Renee Rosenow

School spirit, parades, and of course, partying are all part of homecoming week at local colleges.

Another important part of homecoming is football. Saturday the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds will take on the UW-Oshkosh Titans in the 2008 homecoming game at Carson Park.

The Blugolds will enter the game with an overall record of 2-1 and a conference record of 0-1. The Titans are 2-0 overall and will open conference play Saturday when they travel to Carson Park. The Blugolds will look to earn their first conference win of the season and build towards their goal of a conference championship. This will be a game with a different atmosphere for the Blugolds.

There is always more excitement and anticipation for the Homecoming game. Senior linebacker Tom Dohr agreed.

“It is pretty different, there’s a lot more people at the game. It’s pretty exciting just because there’s going to be a lot of alumni there, a lot of your former teammates that graduated will be there.”

Fortunately for the Blugolds, they had an extra week to prepare for the game because last week was their bye week. The team was glad to have a week off, but are certainly glad to get back into action. ?

“We are definitely excited to get back on the field, we had two weeks to look at Oshkosh and get prepared and we are all excited for Saturday,” Dohr said.

It will be hard for this year’s game to live up to the excitement last years’ game brought.

A season ago, the Blugolds welcomed rival UW-La Crosse to Carson Park. It was a highly anticipated game that certainly did not disappoint. With 24 seconds left in the game and the Blugolds down by one, sophomore kicker Craig Kolb attempted a 46-yard field goal.

Kolb hit the field goal to give the Blugolds the last second 31-29 victory.

“It was really nerve racking getting ready to kick, but after I made it, it was really exciting and good to send our seniors out on a good note,” Kolb said.

Kolb also admitted that making a field goal on that stage was probably the high point of his football career so far.

“It’s my longest field goal ever, and on that stage, it was pretty exciting for me,” Kolb said.

For the 19 seniors on the roster, Saturday’s game will be their last Homecoming game, a bittersweet feeling for some. Dohr, a senior linebacker, is one of them.

“Obviously it’s my last Homecoming so it’s pretty special,” Dohr said.

With all the hype and anticipation, the team is doing a good job of staying focused on the task at hand, trying to get into playoffs.

“I look at this game kind of like every other game, we are just trying to get to the playoffs,” Dohr said.

Kolb agreed with Dohr and said the Homecoming game is a little more exciting, but the players will be ready and are excited to get back on the field.

Homecoming game or not, the team is excited and ready to get back to action this weekend when they take the field after the bye week.

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at Carson Park.