Can UAB offense pass the Navy test?

Alex Mortensen did not sugarcoat it.

Three days after UAB's offense managed 74 total yards on 26 plays with three first downs in the first half of a 21-14 loss at Louisiana, the Blazers' head coach stood at the podium and delivered his most pointed assessment of the season.

"Offensively it's one of the poor performances I've ever been involved with, in some ways," Mortensen said.

The diagnosis was specific. The passing game is "below the standard with which we expect," he said. "It needs to be better in every component of it." He confronted the offense after a slack Thursday practice the week before. Players did things in games they weren't coached to do. The timing is not there. The trust is not there.

"There are things that rear their head in a game that we don't do in practice," Mortensen said. "We actually went back and showed them practice clips of, 'Hey, here we are. It's the first play of the game, right? We practice this play against this exact look.' ... Then we get to the game, and you do something you're not coached to do."

Mortensen named the problem down to the specific reps.

UAB (1-2, 0-0) hosts Navy (1-1, 0-1) at 6 p.m. Friday at Protective Stadium in the Blazers' American Conference home opener on ESPN. The Midshipmen rank second nationally against the run, allowing 40.5 yards per game. UAB's offense is built on the ground game. Something has to change — and the film from Navy's loss at FAU two weeks ago shows exactly what that something is.

The numbers behind the struggle

Through three games, Ryder Burton has thrown for 478 yards and two touchdowns. EJ Reid leads the team with 12 catches. Ty Mims leads with 120 receiving yards. The tight ends have four catches for 34 yards. UAB has two deep completions all season. CJ Smith caught a 42-yard pass at the Illinois 2-yard line in the opener — first and goal at the 3 — and UAB settled for a field goal. Reid caught a 43-yard touchdown against ULM.

Jonah Delange is 7-for-7 on field goals — first in the conference. UAB has five touchdowns in three games: three rushing, two passing.

Mortensen has flagged this for weeks. After the Illinois opener: "The good news is we scored in the red zone. The bad news is more of those need to be touchdowns, not field goals." After the ULM game: "You'd rather trade some of those field goals for touchdowns."

The running game has been UAB's identity — 178.0 yards per game, anchored by Rod Robinson II. The Blazers rushed for 266 yards on 52 carries against ULM. But at Louisiana, the Ragin' Cajuns loaded the box and UAB's ground game vanished: 8 net rushing yards on 14 first-half carries. Burton finished 15-of-25 for 144 yards with no touchdowns, an interception and three sacks.

Why the run won't save you Friday

Navy's defense allows 40.5 rushing yards per game — second in the country behind only LSU. The Midshipmen have not allowed a rushing touchdown this season. In two games, opponents have carried 64 times for 81 total yards — 1.3 per carry.

Mortensen acknowledged the matchup: "Offensively, we always wanna have an identity ... and then at the same time too, you couple it with some flexibility to be able to adjust week to week and do whatever it takes to try to win that game."

But he also said: "I don't anticipate us veering too far from who we are."

The tension in those two statements is the story of Friday night.

Robinson sees it from the backfield. "It starts with the O line, the running backs and tight ends," he said. "We have to be able to protect the quarterback so we can get him into a rhythm, to be able to throw the ball confidently."

The FAU blueprint

FAU beat Navy two weeks ago, 38-30, in a game that featured two wildly different halves.

Caden Veltkamp completed 27 of 32 passes for 386 yards and five touchdowns — an 84.4 percent completion rate. FAU's rushing attack produced 42 net yards on 44 carries. Navy shut down the run. FAU won by eight.

The Owls beat Navy through the air with a blend of deep shots and short efficiency. Easton Messer caught a 76-yard touchdown on the second play of the game and a 36-yard score later in the first quarter. He finished with 179 receiving yards, 80 of them after the catch. Kelby Valsin added a 36-yard reception and a 30-yard scoring strike. Between those deep balls, Veltkamp converted 8 of 14 third downs and held possession for 33 minutes and 50 seconds. Navy's offense, which averages 33 minutes of possession per game, got 26:10.

FAU scored five touchdowns. They didn't settle for field goals. They built a 38-7 lead. And Navy still won the second half.

Conventional wisdom says a 31-point lead against an option team ends the game. Option offenses need to run, need long drives, need the clock. Navy scored 23 unanswered points over the final two quarters, pulling within 38-30. "They have the ability to put together drives, but they also have the ability to be explosive and score in a hurry," Mortensen said. "... They do have the ability to bite off chunks and big plays."

Can UAB do it?

Navy's pass defense ranks 13th of 14 in the American. Opponents have completed 78.8 percent of their passes against the Midshipmen — 41 of 52 — for 593 yards and seven touchdowns without an interception.

Mortensen knows the window is there. He also knows his passing game has not been built to climb through it — yet.

"Some of the receivers we have playing didn't really get available till the first week," Mortensen said. "And so privately I had, I have to admit, I did have some concerns about when a guy's at the top of the route, is our quarterback gonna play with the anticipation we need him to, or is he gonna wait to see the angle and the body language 'cause the bank reps aren't there?"

"I really believe we can have an outstanding passing game. I think we have all the makings of it. I think we got the players to do it."

He pointed to last season's game at Navy. "Our quarterback started off like seven for seven on completions and threw for touchdowns on our first three drives," Mortensen said. "We had twenty-four points at the half."

Robinson put it simply. "When you get the passing game going, it opens up everything else," he said. "I have the utmost confidence in Ryder to be able to make plays."

"Bad things happened last week," Robinson said. "I feel like we have to go in this week with a better mindset and more energy, and I feel like we'll be more ready."