Two plays, one takeaway, a conference opener won at home. Dean finished with 2.5 sacks, Jo'Tavion Pierce matched him, and Spencer added one.
That is the half of the tape that feels like a rebuild working. The other half is that Navy outgained UAB 353-290, ran for 249 yards to UAB's 116, and held the ball for 34:22 against UAB's 25:38. The Blazers won the game without winning the afternoon. Alex Mortensen said afterward, "I thought that our guys showed that kind of resiliency tonight in all three phases," and called the Dean fumble and McReynolds touchdown "a huge swing in the game" and "complementary football." He is right about the mechanism. The pass rush creates the one play that decides the score. It has not yet kept a quarterback who can run from moving the ball on the ground all day. UAB beat Navy 24-20 in Week 4.
Samford, Saturday, 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+
UAB hosts Samford at 97.8 percent, which is about as close to a formality as a college football game gets. Treat it that way in the standings and not on the field, because the Bulldogs bring the exact quarterback profile UAB has not solved.
Gabarri Johnson has run 34 times for 119 yards and a touchdown while completing 61 of 99 passes through four games, and he was sharpest in last week's win over VMI, going 22-of-26 for 222 yards, two touchdown throws, and a score on the ground. He is not Navy's scrambling quarterback, and Samford's line is not Navy's. That is the point. If UAB's ends stay home, if the linebackers close the creases a scrambling quarterback keeps finding, Navy's 249 rushing yards will look like a one-week problem rather than the season. If Johnson is picking up seven and eight yards on designed keepers in the second quarter, that is worth noting, no matter what the scoreboard says.
Samford's John Grass, in his first year rebuilding a program much as Mortensen is rebuilding this one, is not treating the trip as a tune-up. He called it "like a semifinal game", described UAB as "a very talented bunch" that "flipped that roster" with "almost 70 new guys," pointed to the "big win last night against Navy," and added, "We execute, I like our chances." That is a coach who has watched the film and thinks turnovers and a hot quarterback are a path.
What else is worth watching while it's comfortable
Ryder Burton, clean. Burton's problem has never been ceiling. He threw a 43-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to EJ Reid that provided the go-ahead points, then finished 8-of-16 for 115 yards with an interception and three sacks taken. The rest of his night was seven completions for 72 yards. Samford's secondary is the softest he will see; a game where he simply distributes the ball and does not hand one back would mean something heading into Memphis.
The backfield spreading out again. The ULM game was the version of this offense fans want, with Roderick Robinson II 21 carries for 114 yards, McReynolds 16 for 75 and a score, KJ Daniels a 35-yard pop, 52 attempts and 266 yards in total, with center Adam Lepkowski describing the repetition as cumulative "body blows." Against Navy the rushing work concentrated in McReynolds. Two or three backs carrying a lead in the second half here is healthier than one highlight.
The tackle situation. Payton Kirkland left the Illinois game and did not return. Back on Sept. 7, Mortensen said the injury was recoverable but the return timetable was unknown and named Keyon Cox, Kyrik Mason and Barry Walker Jr. as the depth behind him. Nothing since has clarified it. After Navy, Mortensen said pass protection must improve and that it "is not an indictment on just the offensive line," without naming tackles. A blowout is the best remaining setting to get Kirkland back on the field or to settle who starts at tackle in his place.
Why the next Saturday is the one circled
UAB goes to Memphis on Oct. 10 carrying an 11-7 series lead after last year's 31-24 upset, the program's first win in the rivalry since 2011 and the game where Burton threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns. Memphis will pressure Burton in ways Samford cannot, and a mobile quarterback there costs more than it will this week.
Keep the preseason in mind while you watch. American Conference media picked UAB among the bottom of the league, with no ballot higher than ninth. With a league win banked, this team is already running ahead of that. Saturday is not where that gets proven. It is where the specific problem that almost cost them Navy gets one last cheap look.
Full numbers are in the Week 5 guide, and the forecasting details are in the methodology.