A total of 11 points separates the UAB football team from a perfect start to the 2022 season but no one is second-guessing themselves as the program enters the most impactful week of the season.

Honoring those who have fought tougher battles with life or death consequences.

The Blazers return home following its second loss of the year and host Middle Tennessee State in the annual Children’s Harbor homecoming game, Saturday, Oct. 8, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham.

Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on Stadium.

“It’s our Children’s Harbor game, our homecoming game and a tradition that was started by Coach (Bill) Clark and UAB,” UAB interim head coach Bryant Vincent said. “We honor them, we play in the memory of them. It’s a game and a tradition that we take very seriously here and that we’re very proud of. It’s what this program is about. It’s about things bigger than this team and this program.”

UAB is coming off its second loss of the season, a 28-24 loss to Rice on the road, but dominated the Owls in a statistical manner. The Blazers held Rice to only 211 yards of offense but gave up two turnovers and committed 12 penalties for 116 yards.

Although Rice took the initial lead on a perplexing touchdown ruling by the officiating crew, the Owl’s Ari Broussard clearly short of the goal line on fourth down according to multiple replay angles, UAB was able to take a 17-7 halftime lead before coming apart in the second half.

“At the end of the day, when you do stumble and you do fall, you’ve got to regroup and come back stronger,” Vincent said. “You’ve got to bring a great focus on rewriting from what happened the week before. Creating and fixing, really fixing the mistakes and the situations that maybe we didn’t necessarily handle well. I felt like we let our emotions start to stray away from us in the second half and really got caught up (in them).”

“That was a tough one, it was a tough one last year,” he added. “Every loss is a tough loss here because that’s something we’re not used to doing here at UAB and it’s something we’re not going to get accustomed to at UAB. Everything is still within our reach but there has to be a sense of urgency on this football team that’s coming into town.”

Middle Tennessee State had an inauspicious start to the season, falling 44-7 at former FCS power and current first-year FBS program James Madison, but rallied to win three straight, including a 45-31 upset at Miami. The Blue Raiders are coming off their own loss, a 45-30 home loss to UTSA, and face a UAB team that won the 2018 C-USA title the last time both teams met on the field.

Of course, considering its homecoming and the annual Children’s Harbor game, UAB players understand the importance of representing and honoring those who have fought a tougher battle than they’ll ever face on a football field. A total of 92 patients will be honored Saturday.

No additional motivation is needed for a program built on the selfless service of others.

“Any time you can play for anything that’s bigger than you, it’s special,” Jack linebacker Kelle Sanders said. “Playing for something like this is truly special because you can be someone’s limelight for three and a half hours. It’s being there for somebody, for the game, it’s special. I’m at a loss for words thinking about it.”

Since its inception in 2017, a variety of players have been personally affected by the Children’s Harbor game.

Senior cornerback Devodric Bynum, who will honor Children’s Harbor patient D’Ariya Larry, is a father himself who endured difficulties during the birth of his daughter. He took an immediate appreciation for the tradition because of his own family experience, as well as the work of his late grandmother.

“This game is really the most important game because the names who we play for on the back of our jerseys mean a lot to us,” Bynum said. “Some of us have kids, I have kids. My daughter was born four months early, so she had complications as well. It touched me probably more than anyone.”

“My grandmother, she owned a daycare, and she took in all kids, no matter what,” he added. “She passed away (the day) we played Appalachian State. This game means a lot more to me because I know how she felt towards kids as well. I know, with the kids, they just want an opportunity. It’s not fair always, but that’s how the dice roll. For me to go out there and be able to perform for them means a lot to me.”

Sanders, a Washington native and former Independence Community College (Kan.) transfer, arrived in 2020 but was unaware of the homecoming tradition until the week of UAB’s homecoming tilt with UTSA. Following the Blazers’ 21-14 win over the Roadrunners, Sanders knew he had been involved with something remarkable and more important than any ego boost derived from performing well on the field.

“It was definitely something I learned,” Sanders said. “Going into the team meeting, hearing about everything and then in the locker room, everybody talking about the uniform, because the uniforms are definitely cool uniforms. It’s a big deal that we’re playing for somebody else other than us. It was something that I learned going through and after the game. It felt special to me.”

The Blazers are 4-1 in homecoming games since the Children’s Harbor tradition started in 2017, the lone loss coming last year to Rice. With the exception of UAB’s 38-14 win over Old Dominion in 2019, every game has been a one-score decision that exemplifies a core value of Children’s Harbor in helping to battle childhood diseases.

“This is a game that our players look forward to, that our program looks forward to and that we’re excited about,” Vincent said. “Our players understand the importance of this game, they take pride and passion in playing for these families and playing for these patients. This is real life and our players have created bonds with these children, created bonds with these families. It’s ended up turning into a life-long relationship.”