UAB Returns to Protective Stadium to Host Army on Saturday

by: Charles Grevious09/30/25goblackknights

NCAA Football: Alabama-Birmingham at Tennessee — UAB Blazers head coach Trent Dilfer (Photo Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images)

Courtesy: UAB Athletic Communications

BIRMINGHAM – The UAB football team returns to Protective Stadium this Saturday, Oct. 4, to host Army in an American Conference showdown. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. on ESPNU.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW:

The Blazers are coming off a bye and are 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the American. Army enters the contest at 1-3 overall and 0-2 in league play after falling at East Carolina 28-6 last Thursday.
UAB quarterback Jalen Kitna has thrown for over 300 yards in three straight games and currently ranks fifth nationally in passing yards per game at 314.0. Additionally, he is third nationally in completions per game (27.0) and 14^thnationally in completion percentage (72.0%). Kitna is having a tremendous start to the season and is coming off a game at Tennessee in which he tied the school record for completions (38) while throwing for 364 yards and two touchdowns.
UAB will have to contend with Army’s triple option rushing attack which ranks fourth nationally with an average of 286.3 yards per game. Despite the loss at ECU, the Black Knights were still able to rush for 241 yards and faces a UAB defense that is allowing 222.8 rushing yards per game.

HEAD COACH TRENT DILFER:

Opening statement:

“Good morning. I am excited for the next battle. A conference game that is highly important since we are 0-1 in the conference. It is a neat week because of “My Shoe, My Cause,” the thing I do. I am excited about that one because it is for Bundles of Hope this week. It is a wonderful organization that our players are heavily involved in. It seems like it is a home away from home. They have a million-diaper drive goal, they are now at 900,000, and our players are heavily invested in that, so it will be fun to honor them. We had a good bye week, we got some really good work done in the three practices and then gave them some time to get away from football which I think is important and rest their bodies a little bit, too. With that, I will take some questions.”

On the health of the team coming off a bye week:

“We came out of the Tennessee game a little bit more banged up than I thought. Some things popped up a couple of days after, so we were able to rest some guys. Some guys did not practice. We should be pretty healthy this week. You have played four games, one against an SEC opponent, you are going to have some stuff, so we got some stuff, but I think the guys can battle through it this week and be ready for Army.”

On preparing for Army’s option offense and how the extra week to prepare will benefit them:

“On paper, it is great. You still have to shed blocks and tackle and do all the things that they make it very difficult to do. You have to match their intensity, and I think that is the biggest thing when you play the academies, especially Army and Navy, the two we are really familiar with, is they play so hard. I was really impressed with the East Carolina game (on Thursday) defensively. (Army) started poorly, East Carolina made some big plays against them, but they are playing harder down 28-6 than they were in the beginning. They are relentless with how they play football. The scoreboard does not matter. They have a standard of effort, a standard of execution, a standard of physicality that does not waiver, so you have to match that. That is the thing that people do not talk about enough. The schemes are difficult, and it is a very difficult scheme to play against, but they just play so hard on both sides of the ball and special teams. I think that is the biggest challenge more than the triple option and all the other things, it is just matching their intensity.”

On who he expects to step in place of Sirad Bryant on defense:

“It is going to take all of them. I think AJ Brown, Jalen Cheek, Pierre Royster, all of them have to step up and play at a higher level. They know that, they do not need the head coach to say that publicly, they know they have to play at a higher level. For us to be successful defensively, it is going to take everybody highly invested in fixing the issues we have had to this point.”

On the growth of the wide receiver room:

“I think Xavier Daisy will only get better with more reps, he had a really good bye week coming off three or four outstanding weeks of practice and played well against Tennessee. I think Evan McCray showed up over the bye week and played at a high level. Iverson Hooks had a great week of practice. Brandon Hawkins Jr. continues to be consistent. AJ Johnson has not contributed at a high level for us but is practicing better. Jaylen Elder is somebody else who I think has a chance to earn some playing time with how he is practicing. We are going to continue to throw it to all of them, we just believe in that philosophy, and the ones who are practicing best and the most consistent will get the most targets.

On approaching an early window kickoff time:

“We should be good in early kickoffs. We are an early morning practice team, our players are in the building at 6 a.m. every day, so this should not be hard for us. We get to be home which is great. I think starting fast is a product of focus, so we just need to be locked in and focused. We will be starting this game when we are in the fourth quarter of our practices typically. Their body clocks should be fine; it is just a matter of their minds being right.”

UAB Athletics is offering a Family Four Pack ticket offer to the Army game this weekend and the promotion can be found by clicking here. Single game tickets are also available by clicking here.

For more information on the UAB football team, be sure to follow @UAB_FB on X and Instagram.