Mortensen Challenges UAB Offense In Short Week Before Navy Game

By Steve Irvine

September 21 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

Out of necessity the UAB football team is turning the page quickly after last week’s disappointing loss at Louisiana. The Blazers have one less day to prepare for Friday night’s American Conference opener against Navy at Protective Stadium.

UAB head coach Alex Mortensen held his weekly press conference on Monday to talk about last week’s loss and look ahead to the challenge of playing Navy. This is some of what Mortensen had to say during the press conference.

Opening statement: “Louisiana was very disappointing for a lot of reasons. I'll start with I guess the thing I'll positively highlight is our defense. I thought our defense played very well. I thought they definitely played well enough to win the game. I know some people would probably look to some early penalties. We held them to three points in the second half, which I think is pretty remarkable. Look at the first drive, I think it took Louisiana 14 plays to score. I think we gave them 45 yards in penalties. You can point to that, but at the end of the day, they played well enough to win. Guys played with really good heart, toughness, effort, speed, made adjustments during the game (and) also created a big turnover in the game as well. So that was good to see. Then we had some good returns in certain aspects of special teams.

You know, offensively, we did not play well. We played very, very, very poorly. It was very disappointing, really got to do a better job. You know, starts with me. I got to do a better job. After Thursday's practice, I did kind of confront the offense about getting casual. I thought we had practice habits that had been slack at certain points in the week. I thought it was really bad on Thursday and we talked about it afterwards. I don't think it's an indictment on every guy on the unit, but we do have some that have got to understand that you reap what you sow. We have to work hard and consistently every week. Every week you got to pay the price and do what it takes. We have another category of guys that I think one of the things we've talked to them about is trusting your technique and your training. There are things that rear their head in the game that we don't do in practice and we actually went back and showed them practice clips of, ‘Hey, here we are. It's the first play of the game.’ We practice this play against this exact look. We had it up for a reason. Here you are doing it right multiple times, then we get to the game, and you do something you're not coached to do. So, you know, what's that the product of? Is that discipline? Is it self-control? Is there something psychological there? But at the end of the day, guys have to trust their training and trust their technique. You know, there's an old comparison or analogy, that, hey, if you walk across a two by four (board), you walk across a certain way. Put it 1,000 feet in the air, are you gonna change how you do it? (Do you) get nervous because the stakes are higher? Your technique's gotta be the same and you gotta trust the way you've been trained and trust the habits that hopefully you're creating. We do have a lot more guys on offense that have not played a lot of football. You know, football's a developmental game. We're gonna continue to work with our guys to help them develop through the year and help them get better. I have confidence that they can and I'm very confident that we can.

It was a step back but these are things that we can correct. Like on a lot of things, on a failed play, a lot of times it's one guy. It's not 10, it’s not six, it’s one. There are some commonalities that show up. We believe we can work and fix them. Finally, we gotta do a good job planning and planning to do things that our players are good at and help play to their strengths. We got to do a better job. Offensively, it's one of the poorer performances I've ever been involved with in some ways. We did have a lot of guys continue to fight and play to the end. I was kind of amazed at the end of the game that we still had a chance to be in it as poorly as certain aspects of it had gone. Again, I'm gonna say a positive. It was a tough game, a game that we didn't execute the way we needed to, but I think anyone that's watching us play is gonna say, ‘Man, that team competes. There's heart. There's toughness. They're playing together.’ Hopefully that shows some progress and we're working internally to get this team where we want it to get and get our program where we want it to get. I think that part is a real positive.

We're playing Friday night, so obviously it's a short week for us, but there are some neat things going on I want to make sure we have an opportunity to promote. We're doing a Salute to Service. We want to honor the men and women that serve our country. Our university wants to do that as well. We will have military members in our tunnel as our team takes the field, so we're really incredibly appreciative of them and what they do. Our Tickets for Troops promotion has gone great. Again, we want them to know our university greatly appreciates them. I think the next thing is it's the American (Conference) opener for us at home so we're gonna have some things going on there like the Little League World Series team out of Phenix City is gonna be at the game. That'll be neat. They're going to be a part of our Blazer Walk. Really wanna encourage Gang Green, our entire student body, to really come out and support them. And then with it being a home game on ESPN on a Friday night just wanna encourage our community, our fans, alums, everyone that can get there and make a great showing. It's a great opportunity for us to be on a stage of this magnitude, so certainly excited about that opportunity.

