UAB football rises to the occasion

Four wins, eight losses.

Scott Adamson’s sports column appears pretty much whenever he feels like writing it.

That was my prediction for UAB’s first year back from the gridiron crypt and, really, that would’ve been fine.

When I sat at Legion Field on the first Saturday in September, 2017, I was so thrilled the Blazers had returned that wins, losses and even performance didn’t matter a whole lot.

I figured UAB would win that game – against Football Championship Subdivision foe Alabama A&M – and then somehow manage to get three more before the 12-game season reached its end.

Football Bowl Subdivision schools that lose their program don’t just come back and compete, not when they’ve been out of the game for two years.

But UAB proved me wrong last season, going 8-5, winning every game it played at Legion Field, and earning a Bahamas Bowl berth.

I couldn’t have been prouder, and couldn’t have been more pleased to be so wrong.

At least I thought I couldn’t.

Because on Saturday, when the final seconds ticked away on a 27-25 Blazers victory over Middle Tennessee that secured the 2018 Conference USA championship, I was even more proud – and wrong again.

Oh, I had high hopes for another good season that included a postseason, but league title?

Come on.

Not two years out of the grave.

But here they are, sitting on 10 wins and prepping for MAC champion Northern Illinois in the Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 18.

“We talked about when we brought this group in, the joke was who was going to play us in the movie, because you know there is going to be a movie someday, and then it was how do we want this movie to end,” UAB coach Bill Clark said during the postgame news conference on Saturday. “We wanted the movie to end with a championship.”

When UAB president Ray Watts pulled the plug on the football program on this date four years ago, it was supposedly because it was a money-losing proposition.

“As we look at the evolving landscape of NCAA football, we see expenses only continuing to increase.” Watts said. “When considering a model that best protects the financial future and prominence of the athletic department, football is simply not sustainable.”

But a lot of us wouldn’t accept that (yes, I’m raising my hand, here) and the Birmingham business community galvanized behind UAB football.

Give us a chance to be competitive, we said, and we’ll make it worth your while.

Saturday’s outcome was an object lesson in faith.

“I think the city of Birmingham and UAB, the people believed in this,” Clark said. “I mean, we raised $50 million to bring this program back. This is a thank you them, too. All of those people who really gave their own personal money, to believe in us and get us in a facility where we would have a chance to compete.”

Throughout its history, Blazer football has been hamstrung by a University of Alabama system board of trustees that didn’t want it and certainly had no desire to help it.

Enough people got to together, though, to take that decision out of their hands.

Now there’s an operations building and practice facility that any Group of 5 program would be proud of.

A new stadium is on the way.

Clark is a coach who, thanks to a contract extension the day before the league championship game, is being paid closer to what he’s worth.

And players who decide to wear the green and gold do so because they want to be part of something special, not because they have no place else to go.

For the first time, the UAB football program is in a position to succeed.

Four years after having no future, the future has no limits.

“I was a high school coach and my dad was a high school coach, and that’s really what I want to see from them is taking these things and saying, ‘OK, if I work really hard, if I believe in something, good things can happen,’” Clark said. “That’s what happened with this group, they believed in each other.”

It’s easy to believe, now.

And I don’t believe I’ll ever predict a 4-8 season again.

Only two spots open in college football’s Final Four

As someone who cheers for a Group of 5 team (UAB), cussing and discussing the College Football Playoff is pointless.

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Under its current format, the chances of a team from the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West or Sun Belt conferences making the field are next to impossible.

Still, it’s kinda fun to sit back and watch the big reveal each Tuesday and see which Power 5 program will whine about being disrespected.

And what was revealed in the last rankings before Selection Sunday is that, in reality, only two spots are up for grabs.

No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Notre Dame are already in – count on it.

The Crimson Tide, which has been atop the CFP poll since it was first released on October 23, will earn a semifinal spot even if it loses to No.  4 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. I seriously doubt that’ll happen, but if the Bulldogs somehow pull off the upset, Alabama will fall no further than No. 4.

Those who were enraged that Nick Saban’s team got in last year despite finishing second in the SEC West can embrace that emotion all over again if UA is runner-up on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

As for the Irish, they’re 12-0 and, as an independent, have no work left to do before the semifinals.

And since Alabama and Notre Dame are (arguably) the bluest of college football’s bluebloods, having both teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision Final Four has to give those who love tradition a warm, tingling sensation in their sensitive regions.

So that leaves two spots open, although, I don’t see any scenario where Pittsburgh beats No. 2 Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.

The Panthers are 7-5, lost to a mediocre Miami team by three touchdowns last Saturday, and simply don’t have the horsepower to hang with the unbeaten Tigers.

Dabo Swinney’s squad is head and shoulders above every other team in the ACC and should have this game wrapped up by halftime.

The worst-case scenario for CFP executive director Bill Hancock and the selection committee – from a public relations standpoint – is a Georgia upset. Should that happen, the playoffs will have two SEC teams for the second year in a row. With Notre Dame taking a Power 5 spot, that means the champions of the Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac 12 will be locked out.

Of course, the Pac 12 is locked out anyway. Washington and Utah enter their clash with three losses apiece, so the winner will have to settle for a New Year’s Six bowl as a consolation prize.

