UAB Blows Out Alcorn State Game Recap (8/30/24)

[Music] all right everybody well welcome back to another episode of the Blazer Victory podcast John Duncan here and of course I'm joined as always with my co-host Daren Smith and Jimmy Maran and it is indeed a Blazer Victory episode so shout out to the team blow went out all corn State last night we will get into that game recap but first if you are not following our Channel on YouTube hit that subscribe button Below on YouTube at Blazer yeah we said it up top but it's actually on the bottom last time so we messed up last time so hit that follow our subscribe button on our YouTube channel to see us and of course if you're audio only there will be a link in the show description to just click that link and subscribe to us we were already up with like 232 I think so we are getting those uh follower numbers up so thank you everybody that has subscribed already to the YouTube but if you not if you're not go ahead and subscribe but this game recap episode of the Blazer Victory podcast in all game recap episodes this season are brought to you by kahaba Brewing Company shout out kahaba this this this episode we're going to spot like the pale L and so smooth low ABV you can't go wrong with a good pale and if if you have not tried that beer hopefully everybody got to got the chance to uh go to Blazer Village before the game before the monsoon happened uh last night and Sample a few of kaba's beers if you if you did let us know in the the comment section uh what you liked about Kaba we love Kaba and thank you so much kahaba just for this second year second season sponsoring the Blazer Victory podcast but if you you have not checked out their spot in The Tap Room go to Kabab br.com find out more information about The Tap Room hours and what they have on draft but thank you again to kahaba for sponsoring the podcast guys UAB blew out all corn State last night 41-3 where do we want to start Darren just just what's your initial reaction for from the blowout Victory last night yeah so it's like I got to activate two sides um of of how I'm feeling of me of how I am because I do have this coaching side to me and I have a fan side to me so I have to find ways for both to coexist um you know context we talked about it shout out to BJ um you guys had it on the patreon Fantastic interview turns out he was Nostradamus about what he was saying about the team and what he was predicting um it just I mean just great research shout out to the alorn fans they were so nice they came and they've been showing us a lot of love saying how much we do our research and how accurate we were and um I I I really really appreciate that I really do that that's what make that's what makes me go right it turns out that you know what we were able to come up with was pretty much true you know uh oh they were overwhelmingly picked first to uh to win first in the swack West right overwhelmingly um they have a sound defense you know I got to give them credit um when when they had us in one-on-one situations they got our Runners down I was able to rewatch the first half um they sent exotic looks um they were really sound they were responsible they were reliable they were like Trent different different dip guys right they like this the guys love Trent love like trustable is what he would say they did a lot of things for the first game but um I'mma go back to how I was feeling real quick before I get into analysis um the fan side of me is really really happy it's a 413 and we won that on the back of our defense and our special teams defense and special teams and then even on the rewatch I'm like that that looks real that doesn't look like a fluke like when Trent talked about link a lot when they finally got on the field together I was like okay I see what he mean because we had Russa and Michael Moore out there at linebacker Michael Moore is 65 Russa is good 63 looking 62 63 then you cross the line with LD Cox LD Cox I love LD Cox like looking back his h and motor the dude never stops he's a dog you know but just looking at LD Cox and then you have Kendall Johnson then you got Desmond little and then you got Shephard oh Ezra Odin ajor like whole bunch of lengthy guys Emanuel Waller Demarcus Smith it just kept coming and coming up all these guys is like 64 and up you know 64 muscle bound and I'm like man these we look legit on the back end our tackling guys were going down I looked back at that incat game just to make sure I was I wasn't tripping and if y'all can remember in the first quarter I think like that first or second play when they got the ball they broke off like a 30 something yard run and the guy like trucked over two guys and he kept running and they was like oh he was like number 35 or something I'm like it wasn't inspiring to see it was n listen you they got got one-onone with our guys and it was going down Adrien Maddox open field tackles Brothers Russa Russa looks a lot better than what he did last year too um Everybody if you if you were one on-one you went the other way Tyler McNichols like he looked good coming in I'm like ohoo this this is a totally different team our first one our first couple plays versus incat it was like a linebacker in the safety I'm not calling names any but it was linebacking the safety Broken tackles drag drug for seven extra yards like what like no none of that and our defense was just dominant the whole game and we can get into analysis coaching side of me we left a lot of points on the field and we're going to get it it but that was um yeah that that part of it that part like Trent if you list to Trent after the game he did his interview Trent was not happy he was not happy with the offense he was ecstatic with the defense ecstatic with the with the Special Teams but offense we were not sound like I said I I only been able to watch the first half again we were not sound in assignments like little things that you miss when you when you can't do a watchback I was just looking I'm just like it was it was really sound in assignment football and we were not Sharp I'm glad that was the first game but that part of it it wasn't even a physical thing it was a where are you going and what are you trying to accomplish and I got I was in here like a coach man I was I was just looking back I'm like we wouldn't even got in this position to Fumble the ball if you would have just did XYZ display we had it it was right there and then you got guys when you whenever you see guys especially offensive lineman whenever you see them kind of run down the kind of like this they missed their