Lehigh hopes to feel at home in UNI Dome

FROM KEITH GROLLER

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Chris Lum said he's played in a dome before, but it's been awhile.

Lehigh's junior quarterback, who grew up in Michigan, played in the Pontiac Silverdome during his youth football days.

"That was an awesome experience, but that was a long time ago," he said. "I think I was in the fifth grade."


Lum will get his second game inside a dome at 1 p.m. Saturday when his Mountain Hawks play Northern Iowa inside the UNI Dome in the first round of the NCAA FCS playoffs.

On Friday, Lehigh got its first look at the UNI Dome and it's an interesting looking place with bright, colorful seats that go from wall-to-wall on both sides. The artificial surface is thick and soft and the walls are concrete.

The venue figures to be much more comfortable than anything outside since a biting wind greeted the Mountain Hawks as they got off their charter flight at the nearby Waterloo Airport. A bank sign that shows time and temperature said it was 29 as the Lehigh buses rolled by.

"This is cool, I like this," Lum said he looked around. "You don't have to worry about the weather affecting the ball when we throw it. I know it's going to be loud, but we've made some adjustments with cadences and stuff and we'll be ready."

Lehigh is in the playoffs for the first time since 2004 and is looking for its first win since 2001.

The Patriot League has not won a playoff game since Colgate advanced to the national title in 2003.

But the feeling among the Lehigh players and coaches is that this should be a competitive game.

Northern Iowa is 7-4, Lehigh is 9-2 and the while the Mountain Hawks have won seven straight, the Panthers fell in their regular season finale to Western Illinois, 30-14, last week.

UNI quarterback Tirrell Rennie was injured in that game and his status for Saturday is uncertain, although Lehigh coach Andy Coen said he expected him to play.

With or without Rennie, who Coen called the most dynamic quarterback he has seen all season, Lehigh has a feeling of calm and confidence swirling around themselves.

"From watching them on film and from knowing our team, we can play with this team," Coen said. "Now whether we do or not, that remains to seen. But I feel a lot better about playing this game than I did about playing [defending national champ] Villanova 10 weeks ago."

After playing five consecutive league games, including last week's 20-13 pressure-cooker at Lafayette, Lum says he feels less pressure this week.

Lehigh was expected to win the past few weeks, and did, but now the Mountain Hawks are again underdogs as they were back in September when they played highly-ranked Villanova and New Hampshire.

"We're definitely enjoying this experience, and think it's cool to travel, but we're ready to play," Lum said. "We think we can win. We know the Patriot League hasn't done well the last few years, but this is a winnable game. It's just a matter of making more crucial plays and eliminating our penalties. We just can't play an average game like we have the last few weeks."

Lum's play will be critical.

He had three interceptions at Georgetown two weeks ago and threw two more picks at Lafayette, but responded to his misakes with clutch throws.

"I don't feel as much pressure as last week, not as tense," Lum said. "Every game we had something to play for and there was pressure every week. This week, I feel there's a little less. We still want to win even though we're not expected to. I don't want these seniors to be done with and I think it would be awesome to go to Delaware."

The third-seeded Blue Hens will host the winner next Saturday, and a lot of fans who couldn't make it out to Iowa for this one would make the much shorter trip to Newark.

Lehigh will have some fans here. Chip Walakovits, a longtime member of the South Side Boosters, was in the UNI Dome with the players as they finished up their workout on Friday. He said about 28 boosters flew out and many others are driving.

Northampton's Billy Boyko, a sophomore linebacker, was taking pictures of the place so he could show his parents what it looked like.

But those pictures will look a lot better to his folks if it's the scene of a win.

"I've never been to a place like this," Boyko said. "In I only had one plane ride in my life before this year and now here I am in Iowa for the second time. I can only imagine how it's going to be [Saturday]. It's something different. We just have to adapt to it, enjoy the experience and play our best. I know we're not favored, but on any given Saturday … "

http://www.mcall.com/sports/college/mc-lehigh-in-iowa-1126-20101126,0,5048421.story