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

They suffered huge losses to conference opponents at home in back-to-back weeks. Home crowd that continues to dwindle with each game at Protective Stadium. The UAB faithful are losing faith on a weekly basis in this program’s ability to bring a successful product to market.

Things won’t get any easier this week either.

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

Army’s FBS-leading rushing attack with over 360 yards per game this season has led 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 has 434 yards and six scores and Noah Short has 355 rushing yards. 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 run against every team they have faced this year. They rank eighth in the country in rushing yards allowed with 227 yards per game and have allowed the fifth-most rushing touchdowns in the country with 15.

UAB’s pass defense is still statistically the seventh-best in the country, but that’s a far less impressive feat considering they only tested 92 throws, the fewest in the country. Teams know they don’t have to throw the ball to beat them. You can simply run over them while checking the clock.

The Blazers will likely need to step up their game on offense if they want to keep up with a high-scoring, clock-controlling team like the Knights. Aside from their tight end play at Arkansas, it’s an element of their game that wasn’t on display in 2024.

It remains unclear who will start at quarterback for UAB on Saturday, but either Jalen Kitna or Jacob Zeno will have to overcome a top-30 pass defense to stay in the game, something they failed to do against Tulane last week.

Army currently holds the seventh-best rushing defense in the country, allowing 81.8 rushing yards per game. Getting running back Lee Beebe Jr. going is an important aspect of UAB’s running game. Something that hasn’t worked since the season opener against Alcorn St.

The game begins at 11 a.m. CT and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.