Home-coming brings fun to campus
Ian Lamb, Sports Columnist
Published On: 11/ 3/2009
The UAB Blazers traveled to El Paso this past weekend where they ended a two game losing streak against the UTEP Miners. The win comes at a great time for UAB after back-to-back losses at Mississippi and Marshall. The Blazers come home this weekend for a homecoming match against the Florida Atlantic Owls.
UAB has been 0-3 in homecoming games, and this year could be the year to snap the losing streak. Florida Atlantic is 2-5 on the season, with a loss Saturday to their conference foe Middle Tennessee State University.
Now, I know what you’re saying, “Hey weren’t we 2-5 on Saturday?”
Yes, but now UAB is 3-5, so it makes us better. Coming off of a three week away game series all around the country and coming home with a win brings a lot of momentum for the UAB players into the contest against the Owls.
FAU head coach Howard Schnellenberger, one of the most prolific coaches of college football, is seeing his worst season in three years with the Owls, with wins only over North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette.
FAU quarterback Rusty Smith has nearly 2000 yards on the season, but he has negative yards rushing. So the Blazer Defensse needs to focus this weekend on stopping the pass.
At Middle Tennessee State this past weekend FAU recorded over 300 yards of pass with only 121 yards of rushing. Joe Webb could probably get 120 rushing yards himself in a game alone.
As I mentioned earlier, it is Homecoming. And I believe the theme this year is “Growing through the Decades, Blazing Toward Tomorrow.” Events and festivities will be available all week.
Be sure to check out the Gurney Derby, especially if you are a first year student at UAB. It really is quite an interesting event and by far my favorite homecoming tradition. The Gurney Derby takes place on Wednesday November 4th at noon.
The UAB bonfire is Thursday night this week and it’s always a big event. The marching band and golden girls lead the students from the Dorm quad to the mini park for a spectacular bonfire.
I also believe that this year there will be a fight song contest to see which group of students can come up with the best version of UAB’s fight song. I know I’ll be there for that, and will gear up for the Saturday smackdown of the Florida Atlantic Owls. Kick off is at 1:00 pm so get there early and fill the stands of Legion Field because it will be an incredible game.
So to recap, Blazer fans remember: UAB needs to stop the passing game. The gurney derby is on Wednesday, the Bonfire on Thursday, and the game on Saturday. I’m sure there will be many other events on campus to celebrate homecoming, but you can count on the gurney derby and bonfire being the best to attend. I hope to see you all Saturday at 1pm at Legion Field. Bring friends and family. Or strangers. Who cares? Lets fill the seats and show that UAB is a force to be reckoned with on the field.
Email: iclamb@uab.edu
