UAB Falls To Florida Atlantic, 53-33
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 12, 2025
Trent Dilfer didn’t sugarcoat his feelings after his UAB football team dropped a 53-33 decision at Florida Atlantic on Saturday night.
“We're playing bad football,” Dilfer said on the Blazer Sports Network from Learfield. “I mean, it's obvious we're playing bad football and we got to find a way to play good football.”
That was particularly obvious in the first 17 minutes when the Blazers fell into a 28-point hole. The Blazers did rebound enough to cut the score in half on touchdown runs of 14 and 13 yards by Solomon Beebe and a two-point conversion pass from Jalen Kitna to Iverson Hooks after the second touchdown. There was 3:15 left on the clock after Beebe’s second touchdown. A little more than a minute later, UAB had a chance to get off the field but FAU was able to convert on a 4th-and-3 from the Owls 42-yard line with an 11-yard run by Gemari Sands. Four plays later, FAU built the lead back to three touchdowns on a 43-yard pass from Caden Veltkamp to Dom Henry.
From there, FAU answered anything that UAB put together.
WHAT IT MEANS: Obviously, it means that the road futility continues. Trent Dilfer falls to 0-15 on the road as the UAB head coach. But the meaning of the lopsided loss could travel deeper. What is Dilfer’s future at UAB and frankly what is the future of the person who hired him? It’s a question that must be asked.
WHEN THE GAME TURNED: UAB kept competing to the end, especially on the offense, but the game was basically over after giving up the first 28 points.
WHY UAB LOST: Too many mistakes were made in all three phases of the game.
WHAT ARE THE KEY STATS: No stat tells the story of Saturday’s game more clearly than UAB’s 14 penalties for 118 yards. UAB also lost the running game battle, 147-68, and FAU threw for 345 yards. Jalen Kitna was 29-of-41 for 261 yards with a touchdown. In the first quarter, when the game was being shaped, Kitna was 7-of-9 for 36 yards and was sacked twice. Solomon Beebe had a productive evening with four carries for 34 yards with two touchdowns and catches on all six of his targets for 63 yards. Beebe also had a two-point conversion rush. Devin Hightower had seven tackles, an interception and a quarterback hurry.
WHO GETS THE GAME BALLS: Next question.
WHAT DID COACH DILFER SAY IN HIS POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE:
On the slow start: “They did what we thought they'd do, we played terrible football to start the game. I can't explain it. We felt like we knew what they were doing. I felt like we had a chance to get some stops. Offensively, felt like we could run the ball a little bit this week. We weren’t able to do that. Self-inflicted mistakes, again, penalties, just a ridiculous amount of penalties, putting us in bad situations. We got so far behind it was virtually impossible to come back.”
On offensive struggles to begin the game: “We really struggled up front early in the game, in the run game. Some real basic looks we didn't block well. Pass protection, we had some quicker to intermediate pass routes, trying to get drives started and getting sacked on those. So just so many negative things happened offensively early on. It was hard to get anything going on. We eventually found a couple things, but by that point it was too far a reach.”
On Jalen Kitna: “Yeah, he played really tough, made a lot of really good decisions, didn't add on to the disaster that was the game. I think he continued to show some growth. Got banged up pretty early in the game, played with a lot of pain throughout it. Didn't let it affect his poise in the pocket. I think we can come out where the quarterback got better this week, which is a good sign. But we're playing bad football. I mean, it's obvious we're playing bad football and we got to find a way to play good football.”
On the defense and turnovers: “Yeah, we got to find a way to create more turnovers. We're not stopping people, giving away too many yards and big plays. So if that's going to happen, we got to find a way to create some havoc and create some turnovers. And offensively, you know, obviously, we didn't turn over tonight, but we also had a ton of negative plays. A ton of penalties. Just stuff that's kind of unexplainable, to be honest with you, and puts us in negative situations. So we got to find a way to play a clean football game before we expect to win.”
On next week’s game vs. Memphis: “Yeah, I mean this will be a great week of preparation, lots of play for. I mean every one is important, you know. P people get so caught up and one game means more in the next. The next one's an opportunity to play football. These young men only are able to play for a short amount of time in their lives so they got to cherish every single moment, especially when the Bones are at stake. And it’s Children's Harbor week, which is an incredible week. So we'll be excited to play this week and try to become a better football team during the week. Ultimately we just got to play better, you know, like we go out there on Saturdays and play better football and hopefully that will happen next week.”
WHERE IS UAB’S NEXT ASSIGNMENT: The Battle for the Bones comes back to Protective Stadium next Saturday. Memphis averages 40.5 points per game and is 6-0 on the season.