Top defenses clash in Boca Bowl
Northern Illinois takes on UAB tonight at FAU Stadium.
Northern Illinois is returning to the site of previous postseason disappointment, hoping for a very different outcome this time.
On Tuesday, the Huskies will become the first team to make two appearances in the Boca Raton Bowl, having fallen to Marshall’s Thundering Herd 52-23 in 2014.
This year, NIU takes on the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers when the conference champions square off at 7 p.m. in FAU Stadium.
This season’s Boca Bowl is one of only three bowl games that feature two conference champions.
UAB (10-3) will be making its second consecutive bowl appearance since the program was reinstated last season, and Northern Illinois (8-5) aims for its first bowl win since 2011.
After the school cancelled its football program as a cost-cutting measure in 2014, UAB Blazers decided to bring football back and have been gaining momentum since their return in 2017.
Since their reinstatement, UAB has posted back-to-back winning seasons, including consecutive bowl game appearances and a Conference USA Championship. The Blazers also secured a 10-win season for the first time in the history of the program.
“We all have the aspirations of playing in a bowl. To be here at the pinnacle of all that, it’s hard to put into words just how proud I am of these guys and staff, and everybody who helped bring this program back,” UAB coach Bill Clark said Monday about the program’s resurrection.
Clark, who received this year’s Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year award, orchestrated a defense which places among the best in the nation.
UAB’s unit ranks 10th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total defense while also ranking fourth in sacks per game (3.35) and fifth in tackles for loss per game (8.1).
Defensive end Jamell Garcia-Williams and linebacker Chris Woolbright are at the forefront of this group, with the duo combining for 29 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks.
Along with their stellar defense, the Blazers have complemented their hardnosed style of football with an efficient running game.
Running back Spencer Brown has been the anchor of the UAB offense, with the sophomore leading the team in rushing with 1,149 yards and a school-record 16 touchdowns.
The First-Team All-Conference recipient ranks third all-time in program history in rushing yards with 2,478 and needs only 340 more yards to become the all-time leader.
“He got thrust into a starting role early,” Clark said of Brown, a sophomore. “But, I think he’s
“It’s hard to put into words just how proud I am of these guys and staff.”
— UAB coach Bill Clark
done a good job at taking that next step.”
Quarterback Tyler Johnston III is 3-1 since assuming the starting role back in November and has proven to be a dual-threat weapon for the Blazers.
During his four starts, the redshirt freshman has passed for 902 yards and seven touchdowns along with rushing for three touchdowns.
The Blazers will go up against the nation’s best pass-rushing defense in the Northern Illinois Huskies.
Led by defensive end Sutton Smith and edge rusher Josh Corcoran, NIU’s defense leads the nation in sacks with 50.
The First Team AllAmerican selection, who was a running back before switching positions, Smith leads the FBS in sacks with 15 and is second in the nation in tackles for loss with 24.5.
“The transition was weird cause I was like 198 pounds as a defensive end starting out and I had to really learn the position in the playbook,” Smith said on switching positions. “It was also a big transition of using my athletic ability in a different way because I’m going against 300-pound men that are 6-foot-5 and above.”
NIU’s running attack has been the highlight of their offense, with the unit totaling 2,004 yards and 16 touchdowns so far this season.
Tailback Tre Harbison and quarterback Marcus Childers have been instrumental in their groundgame, as they account for 10 out of the 16 rushing touchdowns.
Harbison is 15 rushing yards away from becoming the first NIU rusher to reach 1,000 yards since Joel Bouagnon in 2015.
Childers is coming off a career game in the MidAmerican Conference Championship, when he threw for a career-high 300 yards and four touchdowns to defeat Buffalo 30-29.
The Orange Bowl, with Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. Alabama (SEC), and the Rose Bowl, with Washington (PAC-12) vs. Ohio State (Big Ten) are the other Bowl games this year featuring conference champions.