assignment that's just the Nugget I saw that a couple times this come on man come on but yeah let me we let's save a little bit for the rest of the well Jimmy what what are just some of your initial thoughts and reaction from last night yeah well first of all it's good to actually be talking about games you know it's been so long we've been talking about recruiting which we enjoy and just all kinds of other stuff but to be able to evaluate and to hear Daren break down film and talk about the game is just an exciting time of the year so feel blessed that we were able to get together uh with The Duncan Family uh for game one uh we survived the monsoon and a nice little corner table and mug shots and the rain stopped and went in and I I think the favorite part of the game was was uh Elizabeth's reactions to John giving some people some hell uh during the game so if y'all at the game you probably heard John I mean I was going to say hey in mugshot well mugshot they're not a sponsor but I bet they love that DeLay So when we had to sit up there an extra hour and I had a couple more I was like uh oh man it's going down man yeah no that that was some good times though um yeah but you know initial thoughts is uh you know speaking of the UAB offense uh as Darien stated you know there was um you know dissatisfaction from the coaching staff and dord in particular um at the offense or of the offense and you know I find that you know interesting and I find that good because at the same time like that's a night where the UAB offense did move the ball down the field I mean what what they have I think it was like 32 uh first downs and 500 plus yards so I mean it was a night in which the UAB offense was good but the Darian point they left you know quite a lot of points and quite a lot of opportuni on the field and uh you know defensive and special teams you know that's something that you know was a point of ifis a huge point of emphasis you look at things like I was saying even to Daren last night you know going to the game bill connley and the SP plus minus had UAB defense and special teams ranked last in the entire country coming into the game um and so just showing that massive disrespect um but also just you know I'm always trying to like compare things and you know when you look at the um incat game from last year there are quite some similarities uh incat last year went two of eight passing for 16 total yards in that ball game um and you know ultimately as you look at the UAB offense you know UAB did throw the ball around um you know quite a lot more attempts uh but from a rushing perspective like UAB was really efficient and good on the ground um in last night's ball game which was good to see um over 300 yards rushing I believe which was almost double uh the production from the incat game this past season uh but you know there was a lot of good and there was a lot of opportunities to clean up you think about some of the penalties um you know those are problematic in the turnovers that really you know resulted in us leaving points on the board so it's kind of like a good feeling to walk away from a game in which it was never in doubt but to still have a lot to clean up that gives the coaching staff a lot of motivation a lot of things to talk about to get them ready for this big week two matchup yeah 100% agree um I mean you really can't complain beating a team 41 to3 and I I mean I know aorn's FCS or swag team but I I do think they are physical upfront especially on the defensive line um now kind of turning to the offensive line for UAB you just mentioned you know some pre- snap penalties some holding penalties um get kind of getting pushed around a little bit um up front during throughout times in the game um last night but Daren you know uh one of our patreon members uh Andrew Parker asked in our community chat so shout out hey we love this community chat by the way like we we just started we unveiled this uh a few days ago but the chat was popping during the game it's going to be popping uh throughout the week but Andrew asked are you guys concerned about the offensive line or the offense in general after the first game so Darren I know you know you being a former Center are you concerned about the offensive line I mean we don't want to overreact on just one game but are there concerns there after last night's performance well in just just a little context um even I shared an article like from HBCU game day and they specifically knew that their strength is the D line which we talked about and that that's what they wanted to do they wanted to um put pressure on our offensive line and attack there because that was their strength and they kind of they did like load the Box they did a lot of different looks you um but especially for the first game like shout out shout out to them man um they were really defensively sound they knew they were Gap responsible they walked extra guys down they green dog linebackers which which means if um if you're running back stayed in the block or anything like that and they kind of waited around see what's going on they were sending pressure right and they had guys walked down in the box and they were doing twists you know um they went in this funky kind of it was like a 335 hybrid kind of look where they kind of put three down linen and then then they kind of walk guys up on the edge kind of somewhat off the ball it was kind of a funky look I know it's something that we probably didn't practice gu and I think it was you know probably confusing I guys some and as a offensive lineman if you are thinking slowly you play slowly and I don't I don't know if people really understand that part because the quarterback is not like kind of in sync with you as far as in you picking your like where you have to go and alorn kind of had guys moveing here they was going side to side they was just kind of and you can't I could I could feel it as a offensive lineman sometimes you're sitting down there before the ball snap and you're trying to be like do we need to change do we need to change our how we going to get to where we go how we block U and then you just kind of go but as you go you're going slowly kind of making sure you're all on the same page and they're coming full a speed and it can that little hesitation can really mess up a whole play you know um when you're thinking through it versus playing if you say oh we here here here bam then now now it's way more physical right versus mentally if you got to slow down it kills you especially against a good a good defensive lineman like um like a Malachi