This is the Depth Dossier: the UAB Blazers, Week 9.

Two strip-sacks turned into fourteen points, and that was the whole game. UAB fell to South Florida, 30 to 10, and a promising 10-0 lead lasted all of one quarter before things completely came apart.

The Blazers scored on their opening drive and added a field goal, looking like they had this one in hand. Then they went scoreless for the final three quarters, managing just 58 total yards the rest of the way. Quarterback Ryder Burton threw for 149 yards and didn't throw a single interception, but he took six sacks, and two of them popped loose as strip-sacks that South Florida returned for touchdowns. The run game basically didn't exist, just 17 yards on 33 carries. UAB's best shot to answer came on a 16-play drive that ended with a missed 32-yard field goal. The defense, to its credit, held South Florida to just 237 total yards. It wasn't nearly enough.

Here's the thing that makes this loss sting even more: strip away the score and this was a defensive showcase. Holding an opponent to 46 passing yards and 237 total yards usually wins you the game. Instead, UAB lost by 20 points because of how the turnovers happened. Burton didn't make bad reads or throw picks. These were sacks that became live balls, which is a protection problem up front, not a mental one from the quarterback.

Linebacker C.J. Hicks was the name of the day. He piled up four sacks, tying a South Florida program record, and both of his strip-sacks were the ones that ended up in the end zone. Head coach Alex Mortensen said plainly that UAB failed to control the line of scrimmage, and the numbers back him up. UAB had 119 yards in that opening quarter and just 58 the rest of the way.

The missed kicks made it worse. Kicker Jonah Delange missed from 41 yards, and more costly, missed again from 32 yards after a long 16-play drive got all the way to the South Florida 14. Points that drive deserved just never showed up.

On the defensive side, defensive lineman Marlin Dean had two and a half sacks, pushing his season total to seven and a half. He was the one consistent disruptor on a day when the defense did its job and got nothing to show for it. Linebackers Jeremiah Jordan and Jo'Tavion Pierce each racked up 11 tackles, the only two Blazers consistently around the ball.

Now, turning to the depth chart, there's actually some clean news here: no injuries to report this week. Everything else that's shifting is about performance, not health.

Dean's workload is the clearest change. After that two-and-a-half-sack game pushed him to seven and a half for the season, he's now playing roughly three-quarters of the defensive snaps. He's clearly UAB's most trusted pass rusher right now, and the staff is leaning into it.

The offensive line is the group everyone will be watching. Six sacks allowed, two turned into touchdowns the other way, that's the kind of performance that forces a hard look at protection schemes and maybe personnel. Nothing official has changed yet, but after Mortensen's comments about controlling the line of scrimmage, it's hard to imagine this group goes untouched heading into next week.

Delange's misses are worth tracking too. He was perfect back in week seven, even hit one from 50 yards out. This week he missed twice, including the one that mattered most. One rough outing doesn't cost a kicker his job, but it's a real swing from someone who looked automatic just two weeks ago.

And Burton's clean day through the air, zero interceptions despite constant pressure, keeps the quarterback job settled heading forward. The real question now is whether UAB can find him any time to throw against whatever's coming next.

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.