The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Photo by: Ken Shepherd
UAB Travels to Face Rice on Saturday in Houston
11/3/2025 2:15:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – The UAB football team remains on the road this coming Saturday, Nov. 8, for an American Conference contest at Rice. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
INTERIM HEAD COACH ALEX MORTENSEN
Opening statement:
"Obviously, a tough loss on the road and a disappointing loss against UConn. I certainly give them credit, they have a very good team, they are well coached, they have done a great job with their roster, they are 6-3 at this point and have some good wins under their belt. With that being said, (I am) definitely disappointed in the way that we played in a lot of areas. We had a lot of unforced errors early in the game that put us behind. I was pleased with the defense. They came out and got a stop on the first possession, and then offensively, we actually drove down in the red zone pretty quick and clipped off a number of runs for substantial yardage, then got into the high red zone, and then had a costly turnover on second down, with poor judgement on it. I think based on the way we were running the ball, we probably had a chance to stay in the driver's seat, to a degree, then two series later, we have another turnover on a play where we have a guy who is a good player for us that ends up not completing a route totally, so pretty quick, we got behind. Later, another series after that, we miss a snap that puts us on the minus one (yard line). My point in all that is all those (mistakes) are unforced errors. We had a lot of guys who played really hard, played tough, and played competitively in this game. I think Solomon Beebe averaged well over six yards per carry, Jevon Jackson was probably in that five-and-a-half (yards per carry) ballpark, so we were running the ball well, but we let the game get away from us way too quick with unforced errors and I think that was the story of the day and certainly tried to fight our way back into it after that happened. I think defensively, we could say maybe there are some opportunities to get off the field on third down, but I think offensively, we have to put our defense in a better position. When you talk about turning the ball over twice early and then having to punt from the minus one (yard line), I think we have an opportunity to keep that game tight or potentially even be playing with the lead early in the game. That is just the way we look at that. Moving on to this game, we are playing Rice this week, and (we are) excited about that opportunity. It's another conference game going on the road. They are a good team and a good program. They have a new coaching staff; they have adopted a new offense that has some unique elements to it. It has some triple option type components to it, but with some bigger bodies than what you would traditionally see out of some of the other teams who run the triple option, and it definitely presents some challenges. Defensively, they have been good there, and they are still doing a good job and have good people, so we are excited to take on the challenge."
On what has gone well for the running game the last two games:
"I think our offensive line is doing a good job in the communication process, they are making their IDs up front and getting targeted to the right people and playing with physicality and toughness and good technique. We have good backs, I think we have good runners that, going into the season, were good and I think they continue to get better through the course of the year. Their vision and their decision making improves as well. Those are certain things, and I think our RPO game, too, complements it because you force the defense hopefully to have to defend all your eligibles, so the two things kind of go hand in hand where maybe you can create some space through the use of the formations and through the RPOs. That has been positive to see and of course we still want to still build on the run game, too. The last two weeks have definitely improved."
On what he has learned the last three weeks as interim head coach:
"I think going into a situation like this, I have been involved with this game for a long time, and fortunately have been around good people and good mentors, so a lot of situations that occur, I have seen them occur before, even if I was not always the primary decision maker or the one having to handle (the decisions). I think a lot of it, you feel pretty prepared for, but certainly, if you are not continually trying to learn in this profession, you are not going to last very long, so I am trying to use every opportunity as a chance to grow and learn and I think one of the biggest things, too, if I have learned anything, and people always want to ask me what I have learned from Coach (Nick) Saban, or have you asked him anything, he obviously is a very intelligent and smart man and a great leader, but I also saw him seek counsel, too, even at the stage he was at when I was around him which I think says a lot. So, also, being a good listener, too, to wise people and people you trust when you have to make some of these decisions."
On Rice's option attack:
"I think a lot of it, when you talk about option football and what it can create, people always talk about forcing you to play assignment and sound on defense and it is a little bit what even the RPO game can do as well, is you have to account for all of the eligibles that are out there and it can kind of spread you thin a little bit and when you are coaching defense, one of the basic fundamentals of defense is you need to get 11 hats to the ball. We need to get 11 people to the football, and now we have to have someone who has the dive, who has the pitch that has to be ready to take on force blocks and lead blocks and still have the quarterback. I think in a way, it is a way of creating space and creating one-on-ones, and when you create space and one-on-ones, if you have one missed assignment, if they can make one guy miss, sometimes there is no deep help, there is no secondary help. I think that is one of the ways you can generate explosives when you run a system like that, and then again, the talent, the players, the quarterback (Chase) Jenkins and running back (Quinton) Jackson, both of those guys are part of that, too, because they are really good players."
Click here to watch the entire press conference.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
- The Blazers enter the contest at 3-5 overall and 1-3 in league play. Rice is 4-5 overall, 1-4 in the American, and is coming off a 38-14 loss to No. 25 Memphis. The Blazers defeated Memphis back on Oct. 18 but lost last week to a UConn team that Rice defeated two weeks ago in double overtime. With four games remaining against Rice, North Texas, South Florida and Tulsa, the Blazers have to win three of those four to achieve bowl eligibility.
