Under way: College football, slowly, carefully, thankfully

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By Woodrow Carroll

Two collegiate football games were played Thursday, Sept. 3. The games received little attention away from where their home sites. Given the present state of the sports world, they probably merited extra attention.

UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) beat Central Arkansas, 45-35, and South Alabama edged Southern Mississippi, 32-21.

The Blazers of UAB play their home games at Legion Field in Birmingham. The venerable venue, which was built in 1927, has a capacity of 62,000.

For the game with the Bears of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.) the gate was 12,716.

Seating for UAB-Central Arkansas was limited, given that the nasty virus is plaguing our lives. Yet, real bodies were in the stands, no cardboard cutouts! How long before a gate of 10,000 or more makes its way for a football game in Champaign, Evanston, or DeKalb?

The Central Arkansas game with UAB was its second of the season. Central Arkansas defeated host Austin Peay, in Clarksville, Tenn., 24-17, August 29.

The Alabama-Birmingham football story is one of overcoming adversity, and, not just COVID-19.

In 2014 the football program at UAB was shut down. For two seasons the Blazers didn’t field a team. Varied reasons were given. Almost immediately, there was a move to reinstate the UAB football program. An institution of higher learning in Alabama without football was deemed unacceptable by many. UAB football returned in 2017.

The Forest Green and Old Gold Blazers of UAB have made the most of their gridiron resurrection. Counting the recent victory over Central Arkansas, the UAB record was 29-13 since then. One of the Blazers’ victories was a 37-13 conquest of Northern Illinois in the 2018 Boca Raton Bowl.

If all goes well and a solid semblance of normality returns, UAB will leave Legion Field for its own stadium next season, Protective Stadium (capacity 45,000).

It was not a bad night for the state of Alabama and the Sun Belt Conference, last weekend! The Jaguars of South Alabama (Mobile) improved to 2-0 in the Sun Belt Conference by defeating Southern Mississippi, 32-21, in Hattiesburg, Miss.

For obvious reasons, we have to be alert to scheduling changes along the way.

It is far more secure to see the word postponed applied to a sporting event than canceled. A postponed event allows for the event to be made up at some future date.

Who plays collegiate football this Fall and where rates a look. Will teams from the south and southwest move to the forefront? Notre Dame will represent the Midwest without the Big Ten and Mid-American Conferences.

Will playing games in the Fall season pay dividends for teams and conferences? Or, will it prove to be a medical and financial disaster? Risk versus reward is a long way from being determined.

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