It’s the same old song and dance for the UAB football team.

The Blazers shot ahead for a sturdy halftime lead but faltered down the stretch in a 45-42 loss to North Texas, Saturday, Nov. 25, at DATCU Stadium in Denton, Texas.

UAB (4-8, 3-5 AAC) was outscored 238-141 in the second half this season.

“I tried to teach a life lesson (after the game),” UAB head coach Trent Dilfer told Steve Irvine on UAB postgame radio. “Life is going to throw you some sideways stuff, some disappointments, and how you respond to those moments defines you. Don’t let your sour emotions affect a whole season of relationship building.”

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UAB surges to early lead, falters late in loss to North Texas

Rewinding UAB’s 45-42 season-ending loss to North Texas

The Blazers held a 28-14 halftime lead but the offense floundered in the third quarter, resulting in three straight three-and-outs, and North Texas exploded for 643 total yards and scored on six of its seven second-half possessions, including four straight between the third and fourth frames.

UAB ran for 179 yards in the first half but was held to only 42 yards in the final 30 minutes. Jermaine Brown Jr. finished with 18 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns, including a 47-yard reception, and Lee Beebe had 101 yards and two scores on seven rushing attempts.

“We needed to run it the second half and weren’t able to find any consistency in the run game,” Dilfer said. “We got behind the chains and made silly mistakes. I don’t want to take anything away from North Texas but, offensively, we had a great opportunity to control this thing and execute to protect our defense from maybe the best player in the conference. It had to be a formula to win it and we couldn’t execute that.”

The first quarter saw the Blazers score on their first two possessions but a missed extra point by Matt Quinn — who would miss a 37-yard attempt later in the second half — on the initial touchdown resulted in a 14-13 deficit early in the second quarter.

UAB sandwiched a three-and-out between two short scoring drives and built a double-digit lead on a 66-yard touchdown run by Lee Beebe and a 32-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Zeno to Fred Farrier II.

Defensively, UAB collected three sacks and ended two straight North Texas drives on a Colby Dempsey interception and a turnover on downs inside the red zone. The Blazers produced 327 yards of offense in the first half and 179 yards came on the ground with a dominant display of ball control.

“The disappointing thing is we felt this could be a game where we had 80 plays, we possess the ball and score points, and keep this explosive offense of North Texas off the field,” Dilfer said. “We did that in the first half and in the second half, we put our defense in a terrible situation by three-and-outs and not moving the ball band up. Disappointing on a lot of levels. We knew the formula, started well and then, as the story of the season goes, we just couldn’t maintain that in the second half.”

UAB’s defense bent but did not break to open the second half, allowing a 34-yard field goal and forcing a punt, but three consecutive failed possessions by its offense, resulting in a loss of 11 yards on nine plays, kept the unit on the field for a majority (19:34) of the second half.

Following Quinn’s missed field goal attempt on UAB’s opening drive, which covered 55 yards in 10 plays, the Blazers went three-and-out for the second time in the game — first in the second half — and North Texas responded with a 10-play, 50-yard scoring drive to cut the lead down to 28-25 late in the third frame.

On its next possession, UAB gained three yards and the Mean Green retaliated with a 7-play, 83-yard march to the end zone and added a 24-yard field goal for a 35-28 lead midway through the final frame.

The Blazers managed to tie the game on consecutive possessions with an 80-yard touchdown catch by Tejhaun Palmer and a 2-yard run by Beebe, but could not stop North Texas from staying a step ahead. UAB allowed two big plays to set up the Mean Green in plus territory and the final such occurrence came on a 37-yard run to set up Noah Rauschenberg’s game-winning 32-yard field goal.

“There’s a cumulative effect to how you play football,” Dilfer said. “That’s something that gets lost in the narratives. The physicality at the line of scrimmage, how you possess it and how you convert it, that leads to winning football. We played losing football because we’ve been explosive but not consistent — that’s why we’re a 4-8 team, 4-8 head coach and 4-8 program.”