UAB vs. Memphis 'Battle for the Bones' has the perfect trophy for the college football rivalry
Birmingham, Alabama, and Memphis, Tennessee, are two southern cities separated by about 245 miles with many similarities. Among them is a knack for making some damn good barbecue.
So, when the football teams from the University of Memphis and the University of Alabama at Birmingham meet on the gridiron, there’s a trophy up for grabs. The rivalry exists not only because the two schools are near each other geographically, but also because of the shared history of the cities.
And college football has a lot of cool trophies. Cincinnati and Louisville play for The Keg of Nails, the winner of SMU versus TCU gets The Iron Skillet, Ole Miss and Mississippi State compete for the Golden Egg, and Minnesota and Wisconsin battle over Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
But the trophy for the winner between UAB and Memphis is better than them all.
The winner of the Battle of the Bones gets a 94-pound bronze statue depicting a rack of ribs.
No, really.
According to AL.com, the trophy was introduced in 2006.
The football rivalry went on an 11-year pause when Memphis joined the Big East – which became the American Athletic Conference – and UAB briefly stopped playing football in the mid-2010s. But UAB is back, albeit under a seemingly-soon-to-be-fired Trent Dilfer, and is back in the same conference as its rival.
Memphis has won two straight in the series.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: UAB vs. Memphis 'Battle for the Bones' has the perfect trophy for the college football rivalry