- Quarterback Ryder Burton played the majority of the game at UConn after replacing starter Jalen Kitna on the third series. Burton finished the game 21-of-30 for 209 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. His top target was Brandon Hawkins Jr. who had a career day with four catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, while adding a 32-yard rushing score on a broken play. Hawkins' 121 all-purpose yards were a new career high and for the season he has 30 catches for 344 yards and two touchdowns.
- Defensive tackle Eamon Smalls is quietly putting together a very strong season for the players on the interior line. The redshirt sophomore has started every game this season and is second on the team with 39 tackles. He has added 2.5 TFL and tallied his first sack of the season at UConn.
INTERIM HEAD COACH ALEX MORTENSEN
Opening statement:
"Obviously, a tough loss on the road and a disappointing loss against UConn. I certainly give them credit, they have a very good team, they are well coached, they have done a great job with their roster, they are 6-3 at this point and have some good wins under their belt. With that being said, (I am) definitely disappointed in the way that we played in a lot of areas. We had a lot of unforced errors early in the game that put us behind. I was pleased with the defense. They came out and got a stop on the first possession, and then offensively, we actually drove down in the red zone pretty quick and clipped off a number of runs for substantial yardage, then got into the high red zone, and then had a costly turnover on second down, with poor judgement on it. I think based on the way we were running the ball, we probably had a chance to stay in the driver's seat, to a degree, then two series later, we have another turnover on a play where we have a guy who is a good player for us that ends up not completing a route totally, so pretty quick, we got behind. Later, another series after that, we miss a snap that puts us on the minus one (yard line). My point in all that is all those (mistakes) are unforced errors. We had a lot of guys who played really hard, played tough, and played competitively in this game. I think Solomon Beebe averaged well over six yards per carry, Jevon Jackson was probably in that five-and-a-half (yards per carry) ballpark, so we were running the ball well, but we let the game get away from us way too quick with unforced errors and I think that was the story of the day and certainly tried to fight our way back into it after that happened. I think defensively, we could say maybe there are some opportunities to get off the field on third down, but I think offensively, we have to put our defense in a better position. When you talk about turning the ball over twice early and then having to punt from the minus one (yard line), I think we have an opportunity to keep that game tight or potentially even be playing with the lead early in the game. That is just the way we look at that. Moving on to this game, we are playing Rice this week, and (we are) excited about that opportunity. It's another conference game going on the road. They are a good team and a good program. They have a new coaching staff; they have adopted a new offense that has some unique elements to it. It has some triple option type components to it, but with some bigger bodies than what you would traditionally see out of some of the other teams who run the triple option, and it definitely presents some challenges. Defensively, they have been good there, and they are still doing a good job and have good people, so we are excited to take on the challenge."
On what has gone well for the running game the last two games:
"I think our offensive line is doing a good job in the communication process, they are making their IDs up front and getting targeted to the right people and playing with physicality and toughness and good technique. We have good backs, I think we have good runners that, going into the season, were good and I think they continue to get better through the course of the year. Their vision and their decision making improves as well. Those are certain things, and I think our RPO game, too, complements it because you force the defense hopefully to have to defend all your eligibles, so the two things kind of go hand in hand where maybe you can create some space through the use of the formations and through the RPOs. That has been positive to see and of course we still want to still build on the run game, too. The last two weeks have definitely improved."
On what he has learned the last three weeks as interim head coach:
"I think going into a situation like this, I have been involved with this game for a long time, and fortunately have been around good people and good mentors, so a lot of situations that occur, I have seen them occur before, even if I was not always the primary decision maker or the one having to handle (the decisions). I think a lot of it, you feel pretty prepared for, but certainly, if you are not continually trying to learn in this profession, you are not going to last very long, so I am trying to use every opportunity as a chance to grow and learn and I think one of the biggest things, too, if I have learned anything, and people always want to ask me what I have learned from Coach (Nick) Saban, or have you asked him anything, he obviously is a very intelligent and smart man and a great leader, but I also saw him seek counsel, too, even at the stage he was at when I was around him which I think says a lot. So, also, being a good listener, too, to wise people and people you trust when you have to make some of these decisions."
On Rice's option attack:
"I think a lot of it, when you talk about option football and what it can create, people always talk about forcing you to play assignment and sound on defense and it is a little bit what even the RPO game can do as well, is you have to account for all of the eligibles that are out there and it can kind of spread you thin a little bit and when you are coaching defense, one of the basic fundamentals of defense is you need to get 11 hats to the ball. We need to get 11 people to the football, and now we have to have someone who has the dive, who has the pitch that has to be ready to take on force blocks and lead blocks and still have the quarterback. I think in a way, it is a way of creating space and creating one-on-ones, and when you create space and one-on-ones, if you have one missed assignment, if they can make one guy miss, sometimes there is no deep help, there is no secondary help. I think that is one of the ways you can generate explosives when you run a system like that, and then again, the talent, the players, the quarterback (Chase) Jenkins and running back (Quinton) Jackson, both of those guys are part of that, too, because they are really good players."
Click here to watch the entire press conference.
Players Mentioned
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DT
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