Bailey or something he was he played well um so I I think our guys was trying to trying to think through their time on offensive line so I think a lot of their mistakes that they made I think it's fixable you know the ones that I looked at like I said it was like a lot of assignment sound the left side was better than the right side um but the left side also consisted of quiz Yates at left guard and he he's been here right Zar floro been he's been here but this is his first year back from major injury you know his first year starting and um it was a couple of times that at first when he gets when he get his hands on you and he he goes full speed he has really good strength I saw one time I saw him like really throw we call it throwing the guy out the club he took him and he at him and he just wom you know he threw him out the club I'm like oh he got you see it there but I also saw up here that it was kind of like oh okay uh you know a couple times and that that really it was a couple of times you know he had some penalties and you know it was a couple times where I just felt him playing slow and it messed him up responsibility wise and then it caused confusion between him and DJ Jones on the interception you know it was a simple Slide the line slides left like it's a gap protection so the whole line slide left you have a running back protect the edge on the right so it's like this and they all they did was simply walk a linebacker up in the gap of the if you're sliding down it's kind of like okay maybe as a guard I'mma take the linebacker you as the you as the tackle you will take this defensive lineman well all the linebacker did was just bag up so if your eyes are already here so DJ DJ Jones eyes was already on this linebacker then it's kind of like oh he's gone I got to shift my my eyes to this defensive tackle I think he expected a little bit more help from his guard to hold him up so he can kind of get there well that didn't happen cuz floro was like oh I'm here to the other guy on this side just a little walk up confused it caused enough confusion for for the right tackle I'm sorry my uh my phone is going off here I should have silenced it but anyway Let's ignore that because I can't find it but uh but yeah just that just that little bit just caused that slight confusion and we have an interception that that come from that when you're watching it as a fan you're like oh pressure pressure oh we are not being firm enough but it was just a walked up linebacker that caused this Mass confusion like just that's it and it's little stuff like that that happened the whole game it's kind of like man that's that's fixable though as Jimmy said it's kind of you kind of feel good to come out of the game like who we still blew them out but we had a lot of mistakes and it wasn't physical like we weren't just getting whooped it wasn't it wasn't Traymore you know UTSA it wasn't like man what do we do to adjust it was or man we need to recruit somebody else it was okay we need to get on the same page it was a couple of times we weren't firm enough like JD probably gave a little too much or sometimes we did the Cupid Shuffle instead of work on run plays we didn't work up to the next level we kind of shuffled around a couple of times it resulted in a three yard game versus a seven yard game it's like go like the running back has to go through the hole but it's fixable again if they go in they G to look at a film and Trent what Jimmy said what Trent always say he's he's the son of a offensive line coach you know whole thing I'm pretty sure and he talked about the belly rubbing right like I'm going look back at that second half cuz if I remember when we was at the game it looked like guys tired now it did look like it was some belly rubbing going on in that third fourth because the guys had hands on hips and look like they were breathing heavy I'm like oh we kind of look out of shape on the offensive line and it's a reason that they kept them in like the whole game only guy the only guy that came in the sub was Delano Townsen that I can remember so um and he actually looked good out there at guard so I wonder if you know I wonder if he made a case on that touchdown run in the first quarter he absolutely obliterates that guy he he takes him and then it's just a Walkin touchdown and then um but just apart from the offensive line the tight ends and running backs as well they didn't block well on the edge um mine is Dallas Payne Dallas pay is clearly the best tight end on the field today I mean yesterday but as far as you know like Dependable guys that we have like all the time Bryce damus you know Isaiah Jacobs those guys blocking on the edge they did not block well and as they just didn't you know so um I think they will get that strain out I know Trent is is seething because his soul is right there right it's and if you if you go back and look at those plays if we just make a little bit of blocks here and there 30 yard game but just because we just took a bad angle to something it was like a one yard loss and it's so frustrating when you look at it once you guys look at it again you're gonna be like come on man come on man we right we're right there if we clean it up I really like our chances um against ULM yeah you said that question was from Andrew John yes yeah um yeah Andrew I would say uh one benefit of having this staff in year two is is you've got some hindsight you've got some some data to look back to and I keep trying to compare this game to the incat game last year and UAB put up I think it was 35 points against incat and one of those scores was super late um so really UAB was in the high 20s until I think it was hooks it scored like late in the fourth and uh so and then you see the rest of the season what the UAB offense was able to do so ultimately scoring 41 in this ball game uh with even some points on the table like I'm not really concerned per se like I feel really confident that's going to get cleaned up um you know if there were to be a concern like to play like Devil's Advocate it's just that we're in back-to-back Seasons where the offense was still trying to score late with a lot of the starters like still in the game like it seems like maybe there's just a little bit of a a trend of slow starts in game ones uh for the UAB offense but if that's just a trend in game one and then the UAB offense is able to Excel and improve if the season goes on as they did this past year I have little concern at all um I would have liked to see uh but this kind of ties into my next point about the offensive line is am I