'Be better for them'

For three years, everybody who loved UAB football carried the same wish: man, if the defense was just decent, this team would win some football games.

Saturday night in Lafayette, Louisiana, the defense was decent. It might have been more than decent. Chris Burge scooped a fumble and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown — the program's first fumble returned for a touchdown since 2018. Jo'Tavion Pierce forced a fumble with 3:06 remaining and Delvon Gulley recovered at the UAB 18, giving the offense one last chance to tie it. Muaaz Byard finished with 12 tackles. Ike Esonwune had 10. Louisiana scored 21 points in the first half and zero in the second.

The defense wasn't clean about it, either. Louisiana's opening drive drew four penalties from the UAB defense — two pass interference calls, a facemask and a declined flag. A defense that digs itself such a hole and then shuts out a Sun Belt offense for the entire second half is a defense that can adjust. For three years, that was not something you could say about this unit.

The offense put up one touchdown in 60 minutes. The other score was Burge's fumble return.

Darion Smith, a former Blazer center who co-hosts the Blazer Victory podcast, was direct: "That was very ugly."

I have covered this football program since the very first game in 1991 — Division III, FCS, games against defending national champions and eventual national champions. I have seen bad halves of football at every level of competition this program has known.

What the offense produced in the first half Saturday night was among the worst of any of them.

In the first quarter, UAB ran eight plays for 12 total yards, including negative-3 on the ground. The offense had one first down and held the ball for three minutes and 57 seconds while Louisiana had it for 11:03. In the first half, the offense managed three first downs in 30 minutes, eight net rushing yards on 14 carries, converted one-of-6 on third down and did not score a point. The only reason UAB had 7 on the board at halftime was because a defensive lineman recovered a fumble and ran it into the end zone.

If you've watched this program at every level of competition for 35 years, you know what a bad half looks like. That wasn't a bad half. That was an offense that could not function. You can give Louisiana's defense only partial credit for that, too. The Ragin' Cajuns had a good plan and executed it well, but UAB spent a good part of Saturday failing to execute.

Trey Ragland, a former Blazer punter who spent time as part of UAB's radio crew, didn't hold back.

The full-game numbers weren't much different. UAB finished with 218 total yards, two-of-12 on third down, zero-for-4 on fourth down and nine penalties for 89 yards. Ryder Burton completed 15-of-25 passes for 144 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He was sacked three times and finished with -13 net rushing yards because the sacks ate everything he gained on the ground.

Burton is tough. He has taken hits all season and he keeps getting back up. But a quarterback who keeps getting back up is only worth something if the offensive line eventually starts keeping him on his feet. Three games in, that has not happened, and the protection issues are affecting everything else — the run game can't get started when there's no push at the point of attack, and the passing game can't develop when the pocket collapses before routes have time to break. When a defense can stack the box to stop the run and still get after your QB, you've got problems up front.

The offensive line has to solve those problems for this team to reach its potential.

Roderick Robinson II was the most effective rusher on the field with 52 yards on 13 carries at 4.0 per attempt. In the second half, he was the one guy on offense consistently moving the chains. And when UAB went 0-for-4 on fourth down — including the final two possessions of the game — Robinson was not the one getting the ball. That is a play-calling and personnel question fans were asking in real time.

This is a better football team. The second half in Lafayette proved it. Down 21-7 at halftime against a good Sun Belt team at home in front of 18,216 in 91-degree heat, UAB didn't fold. The defense shut out Louisiana for 30 minutes. Nate Rogers scored on an 11-yard run to cut it to 21-14 in the fourth quarter. The Blazers forced a fumble, got the ball back and had a chance to tie it.

A year ago, that comeback doesn't exist. A year ago, 21-0 probably becomes 35-0 and everybody goes home early. The fact that this team fought back to within a score in the fourth quarter at a hostile venue tells you something real about the culture Alex Mortensen is building. The problem is that culture doesn't score points by itself. You still need an offense that is at least decent. Or at least one that doesn't cause whiplash from a team personality flip.

Three games in, Ragland's assessment after the Illinois opener still holds: "UAB is definitely improved, but if we don't learn to play smarter and clean up the penalties, it won't matter."

Navy comes to Protective Stadium on Friday night for UAB's American Conference opener, and the Midshipmen bring the No. 3 ranked rushing defense in the country with them. The defense has answered the three-year question. Now the question is whether the offensive line can answer it.

Smith was a two-year starter at center for UAB and a 2011 nominee for the Rimington Award, which goes to the best center in college football. He summed up — with experience — what many in Blazer Nation were feeling.