Thus, the last berth (assuming Alabama and Clemson win their conference crowns) will come down to No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 6 Ohio State. If both are victorious Saturday the Sooners are probably in, especially since they will have avenged their only regular season loss.

But …

What if the Sooners lose to Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game and the Buckeyes fall to Northwestern in the Big Ten title clash?

Would that open the door for undefeated Central Florida?

The Longhorns wouldn’t get in with three losses and the Wildcats most certainly would not secure a berth with four.

That would leave UCF sitting at 13-0, assuming it beats Memphis Saturday in the AAC Championship Game in Orlando.

The CFP would have to give the Knights the fourth spot, right?

Nope.

Michigan, despite being destroyed by Ohio State last Saturday, is No. 7 in the CFP poll and UCF is No. 8.

There is some speculation that those rankings might’ve been flipped had the Orlando school not lost quarterback McKenzie Milton for the season due to a stomach-turning leg injury.

But remember Georgia?

If the Dawgs fall to the Tide, especially by a respectable margin, they would most likely be ranked ahead of the Wolverines on Selection Sunday.

UCF and its fans would raise holy hell if a two-loss Georgia or Michigan team broke in line in front of the Knights, but Hancock and company don’t care about that.

The CFP doesn’t have enough spots to accommodate the Power 5 conferences, so why should we believe a Group of 5 team would be allowed to crash the party?

Now this could change since it’s almost a certainty the playoff will grow to eight teams in a few years.

When that happens, there might be a bone tossed to allow an unbeaten Group of 5 team to enter as the No. 8 seed.

But that time hasn’t come yet, so a team like Central Florida will remain on the outside looking in.

That being said, I fully expect 14-0 Alabama and 14-0 Clemson to meet in the CFP National Championship Game on January 7.

This won’t mean the system suddenly got “fair,” but it will mean major college football will have a 15-0 team for the first time in history.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, that’s impressive.

Meanwhile, UCF’s winning streak now stands at 24.

That’s impressive, too.

10 is a perfect number for the CFL

Quick … define “imparnumerophobia.”

Scott Adamson’s sports column appears pretty much whenever he feels like writing it.

In case you don’t know (and why would you?), it’s the fear of odd numbers.

I can’t say I actually suffer from imparnumerophobia – I’ve seen a lot of odd numbers in my day, and none have ever particularly scared me – but they bother me when it comes to sports leagues.

As a general rule, I think all athletic confederations should have an even number of teams and, ideally, at least 10.

I’ve given the nine-member Canadian Football League a pass because that was its original number in 1958, and because I’m a CFL apologist.

But a 10-team CFL?

I could go for that.

And it looks like maybe Halifax will go for that, too.

It doesn’t have a team or a stadium yet, but Maritime Football Limited Partnership started a season ticket drive last week to determine interest in a Nova Scotia-based CFL team.

A press conference to kickstart it all, held on November 7 at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, featured CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie and members of the group making the push.

“I think it’s the unfinished piece of business that has been on the hearts and minds of Canadian football fans for decades,” Ambrosie said.

For someone who has never set foot on Canadian soil (but who hopes to do so sooner than later), I still feel like I have a tangible connection to the CFL.

Maybe it’s because I’ve followed it for 40 years, and was even able to claim I lived in a CFL city – Birmingham – for one season in 1995.

Whatever the reason, I care deeply about the league. And when you care about something, you want to see it do more than survive … you want it to thrive.

I think adding Halifax to the mix would do just that and bolster the strength of the entire league.

“We do know that this is a great sports market,” Anthony LeBlanc of Maritime Football Limited Partnership said. “Everyone knows that this is a great place to live, work and play, and the idea of having a franchise here is something I know is important to everybody.”

A trademark for “Atlantic Schooners” has already been registered, but Admirals, Convoy and Storm is on the short list provided by the potential ownership group. Nothing is set in stone, and LeBlanc said those who put down $50 deposits on season tickets will have a chance to name the team, which will be announced on Friday.

“This is a big day for Halifax and Atlantic Canada,” LeBlanc said. “It’s a day football fans have been waiting for and an important step towards bringing another professional sports team to this region.”

Now if Halifax can just get a team.

On October 30, the Halifax Regional Council voted unanimously to study the feasibility of a 24,000-seat stadium, a decision that came after Halifax Regional Municipality revealed that the CFL was expected to grant the area a conditional franchise.

Cost of the stadium is reported to be in the $190 million range, and council members want it funded through reallocated funds from property taxes.

They’ve made it quite clear the municipality will nix any plans to operate and maintain the stadium itself.

So, nothing is promised.

Still, things look promising.

There is even hope that a team could be playing by 2020, which would assuage my disdain for odd numbers and give the CFL an even 10.

I assume a balanced schedule would be a byproduct of two five-team divisions, with each team playing every other team twice across an 18-game regular season.

“As Canada’s national league, the CFL aspires to have a presence from coast to coast,” Ambrosie said. “Our players want to play in the region, and our fans tell us they want the league to expand east. We’re happy to see fan excitement growing for an Atlantic franchise.”

I’ll bet those who suffer from imparnumerophobia are happy, too.