concerned about the offensive line I would say no especially in comparison to last year uh but I feel like there's still just a lot of like unknowns because I feel like to darion's point we had one guy come in towns and uh and we didn't see like a bosi and we didn't see a baron Franks you know you're you're going to likely have some injuries and some shuffling around throughout the season so I feel like it's incomplete you know like the test grade is incomplete like I don't know because you really want to see what that seven or eight you know guys look like and so I would have liked to see you know how boski looks coming back from injury I would have liked to see Baron Franks you know get into the game a little bit to see like or we at Deep um to feel even more confident as it relates to the rest of the season but overall um I guess one last thought is just you know a theme last year was uh can we get the ball down the field and we didn't really see that last night I think it was 6 and A2 yards uh on average per pass attempt and that was even lower than you know you stretch out the average for this past season um so we weren't able to really get the ball down the field but at the same time you know how much of that is intentional you know scheme um you know game script I should say uh how much of that was impacted by a guy like Yousef Terry not playing I don't know what his status is as it relates to whether he'll be back uh or not for the next game or when he'll be ready to return so but overall um I would say it's more incomplete but I still have quite high confidence in this UAB offense 100% And I do think that was kind of like not game script but just how the game was flowing like UAB was able to get pretty much whatever they wanted through the Run game I think they knew they didn't have to take the top off at least against alorn State know you probably definitely next week against ULM you're going to to and and again like I I I do know that I can hear some of our listeners or viewers saying like are y'all really being this nitpicky about a 41 to3 Victory I mean but there is a lot on film to improve on to get ready for this important week two game against ULM and you we all know UAB struggled mightily in week two and on the road can UAB win on the road we couldn't last year so this is so this is such a an important game and I can't wait to kind of go go watch what happened with ULM and Jackson State I've got that on my radar um to rewatch this weekend to just to see how that I mean I I know guys we were keeping up with it like on our phone um but just to see what happened in that game um when we analyze the film but um Richard McCollum also bvp VIP p he he asked like are there any red flags where that we saw in last game that kind of uh oh like did we have any uh oh moments um I guess I'll answer that real quick I had an uh oh when Michael Moore went down um you know that that linebacker depth I mean we we talked about preseason you know previewing like there's not a lot of depth there I mean I don't think Michael Moore returned to the to in the game last night did he he did he did he came back oh he did okay okay did he came back okay well that's good um that that's good well him and uh that was one of my takeaways too was like it seems like the team came out relatively healthy there was two scares Terrell McDonald on the carry early looked like that was a pretty serious injury and he ended up coming back and then Michael Moore we were thinking hey concussion protocol you know that might impact his status for the next week but it sounds like halftime he got the necessary you know looks and the eval and that came came out all clean so he was able to come back in so thankfully um we walked away from that ball game it doesn't appear that there was any injuries that were suffered that will impact anyone that wasn't already sidelined good um now and he Richard also asked in the chat he said what was the most surprising and man special teams A+ in the game you know you got Shanks punt return for a TD first time uh since JJ Nelson in 2013 for UAB like almost had a second one um but I know there was a holding penalty or blocking the back um but two field goals Blazer Victory podcast all three of us how electric was that when we we saw that touch back we saw Noah kick that thing to the end it was lit what about yeah the first back of the Season you see fans were going crazy I think some of the alorn fans was like what's going on here they looked at us like why are they it's just a kickoff I said it was the most important kickoff in UAB football history and he nailed it he nailed it you shout out to I got 38 Special four touch let's go bab but hey special teams A+ blocking a punt two field goals Touchback return game it was on point and it and coverage too yeah it was just a drastic compared to and I I know it's just one game but you can tell early on I was like okay and they got starters out there playing special teams that want to play special teams out there making plays let's go man shout out to trace Campbell out there our our quarterback one of our backup quarterbacks out there running down shout out to Lee BB out there shout out to Adrian Maddox out there shout out to our guy um Jimmy ask about him he said man where man this seemed like something Jason R supposed to be on like where's Ral I get home you know cuz it's late I get home we we do kickoff coverage I see Ral on kickoff coverage absolutely rock rock the returners bail like I was like Dam Jimmy just ask about this dude that's crazy God he rocked them shout out to Sarai Bryant getting down there excellent coverage um James smear number 56 I don't know who you were it seemed like a replacement Jersey maybe who is that I don't I don't know it seemed like a replacement Jersey like like you said wasn't the name on the back but he was all those guys I just wanted to really I feel like I'm missing people I want to name them all out because they did a great job on coverage right when they did return and then when they when they did return they they were catching the ball at like the two it wasn't at the freaking 12 or nothing like that they was catching it attitude him to return back and we were we got good athletes on I loved that that part to me was important I don't know I got excited when I even going back and watching this my first time in my life going back and really Watching Special teams kickoff coverage and stuff and I'm ecstatic man we were like they weren't even getting the ball to the 20 you know that is so dope to me right like compared to what we