Missed Chances Sink UAB in Lafayette
By Steve Irvine
September 19 - LAFAYETTE, La.
Perhaps the most pressing question after UAB’s 21-14 road loss to Louisiana on Saturday night at Our Lady of the Lourdes Stadium is one that is not necessarily easy to answer.
How in the world was UAB still in position to win this game as the game clock wound down to the final couple of minutes?
Yet, there they were, facing a 4th-and-2 from the Louisiana 46-yard line with just under two minutes remaining. Just moments earlier, on a night when running the football was difficult at best, UAB running back Roderick Robinson II ripped off a 28-yard run to get a possible game tying drive underway. UAB head coach Alex Mortensen called his final timeout before the fourth down play got underway and then had quarterback Ryder Burton try to run the ball off right tackle to move the chains.
The plan quickly went horribly wrong. Burton had nowhere to go and looked like he might try to throw the football. But Louisiana safety Collin Jacob slapped the ball out of Burton’s hands and before he could get grasp of the football it resulted in a 16-yard loss and ended UAB’s final opportunity.
“We did (change it after the timeout),” Mortensen said. “The 4th-and-2 is disappointing. We kind of had an either/or where we had a package of things we could do there. Ultimately maybe we could've made a better call. We kind of lost at the line of scrimmage there where we got out-leveraged and we can probably help our players more on that. And I say ‘we,’ it's me. I can help our players more by putting them in a better position there because we certainly convert that and we got a chance to win the game.”
That was just the final piece of a frustrating offensive puzzle that the Blazers never solved. They had a 4th-and-1 foiled a play after what looked like a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ryder Burton to Robinson was overturned by replay officials. And there was a series other frustrating nights on a spotty night by the UAB offense.
So we got back to questioning how UAB was in position at the end.
“Defensively, we played well enough to win this game,” Mortensen said.
UAB’s defense provided the team’s first points late in the first half when Sterling Sanders knocked the ball loose on Louisiana rushing attempt, Chris Burge scooped up the loose ball and returned it 13 yards for a score. The defense also gave UAB’s offense one final chance when Jo’Tavion Pierce forced a fumble and Delvon Gulley recovered. But the offense wasn’t able to capitalize.
WHAT IT MEANS: UAB still has to find out how to win games. This is the second time in three games that a lot of UAB’s problems were self inflicted. We will see if that changes next week with American Conference play kicking off for the Blazers.
WHEN THE GAME TURNED: It’s tempting to say that the final two minutes of the first half were perhaps the most critical of the game. UAB had managed to trim the deficit to 14-7 thanks to a defensive touchdown by Chris Burge and had the chance to end a frustrating half down by one score. However, Louisiana was able to string together a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a Lunch Winfield 11-yard scramble to pad the lead back to 14 points. But, truth is, so much happened in the second half that it’s hard to pinpoint a single turning point.
WHY UAB LOST: The defense played well enough to win and Ty Mims provided a huge special teams play. It’s a team game, obviously, but offensive ineffectiveness for the most part was the biggest problem. Yet the Blazers were still in position until the very end.
WHAT ARE THE KEY STATS: For the first time this year UAB could not get the running game clicking. The Blazers managed 74 yards on 31 carries. On the other side, Louisiana did just fine running the ball, gaining 225 yards on 53 carries. Penalties were also an issue once again with UAB being penalized nine times for 89 yards. They desperately need to find a way for that to stop. Louisiana quarterback Lunch Winfield certainly had his fingerprints all over the victory but the UAB defense actually did a credible job on the talented playmaker. Winfield had 91 yards rushing and 110 yards passing with no touchdowns through the air.
WHO GETS THE GAME BALLS: We say it week after week that game balls go to the winning team. But you have to credit a defense that was led by linebackers Muaaz Byard (12 tackles) and Ike Esonwune (10 tackles) and safety Jo Pierce (7 tackles, forced fumble). Defensive end Chris Burge scored the team’s first points of the game on a 13-yard return of a fumble forced by Sterling Sanders. Ty Mims also came up with a critical 43-yard punt return to set up the other UAB touchdown.
WHAT DID COACH MORTENSEN SAY IN HIS POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE:
On the way his team competed: “A positive is I do think we competed really hard, especially on defense. You know, I thought the defense competed hard, fought hard the whole game. It seems like two weeks in a row they got better as the game went on. That was great to see. I think we gotta look at the video a little more closely. Felt like guys fought hard on offense. I think I gotta do a better job. I think we have to do a better job as a staff making sure we're prepared, have a good plan, can adjust well in the game. I do think there were times where we struggled to control the line of scrimmage. Some of it was in pass protection early, some of it was in the run game too. Was that a product of guys not competing and fighting hard enough or are those technique and technical errors or something we got to look at? But very disappointing and not good enough, not even close to good enough because defensively we played well enough to win this game.”
