In a matchup of medieval legend, the Black Knights of Army met the Dragons of UAB.

Unlike those epic tales of old, there was no fight from the Dragons, a theme far too consistent with UAB’s football team this season.

UAB’s quarterback woes continued, as Jalen Kitna showed flashes, throwing for 242 yards and a touchdown, but gave the ball back to the Knights three times with two picks and a sack on 4th down. They were turnovers the Blazers could not afford against Army’s offense.

Army quarterback Bryson Daily continued to play like one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, rushing for 136 yards and adding 102 yards and a touchdown through the air.

The Black Knights extended the nation’s longest winning streak, winning their 10th game in a row dating back to 2023, moving to 6-0 on the season.

UAB falls to 1-5 for the first time since 2012.

Here’s the takeaways from Saturday morning:

UAB’s run defense by far its largest weakness

Army entered this week’s contest as the number one rushing attack in the nation, and UAB was ranked in the bottom ten in rush defense.

Daily finished the game averaging 11.4 yards per carry, and had a hat trick of rushing touchdowns before the first quarter had ended. He finished the day with four, adding one more in the third quarter before Army put its backups in the game.

Running back Kanye Udoh was unstoppable, racking up 97 yards and a touchdown, while Noah Short added another 42 yards on the ground.

UAB rebuilt this entire interior defensive line in the offseason, adding Derrick Shepard, LD Cox and Demarcus Smith, all highly regarded transfer tackles.

It was a necessity after the Blazers struggled to stop the run the entirety of 2023, but the numbers have somehow gotten worse.

There’s nothing they could do to stop Daily and the Knights, even loading the line of scrimmage with six defensive linemen at points, to no avail.

Kam Shanks the lone star for the Blazers

There was, surprisingly, a bright spot in today’s game for UAB. Redshirt freshman receiver Kam Shanks exploded with 119 yards on 9 catches, further solidifying his claim as the most electric player on this Blazer offense.

He burst onto the scene in week one against Alcorn State with 73 yards receiving and a punt return touchdown but has had a quiet handful of games since.

On UAB’s fifth offensive drive of the game, Shanks caught the ball three times for a total of 78 yards, dragging the Blazers offense to the red zone on his back before a turnover on downs gave the ball back to the Black Knights.

It was one of two red-zone trips for UAB.

He’ll need to see an increased workload going forward if this UAB offense wants to be able to generate real scoring chances going forward.

UAB needs to make a big change

What that big change is, is unclear, but it needs to happen, and soon if this team wants to salvage even a glimmer of hope for the future from this season.

This program, once the proud poster child for resiliency in college football, has been reduced to a weekly blowout, with opposing teams doing whatever they want to the Blazers with next to no pushback.

The team hasn’t looked schematically, physically or mentally ready in a single game outside of September’s game in Arkansas.

UAB’s road to college football relevance is hard enough, they don’t need anyone inside the program making it even harder.

It’s hard to know exactly where things are going wrong for this team, as we’ve heard week after week that the staff doesn’t see these blowouts coming during the practice week. What’s important is that they’re happening, though.

Whether it be a changing of the guard at a coordinator spot, or even head coach, something needs to change in Birmingham.

UAB Head coach Trent Dilfer said it best last week, “…to the fans, you deserve more, the city of Birmingham deserves more.”