were going through last year it felt like we were averaging at the 40 like giving a ball to to them at their 40 I'm just like Jesus Christ man like but you see how much of a difference that makes right cuz we're talking about 20 yards or so you know 15 that's a lot of real estate that you have to make up and and then to have that defense that we had out there and we're going to go more on that um think Jacob Zeno had a whole home game you know to his standards he was I feel like he could have been better he could have been worse but he could have been better I feel like they kept them in too late though you know like I mean because the game was I mean I I get kind of like just wanting to get more continuity like with the team but like I was expecting to see K and shout out to Carter Puck came in late but like do y'all think that they kept them too late like I thought like we need I mean I I want to see other guys get reps like especially when the games out of hand I mean I wanted to see somebody else but I think he explained uh in the post game on one of the interviews that he was he was trying to he saw this offense that was you know I'm paraphrasing here but not you know producing the way that he was wanting to and he saw some conditioning issues here and there and he wanted to keep those guys like on the field like he wanted to you know he was intentional about it so like from my fan perspective like of course I would have loved to see kit n go out there because again it goes to that incomplete like we saw a little bit of litty last year but the question we've had in the offseason is who is qb2 not necessarily who is qb2 but what is that situation going to look like we talked about Memphis last year we brought in you know Zeno was out and we saw what the QB situation looked like so it would have been good in a ball game like that to see K to come in and just command the offense a little bit throw the ball around just a little bit and uh do that But ultimately it seemed like there was a higher purpose similar to uh again the incat game last year I think it kept Zeno in almost the whole time there too if not the whole game as well so the the guy with the headset and the guy at the charge had a plan and so we'll you know ultimately have to trust in that yeah what is what is De what is De if the top of your de didn't perform well like dep is is not really dip that mean you're you need to work at the top and then once the top is developed I you know that that's that coaching side of me too leave them out there leave them out there cuz they need to get better they need to work on their conditioning our offensive line was tired our blocking on the edge was not good um I'm not really sure about the receivers I only you know you only get to see so much so I can't really tell you what the receivers did to be honest I feel like Jacob's decision making was you know he could have made some better decisions here and there like you know um so I it wasn't it wasn't the best um I feel like sometimes our running backs um uh specifically where we know about Lee Lee dropped the ball twice on on one of those on one of those it was uh again if you go back and look at the the first one um the guy came in from the edge number one we clearly DJ Jones is still in his stance right they allor had guys moving around late and when again when I say about that as a offensive line as that identification and what's going on our guys weren't ready like we were just kind of like H what's going oh H oh shoot and then you kind of see like Amari Thomas like we're in this Bunch formation and then it's just chaos and then in the midst of that chaos you got a guy just kind of come free and he kind of hit the ball as soon as Lee got it so that kind of wasn't Lee's fault um to be honest it was just nobody knew what was going on and I'm not even sure if they knew what play it was to be H it was just a lot of chaos and um shout out to alorn for creating that right um and that's a good look like you don't want to see it happen but you would rather happen there so you can go back and look and see see you're going to look at we're going to face that again we need to know where go when we didn't know where to go as far as like uh guys moving around we would just say hey Zone it up Zone we are going to go right but as long is we're all together as one and they're running around you can find the scene but we have to be together and our team and that play wasn't together and it cost us right they're they they're going to fix that that's a great look we can U fix U the second one was just his fault the guy the guy made a good tackle put his helmet on the ball he didn't cover it up he's going to fix that we didn't see Lee fumble all year that was two he had I like I like Trent giving him the big Hood well or Lee giving Trent the hug and picking him up that's good coaching you give your guys confidence um what else we had in that in that first half on offense I and the pick that Zeno threw wasn't his fault like the guy hit it and the guy hit him and I talked about that that was the one with DJ Jones and they were sliding down and it was confusion all because a linebacker simply walked up to the line and it slide protection um so those are things that are get worked out um those are fixable um but I think I think it's time we can switch from I feel like our running backs can be a little bit more patient on runs specifically Jacobs a couple of times I saw him and he just kind of went too fast you didn't let the play develop enough to where if you wait a half a second there was a crease but you got to give guys time to so you can hit that crease and I love the fact that we got um goodwi back in the game toward the end you definitely saw a difference in once he it's like he finally got his wiggle going I was like oh shoot like you get this guy the ball in open field he you see the blur so I I love the fact that we kept those guys in and say Hey give them give them rips give them rips let them go and that I really out of all people I think that really helped Goodwin the most because he got loose and I felt like I feel like he's the guy if we can get him one-onone in open field he can make a couple guys miss and he's gone you know um so I like that hey just a few quick notes just to close out the surprise or concerns is like you know just from a concerning standpoint you know would just be like that late you know fourth and short execution lack thereof and dfur was pretty heated about that at the end so that was something that you know we talked at length about in the