To solve UAB offensive challenges, Mortensen focuses on 'mitigating risk'

With about 5 minutes to go before halftime against Charlotte, UAB had receiver EJ Reid three or four yards behind the 49ers' secondary. A 48-yard touchdown pass waiting to happen. The read was there. The route was there.

But Ryder Burton was hit as he threw. The ball came out as a lame duck, fluttered about 20 yards and was intercepted at the Charlotte 34.

Charlotte ranks last in the American Conference in scoring defense at 38.3 points per game and allows 449.1 yards per game. If there was a game on UAB's schedule where the pass protection problems should have disappeared, it was this one. They did not disappear. UAB turned the ball over four times, were tied 6-6 entering the fourth quarter and needed 17 fourth-quarter points to pull away and win 23-12.

After the game, Mortensen used a phrase: mitigating risk. Asked to elaborate during his Temple game-week press conference, he started here:

'We know what's going on'

"My ego is not attached to total offense," Mortensen said. "It's not attached to scoring offense. We wanna do whatever we can to win a game."

In 2023, Mortensen coordinated a UAB offense that averaged 449.5 yards per game. "We were pretty good offensively. But we were balanced. We were diverse in our presentation. We were diverse in play type. We had a lot of quick throws. Quarterback completed the ball at a really high rate."

"Getting this last game, and I'm just going to be frank, like there are some areas that we failed to execute," Mortensen said. "And I don't want to get into too many specifics. I'm just going to ask that people give me the benefit of the doubt on this one. That we know what's going on."

"At that point our defense is playing well, and we knew we could get out of the game with a win, you know, by tilting it a certain way, uh, in terms of what we did in the game."

"You do what you need to do to win that game and ensure the odds are in favor of that as much as possible. And you're always trying to manage risk-reward as it pertains to that."

Why he had to

A week before Charlotte, UAB jumped to a 10-0 lead at South Florida and then got buried 30-10 with the offense giving up two touchdowns via fumbles returned for scores. South Florida leads the American in scoring defense at 15.1 points per game and ranks second in total defense at 312.7 yards per game. You could rationalize the collapse. USF has a good defense. These things happen.

Then the same problems showed up against Charlotte. That is when the excuse evaporated.

The Pro Football Focus data frames the problem at the unit level. No UAB offensive lineman grades above 65 for the season. The tackle position has been a revolving door of players grading in the 30s, 40s and 50s across nine games. UAB allowed six sacks against USF and 13 total pressures. Burton has been sacked 27 times through nine games and has thrown eight interceptions against six touchdowns.

Burton, after the South Florida loss: "Sometimes when you are struggling as an offense and you're sitting there, you're just like, 'I want to feel the offense moving forward,' sometimes you can get into a head space where you focus on trying to make something happen that probably isn't there. We call it kind of hoping and praying on a route or a concept."

The receivers had four drops in the first half against Charlotte. The pass-catching grades across the board were below average.

What the data shows

For the season, just over half of UAB's pass attempts — 51.1 percent — go nine yards or less. Another 38.6 percent target medium (10-19 yards) or deep (20-plus).

Against Charlotte, 63.3 percent of pass attempts went nine yards or less. Deep passes were cut in half. Short passes jumped from 40.9 percent to 50 percent. Behind the line of scrimmage rose from 10.2 to 13.3 percent. That is a 12-point shift toward the short game — against a team allowing 449.1 yards per game.

The fourth quarter showed what that approach produces when it works. UAB went run-heavy, then shifted toward quicker-hitting passes. Mortensen said the offense's final 14 plays produced 14 points at 8.3 yards per play. Rod Robinson II finished with 14 carries for 101 yards. Bam McReynolds added 12 carries for 54. Ja'Vin Simpkins scored twice. The running game — powered by three backs who all grade above 70 according to PFF — carried the offense once Mortensen committed to it.

The luxury of adapting

UAB's defense makes this possible. The Blazers lead the American in total defense at 298.6 yards per game and rank first nationally in passing defense at 122.6 yards per game. Todd Grantham's unit, anchored by edge rusher Marlin Dean, has held nine consecutive opponents under 200 passing yards. Charlotte managed 234 total yards. Oliver Straw punted three times at a 46.7-yard average, continuing a season in which he has hit a 50-plus-yard punt in every game.

"It's a great feeling to know as a quarterback that you don't have to be perfect in order to win the game," Burton said after the South Florida loss. "I know from people I've talked to or other buddies that I have playing at other schools, like, it's like if they don't score every drive, there's just not a lot of chance they win that day at the office."

Donovan Lawrence, one of the offensive line's better performers this season: "Stay on the blocks. I feel like we have some of the three best backs in the country. As long as we stay on our blocks, get up to double teams, and just stay engaged throughout the play, I think we have a really good chance to get the W."

UAB has three games remaining — at Temple, home against UTSA and at North Texas. The Blazers are one win from bowl eligibility for the first time since 2022. Mortensen wants to be even more aggressive than he was in 2023. He said as much. But he also understands that sometimes the plan has to change in any given game.

"We obviously need to and want to play with more diversity, more aggressiveness on early downs," Mortensen said. "That doesn't necessarily mean everything's gotta be high risk or downfield throws and things of that nature, but for us to be able to play the way we wanna play, we need to be able to do that."

"We're not gonna wave the white flag that we're gonna have to play like that all the time."