In terms of Navy, ton of respect for that program. I think Coach (Brian) Newberry does a great job. Have been familiar with him for some time and have gotten to know him a little bit more at some of our conference meetings. They've got a great program and they've had been able to create culture and have continued success. I think you see it in the way their kids play. They don't have a lot of turnover and I think they're able to create certain habits through retention that definitely show up on film. Coach Newberry's a defensive coach. This year, to my understanding, he's calling their defense for the first time in a little while as he lost his defensive coordinator last year to the Baltimore Ravens. He does a fantastic job. (Offensive coordinator Drew Cronic), ton of respect for him. I think he's done a really good job with their offense as they have kind of evolved a little bit over the years beyond just (the triple option). Obviously, there are the components and aspects of triple option you always expect. Then it's diversified significantly, really in the last three years, and presents preparation challenges. I think the one thing for sure as much as people talk about the intangibles of their players and the character of them, they have talent. They have good players, too. I think that is one thing that certainly should not be overlooked. They have good talent on both sides of the ball at all three levels. It's one of the biggest fallacies going that they don't have good players. They have very good players. So, yeah, gonna be a challenge. Looking forward to taking it on (in) a short week. Anytime you're playing a team on a short week, you have to adapt and problem solve on how to deal with that. Obviously we're dealing (with) playing a team coming off a bye week, where they had a bye week, and it's a different scheme.  We got to work on it right away after the game. We got to work on it on the plane home. This is a great opportunity.”

On injuries: “Yeah, I think in terms of the injury thing some of these guys are still day by day. We're still trying to evaluate where they're at. So I can't say for sure that some of the guys that are banged up will be back Friday. Maybe they will be, maybe they won't. And I'm not trying to be deceptive, but we really don't know yet.”

On facing a shorter week after a disappointing loss: “In terms of having a short week, when you have a game like that - look, again, there were a lot of good things in the game. Not good enough, but I felt like defensively there were a lot of good things. But yeah, maybe it helps to turn the page faster. Even then, if it was a normal week, if it was a bye week, we would still evaluate it and we’d move on. I think that's a really important thing to do.”

On Ty Mims: “I think Ty has been outstanding. Really competed incredibly well in games. He's made a lot of plays and he's (been good on) special teams. He's a really good returner. I think he's got courage, he's tough, he's explosive, fast, he's a really good athlete. The moment's not too big for him. I talked earlier I think some of our guys, us, you know, are still learning to trust their training, trust their technique and just play, play the way you play. Some just need to carry over what practice happens to a game. Ty's the guy that does do that. If anything, maybe he's even better on game day. So been really pleased with him and excited about continuing to build on the success he's had early.”

On what it would mean to be Navy on national television: “I respect and understand the question, and I think it's no secret the success that they've had there, which I kind of talked about in my opening. You know, in terms of what it means for us, look every game's important, every week's important. So we understand the challenge that's presented this week, but it's one game and they're all important to us. They really are.”

On defensive tackle Nigel Tate: “(Still) waiting on Nigel. Nigel's a guy that hopefully we're getting close with. It is overdue, relative to the time of the injury and what the projected return would be. We have reason to believe the rehab he's going through is going well. I think Nigel's still hungry to get back out there and I think he can help us. Then I like the guys we got too, the guys that are in there playing well. But it would certainly help us to get him back.”

On defensive line play vs. Navy’s option: “In terms of, um, you know, playing a team like this, I mentioned earlier it is a more diverse, balanced operation than maybe it was X amount of years ago. That being said you certainly have got to be prepared to play the runs and play them well. I think when you have good interior defensive linemen it can really help a lot when you have guys that are stout in there that are eating up double teams (and) can get off blocks. I think it can make it can (make) the game easier for the play caller, in addition to helping everyone on the second and third level play. I think it's really important.”

On the need for a good passing game with Navy’s rush defense ranked second in the country: “It is important. You know, I mean, I think we talk about offensively, we always wanna have an identity. We wanna have things that we do well and things that we're invested in. And then at the same time too, with that identity, 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. To me, if you're balanced, you have the ability to pivot a little bit. So whatever it takes each week. But, you know, I don't anticipate us veering too far from who we are. Some of it is we just got to do some things we do better. Obviously, going back to last week, there were some basic things that we didn't do well, that it just really related largely to execution. Like I said, unfortunately, I felt like I could see some of it coming on Thursday  in the practice week. But that being said whatever it takes to win this one, we'll try to do and be flexible if needed. But we'll see.