offseason uh was those short yardage opportunities and the success behind those critical down situations and so that was just one little moment that was kind of like PTSD uh but something I know they're going to clean up and then surprise you know uh Kelvin Hill you know starting as a true freshman played a ton um you know and early in the game he had a play you know was right there pretty much in front of us where he almost picked it off got physical with the receiver um looked good you know again it was against a not great passing offense so keep things in perspective but you know it seems that he's got you know a great future ahead of him uh it was surprising to see a guy like Jack ybec uh Tyreek rson really not get involved till the second half um and see where they are like in the rotation they did come in late Trent talked about the May portal editions and kind of how it may take some time the success right behind those the data is not so great hopefully they're still just getting acclimated to their new uh teams and that they'll be good uh and then uh an interesting kind of surprise was UAB had 12 different players catch a pass in this ball game and who would have guessed that uh hooks was not one of them so that's a pretty big surprise he's someone that we know is going to be a focal point uh we perceive to be someone that's going to be a focal point this UAB offense he's coming off an injury himself uh so hopefully he's able to get involved in this next game because we know how dangerous uh he can be 100% And I know you know Darren you talked about it with LD Cox in that defensive line earlier in the episode but shout out to the defensive line man five sacks eight tfls I I think the defensive line just really got after that alorn state front and they were in that back field the whole game and that's something you know Jimmy you you pointed to last last year there was no pressure um from from the defensive line we just couldn't get get those sacks get those tfls consistently and it's just so good to see the first game already guys you know Desmond little um Shad out Emanuel Waller with the sack too like big big sack early on in the game kind of set the tone of how the game was going to go uh but shout out to that dline and generating pressure um Marcus Smith shout out to the Birmingham guy coming home from M Miss and I was telling Darren last night that there's a great story somebody that had spent I think it was like three years at Old Miss and you know wasn't able to get in the rotation and he's coming back home he's getting fumble recoveries you know uh he's doing a great job so yeah that defensive line is is everything that they described to us we were able to see there in that first game the announcers were compliment complimentary of the defensive line and you could just see it like I mean you could just see their physicality um you know we're going to see how it lines up starting you know next week and then going to the Arkansas game that's going to be those next Milestones to see how this team continues to grow but definitely uh everything that people were saying about the safe the Improvement the safety position and defensive line that was on point uh starting with game one last night yeah and I want to give that we talked about the dline I'm going to talk about them but I want to give these linebackers love too um when Brothers Russa I Tyler McNichols when they touched people they went down you know that we didn't really have that last year to be honest it was kind of like drag four yards you know Miss tackle Miss how many Miss tackles did we talk about last year I mean that that started at the incat game guys I don't know if people really saying that but the Miss tackles and the um the Gap responsibility plays like it it happened it started at incat it looks so I know what incat probably only scored what six points that game um first of all incat was way worse team um secondly if you look I want to I need to look back at that game I know they only threw for 16 yards um you know Jimmy said but it felt like they were able to push us around some right um last year during that game like you could just when you go back and look at it it the feeli of the game was just different um so I don't want to be caught in a moment here and like oh man we got this this great defense what what I can say that I know for sure is that our tackling was so much better and that our pressure our pressure generating pressure getting hits on quarterback getting back in the back field just interrupting that clearly was so much better and when I say un and then guys like LD Cox again I'm coming back to him because I would see him penetrate get up field then I see him retrace right I see him retracing getting back and just running back 15 yards down field hustling hustling and you can do that when you have so many guys behind you that can that can come in you know you got so many guys like uh mccoin Maryweather didn't get in into the second half we depended on him as a starter as a true freshman last year right think about that him and Iman Smalls right you got Derek Shephard and all these guys on the inside and I talk about slotting a lot because all of a sudden Joker Gil got in in the second half and he was able to be successful he's fresh you know he doesn't have to play many snaps and in those snaps he can be you can slot him and put him where you want him to be right where he can be successful the most and it's something that happened to Michael Fairbanks last year is that he kind of got caught in this position that wasn't good for him I I think because we needed him there out of necessity right so it's like he's not we should have had him in a different spot and it it just limited his Effectiveness because we didn't have enough Talent um but now Joker Gill came out there I saw him stand up a GU shrug him tackle for loss he did the little LeBron show the thing like hey get off me I'm too big I'm too strong you got James SM smear I need to I need to figure out is it smear or smire uh oh camera froze no okay okay yeah I need is it smear or SM I think it's smear it smear it was good to see him coming off the Ed he has some burst uh he got him a he got a good sack he's a real piece out there like they talked about him and I'm like he is he really you know is a guy that we brought in as a linebacker see him transition to ad dep um on that defens on line at the edge position is good the safeties Donald Donald Lee you know first of all Ricky Lee didn't play Ray Thorton didn't play neither you know so taian Jones got the start