The Defense Didn't Flinch

Third quarter, UAB 6-yard line. ULM had taken the second-half kickoff and driven 59 yards in 11 plays against a defense held together by transfers from nine programs who had never played a snap together before this season. UAB trailed 17-10. A touchdown here makes it 24-10 with a quarter and a half to play.

A touchdown here and UAB fans are hitting the panic mode. In six quarters against ULM and former Blazers assistant Bryant Vincent, the Blazers had been outscored. 49-19. Things were not looking good for dear ol' UAB.

Derrick Jameson's 11-yard run had given ULM first-and-10 at the 15. Then Todd Grantham's defense set its feet.

First down: Austin Carlisle's pass to Parker Fulghum fell incomplete.

Second down: Carlisle found Jameson for 7 yards to the 8. Not enough.

Third-and-3: Carlisle ran middle. Muaaz Byard and Elijah Hall stopped him after 2 yards at the 6.

Field goal. It gave ULM a 20-10 lead, but felt a bit like a victory for the Blazers.

"It was really big to hold them to a field goal there," head coach Alex Mortensen said. "It was huge."

ULM never scored again. From that field goal at 10:24 of the third quarter — roughly 25 minutes of game clock — the Warhawks had four possessions:

• Five plays, 16 yards, punt. Jo Pierce broke up a Carlisle pass.
• Three plays, minus-5 yards, punt. ULM went backwards.
• Seven plays, 39 yards. Ike Esonwune intercepted Carlisle.
• Eight plays, 29 yards, turnover on downs. Pierce broke up a pass at the UAB 46. Eight seconds left.

"We knew how crucial it was," Pierce said. "Coach Grantham put us in the right spot to execute the play, and we got to make the play."

Three points in the second half. Zero in the fourth quarter.

Halftime

The first half had been a problem. Carlisle rushed 17 times for 93 yards on the day, including a 7-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that made it 14-3. Most of the damage came before the break. ULM had switched to Carlisle late in the Mississippi State game the previous week, and UAB's staff tried to prepare for both quarterbacks during the week.

"I thought the kid did a good job," Mortensen said. "He's a challenge."

Pierce followed Grantham from Oklahoma State. He plays safety.

"We knew what they was gonna try to hit us with, which was we was lacking on the quarterback run," Pierce said. "We know how fast he is. ... That was our main thing coming into the half, stop the quarterback run."

After the third-quarter field goal drive, Carlisle never broke loose again.

"Stopped the run, stopped the big plays, swarmed to the ball," Pierce said. "We went into halftime and we had a lot of stuff we had to fix. ... The main thing was just finishing the game hard, executing the play."

Esonwune

Esonwune, the linebacker who followed Grantham from Oklahoma State along with Pierce and defensive back Draden Fullbright, was everywhere.

He had six tackles in the first quarter alone. In the second quarter, with ULM in the red zone after a Ryder Burton interception, Esonwune broke up a Carlisle pass and forced ULM to settle for a field goal. In the fourth quarter, with UAB clinging to a 23-20 lead, he intercepted Carlisle and gave the offense the ball with 5:50 remaining. That drive — 11 plays, 4:40 off the clock — ended with Jonah Delange's 42-yard field goal that made it 26-20 with 1:10 left.

Marlin Dean, the edge rusher from Georgia State, had a sack — a three-yard loss on Carlisle in the second quarter. Tylin Jackson added another for two yards.

The context

A year ago, this defense gave up 38.3 points per game in conference play — the third straight season it got worse. Mortensen hired Grantham, overhauled the roster and started over. Against ULM, the rebuilt version held an opponent to 257 total yards, three of 12 on third down and forced field goals on two of four red zone possessions. Carlisle finished 10-of-19 passing for 56 yards — no touchdowns, one interception, under three yards per attempt.

The offense turned the ball over once. A muffed punt gave ULM a short field. The defense absorbed both without breaking.

"These guys did a great job adapting through the course of the game and really turned that thing big time in the second half," Mortensen said. "... We want to win the fourth quarter every game. We won the fourth quarter today."

The defense that spent three years folding did not fold Saturday. It adapted at halftime, shut down a mobile quarterback and delivered the interception and the final stop that let the running game finish it.

"For the defense to just not flinch and play the way they did," Mortensen said, "is very encouraging."