College football Power Four title picks and top Group of Five contender
Before the Snap looks at who’s poised to win the Power Four leagues and which Group of Five program could emerge as the top contender.
UAB football is elevating Alex Mortensen to head coach, according to multiple reports. Mortensen served as the Blazers’ interim coach following Trent Dilfer’s dismissal.
Mortensen, who entered the season as UAB’s offensive coordinator, led the program to a 2-4 record following Dilfer’s firing. That includes an upset win over Memphis that put a damper in the Tigers’ College Football Playoff hopes at the time.
The Blazers fell in games against UConn, Rice, South Florida and North Texas — the last of which is playing in the American championship game against Tulane on Dec. 5 — before ending the regular season with a win vs. Tulsa.
The former Arkansas and Samford quarterback is the son of late ESPN NFL reporter Chris Mortensen.
Mortensen started his college coaching career as an analyst at Alabama, serving as a graduate assistant from 2014-16 and as an analyst in 2017-19. He later returned to the same role from 2020-22 after a brief stint as the receivers coach for the AAF’s Birmingham Iron. He was hired by Dilfer to be UAB’s offensive coordinator ahead of the 2023 season.
Mortensen led an offense that was productive at times in 2025, as the Blazers finished 53rd in total offense (404.2 yards per game). UAB also finished 28th in passing offense (265.6 yards per game).
The 40-year-old coach looks to turn around a program that found little success under Dilfer and is looking to return to the sustained success Bill Clark led the program to from 2014-21, including an eight-win season in 2017, nine-win seasons in 2019 and 2021 and an 11-win finish in 2018.