and of course Kevin Hill we talked about that got the start for Ricky Lee but then you see guys like Donal Lee come in Donal Lee was making open field tackles guys like with Adrien Maddox with Tai joh Jones with Chris bracie all of these are like safety nickel guys with AJ Brown think about that what did we have last year in the sense of we got these guys that we trust every guy they put in I trusted like they were they were making good plays so I'm just thankful to see like I didn't I didn't feel that in in cat mine is what the score said I was kind of like H but Daren Daren let me share let me share this with you so the incap first possession of of last season's Game 12 plays 45 yards but looking at the box score here so it was not a Touchback so U kicked it off they returned at 30 yards and they start at the 36 right incat runs it uh for two yards and 17 so they had like 47 yards rushing on the first drive it ended in a field goal but you see here rush for two yards rush for 17 yards rush for seven yards rush for three 2 1 nine yards 1 one4 so they were just like running it running it running it running it um but any well I was gonna say real quick on that first drive you know shout out to our patreon uh Matt in the chat like told us that fish got pancaked by incat like I think it was that first drive so you just just to add to that like you just see like a noticeable difference in last night's game compared to the incat game last year 12 plays seven minutes first drive of the year and they just ran it like for almost 50 yards like in the first possession it was just chunk play you know chunk play I can't attest like it I I didn't go back and see it so I did see fish get pancake or anything like that so I can't I can't attest to nothing like that I don't I don't like you know like doing that but uh but as far as like them just running the ball like towards us and clearly having a physical Advantage um it we were getting pushed around and I was saying it was not only being pushed around it was Gap responsibilities like we had guys hitting the linebackers we I mean that's the only game Charlie good good was able to play because he got hurt um we had guys like hitting wrong gaps on run fits and I was just like what is this we had safeties coming down and getting stiff armed and like this shouldn't be happening to us like it shouldn't be happening to us so who knows I I I think from from what I can tell from what I can tell and I'm pretty sure you guys agree with me I don't care who the opponent was we clearly are better on defense yeah yeah for sure so I'm I'm I'm great I'm great with the with the floor I feel like defense and special Team sets a floor I feel like offense is your Silling razor offense is kind of like oh you know M man maybe think about Bill Clark teams I feel like with Bill Clark we could win the game 1714 on the road right like M mck it up run the ball run the ball punt field position we can we can win like that it set a floor it wasn't pretty but we can probably get that win um but then you take last year we put up 42 on North Texans and we lost you know you can have you can have that ceiling rat all you want to but your defense and your special teams is going to set your floor and at least it's going to can guarantee you that win and you can win ugly if you know if you can get something on offense but if we can get the offense and I I'm pretty sure we will if the defense can give us a solid floor we're going to see really how much this defense is how much they have improved against ULM and I don't think ULM has the best offense neither but they're going to be better offense than alorn right we're going to see them in another light take another step before we get to Arkansas who by the way just beat the out out of Pine Bluff it was nasty like I saw one of the guys from Arkansas w at the Pine Bluff cheerleader and everything I'm like oh my God this is nasty but uh but uh but but we're going to slow our road there we're going to see our defense in another light against a motivated ULM team you know you know Bri come on you know BB and all those guys going to want to beat us come on man we gave them the boot you know it's going to be personal right those guys are going to be motivated to win for their coach and that is a real thing I don't know if you guys know but players really do get motivated and you really do when once you your coach really wants that game you like we got to get it for him somehow some way so that is a real thing they're going to be motivated to win for him we need to go take their soul like we need to just like LD Cox leads the charge you know we need to go let them know that we're here to win as well like I'm pretty sure our guys are G are just as motivated to get the win too right I'm I got an inkling that we got a edge uh we got a little Edge for we're going to see and then but on offense are we sound do we grow I'm really going to be like that's when you really see the most improvement from game one to game two I think we can um it's going to be interesting to see what we do with Delano Townsen does he play more I thought he did really well um do Z FL floro which I 100% believe he has my he has my my full confidence that he's going to come out he's going to be sound GNA be physical and um I think this team is going to get it done I want to see a 70 yard a 50 yard long ball though I do want to see one is Yousef Terry gonna play will he take the will he take the top off the defense I want to see hooks get the ball I want to see him get Shifty with it I don't think he didn't have a Target did he I don't know if he had a Target he didn't have a catch I don't even think he had a Target he did play right or am I or is that like a when he would come in the field like where we were sitting like the eight in the zero and like him and Shanks like it just like confused me like multip times is that Shanks or is that you know hooks are we sure did he play or that so like CU like you said the eight and the zero so now I'm thinking like dang I thought I saw him off on the field half the time but now I'm really rethinking I don't even know if he play I'm have to look somebody comment and tell us that did was hooks at the game last night yes yeah a lot a lot to look for next game last thing I want to say John is um you know look at the postgame presser uh UAB Athletics on YouTube Trent dord sitting in the middle he's got Chris bracie on one side he's got cam Shanks on the other both are seconde players so seconde guys one from the offense one from the defense man the future is bright I