Northern Colorado football bus to the Big Sky Conference game at Weber State

This weekend, Northern Colorado football team cohesion will take a different form as it travels to Utah for a Big Sky Conference game against Weber State.

Instead of booking a charter flight to Ogden, the Bears will make the 485-mile journey on four buses.

“We’re always looking for ways to save money,” UNC head coach Ed Lamb said. “The Weber state trip makes sense.”

Lamb said the program and university will save about $70,000 by playing the nationally ranked Wildcats. Weber State, ranked 20th and 23rd in two Football Championship Subdivision polls earlier this week, beat Montana 55-48 in overtime last weekend in Missoula.

Lamb said there was no option to charter a flight to Ogden. UNC would then take about 90 minutes to fly to Salt Lake City, another 90 minutes for TSA check-in and an hour drive to Weber State.

Since this portion of the trip takes about four hours each way, the seven or eight hour bus ride to the game does not add much to the travel time.

The idea for the trip came from Lamb.

“I am the custodian of the available funds,” he said, adding that the reason for this has been communicated to the team and they understand it. “We are absolutely thrilled.”

The UNC group left for Utah on Friday and will return home after the game. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at Weber State's Stewart Stadium, meaning the Bears will bring the auto version of the red eye back to Greeley.

Lamb said another reason the bus ride worked was that the Bears would not be playing the following week (Oct. 19) and the bus ride would not interfere with routine during game week. UNC is scheduled for a day off on Sunday. Since Lamb has been head coach, Sundays have been the Bears' flush day during the season, running and lifting weights for at least a short period of time the day after a game.

With the bye week, UNC uses its flush day on Monday and changes its schedule the rest of the week with rest days Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday.

UNC's next game is at home against Montana on Saturday, October 26th at 1 p.m.

Earlier this season, the program introduced white helmets as part of the team uniforms for the year. On some helmets there was a sticker with the letters ST-BC. The same letters can be seen with a hashtag on team gear such as T-shirts and jackets. ST-BC stands for “smarter, tougher and better conditioned,” a mantra the team applies both on and off the field.

If the Bears go to Ogden and upset the Wildcats, perhaps UNC will slightly change the meaning of the four-letter theme to represent: smarter, tougher and more bus-conditioned.

Originally published: October 11, 2024 at 4:32 p.m