The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Turns Focus Torwards "The Bones"
10/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 3, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB football team began preparations for Memphis on Tuesday afternoon, practicing for over two hours in full pads. The Blazers and Tigers will meet for the ninth time in school history; however, will do battle on the gridiron in the first ever "Battle of the Bones" on Saturday afternoon - a trophy that will be passed between the two schools beginning this year.
The Blazers have won six consecutive games in the series dating back to a 38-14 loss on Oct. 9, 1999. Since then, UAB has not lost to its rival up north. However, UAB head coach Watson Brown knows the health of his team will play a big part in the contest this weekend, particularly at the quarterback position.
Last weekend, quarterback Chris Williams was held out due to recovering from an injury from the Mississippi State game. This week, quarterback Sam Hunt is the one who may have to sit on the sidelines after injuring an ankle in the waning minutes of the Troy victory.
"It doesn't look good for Sam, but you never know," Brown said. "We are going to have to wait a day or two to see. If he is ready to play this weekend, we will dress him out and use him the way we used Chris last weekend. If Chris gets in trouble this Saturday, then we will use Sam, but I don't even know if we can even get that far with him. We are going to just have to wait and find out."
On a more optimistic note, wide receiver Norris Drinkard returned to practice Tuesday, and participated in half of the team workouts.
"We told Norris to go hard today and stop toward the middle of team drills," Brown said. "We have to be real careful to keep his injury from lingering. That's why we went a little bit today and see how he feels (Wednesday)."
Brown also mentioned one of the keys to this weekend's game will be field position. Memphis boasts an All-American candidate at punter in Michael Gibson, who had two punts of over 70 yards and also pinned Tennessee inside its own 5 on three separate occasions this past Saturday. Brown feels in order for his team to have a chance, they have to get good field position.
"We have faced some good punters when we played Oklahoma and Georgia," Brown said. "Field position now, especially in these shorter games, is very important."
The teams will be playing for a new trophy - a 100 pound bronzed rack of ribs that will be passed back and forth between the winning school each year.
The theme of the trophy comes from the tradition of fine barbecue in both Memphis and Birmingham. The two cities are renowned for their high quality barbecue, which has become a part of the culture of the cities.
The new rivalry is being created by the athletic departments at UAB and the University of Memphis, along with the schools' student government groups and student support groups Gang Green and Blue Crew.
The game can be heard on the Blazers ISP Sports Network, beginning at 4:30 p.m. CST. Birmingham listeners can follow all the action on WYDE 101.1 FM, as well as WIQR 1410 AM in Montgomery.
