Life hasn’t been easy for Trent Dilfer’s UAB Blazers lately.

They have suffered huge losses in recent weeks, against opponents at home. The home crowd that continues to dwindle with each performance at the Protective Stadium. The UAB faithful are losing confidence every week in this program’s ability to bring a winning product to market.

It’s not going to get any easier this week either.

The Blazers are 1-4 on the season and travel to West Point to take on the 5-0 conference leader Black Knights of Army this weekend.

Army’s FBS-leading rushing attack with over 360 yards per game this season has pushed the team to score over 38 points per game. Quarterback Bryson Daily leads the way with 602 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Running back Kanye Udoh added 434 yards and six scores and Noah Short with 355 yards rushing. Short is also the team’s leading receiver with 201 yards and three receiving touchdowns this year.

Their greatest strength happens to be the Blazers’ greatest weakness, as UAB has failed to stop the running against any team this year. They rank eighth-worst in the country in rushing yards allowed, giving up 227 yards per game, and have the fifth-worst rushing touchdowns in the country with 15.

UAB’s pass defense is still statistically the seventh-best in the country, but it’s a much less impressive feat considering they’ve only been tested on 92 throws, the fewest in the country. Teams know they don’t have to throw the ball to beat them. They can easily run them over and check the clock while they’re at it.

The Blazers will likely have to step up their game on offense if they want to stay with a high-scoring, clock-controlling team like the Knights. Outside of their close game at Arkansas, it’s an element of their game that hasn’t been seen in 2024.

It remains unclear who will start at quarterback for UAB on Saturday, but Jalen Kitna or Jacob Zeno will have to overcome a top 30 pass defense to keep them in the game, something they couldn’t do last week against Tulane.

Army currently holds the spot for the nation’s seventh-best rushing defense, with 81.8 rushing yards per game. Getting Lee Beebe Jr. back on track is an important aspect to UAB’s running game. Which hasn’t been effective since the season opener against Alcorn St.

The game kicks off at 11 a.m. CT and will air on CBS Sports Network.