At last week’s UAB football press conference, head coach Trent Dilfer took the podium. He jokingly said his “wife’s better looking” and he “likes his kids more” following the team’s win against FAU the week prior. Let’s hope for his sake that he refrains from making a similar analogy this week following Navy’s victory over UAB 31-6. With the loss, this will mark the first losing season for UAB since they brought back their football program in 2017.
UAB came into the game with an impressive passing attack, and the Navy defense stepped up really big a week after getting torched through the air by EJ Warner and the Temple Owls offense. Navy allowed just 206 passing yards to UAB and a pedestrian 5.7 yards per attempt. They held UAB to 115 yards rushing and kept the Blazers out of the end zone the entire game while adding in two interceptions. One of those interceptions was returned for a 97 yard touchdown further stretching the lead.
Offensively, Navy decided to go straight at this UAB defense on the ground. Navy ran the ball 47 times on the day, gaining 269 yards and an extremely impressive 5.7 yards per carry. Xavier Arline started the game at quarterback for the Midshipmen and it looks like he might stay there to close out the season. The senior moved back to quarterback, getting the start last week after playing slotback all season. With Navy suffering heavy injuries to the quarterback position and talented freshman Braxton Woodson appearing not quite ready yet, it seems as if Arline is their guy down the stretch.
Importantly for Navy, the win keeps them in the race to be bowl eligible. They’ll need to win both of their last two games as the matchup with Army comes after the bowl selections are announced. They’ll likely be favored next week against a 2-8 ECU team but then have to travel to Dallas to take on an 8-2 SMU team that is tied for first place in AAC right now.
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