Battle for the Bones

The Battle for the Bones is an annual college football game played between the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers and their Conference USA Eastern Division rivals, the University of Memphis Tigers. The name was introduced for the 2006 match-up at Legion Field which was accompanied by a barbecue competition and the debut of a 100 pound bronze casting of a rack of ribs created by Sloss Metal Arts artist Heather Spencer which will be displayed by the winner of each year's game.

The UAB-Memphis series dates back to 1997, with Memphis winning 28-7 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Memphis also won the next meeting, in 1999 in Birmingham, but UAB dominated the series for the next seven years until Memphis won the 2007 contest at home 25 - 9.

The new rivalry was created by the athletic departments at UAB and Memphis, along with the schools’ student government groups and student support groups, Gang Green and Blue Crew. The annual barbecue competition is staged outside of the stadium on the afternoon of game day. Entrants from both cities compete in either the professional or the "tailgater" division, with a total of $4,000 in prize money given to the winners.

Results

The "Bones" trophy, cast by Heather Spencer

Football game (UAB 8 - Memphis 4)

• September 5, 1997: Memphis 28, UAB 7 at Memphis
• October 9, 1999: Memphis 38, UAB 14 in Birmingham
• October 14, 2000: UAB 13, Memphis 9 in Birmingham
• October 27, 2001: UAB 17, Memphis 14 at Memphis
• September 28, 2002: UAB 31, Memphis 17 in Birmingham
• October 4, 2003: UAB 24, Memphis 10 at Memphis
• September 25, 2004: UAB 35, Memphis 28 in Birmingham
• November 1, 2005: UAB 37, Memphis 20 in Memphis
• October 7, 2006: UAB 35, Memphis 29 in Birmingham
• November 17, 2007: Memphis 25, UAB 9 in Memphis
• October 2, 2008: Memphis 33, UAB 30 in Birmingham
• November 14, 2009: UAB 31, Memphis 21 in Memphis
• November 20, 2010: UAB 31, Memphis 15 in Birmingham

Barbecue competition

Judging for the inaugural barbecue competition was handled by Troy Black, Mike Davis, Jake Arians and Jim Cloud, who sampled 10 ribs from each of 20 competitors.

• 2006: Professional - Smokin' Buffalo (UAB); Amateur - First Access Realty Bone Team (UAB)

References

• "Battle for the Bones." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 Oct 2006, 16:10 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 8 Oct 2006 [1]
• Bryant, Walter (October 8, 2006) "Legion Field has nothing on ribs." Birmingham News