Rice Defeats UAB, 24-17
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 8, 2025
It certainly wasn’t easy or at times pretty but UAB found a way to take a lead into halftime on Saturday afternoon in an American Conference game at Rice. In the second half, though, the Blazers found ways to come up short in the 24-17 loss to the Owls on a warm afternoon in Houston.
Let’s start with the final drive of the first half. It actually began with a tremendous defensive play by Donald Lee and Jeremiah Vessel to stop a 4th-and-2 option play and give UAB the ball on the Blazers 45-yard line with 58 seconds left. The first two plays of the UAB drive were Ryder Burton passes of 26 yards to Corri Milliner and 11 yards to Iverson Hooks. Five players later, UAB was facing a 3rd-and-goal from the Rice 21-yard line. Burton took the third down snap, scrambled away from pressure, put his hand down to keep from falling after slipping and eventually found a wide open Brandon Hawkins Jr. for touchdown that gave the Blazers a 17-14 lead at halftime.
The second half, however, was a different story. The tone was set on the opening drive of the second half when the Blazers were flagged for three 15-yard penalties on a 11-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a 3-yard touchdown pass from Chase Jenkins to Aaron Turner. That was the start of a penalty filled half for the defense and 30 minutes of frustration for an offense that moved the ball well at times but couldn’t finish possessions.
Even with the penalties, though, the defense kept the Blazers (3-6 overall, 1-4 American) in the game. Rice (5-5 overall, 2-4 American) managed just 82 second half yard with only two of those coming in the fourth quarter. But UAB couldn’t find a way to get in the end zone and ultimately fell short on a Hail Mary pass that was knocked down just past the goal line.
WHAT IT MEANS: First things first, it means UAB still doesn’t know how to win on the road. Mathematically speaking, it also means the only route to bowl eligibility is with wins over playoff contenders North Texas and South Florida. Realistically speaking, though, the route to bowl eligibility probably ended last week.
WHEN THE GAME TURNED: It’s hard to pinpoint a turning point when a game comes down to the final play. In this case, though, the first series of the second half, which included three 15-yard penalties and ended with a Rice touchdown, was probably when the tenor of this game turned.
WHY UAB LOST: Ultimately, the UAB offense didn’t step forward in the second half. Sure, UAB’s defense had problems staying away from yellow flag after halftime. But the defense made stop after stop in the fourth quarter and UAB’s offense couldn’t finish drives. The Blazers had about the same amount of defensive penalty yardage in the second as Rice did with the 82 yards gained after halftime. UAB’s offense moved the ball but couldn’t get in the end zone in the final 30 minutes.
WHAT ARE THE KEY STATS: Rice had five sacks and six tackles for a loss, some of which derailed promising drives for the Blazers. Ryder Burton, who played the entire way, was 18-of-34 for 213 yards with two touchdowns. But those numbers could have been much better after he missed on several potential big plays. Rice had 191 rushing yards with 72 of that coming in the third quarter and none in the fourth quarter. The Owls averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. UAB gained 102 yards on 29 carries but half of that came on one run by Jevon Jackson.
WHO GETS THE GAME BALLS: Iverson Hooks had six catches for 89 yards and a touchdown and Brandon Hawkins Jr. had a touchdown reception. Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen had a team-best 11 tackles and the Blazers lone sacks while linebackers Devin Hightower and Tylan McNichols each had nine tackles. Once again, though, game balls go to the winning team.
WHAT COACH MORTENSEN HAD TO SAY IN POSTGAME INTERVIEW ON BLAZER SPORTS NETWORK FROM LEARFIELD:
On the difference in the second half: “First of all, we’ve got to do a better job on offense and that’s ultimately my responsibility. So, I’ve got to do a better job of putting our guys in position to succeed. We’ve got to make sure we’re putting guys in an opportunity to make plays in the second half. I thought the guys, by and large, played hard and competed hard in the game. So I think the effort part was there. But we talked about two things. We always want to see effort and discipline. I do think the discipline part, we can be better. We had too many penalties in the second half, so that’s very disappointing. That’s ultimately my responsibility to be a disciplined team.”
On the defense: “Very proud of the defense. I though they played really well, played tough, played hard. I do think there are some things from a penalty standpoint we can clean up. Their effort and execution was really good. It was good enough to win today. I was really pleased with how hard they played.”
On halftime changes made to limit Rice’s interior run game: “I think Coach (Steve) Russ and his staff made a couple of adjustments scheme wise. And I think the guys buckled down. We talked about leaving everything out there today. I think they turned their effort up even more in the second half in the interior.”
On stopping the penalties being led by players or coaches: “It think it’s both. We’re obviously going to message it and we’re gonna try to enforce and practice those things so they become habit. Then, I think the other thing is we talked about playing the game with emotion but not playing it emotional. Playing it to where your emotions are covering your thoughts and covering your actions. You know, a lot of times when you make poor decisions, whether it’s hitting a guy late or doing something undisciplined, it’s (emotional). So that’s part of it and I think mindset is part of it. Then, too, we’ve got to enforce it in practice so those things are corrected immediately. That has a bigger impact and that’s a coaching thing. That’s something I’ve got to do a better job of. That part was very disappointing. But, again, we’ve got to do a better job playing on offense too. Do that and we’re not talking about some of those penalties down the stretch.”
On Ryder Burton: “There was a good bit of (pass rush pressure) on him. Some of it he escaped as well. But I think we still had an opportunity to make some throws and make some plays. Ryder did make some plays and the guys outside made some plays. There’s some things we left out there too. I’ve to do a better job of getting that done. And, then, there are times where you give Rice credit. They were trying to take away some of our targets by doubling guys. But that still gives us opportunities to work elsewhere. We’ve got to adjust to all of that.”
On the condition of the field: “It’s interesting. When you look at the video (of previous games), there were some people slipping. Going into this game, we were aware of it. We contemplated looking at different equipment or different cleats. There was a lot of slipping. But, at the end of the day, we’ve got to play better. There were some plays that we had an opportunity, a run or two that would have popped if we don’t slip. But we’ve still got to do our job.”
On playing North Texas: “It’ll be a different challenge and a new challenge when we take on a very good team that is both efficient and capable of being very explosive. So, we’ll turn the page on this one and get ready to go play at home.”
WHERE IS UAB’S NEXT ASSIGNMENT: UAB put the first dent in Memphis’ playoff dreams with a win over the Tigers on Oct. 18. Next Saturday, the Blazers have the unlikely opportunity to do that again with North Texas coming to Protective Stadium.