them back.
The Blazers fell to 2-8, their worst record through 10 games since 2011. They finished 3-9 that season, with then-head coach Neil Callaway being fired the day after their final game.
Trent Dilfer’s UAB teams dropped to 0-11 in road games, and 6-16 overall.
Here’s the takeaways from Saturday night:
UAB failed to find any offensive rhythm
The Blazers came into this game having had over 400 yards of total offense last week and more than 500 the two weeks prior. On Saturday, they were held to 352, with 175 of that coming in the final 25 minutes of action when the game was out of reach.
A stout rushing defense held them to just 28 net yards on the ground, with running back Lee Beebe Jr. gaining 42 on the night but lost yardage on sacks and tackles for loss nixed much of his production.
The passing game was inconsistent at best and in what was his sixth start, quarterback Jalen Kitna threw for 253 yards on 27-43 passing with one touchdown and two picks.
Turnovers remain a deterrent for the inexperienced quarterback, who in addition to his two interceptions, fumbled the ball once and had multiple plays where balls were thrown into double and triple coverage.
The Blazers had to scrape and claw to gain any momentum, gaining chunks of yards on big plays but then turning the ball over like they did on a botched snap in the red zone in the first quarter, or failing to convert and settling for punts.
Blazers’ pass rush nonexistent
UAB’s edge rusher group came into tonight’s game with some momentum, having created multiple sacks over the course of a few weeks.
The group, led by Desmond Little, failed to generate a single sack of Memphis’ Seth Henigan or generate virtually any pressure, for that matter.
Not a single tackle-for-loss was recorded, either.
Henigan spent the entirety of his senior night operating in a clean pocket and finished the game 23-of-34 for 299 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
It was to the dismay of a UAB secondary that has held up against the pass this season but hadn’t faced an offense as powerful as Memphis’.
Henigan played with no urgency in the pocket, and he had no reason to, knowing that if a receiver wasn’t open upon his first read, one surely would be on the next.
UAB is in for a long month
Head coach Trent Dilfer said it himself; this was the Blazers’ bowl game.
Not only losing it, but barely putting up a fight in route to a blowout loss now leaves them with two games that will hardly hold any significance for the team.
Next week, the Blazers face Rice in their final home game, and finish the season at Charlotte.
No matter the outcome of both games, the horizon almost certainly holds top players hitting the portal in December, staff changes and questions from the UAB faithful about the people leading the program heading into 2025.
It’ll be an offseason the Blazers’ Athletic Department can’t afford to botch, as impatience from fans has continued to fester into frustration in Birmingham.