On the goal line failure on 4th-and-1 after Rod Robinson’s potential touchdown catch was overturned in replay: “Look, I mean, it's disappointing. I don't find it terribly hard to come back from it. You know, you can't get too emotional in a situation like that. You just have to figure out what the next best thing to do is. Despite getting stopped, we, I mean, we had one guy that couldn't stay on a block there that (the defender) shed. We were gonna convert it and maybe we end up in the end zone. We just kind of lost at the point of contact at one spot”
On not establishing the run: “I think, you know, I want to give their staff credit. I think they had a couple good scheme wrinkles. But at the same time too, I think we lost some individual matchups at the line of scrimmage. We got beat some. I think we gotta make sure we're playing physical. I think one of the things that's been positive with the first two weeks was our physicality at the point of contact has been really good and we found a lot of hard, dirty yards. Tonight we did not do that. Some of that, again, we gotta look at it as a coaching staff and say are there things schematically we can do to help our guys more? At the same time too, we gotta challenge our players to make sure that we're playing with the right kind of intensity and effort in the run game.”
On allowing a touchdown on the first drive for third consecutive game: “Their first drive was kind of a slower, methodical drive. I don't know how many explosive plays they had. I think we did have a couple penalties. I don't know that they made a lot of big plays on offense but we had a couple defensive penalties there. If you subtract those penalties, I got a feeling we probably get off the field. At the same time, like globally, if you look at the big picture of the game, our defense played well enough to win. It's hard to shut people out or hold people to no production. They eld 'em to 21 points in a game where they didn't have a lot of help. It's a pretty good performance.”
On what the offense needs to improve: “Look, we have to do a good job putting a plan together that, you know, takes advantages of our players' strengths and doesn't put them in a vulnerable or tough position. I think that's really important. I think we got to plan better. You know, that's the first thing in a lot of areas. At the same time too, we've got to control the early downs better to set up better third downs. If we're not gonna do that, then we've gotta be doing a better job on third and long or third and medium. Ultimately, like I said, I got to do a better job and we've got to do a better job as a staff just giving our guys a plan that they can execute and that they are confident doing. Then we got to make sure we get our guys to play with the kind of intensity they need to play with, which I felt like we did for two weeks. We gotta see if we did tonight when we really look at this video. I can say this, we have an iPad, you get to look at some of it. I mean, I'll be frank with you. There are some things, we're making errors on that are inexcusable. There comes a point too, like someone else will play, you know? Like if we're gonna repeat, if we're gonna make a mistake that is a basic fundamental that goes all the way back to spring football, when we do have a good play design and we are gonna have a run that's gonna pop for an explosive and somebody doesn't do something very basic and fundamental. If those repeat errors keep showing up, we're gonna have to have competition at positions. But I don't want to overreact to anything at this point.”
On losing a day of preparation by playing Navy next Friday: “Navy's got a really great program and they do a really good job. And also they're different. It's a different scheme to prepare for, particularly on offense, but they do a great job defensively too. So they're always a challenge. Now you've got one day less. In some ways, you do have to have done some work ahead somewhere, whether that was in the summer or whatever. And then ultimately just as a staff, we're gonna get to work right away. We're gonna get to work on the plane. We're gonna start working on them immediately.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
8:52 - UL | Steven Blanco scored on a 1-yard run. Tony Sterner added the extra point. Scoring drive lasted eight plays and covered 80 yards. (7-0, UL)
Second Quarter
14:51 - UL | Lunch Winfield scored on a 9-yard run up the middle. The scoring drive lasted 7 plays and covered 40 yards. Tony Sterner added the extra point. (14-0, UL).
7:56 – UAB | Chris Burge scooped up a fumble and returned it 13 yards for a score. The fumble was forced by Sterling Sanders. Jonah Delange added the extra point. (14-7, UL).
0:44 – UL | Lunch Winfield scrambled for a 11-yard touchdown run. Tony Sterner added the extra point. The scoring drives lasted seven plays and covered 75 yards (21-7, UL).
Fourth quarter
8:59 – UAB | Nate Rogers scampered 11 yards for a touchdown. Jonah Delange added the extra point. The scoring drive lasted two plays and covered 63 yards. The score was set up by a 42-yard punt return by Ty Mims. (21-14, UL).
WHERE IS UAB’S NEXT ASSIGNMENT: UAB returns home to open American Conference play with a Friday night game against Navy at Protective Stadium.