On past difficulties playing Navy: “Last year we had 24 points at the half. I think our quarterback started off 7-for-7 on completions. I think we scored touchdowns on our first three drives. We were pretty productive. I think it was 24-24 at one point. So I think we played pretty good offense last year. I think we were pretty good through about six drives and we had a third down where we completed a pass, spun out, would've been an explosive play and we fumbled. I think we didn't handle that well, and I think there was also a rain delay. So, you know, one of the things is like I thought there was an emotional maturity thing there without getting into a lot of detail. But we didn't handle that well. Where we started, by the way, we had a really good plan. We executed well. I thought our offense was playing very well at that point. And so, you know, that's one of the things that, you know, we talk about. I mentioned it in the last week's press conference, but, you know, we want to play hard. We also want to play smart, and that's playing with discipline and poise. Some of that poise part is having emotional maturity. There's a rain delay. Somebody fumbled. Play the next play, right? Just play. My feeling is, to this point, we have a group that has an emotional steadiness about them. So that's positive. Every team is different. So, it's a new year, it's a new group of players for us. It's relatively fresh from that standpoint.”

On the Navy offense: “I don't know that I ever met his father, but I grew up in Georgia, and his dad was a really successful high school coach not far from where I grew up, kind of on the south side of Atlanta. They were a Wing T operation to my knowledge. I think one of my coaches actually went and listened to him speak one time, actually when I was in ninth grade. I had two years of wishbone football when I was in middle school, and then we ran the Delaware Wing T one year when I was in ninth grade. Then we kind of went to like a multiple I formation shotgun offense after that. But I remember that year of the Delaware Wing T, learning the offense. Like I said, my ninth grade coach, Dennis Wilson, I think spent some time listening to his father talk. So I've been pretty familiar with the offense or some the ideas behind it for a long time.

Then a ton of respect for Coach Cronic and the job he's done. I think prior to him getting there, without being a total expert on what they were doing, it felt a little bit more traditional triple option and flexbone. Prior to him getting there, I think he had already been in the gun a little. Had some Wing T components, but had also been in the gun more and I think played with some speed and tempo as well. Also had a lot of aspects of, I don't wanna call it modern, but like some of the more trendy quarterback run read game. Now as he went there, I think the staff there already had some of these triple components in place. It's already a challenge to get ready for. He's got components of the Wing T.”

On Navy’s defense and linebacker Marc Anthony Parker: “I'll say this, really good player. I think one of the things their guys do a really good job of is recognition. You know, I think they identify (and) they recognize things really well. I think Coach Newberry, like I said, does a great job. (Parker) sees it well. I think he trusts what he sees. I think he's got really good instincts and he gets to the ball in a hurry. I do think he's got good athletic ability. He's fast and explosive, but I also think part of playing fast is having really good recognition, seeing it fast and then reacting to it. So yeah, he's a great player.”

On putting last week’s offensive troubles in the rear view mirror: “One, I'll say this, talking about some of the guys that haven't played a lot, I do believe practice can get you ready to play. I think one of the things, just to maybe be too transparent, one of my concerns at a certain point with some of the guys like that are here, I really like them a lot, even if they haven't played much. But they do need practice and some of them were banged up in camp that are playing for us now. That goes beyond the receiver position and really to some other spots. We believe in working hard. Our practices are tough. We get a lot of reps. So, I think that alone can help guys continue to develop and guys get better through the course of the year. I thought that was one of the things when I got around Coach Saban that really impressed me was players develop there. Part of it I thought was the way practice was organized and structured. And again, you can talk about being process oriented, that doesn't mean the result, the score, those things don't matter. But it's like, ‘OK, what are the things that cause the result?’ From a focus standpoint, we get focused back on that. If we would've won the game, it'd be the same thing. We would be back focused on what did we do well, let's reinforce that. What did we not do well, we need to fix that and have an urgency about it. Dr. Watts talked about striving for excellence, right? So it's like regardless of the scoreboard, we're gonna try to strive to reach a standard that we think we're capable of win or lose.”

On Navy’s offense nearly coming back to win after trailing FAU 31-7 at half: “I think they have the ability to put together drives, but they also have the ability to be explosive and score in a hurry. Like I said, they've diversified and, and they have good athletes, fast players, and good schemes. So they do have the ability to, to bite off chunks and big plays. That is something they're very capable of.”