love that Trent plays the best players doesn't matter you know age doesn't look at that uh but that was just kind of like a really cool picture to me in a blowout game to see arguably the most impactful guys on offense in defense are both second-year guys and again to see guys like Tyler McNichols come in late true fresman making plays Kelvin Hill you you start to really see some of that development mixed in with those experienced guys it's only one game it's against an inferior opponent but there's look look through the lens of that you know look through look through the lens and compare and like about everything you know culture-wise and like it's okay here in week one we won to lean into that you know if we come out against Monro and we lose then some of those you know ghost you know may come out and it's like oh no like here we are again like maybe maybe we're not as good as we think but let's enjoy this one uh as we start to move the you know Turn the Page and we start to prepare for Monroe uh I'll be the first one I'll be the most nervous host on the show about the Monroe game I can guarantee you uh that but yeah let's let's enjoy this one y'all and how we didn't mention Kobe Dempsey like getting it getting the pick sticky coverage all game you know the guy that came back was in the portal he came back and you know he basically was if it was a player that you can grade like 100% it would be like Kobe Dempsey he was sticky coverage all game like I don't know what they were trying to do with that one-on-one pass there it wasn't working it was kind of horrible but um yeah John said that ball was hanging up in the air forever like he talking trash yeah yeah it was good it's and it's great to know that you got a guy like Kobe Dempsey and a young guy like Kelvin Hill that can look at a Kobe like okay this like it something about that mentorship that you can expect in the leadership that you can expect from especially going to a talented guy like Kelvin Hill man Kevin I like Kelvin Hill we're going to see him against better competition but I I really like Kelvin Hill shout out to the true freshman out that start and then only not we I'm not g to say he heal his own he dominated his matchup like when you when somebody hold their own it's like oh you got some I got some but you know I did good for you know we we both went back and for there was no back and forth it was no back and forth he dominated his matchup so shout out to him shout out to that whole defensive back shout out to the whole defense bro like the guys didn't do anything um again incat scored six points so let's keep everything in perspective of be happy um look at look at the look at the improve make and see if we make those improvements versus we're we're the best well listen 413 you know we're the best it's like no we're not the best we're not the best we have a lot to to work on we have a lot to improve I'm I'm very optimistic because I feel like we can it is very deflating when you look at the team and you're kind of like we have a lot to improve and I don't know if we can I don't I don't think we can because of the talent right nobody's more happier than cion T right because you can he can look at it and say h we can play around with this I can put Ricky Lee in and do this I can I can do that like I can trust Tyler McNichols here I can he's happy he has a lot more to work with last year we were like you know let's move a safety down a linebacker and play two walkon maybe and let's switch up our whole defense y'all remember we did that right we switched up our whole defensive scheme to try to make something work now we're just kind of like H run this play run that that'll work you know and everything was working I'm just like okay that's good that's a great feeling to have to think like H we can still get better and ULM will give us another opportunity I'm I'm ready to see the injured guys come back the use of terries the and I actually think some guys probably didn't play as much they probably were ding was dinged up I know Emanuel Waller was he played limited minutes but I think he was dealing with some deing here and there um you know maybe Jackie back we don't know you know they keep a lot of stuff close to the HP but I Trent has mentioned that it was being Some Ds and they're going to be safe with how they play some guys so I'm expecting more minutes for those guys and I expect uh a whole bunch a better sound I don't know what we're going to do on offense I'm not going to predict what we're going to do I expect us to be more sound and if we can do that I like our chance the defense the defensive staff coach has shut out um alln state scored because of that turnover uh in our own territory uh but speaking of that uh they didn't break you know in that moment like they could have break and that could have been a score and I think that was still like what like in the second quarter if not in the first uh which could have made it look a little bit closer but that defensive staff coach shut out they hn state was in the Red Zone once and it was on that possession and they had one field goal outside of that I mean they couldn't move the ball all night they had the long pass late I think that accum I think that was more than half of their passing yards on a what a hell of a catch on that replay like that all corn State guy late in the game and it was just like our fifth Corner yeah yeah I think it was Basher but I mean still like I mean damn uh but yeah shout out to the defense shout out to special teams offense we love you uh we love that we can have 517 yards and 300 plus yards rushing and be like man that we really left a lot of points on the table so we love you offense we're looking forward to seeing you uh I guess hopefully you saved all those points for next week against Monroe can we just say that you went ahead and got the turnovers out of the way you left some points on the board so less turnovers next week more points less go hey John y'all John was in the stand screaming like we're winning the ACC C cfp playoff we're coming baby he said we're beating Arkansas he was talking trash to Arkansas let's go baby hey we're going all the way this year [Laughter] hey well shout out again to kahaba for sponsoring these game recap episodes of Blazer Victory podcast This Year free feed we will see you for the ULM game preview sometime next week but keep an eye on that patreon interview some more stuff to come on the patreon so patreon.com Blazer pod but Jimmy go ahead and send us out until next time please want to know go Blazers see y'all next week